MovieChat Forums > The Grifters (1991) Discussion > What about the money in the trunk?

What about the money in the trunk?

posted 21 years ago by RJBose
9 replies | jump to latest

First of all, I must confess that I saw a truncated version of this movie on Bravo (a US Cable TV station for those unfamiliar with the term), and I was out of the room when the struggle ended between Lilly and Myrna in the motel room. My question is this, after Lilly "subdued" Myrna, why did she not then take the money hidden in the Cadillac's trunk? If she was going to (successfully, as it seemed) switch identities with the dead Myrna, why not complete the subtefuge by making it seem that "Myrna" succeeded in stealing the money from the car? Was she in such a hurry to leave? How did she have time to change the clothes then? This seemed like a rather substantial plot hole to me. Any help out there?

[–] 21 years ago

[deleted]

[–] RJBose 21 years ago

Thanks- I missed that bit of dialogue. It makes sense that she would be afraid that Bobo would have his minions track the money, even if they thought that someone else (i.e. Myrna) had stolen it it, in an effort to recover it. You are right about taking at least part of it though; Bobo would indeed not have known how much there actually was. Since Bobo was tipped off by Myrna, he would have had his men looking for her when "Lilly" turned up dead, and the money missing.
Thanks again-

[–] Picasner 16 years ago

Lilly knew that Myrna blew her in to Bobo, but couldn't know for sure if Bobo knew who Myrna was or not. If he knew, than taking the money wouldn't be safe, because Bobo would keep looking for "Myrna". Obviously , Myrna knew Bobo didn't know her so he probably would have no luck trying to find someone whose name or face he didn't know, sotaking the money was safe for her.

Lilly was counting on the fact that Bobo would think she was petrified now that Bobo found out she was skimming and couldn't take the pressure so the "suicide" was plausible. But the money would have to be left so the scam would be believeable. She probably could have taken some of the money, but how much? She wouldn't have been able to take enough, so she still had to go and get Roy's money.

[–] edorapietrafesa 16 years ago

i also was confused that she didn't take any of the money in the trunk at all. since bobo didn't know the exact amount anyway. i mean if there was clsoe to $50000 or $100000, she could have taken &10000 and they probably wouldn't have known. she seemed to have way more money than roy in his painting. but maybe she was so paranoid that she figured bobo knew to close the exact amount and would know if some was missing. i still would have taken some of it though. for sure.

[–] dhmason6155 15 years ago

How do we know she didn't? Maybe it was simply never mentioned. She was able to make it from Phoenix to Los Angeles (with a hard "g").

"Well, how was it?".
"It was degrading, humiliating, emasculating... and somewhat enjoyable".

[–] xbluexsparkx 15 years ago

Whose this "Myrna" everyone keeps refering to?

"There's always a chance that you could die in the middle of your life story" - Chuck Palahniuk

[–] paleolith 14 years ago

They mean Myra. Just like on some of the other threads here she's called Moira. I think it's the most confusion about a non-confusing character name I've seen for any movie.

Edward

[–] Nikon11 14 years ago

I think that she was Moira in the book.

[–] paleolith 14 years ago

Ah, that would be confusing, for sure. And descriptions of the book that I found online verify that indeed she was Moira in the novel. Wonder why they changed it for the movie? Other comments here indicate that in general the movie was faithful to the book.

Edward