Why didnt woman ask where do COBB got the money from? - Following (1999) Discussion

[–] Bob_Brooker 14 years ago

You may want to watch this film again. Cobb was not after the money in the first place. It was baldy who wanted her dead. She was blackmailing Baldy for the murder he committed in her apartment. Needing a patsy was crucial for Cobb, so he can get away with the murder, keep the money from the safe, and not be bothered by the police.

__________
"You paid for parking? For me?"

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[–] sdckapr 14 years ago

Needing a patsy was crucial for Cobb, so he can get away with the murder, keep the money from the safe, and not be bothered by the police.

My impression (though I may be misremembering) is that the plan was the bald guy's and not Cobb's plan. It seemed to me that part of the plan was not only to set up a patsy for the death of the blonde, but also have the patsy set up for the death of the man in her apartment if the bloody rug is ever found ...

The money from the safe was Cobb's payment (by the bald guy) for finding and setting up the patsy...

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[–] njiuma 14 years ago

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Needing a patsy was crucial for Cobb, so he can get away with the murder, keep the money from the safe, and not be bothered by the police.

... the plan was the bald guy's and not Cobb's plan. ... part of the plan was not only to set up a patsy for the death of the blonde, but also have the patsy set up for the death of the man in her apartment if the bloody rug is ever found.

The money from the safe was Cobb's payment (by the bald guy) for finding and setting up the patsy.

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While the plan and method of doing the murders was most likely The Bald Guy's, the story, at its core, involves only Cobb and The Young Man. Cobb sought to "get away with the murder, keep the money from the safe, and not be bothered by the police" - regardless of what The Bald Guy wanted.

The Bald Guy (referred to as "The Old Man" by Cobb and The Blonde) did seem to have hired Cobb. But Cobb wanted to eliminate all evidence pointing to him, and he obviously didn't really care about The Blonde or what she thought; or about "The Old Man" / The Bald Guy. After all, he told her that "The Old Man" / The Bald Guy would let him keep the money from the safe for doing the job (which, ironically, was ultimately to kill her, thus eliminating the blackmail scheme she was running on The Bald Guy).

Cobb was obviously unhappy about The Blonde sleeping with The Young Man, providing an additional incentive for Cobb to kill her and pin it on The Young Man.

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[–] sdckapr 14 years ago

While the plan and method of doing the murders was most likely The Bald Guy's, the story, at its core, involves only Cobb and The Young Man.

It seems to me to be the case since to show it otherwise would be a spoiler. What Cobb reveals about the setup to the blonde while partly true, serves also as a red herring and we don't realize the involvement of the bald guy.

Cobb sought to "get away with the murder, keep the money from the safe, and not be bothered by the police" - regardless of what The Bald Guy wanted.

But there is no indication from the film that he would have committed the murder or taken the money without the request from the bald guy.

But Cobb wanted to eliminate all evidence pointing to him, and he obviously didn't really care about The Blonde or what she thought; or about "The Old Man" / The Bald Guy.

But Cobb would also want no evidence pointing to the bald guy as well. The whole frame was to eliminate evidence from the bald guy.

I don't see any indication in the film that he did not care about the bald guy. (what in the film gives you this impression?). Cobb seemed to care enough about him to murder for him. It wasn't a lot of money if the money was the motivation for the killing. It seems to me to be more of a task the bald guy gives to a underling and throws the money in as a bonus.

Cobb was obviously unhappy about The Blonde sleeping with The Young Man,

While he seems unhappy, the motivation for the unhappiness is not presented. Is it because of jealousy, or is it annoyance for other reasons and what she may say to him and get him skittish or jumpy before all the plans are made?

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[–] Mbuff343 14 years ago

I understood that the blond was blackmailing the old man and the old man wanted to kill the blond...

But I doubt there is a loop hole... Let me rephrase my questions:

1)Was it implied anywhere in the film that Cobb works for the old man?

If YES....we know that blond was blackmailing the old man so why would she cooperate with Cobb??

If NO another possibility is both are planning to steal money from the safe and Cobb indeed murdered a lady. So he wants to find a patsy which is the story of the film...but who put those photographs in the safe??

2) Lets think from Cobb's point of view. The blond knows the combination to the safe which implies Cobb also knows. So if he works for the old man,which the blond doesn't know, he can simply steal the money from the safe without doing anything because his intention was to get the money. Why didn't he do that??

you may say that money was not his intention then what else is the motivation(which I couldn't find in the film)??

Am I missing something??

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[–] sdckapr 14 years ago

1)Was it implied anywhere in the film that Cobb works for the old man?

It was more than implied, Cobb stated it pretty explicitly: "The old man was very specific about how I should do things. Oh, well, he is letting me keep all the money from his safe." And the blonde knows about whom Cobb is referring to...

If YES....we know that blond was blackmailing the old man so why would she cooperate with Cobb??

Because she was trying to help Cobb with what she thought were his troubles (the murder of an old woman). She did not realize that the Bald guy wanted Cobb to kill her.

