His behavior at the beginning is pretty bizarre. What sane man would tell a complete stranger where his daughter is just because the stranger claims he'll grant him six wishes if he swallows some unknown object? Even the dumbest New Yorkers would never give in like that.
The novelization suggests Wolf has hypnotic abilities, which is also how he persuades Virginia's friend to divulge her location. That would be a reasonable explanation for Tony's bizarre behavior, but the film isn't clear about this.
It's true Tony makes a number of dumb decisions later on that can't be explained by his being under the influence of magic. But he acts smartly at other times: the way he solves the mystery in the sheep town, the way he guesses correctly that the queen may be able to see him and Virginia through Snow White's mirror, and the way he deals with the talking frog.
I'm reminded of something the fantasy writer Charles de Lint once wrote at the beginning of his novel Jack the Giant Killer, an update of the fairy tale taking place in modern-day Canada. De Lint described the character of Jack (the hero of at least three classic fairy tales) as "both foolish and clever."
I suspect Tony may be partly modeled on the character of Jack. The people who made this miniseries were obviously aware of fairy tales. "Jack and the Beanstalk" is clearly being referenced in the scene where Wolf tries to sell him the "bean." There are other references, too, like "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and in all of them Tony basically fills the role of the curious but naive child, despite the fact that he's an older man.
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nightbiker-1
14 years ago
Oh I dunno, I think there are a number of new yorkers who would be dumb enough to swallow that line (no pun intended).
But as for the Wolf, I figured he had hypnotic abilities anyway -how else would wolves have been able to fool people? Ie "wolf in sheeps clothing". Throughout fairy tales, wolves are cunning, and able to gain the trust of their would-be victims, so it made perfect sense if you thought about it.
But in any case, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said magic is involved (and since magic actually seems to work in the 'real world' portions of the movie, it is conceivable that it aided in making him a little dumb when required (at the beginning).
All in all, I really enjoyed the mini-series.
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