Ok I've always wondered about the ending to this movie. First of all do we know If Gaines actually ever did sell drugs? I know they never actually could get him to sell the drugs to them and that they made up everything just to try and convict him. Also it kindof sucked that they never show who shoots him at the end. Are we to assume it was Jennifer Jason Leigh? Those two things always bothered me about this movie. Other than that I thought it was alright.
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Cool, that's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure I didnt miss something.
shareWhy do the administrators keep deleting every third message from every thread?! Do they have any idea how much damage they cause to IMDB? I have no idea what the guy two posts up was saying but judging by the answer it received it couldn't have been anything offensive. I would have liked to know what he said.
Pissing on their own legs, eh?
Damn you! Damn youse guys! Damn youse all to Hell!
What would be the motivation for Leigh's character to kill Gaines? After all she let him go during the trial by saying that he never bought/sold drugs. Why come after him later on and kill him?
shareMaybe she let him go during the trial, so she could kill him for killing Jim, and she could get back at her boss for making them lie about everything. Just a thought.
shareSo you believe it was him that killed Jim? How can you be sure that it wasn't some other junkie, dealer ect. Everybody was pissed at them. Just asking..
shareYeah thats true it couldve been any of them too. I guess I never thought of that. I really hate endings like this where you dont know what really happened. I started this post in the hopes that maybe someone noticed something I didnt. Overall it was a decent movie I guess.
shareI always thought one of the drug dealers or junkies killed Gaines.
I forgot the guys name but the guy they found hanging, did he commit suicide or did someone kill him?
Walker was his name. I think he just killed himself. There wasnt anything he could really do. He said he didnt want to run away because his family was in the area and he was afraid that something might happen to them
shareIf you recall,when Jim was shot,she was awakened by a shotgun barrel tracing down one side of her nose. When she is in court and on the stand,she looks at Gaines and he raises his hand to his face and slowly repeats the same pattern on his own face,which stops her mid sentence and she states she didn't buy any drugs from him. Thats when she realized it was him and she would avenge Jim herself.Watch the court scene to the end,see if I am correct about this-just my opinion. Thanks!
shareI believe you are right about Cates killing Gaines. Remember Jim told Cates when she asked him what would she do if someone shot and killed him and he told her that he would take it as a personal favor if she shot them? So, she remembered that when it happened. Just my thinking.
shareWhile they're in the courtroom Gaines makes a motion toward his face to Jennifer Jason Leigh that indicated how the shotgun was held to her face while she was sleeping. This tipped her off that he either orchestrated the shooting or held the shotgun himself. At this point she decides to let him go so she can kill him later and rat out the dirty cops in the process.
Casting for movie in the Dallas area titled "Sluts" - theslutsmovie.com
In the court scene he runs his two fingers across his face like two barrels of a gun and mimics the way the killer ran them over her face before Jim was shot. So that scene made me think Gaines was the killer or at least had something to do with it.
"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."
~ George Carlin
I definitely believe it was Gaines that killed Jim. He (ok, whoever killed Jim)ran the barrell of the shotgun over her face before he killed Jim and then in the courtroom, he (Gaines) just happened to repeated the very same sequence over his own face with his hand than he did to her before he killed Jim.
shareI hate to say it, 'cause I'm not a bitch, but DON'T PEOPLE PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THE MOVIE??? When Kristen is on the stand, it appears that she is about to say that they indeed did buy the Cocaine from Gaines...THEN...she glances over at Gaines, who (in an action about 10,000x's more powerful than words) uses his index and middle finger, and very discreetly traces them from the top of his nose/forehead, down to his lips (if you remember, when Kristen woke up seeing the gun barrel [a double-barreled shotgun] in her face, the one holding the gun traces it down her face in much the same manner as Gaines motioned with his fingers at the trial. At that intense moment of life-or-death, she is so startled to see a gun in her face-who wouldn't be?-that it seems she doesn't even see who is really holding the gun. At that point, she slams the gun away from her face, and that's when the shots go off, and Raynor is shot right in the Femoral artery..no chance. No chance). When she sees Gaines do this at the trial, she is visibly shaken, and then knows it was, indeed Gaines that did it. The D/A then tries to get her attention (she is in a daze), and asks her at that point if her and her partner purchased the Cocaine from Gaines. In an instant, she knows what she is going to do. She tells the D/A "No", and that it was all a set-up put into motion by the Chief of Police. That's when she knows exactly what she'll do, and she effectively frees Gaines so he can be available for HER reckoning. If you recall, earlier in the movie (before Raynor was completely strung-out), Kristen tells Raynor (during a pillow-talk session) that she is scared, and asks him what would happen to her, what would she do, if he (Raynor) were shot. He then says, only half-jokingly, that he'd hope she would get revenge, and in turn shoot that person. At the end of the conversation, just before the scene changes, he says (most seriously) something to the effect of: if your partner gets shot, you DON'T let the attorneys and cops take care of it...you 'take care' of it yourself. Anyway, I hope that helps, a bit:)
shareare you guys kidding me? It's very obvious that she was the one who shot gaines at the end. She didn't testify because she thought he would kill her afterwards. She didn't bother testifying so she could find him and kill him after his trial. This was a very simple movie to follow, I am surprised at all fo the confusion.
shareYes, Gaines was in charge of the drug ring and his bar/club was a front.