Lets think from Cobb's point of view. The blond knows the combination to the safe which implies Cobb also knows. So if he works for the old man,which the blond doesn't know, he can simply steal the money from the safe without doing anything because his intention was to get the money. Why didn't he do that??

Because the money was not his sole motivation. I don't imagine he would want to steal from the bald guy...

you may say that money was not his intention then what else is the motivation(which I couldn't find in the film)??

Because the bald guy asked or told him to do it. Cobb seemed to me to be one of the bald guy's underlings, asked to do many tasks for his pay. Sometimes (as implied in the film) the bald guy would even offer a "bonus" of some extra money for not only getting rid of a blackmailer, but making sure any connection with the blackmailer and the evidence the blackmailer has, would point back to the bald guy.

After the blonde's murder and the finger pointed at the young man, and if the bloody rug is found later, or the body, it will be additional evidence against the young man since the blonde and the other man were killed in the same manner and even tortured similarly.

Am I missing something??

It seems to me some of the exposition that Cobb provides to the blonde (and us) before he kills her (and the info provided by the policeman during this explanation):

"The old man was very specific about how I should do things. Oh, well, he is letting me keep all the money from his safe. He says your demands have become too unreasonable. You've become too greedy in your blackmail. He said something about you being a witness to an incident that happened in this very room. He was very precise about exactly how and where I should take care of things. Something about a bloodstained carpet that you've got stashed away to back up your story, should it ever be told."

And the "how" is detailed by the policeman: "We found her this morning. ..Her body. We also found a hammer with two types of blood on it. One type, I assume, will match the bloke you put in hospital. All her fingers were smashed. You must have tortured her to get the combination." and this description matches the death of the man in the blonde's apartment by the bald guy.

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[–] Mbuff343 14 years ago

" The old man was very specific about how I should do things. Oh, well, he is letting me keep all the money from his safe." And the blonde knows about whom Cobb is referring to..."

He said this before climax. My question is did she know that Cobb was working for the old man before that. if yes/no... please answer my questions from my previous post.

"Because the bald guy asked or told him to do it. Cobb seemed to me to be one of the bald guy's underlings, asked to do many tasks for his pay. Sometimes (as implied in the film) the bald guy would even offer a "bonus" of some extra money for not only getting rid of a blackmailer, but making sure any connection with the blackmailer and the evidence the blackmailer has, would point back to the bald guy."

You got me wrong here. I did understand from the film that he was working for the old man. My question is suppose ...say you are a bank robber and your boss gave you the combination of a bank's safe and wants you to rob the money ...what would you do?? ...do you simply take your share or you runaway with the whole money?? I know he may get into to trouble if he runs away and that will become another story. But the trouble he may get into if he runs away was not implied in the film and that's why I felt it was slightly incomplete character wise.

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[–] sdckapr 14 years ago

He said this before climax. My question is did she know that Cobb was working for the old man before that. if yes/no... please answer my questions from my previous post.

I thought I had answered this. I concluded that the Blonde knew him because they both worked for he Bald guy. She seems to know that he does since when Cobb referred to him by just calling him the old man, she knew who he was talking about. [We as viewers do not know that he is working for the bald guy since that is one of the twists.]

And the answer I provided based on this conclusion was: "Because she was trying to help Cobb with what she thought were his troubles (the murder of an old woman). She did not realize that the Bald guy wanted Cobb to kill her." I don't think she realized that the bald guy wanted her killed at all.

[note the credits list the character as "the bald guy" not the "the old man", since he is referred to in the film as the bald guy on multiple occasions throughout the film. The old man being the bald guy we can discern from context when cobb calls him that. The old man in some contexts can be confusing, since the policeman seems to the old man in the film]

My question is suppose ...say you are a bank robber and your boss gave you the combination of a bank's safe and wants you to rob the money ...what would you do?? ...do you simply take your share or you runaway with the whole money??

I would do what my boss wanted. I presume my instructions would be to give the boss all the money and he would split it as he saw fit.

But the trouble he may get into if he runs away was not implied in the film and that's why I felt it was slightly incomplete character wise.

I presume that Cobb is loyal to his boss. I see nothing in the film that suggests that Cobb would try to steal from his boss or is working outside the boss' instructions. What in the film suggests to you that Cobb is a disloyal employee? I see nothing in the film that even hints at this idea.

When we discover that Cobb is working for the bald guy, he talks about the bald guy being "very specific about how I should do things". Why would you presume that he is acting outside those instructions. For me if Cobb had acted outside those wishes, without some suggestion or hint earlier in the film, then Cobb would be "incomplete character wise" since we are not giving any motivation for him to be disloyal.

We learn in the first reveal that Cobb is setting up the young man, and we learn at the end, that he is also setting up the blonde. We also learn at the end, that Cobb has been following the bald guy's instructions. I don't see what is "incomplete character wise". It seems straight-forward "character-wise" to me.

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[–] jabberttp 14 years ago

Why is COBB in uppercase? ;-)

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