It's a stupid movie, but I'll disagree anyways. Killing someone, even if they are a "psychopath", isn't all that easy, practically or psychologically. Killing someone at close range, hand to hand, is particularly unpleasant. And besides, Mitch was stupid, unreasonably stupid, in the last scene. All he would have had to do is get his hands on a decent weapon of opportunity (a lamp is one of my favorites in a house. A can of oven cleaner works well too) and Slim's little duke-it-out fantasy would have been over.
Best bets for dealing with psychopaths:
1) don't deal with them at all. Avoid them.
2) get away from them as fast as you can if you ignore #1. Get them out of your life.
3) get the police/law involved and get their behavior documented if you ignore #2. The cops are paid to deal with psychos (and they usually deal with them 2 or 3 on 1).
4) go for the most convenient weapon available if you ignore #3 and hope you get a sympathetic jury.
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caramelflava313
17 years ago
Exactly how do you pinpoint a psychopath? They don't exactly shout it from the rooftops.
Your little list here is exactly what the character in the movie did (Excluding number one, because you can't tell just by looking at someone rather or not they are a psychopath), except #2 & #3 are reversed.
Homer: [after hitting a deer statue] D'oh!
Lisa: A deer!
Marge: A female deer!
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TeaBunny
17 years ago
How long exactly before Mitch "turned" into a nutcase? Gracie was what, 4 years old? I know Ginny said in the movie that men can turn suddenly after years or whatever, but really? Perhaps when he threatened the older man into selling his house ("A psychopath can make you miserable every day until you sell") should have been a hint to Slim. Instead of standing there smiling, she should have thought "That was the wrong thing to say." Unless she couldn't hear him.
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"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes
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caramelflava313
17 years ago
She couldn't hear him. He kind of said it in a movie-styled "hushed" tone, to show the audience that something wasn't quite right with him, and to show how oblivious Slim was.
Homer: [after hitting a deer statue] D'oh!
Lisa: A deer!
Marge: A female deer!
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tommythegun
17 years ago
You can tell by people's behavior. How do they treat others? Do they seem to care about other people's needs and desires or only their own? Psychopathology is a personality disorder in which the psychopath is indifferent to the rights of others and violates said rights for their own benefit. The problem is that people often want to see things in the other person that aren't there, or ignore their own instincts about someone in the hope that they'll change or that they really aren't that bad.
My personal test is to see how people treat service people. (at stores, restaurants, etc.) Rudeness is a bad sign.
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