MovieChat Forums > 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) Discussion > Was Murphy so mean?

Was Murphy so mean?

posted 21 years ago by ManonMoon
14 replies | jump to latest

I´ve seen the film now 3 times and the more I see it, the more I ask myself if Murphy was really such a bad guy? What would he have done if Christian Slater´s character had sticked to Murphy´s rules? Maybe they all simply would have shared the money and lived in peace.
I mean it looks as if Murphy is an evil guy but he has his principles. Why did he insist that the gangsters did not share Frankin´s part of the money? And why did he have such a good relationship to the pilot? I think that he is a criminal but I don´t think that he is a greedy and crazy psychotic.
Any other opinions?

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] 21 years ago

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[–] Simmonz 21 years ago

Murphy was one of those characters that I just couldn't decide to like or hate. On one hand, he double-crossed his partners, murdered an old man, killed a gas station owner, killed Jay Peterson, and killed a *beep* load of law enforcement officers. On the other hand, he had a meaningful relationship with Jack, helped out that girl at the gas station, let Jesse go at the end, and covered him, and tried to help Franklin. I hated him at times, and rooted for him other times. He was funny as hell, like after he kills the old man, and took his team spirit. Quite a more complex character than he appears. I think he had a part of him that was mean, but he also had a caring side, its just the mean side dominated him.

[–] Kanobd 21 years ago

murph was a great character,

[–] bout15 21 years ago

That's what made him such a good badguy. He's just a regular goodhearted bastard son of Elvis.

[–] sniktawt 21 years ago

Best Performance of Costner's career and quite possibly the best Villain of 2001.

[–] flickfiend 20 years ago

If you think his performance in this flick was good, try checking out "A Perfect World"- in it he plays another deranged type only, to me, with way more depth and subtlety.

[–] kmdw 20 years ago

Maybe you need to watch it one more time if you don't think he was greedy. He didn't split up Franklin's share because he wanted it for himself, he even said so. Who's to say what would have happened had Hanson stuck to the rules, but based on what happened to the other two partners, he would've probably been shot anyway. Gus and Michael had no problems at all with letting Murphy keep Franklin's share and he still double-crossed them. Where are his principles now?

[–] metallica72487 17 years ago

it was murphs deal maybe he was being greedy but he pretty much had no choice but to kill hanson because hanson was just going to take his cut and leave and he couldnt let him do that because the money had to be laundered and if he had left he would have got caught and ratted all of them out to get a reduced sentence or something and hanson kept proviking him and murph was crazy thats why he shot him i imagine he decided to shoot gus and michael mostley because he didnt trust them i dont think its what he originaaly intended to do but things started coming undone and he pretty much lost it

[–] Grey_Squirell 17 years ago

yeah!

[–] RabbitMayhem 17 years ago

He was evil.

Have you guys seen MR. BROOKS?

He's not so mean, but very disturbed.

[–] lightfootsalive 17 years ago

Re: Franklin's share...why did they even divide it up to begin with? They knew they had to launder the cash in Idaho, so what's the point of making 5 piles of cash? I'm not sure what Franklin's relationship to Murphy was, but Jack had saved Murphy's life years earlier, so that's where that loyalty was from.
And if Christian Slater hadn't gotten greedy and wanted his share right then, maybe the gang would've stayed together till the final split. But that wouldn't have been as exciting. It also showed that Murphy wouldn't take any crap from anyone. Once he started killing fellow robbers, he even shot Kurt Russell!

"You want a jelly sandwich?"
"Yeah!"

[–] lord_zeratul86 17 years ago

People believing Murphy to be a "honorable" criminal please reconsider or watch the movie.

Hanson wanted the money to be divided in four ways BUT Murphy wasn't going to take Franklin's pile and give it to Franklin's relatives or anything... it was only a pretext to make sure that would cause havoc.

Murphy called Hanson a pork but in truth he intended to shoot to hell all of his associates.

Remember when he talks to Jack in the phone while in prison, he says to his partner that "things got a little pushed" Jack knew all along they were going to double-cross the gang.

Besides, Murph was an egocentric greedy man because he did shoot his partners who followed him (Gus and Michael Zane)

[–] SonnyNStitch626 16 years ago

I think Murphy became a hard ass criminal because he felt he was never acknowledged as Elvis' son. Where was his Mom in all this, I wonder. Was he on his own on the streets from a kid? IDK. But when his criminal record was being read, it started w/ him trying to break into Graceland. Then they went into how he believed he was Elvis' son & the inconclusive test. He's just a bitter, pissed off son of The King w/ Daddy issues.~SonnyGal~"MY BUSINESS IS TO CREATE"