Why the heck did Birdlace throw away Rose's address? I'm confused
And did his friends die too?
Cos he knows he wont see rose for long time or he dont have time 2 write,,
think his friend died
that why they say 2 eddie dont give up
birdlace threw away roses address because he couldnt bare to take her along with him. he was going to a place that she didnt agree with (meaning war) and he didnt want to subject her to that. he thought it was best if he left her where she was, in a way keeping her as she was in his mind. so in not writing her he will always have the memory of what they had together and his hopes are that maybe he can come back to her and things will be the same.
sharei just thought he didn't want his friends to know.
HEY STUPID! YOU CAN STOP READING NOW! THIS IS MY SIG...YOU'RE STILL READING AREN'T YOU? HA. IDIOT.
I also agree with this idea
sharePersonally, I think he tore up the address because he was young and thought he was headed to a new life and wouldn't need her or her letters. His friends speech had reaffirmed this.
However, after witnessing the attrocities of war and experiencing the death of his friends. Lily's character turned out to be the only thing in his life that had the potential to be good and that is why he went back to her.
This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say. But I think it's interesting that Rose is set up to be so domestic - she even works serving food for a living! But she's also quite fierce; she really believes what she says and, in her quiet way, works for peace and change. When he comes home, damaged and disillusioned, it's a safe home he needs, and I think she represents that for him, but at the same time, she's strong enough to take care of him.
shareThat was good, but I also think maybe he threw it out cause he had no idea he would be there for so long, or that he'd go through so many attrocities. Maybe he just wanted to not make such a fuss about it, and then, when he got back, which would be soon, he would decide whether he'd go after her or not.
shareI thought it was because once he was back with his marine mates, his loyalty was firmly back with them. It was his way of telling himself he was a marine and part of the 'four B's'. When I first saw it I thought it was pretty cruel of him to do that!
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na melanie kate is right. he rips it up right after his friend gives him the 'bullsh*t' speech...which basically translates into meaning that the only way to get through the war is to believe all the crap marines are supposed to believe and stay loyal to his buddies and forget about what the hippy-ish girl taught him about a peaceful approach to life's problems. It clearly got him thinking...and the only way to get through something as horrible as the vietnam war is to be totally sure about what you are fighting for...it was too late to change his mind so he couldnt take these anti-war ideas with him into vietnam. he definitely knew what he was doing - it was a conscious choice between his friends and rose...he knew he couldnt keep contact with her as then survival would be impossible....he goes back to believing in the 'bullsh*t'....but bullsh*t fails him when all his friends die (hence the 4 bee tattoos) and he coems back injured and disillusioned...not even praised for his bravery by his country - he finally acknowledges the mistake he made by going back to rose....
Silverlily.
that makes sense and I thought the same things about the bee tattoos.
shareBut he didn't knew vietnam would be horrible. Remember? "We'll kick a little ass, take a few names. Be back in a couple of months."
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I have to reply to this post because it's the oldest one I've seen here on MC that was brought over from the IMDb boards. 19 years!
I was along for the ride with the character of Eddie and was firmly giving him the benefit of the doubt regarding Rose.....UNTIL he tore up her address and tossed it out the bus window while he was having some laughs with his buddies.
A few people on this thread think that he had some deeper, noble, unselfish reason for doing it, but that was not communicated at all, so I don't think protecting Rose can be considered his motivation. He was back to being a jacka$$, if he ever stopped being one with Rose.
It was only after he experienced war and its personal fallout did his priorities get realigned which drove him back to San Francisco and the cafe to find Rose. By the way, the ending of this movie when they reunite is almost an identical twin to the ending of The Bourne Identity.
A side note/question -- The Four Bees went to Vietnam in 1963 as military advisors according to Eddie. I was under the assumption that military advisors were/are the most highly trained, experienced personnel. Eddie is 19 years old and a Corporal in the movie. Would they send the youngest and lowest-ranking to serve as an advisor?
i didnt fully understand that part either until very recently. Birdlace just wanted a piece of ass before he went off to war. he thought "hey, i bet if i treat this ugly girl really nice i could get a little action at the end of the night". and he did. thats the real reason he ripped up her address, its because he got what he wanted. he used her, and didnt need her anymore.
ya i know thats probably not the real reason, but i am feeling very anti-male right now.
irregardless, this is still one of my favorite movies ever. totally underrated and river pheonix and lily taylor were awesome together.
