MovieChat Forums > The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) Discussion > I have a question about one scene!

I have a question about one scene!

posted 13 years ago by Zombie55
7 replies | jump to latest

Do you remember the part involving the overturned car and that dead alligator apparently, remember when Cage's character approaches that uniformed cop and asks his to sort out a friend's driving license problem?

First of all, what kind of LAW-BREAKING action was Nicolas Cage asking that man to perform and more to the point, HOW was it illegal that he angrily replied with "Are you askin me to break the law?"

I mean, he just asked him to help sort out a friend's driving license problem? And if it really was illegal and stuff, then may I ask, was there perhaps a safer, more legal way the matter could've been resolved and sorted out?

On a side note, in life, how do you prevent having the kind of driving license problem that a person had that Cage was talking about, and if you HAVE got it, then how do you LEGALLY but EFFECTIVELY sort it out? In America, does anyone know?

Thanks!

[–] Promontorium 13 years ago

The implication of "sorting it out" was to make it disappear which is illegal. The guy gave him crap for it because he wasn't corrupt and was offended someone would just walk up and ask him to break the law.

The proper legal way to handle a speeding ticket in the U.S. is to either pay the fine, or go to court and argue why you shouldn't have to pay, then the judge will either clear the ticket or say you have to pay. The police aren't supposed to be involved after the ticket is written.

[–] Zombie55 13 years ago

Thanks! By the way, how much is the fine in the US for a speeding ticket?

[–] mamiwata 13 years ago

It depends on how fast the person was going, and it depends on where they live. Your question is like asking how much cars cost: there's a range.

The ticket could easily have been hundreds of dollars, especially if the person speeding made other errors. Also, some people need tickets to "go away" because too many tickets makes car insurance very expensive or almost impossible to get.

[–] Promontorium 13 years ago

I've got to bitch about my speeding ticket now.

I've received 1 speeding ticket in my life. I've been driving on streets for 15 years.

This ticket I received, I was definitely speeding. I was going 90mph (set on cruise control) in a 70 in the middle of nowhere down I-5 heading to San Diego. I don't mean nowhere as in simply no cities for miles around, but no people either. So it sucked getting pulled over out there, but when you're alone, you're most obvious I suppose. Anyway I was so surprised and nonchalant about getting the ticket (first one after driving a decade) I think the cop was shocked at my behavior, so he told me he wrote 80 instead of 90 so it wasn't a more serious offense (I'm pretty sure if I had been going 80 I wouldn't have been pulled over because everyone does 80, including me, all over the place).

Anyway I was in the Navy at the time and I was only in California for my mother's funeral. I was stationed in Japan at the time. So I found out I couldn't pay the ticket until the county I'd never heard of had processed the ticket. I went back to Japan. Eventually I transferred to a ship in San Diego and as of 7 months after receiving the ticket, the county STILL had not processed it, so I couldn't pay it. Then Bush ordered the "Surge" and off I went overseas again. When I got back I got the ticket with my mail, somehow they had managed to process the ticket immediately after I was deployed (8 months after receiving the ticket, and after trying to pay it several times) however because I'd been gone 4 months and I hadn't paid, I was now forbidden from paying the ticket as it was because of some bureaucratic bullsh!t and the fine had jumped hundreds of dollars. I tried contacting them but their automated systems wouldn't recognize my ticket number and I couldn't get any real people on the phone. I lived in San Diego on a ship and the county courthouse was in Middle-of-Nowhere valley California.

Eventually they sent the information to the DMV, suspended my license, and I had to pay almost $500 for the only ticket I had received in my life (first time pulled over too) just to get my license un-suspended thanks to the lazy jerks in Coalinga because they decided to process my ticket 8 months late while the Federal government had me doing war business.

You know what, I applaud any cop who'll make a ticket disappear. That wasn't punitive, that was a miscarriage. F%ck the courts, and f$ck speeding tickets. Driving 90 in the middle of nowhere wasn't threatening anyone, it's not dangerous. I don't drive dangerously, that's why I never got any other ticket. But technically I did break the law and I was perfectly willing to pay it. Totally f-ed up. Oh and the point or points drove up insurance costs. Just keep taking my money douchebags.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 13 years ago

In the UK, trying to "square" a ticket is a very serious offence known as Attempting To Pervert The Course Of Justice and would lead to the sacking (definitely) and jailing (possibly) of the officer(s) involved.

It wasn't always so, and I can see the arguments on both sides. If you have a friend who is in a certain profession, is it morally wrong to ask them to do you a favour? If you have a friend who sells carpets, is it wrong for him to give you a discount when everyone else pays full price? I would never argue that criminal offences such as theft or assault be squared, but it used to be that traffic matters were "fair game", and your friend could make a phone call to make things right for you. The police in the UK now bend over backwards to show that all is fair and above board, following some corruption scandals and miscarriages of justice.

Incidentally, the word "squared" has Masonic connotations. A Freemason is referred to as being "on the square" - Freemasons in the police were notorious for doing favours for each other, and for non-police Masons, so I wonder if that's where it came from.

Finally, the "straight" cop in this incident in Bad Lieutenant was depicted as a humourless stuffed shirt, whereas Cage's character was a freewheeling anti-hero. I know my reaction was to think "Come on, give the guy a break, do a fellow officer a favour".

Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!

[–] Zombie55 13 years ago

OK, I'm aware that this law exists and I'm not trying to deny it.

But can I ask, out of sheer curiosity, if MORE police officers, whether in America or otherwise, were FOR "squaring" a ticket, regardless if it was still considered a criminal offense, would there be MORE dangerous hazards/drivers on the road do you think and would it lead to MORE road-related accidents as well as fatalities?

In other words, if we go back to this film, do you think that this cop who refused (the one who said "Are you asking me to break the law?") Cage's offer was correct NOT ONLY from the pure "it's illegal so I won't do it and will give you s**t for it in an angry way" but also from the "I'm a concerned, moral citizen and my main concern is for the people's lives on the roads at steak" sort of way, despite giving the impression that he refused mostly for the former instead of the latter? I am just interested in your opinion on this!

Because if you AGREE that officers who square tickets are not only guilty of breaking the law but also put the lives of other road users at risk, then I am very happy to agree with the fact that such law exists and is for the good of everybody rather than just a few words written on paper for the other forces to control us!