So, Did Mrs. Stilton shoot JJL because she felt sorry for her having to go through the rest of her life w/out 'her Johnny', as she had described a few times being unable to go on w/out him, so effectively putting her out of her misery...
Or:
Was she simply fed up, and lashing out, almost seeking her vengence on JJL.
Just curious what the general consensus out there is...
Thanx!
Altman said in the comentary that it was a 'mercy' killing, I agree to the point where Blondie would have got caught by the senators thugs and would have been tortured like (or worse) her husband.
It's also clear that Mrs Stilton was the one who does her husband dirty work
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Earlier in the film, Blondie told Mrs. Stilton that if any harm came to Johnny, she would kill her hostage. Mrs. Stilton took good note of that - "I always keep my word," Blondie said - or something to that effect.
So once Johnny had been gutted, Mrs. Stilton knew it was kill or be killed.
I think Mrs. Stilton killed Jennifer Jason Leigh's character because she couldn't take any more of Leigh's over-the-top, poorly-interpreted acting any longer. If this film had not had the fantastic musicians and score that it had, I would not have been able to last through the movie. As it was, I silently cheered when Mrs. Stilton put a bullet through Leigh's character's brain.
Why is it that some actors feel they have to do something physical to their character in order to play the part? The overbite that Leigh used was so unnecessary. An accomplished actor wouldn't have used such a silly contrivance to portray the character. The bad teeth was a superfluous effect
"You must be the change you seek in this world."
ACK!!! Don't talk about my foxy mama, JJLeigh!!! She's got her father's glowering eyes. And what a body. I was impressed with her performance in "Kansas City". Her make up was superb. Her accent, flawless. I like it when actors do a complete change like Polly Holliday as "Flo". I just caught the end again and was wondering who brought the gutted "Johnnie" to his "Blondie"? Was it the senator? That why those guys were out there and he was waiting in his car for her? What a sad story, actually.
shareGlad to see some Leigh fans on here. I'm sad that a lot of people aren't understanding that she was imitating a movie star in this movie, she's supposed to act theatrical.
shareI kinda thought it was a combo of Mrs Stilson having pity/sympathy for Blondie's likely sad fate AND seeing the chance get away from her captor...
Although I don't know if Mrs Stilson could really do (or remember) anything coherently if she was on opium all the time. Regardless of the reason she did it, I thought the big gulp of laudanum before she picked up the gun was a real underscore of Stilson's character.
It's gonna be fun on the bun!
Firstly, THIS is all the commentary on such a fantastic movie? Seven or so readers? As far as plugging Jenny J, maybe she did it for the thrill. Or was stoned on morphine. After all JJ said such terrible things to her. I wonder if any of you saw Miranada Richardson putting drops of her tincture in the bird's water. Evil to the core.
shareI watched this earlier today, and thought it was pretty good, myself.
My interpretation of the ending was that Miranda Richardson's character killed JJL's character, Blondie, out of pity, and had been biding her time throughout the entire story, waiting for an opportunity to kill her - or set her up to kill her, which would explain why she secretly plied her with some of her dope.
Why else would she play dumb as she did, since she plainly wasn't?
I don't own the DVD, so I haven't heard the commentary where Altman said it was a "mercy killing" -- but I certainly DID see the line in the early half of the film where Miranda Richardson's character asked Blondie, "have you ever shot anyone with a gun before? I bet I could do it better than you."
And I think those two lines are enough to assume that Miranda was finally taking pity on this poor girl (J.J. Leigh) who was just finally in over her head. No matter how stoned on opium Miranda was throughout the film, she did (as the other above comment pointed out) poison Blondie's bird with said opium and was cold as ice to Blondie after she'd turned her hair blonde. Blondie was trying to talk to and engage with Miranda after she bleached her hair and put on her white dress, but Miranda was staring at her blankly and without sympathy like she'd never had throughout the whole film.
So I buy the "mercy killing" ending.
I also buy that Miranda Richardson's character was, at the end (and perhaps always), ready to be a stone cold killer when she needed to be.
Great performances by them both. I love those two actresses.
Also a wonderful performance by Harry Belafonte as "Seldom Seen". I didn't even realize it was him until the credits. Masterful performance by him.
I love Altman.
I don´t really buy that mercy killing stuff - it seemed more like a streak of stone cold ruthlessness and lust for revenge finally reared its head in Richardson. And, as it appears that it was Murphy´s goons who cut up the Mulraney character, the rich elite put a foot down in a gruelling manner on these two-bit hoods. Sort of a class struggle won by the powers-that-be.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I can remember the look on Richardson's face when she shot JJL and it seemed to say, "take that, you bitch". She had reason to be ticked off for sure. IMO, JJL should've at least got an Oscar nod for this; her performance blew me away. Very underrated actress.
shareAgreed about JJL. Her whole demeanor was completely unrecognizable and her delivery was flawless. Really wish she had more nominations.
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