Despite having seen this film four or five times now, two questions are in my mind. Here they are. Was the James Fox character in on the job? Did he and the Ian McShane character have a sexual relationship? I couldn't be bothered to spend time looking through all the posts for this film to see if these questions have been asked (and answered) already.
shareIt was never clear whether Harry (James Fox) was in on the job. Arguments can be made on either side.
I always sort of figured Harry knew about it which would be the reason Teddy killed him after it was successfully pulled off. That way, once he was permanently out of the picture, Harry would never be able to talk about it with anyone (accidentally or on purpose). I think Teddy was doing some important housework that night when he killed Harry.
Bringing Gal along made sure that Gal was implicated in the murder as well as a way of showing Gal how precarious his own life was with Teddy. It was a very serious reminder that Gal needed to keep information about it all to himself.
The orgy scene implied that Teddy and Harry had a sexual liaison. Again, it's open to interpretation, but I always figured Teddy let Harry have his way with him as part of the deal they made.
These are just my interpretations; others will always have their own.
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled by the last priest
Your message is reconfirmation that these matters in the film were probably meant to be left to the viewer's own interpretation of events.
share*Something* happened between Harry and Teddy, that's clear from the next scene after Teddy asks Harry, "Men, or women?" and Harry replies, "Oh...definitely." It shows Teddy at the end of a stroke, as it were, but it can't be seen whether he's...erm...pitching or catching, shall we say.
"But you can't have babies, Stan! Where's the foetus going to gestate? Y'gonna keep it in a box?!"
Teddy is catching and the banker is pitching. That was the way they got together and formed the bank job. Later the banker gets killed to tie up any loose ends, and to make a point to Gal that Teddy is prepared to do heavy work.
"Remember, you have to make it home to get paid" (The Dogs of War)
Teddy is catching and the banker is pitching.No. The scene is too ambiguous to be sure and it was meant to be that way.
Teddy is on his hands and knees grimacing, what's ambiguous about that?
"Remember, you have to make it home to get paid" (The Dogs of War)
britinthehat
It’s not clear what Teddy's hands are on. Being on his knees; this is an act couples whether homosexual or heterosexual can perform with both people on ‘all fours’.
Teddy's grimacing; is he sadist or a masochist... or both? We don't know because it’s not made clear but a twisted character like Teddy’s could easily be both so it’s something that needs to be taken into consideration when examining this particular scene but I’m not going to get bogged down in the semantics of it.
I’d suggest you watch the scene again and would hope if you do, you’ll see it’s plain Teddy could be ‘pitching’ or ‘catching’ as another poster has already suggested elsewhere on these boards.
I’m not discounting the possibility Teddy’s ‘catching’... yes, he could be but the scene is ambiguous and for those wishing to pick it apart – which I believe it has been; I’m sure this discussion has already taken place elsewhere on these boards – we’ll only go around in circles making the same inconclusive speculation about something that’s inconsequential in terms of the film’s overall narrative.
Whatever you think the filmmakers brought to the screen, remember that you only get out of a film what you bring to it.
Suicide, it’s a suicide
Yeah, Critical is spot on. I'm just watching it now and rewound that scene a few times to try and figure out exactly what was going on. They went through a lot of trouble to make that scene hugely ambiguous. My guess was that he was receiving but in that position he could easily have also been giving to someone underneath him.
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