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The problem is, if you think about it like that then the whole ending makes no sense at all. If the film ended on Rose listening to "We Shall Overcome" alone in her room, then yes, he didn't have any true feelings for her.
However, he returns to San Francisco.
It wouldn't make any sense for Eddie to return if he didn't care. He obviously had to keep his head in the game. I totally agree with the idea of "keeping Rose in his mind exactly how she was" while he was in Vietnam.
I think that Eddie started out merely wanting to sleep with her, but it did turn into something more.
I agree with this as well!
shareDidn't you guys listen to the commentary? The movie was supposed to end with him throwing out the number and Rose listening to the song by herself. But then the studios got ahold of it, and made them tack on a traditional Hollywood happy ending. They filmed that bit in reshoots and tacked it onto the end, after the film was completely finished. Eddie wasn't supposed to come back to her at all. It was supposed to be a really complex ending, and leave you with a lot of questions about life and human nature and how the same series of events could mean different things to different people, and could people really change, and all sorts of things. It wasn't supposed to be a happy little love story, it was supposed to make you think. Eddie had the potential to let that night, with that amazing girl, change his life, but in the end, he wasn't supposed to live up to that.
shareLMAO I think it's funny how you are all making all these 'assumptions' and 'guesses'. If you WATCHED the movie, you'd see that his friends asked him what he did all night and cuz he ended up with the girl from the dogfight, the one they were cutting down (remember when she flipped out when she found out about the Dogfight?) AND his military buddies are his FAMILY, his ALL, AND they are also highly critical, of course he's not going to hold on to her address. I mean, really, what would his boys think?? it's alla about his boys....THAT'S important to young guys like him. I mean seirously he cant be seen with a girl like 'her'...he'd get picked on and degraded for it! It was a love story...you can't take your assumptions about men in 'real life' and assume that that is how they are acting movie...what i mean is that they point of the movie wasn't some guy to 'get some'....that's not waht the artists, author, writer, producers intent!
sharethat so true, i mean he is gonna be over seas with these guys for who knows how long and he has to keep the bond. If it broke, whose there for him, Rose??
shareBirdlace was a hot-headed male, driven by his friends opinions and the idea that having feelings are for the weak. I believe he felt for Rose. I really think he cared for her alot, but his selfish macho ideas allowed him to cowar out of her life. He was driven more by the need to fit in with his comrades than the need to fullfill the emotional part of his life. When his friends were killed, he had the epiphany that life is short and more than just a roll in the hay. He longed for compassion and companionship. He remebered Rose, his only connection with that kind of life. So he set out to get that back. He was a self driven character that we loved in spite of that. He went back to Rose because she was nurturing and innocent and he blindly believed she would be right where he left her all those years ago. And he was right...thats her character...she was faithful and dependable. A nurturer at heart, who thrived on taking care of the weak...And Regardless of what Birdlace wanted to think, he was definatley weak, because he was unable to face his feelings. he was too afraid of what he would look like.
I absolutely love this movie...I identify with Rose on a very personal level...And Birdlace, well, I had a birdlace in my life for 5 years. They arent intentionally cruel, but they don't know how to put others first, and there is a certain innocence about them, because of there blind ignorance. They are like children who constantly try to self gratify, and they attract the nurturing types. They feed off of each other, its nothing more than codependence. I find this movie to be the most romantic and beautiful film ever made.....probobly because I experienced this at one time, somthing close to it...I am thankful for this movie because it keeps alive a very real part of myself....and a very important part of my life.
***** It is in the current of our dear River that we are swept away*****
"Birdlace was a hot-headed male, driven by his friends opinions and the idea that having feelings are for the weak. I believe he felt for Rose. I really think he cared for her alot, but his selfish macho ideas allowed him to cowar out of her life. He was driven more by the need to fit in with his comrades than the need to fullfill the emotional part of his life." - Quoted
Sounds like my ex boyfriend! LMAO
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