SIDE POINT: Nicholson did kinda strike me a while back as miscalculating his attractiveness until I grew up and realized women probably did ued to throw themselves at him in his hey day. The man is COOL.
I believe the point of the scene was to show the wife DID NOT CARE about the affair or her husband, that she was herself a strange kind of tart. I DO NOT think it was a rape fantasty. I don't think Gittes would participate n a rape fantasy. I don't think he understood at all what she was doing, except that she was beautiful and throwing herself at him and he is a man and unable to turn her down. As a man myself, I can hardly blame him.
I think the intent of the scene was essentially comic, and to show that side of the story did not really have any concern for the audience, that all of our care should be directed towards the Keitel side of things.
The Stowe character was getting off on the murder tape...that's why she screamed for him to turn it off WHILE PREVENTING Gittes from being able to do so. Then she made it seem like he was taking advantage of the situation and seducing her (different from rape, right?). At some point, Nicholson is like, look, I'll go along, whatever this is, and grabs her dumper.
It's not black and white, but I think it's awesome, right? I've never seen anything like that in a movie.
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Binkconn
13 years ago
Calling it "her dumper" sure enhances the sexiness of the scene....
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JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies
13 years ago
I believe the point of the scene was to show the wife DID NOT CARE about the affair or her husband, that she was herself a strange kind of tart.
Right--which was also the point of her immediately interpreting "whipstocking" in the way she did.
Given what we learn about Mr. Bodine throughout the course of the film, it's probably not a surprise that she didn't really care about him--and thus she was using his death merely as a means of ensuring that she wasn't screwed out of money. Folks might think, "Well then why did she turn down 5-6 million dollars when Nicholson's Jake fielded it to her?" The implied answer was that her lawyer felt confident that they could get more than that in the end--and her only concern was to double-check with her lawyer just how much he thought she'd get. Hence her panicked reaction in court when the tape was changed and it looked like she might get nothing.
http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies
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The_Dying_Flutchman
12 years ago
Being an absolute nut about film noir and neo noir I've always felt this entire scene was done from the standpoint of a comedic moment in a very deadly serious story; otherwise, it hardly works and the blurting out of the business about stockings and whips is way too hilarious to be an accident of lousy writing.
Obtained from the liver of the inflatable mongoose.
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manram24
11 years ago
lol I'm not sure if she was getting off on hearing the recording but that scene cracks me up when I watch it, especially when he grabs her and her skirt comes off.
Y'know, I could eat a peach for hours
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