Jim was killed by Gaines. Remember in the court room when Gaines made that gesture with his fingers across his face. It was the same movement the shotgun made across Kristen's face earlier on in the trailer (when Jim was shot).
Therefore, Kristen's motivation is vengeance.
Could they ever pin the drug charges on him? No, Gaines was too smart for that. He had people actually selling for him. The DA and everyone involved in the case was frustrated and that's why they set Gaines up.
Kristen didn't want false justice, so she created her own.
Interesting I guess that makes sense. Never noticed it before. I think I need to watch it again. It's weird how it could work both ways but if he did make that gesture then it explains everything. Way to pick up on that.
shareAfter the Willie Red scene, Jim and Kristen were in bed together and she was saying how scared she was. She asked Jim what she should do if he is ever shot to death and Jim told her he hoped that she would shoot them back. So I just always assumed it was Kristen carrying out Jim's wish at the end.
shareSo did i, and i think it is really cool that the same gesture Gaines made at Kristen in the court room that Gaines thought got her all scared was perhaps in fact the last drop that made Kristen so vengeful that she decided to back down from her statement only so Gaines would go free and she could kill him! The poetic justice, the irony! The ending was very satisfying, except for two things: Gaines still got off two easily (quick death for all the suffering he caused) and Jim never got to see him die (dying unaware that some justice would happen). It always bugs me when the good guys die without knowing how it will end, especially if the ending is a "happy" one.
share<So I just always assumed it was Kristen carrying out Jim's wish at the end.>
I just saw it for the second time, and this sounds right. She let Gaines walk so she could kill him herself.
It's an interesting psychological phenomenon.
Yup, just to confirm:
On my little old TV I never noticed Gaines' precise gesture in the courtroom. I thought she just bottled it & didn't want to lie in court.
Now I have a lovely big plasma I see the gesture, she realises he killed Raynor, she thinks damn quickly and let's him off solely with the intention of exacting her own revenge. As I see it.
Great ending. Great film. Thanks to those who explained this higher up the thread :)
K.
- I've seen things you people wouldn't believe -
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Also, recall the conversation between Kristen and Jim towards the middle of the movie. Kristen asks Jim what she should do if Jim were attacked and shot. He responds that it is only they together and they need to cover each other, they are on their own. He mentions that it is the partners responsibility to take justice instead of leaving it up to the justice system. Not these exact words but to the same meaning.
shareGaines made the jesture with his fingers in the court room in a movement across his face (using 2 fingers like the 2 barrells on the gun) and that is when Kristen told them that her boss told her to do what they had to, to make the case. She reluctantly made the case, quit the police, and her lover/partner was killed behind that case...so she was aware by they finger gesture made by Gaines that he was the killer or at least hired a killer and decided it was time for her to take matters into her own hands. She killed (no pun intended) 2 birds with one stone, she was able to set Gaines free for her later revenge and let it known what her former boss expected of her/her partner to do to make the case. Several things in the movie lead you to believe that she was the one that was in Gaines car with the shot gun: Jim/Kristen conversation about what to do if one gets shot/killed, lovers/partner revenge, Jim/Kristen conversation about justice in their own hands not the systems, they had to have each others back....etc
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did you actually watch the movie carefully,most of your questions are answered if you pay attention....
shareDamn I posted this like two years ago and I'm still getting replies. Well reading what I asked it was only two questions really. Yes I did pay "attention". I only saw the movie all the way through one time. Sorry I didn't examine every detail and every sentence. Sounds like you have it all figured out though so thanks for the tip.
Also to answer Matt's question, I don't know why IMDB deleted the third post. It must be something they do to save space or something. If I recall correctly that guy didn't say anything offensive, and actually gave some good advice about the film. Once again I thought this movie was ok. Always assumed it was JJL's character that shot Greg Alman but still just wasn't 100% sure.
by deanishere (Sun Oct 9 2005 22:31:15 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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Yes, Gaines was in charge of the drug ring and his bar/club was a front.
Jim was killed by Gaines. Remember in the court room when Gaines made that gesture with his fingers across his face. It was the same movement the shotgun made across Kristen's face earlier on in the trailer (when Jim was shot).
Therefore, Kristen's motivation is vengeance.
Could they ever pin the drug charges on him? No, Gaines was too smart for that. He had people actually selling for him. The DA and everyone involved in the case was frustrated and that's why they set Gaines up.
Kristen didn't want false justice, so she created her own.
Also note: at the very end of the movie, when Gaines turns around he smiles slightly when he discovers Kristen in the back of his car instead of some druggie napping out like at the beginning. He apparently had a fleeting thought he was going to 'get some.'
Whether Gaines was actually selling drugs or not is somewhat irrelevant. He had motive enough to kill Jim just from the false arrest.
"Quit whining. I evaded your vital organs." --Motoko Aoyama
Walker stated that gaines was to smart to sell drugs to anyone ( or something to that affect). This , to me, indicates he was teh king pin. Alsol, as far as JJL's charector, I think she was planning on telling teh truth in teh court all along becaseu she was afraid. I don't think she planned on killing Gaines unitl afterwards. She alwasy seems weak or unsure of herself, and I don't think she woudl have came up with that on the spot.
Love the movie. I watch it about once every 6 months or so.
I don't think he thought he was going to "get some." I think he admired her spunk--that she got her revenge outside of a courtroom.
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