The marine...
Did they reference his friend joining the marines? Was this from the book or something they just added in?
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You did just fine, Clarence. Now go git yo'self some hot cornbread!
After graduation, his friend says that they are shipping out for boot camp the very next week. That is how he convinces him to go out that night to party.
shareFor some reason, he's a replacement of Mrs. Phipps, Charlie's techer from the book. His role in the movie gives us a valuable lessen: Never have friends (i.e. sending Charlie and Sam to their "near" deaths). Had this movie followed the book more closely (with Sam and Charlie coming from a baseball game), Then I would not have to worry about it.
shareThe thing I didn't understand is that Charlie didn't realize he was talking to a dead person when he was talking to his friend. If he worked in the grave yard all that time and he was good friends with the guy wouldn't he have heard about his friends death? It seemed like a small town. Surely he would have probably even been at his friends funeral? Doesn't make sense.
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Oh I didn't catch that. I guess because I didn't realize he was dead until we saw him talking to him through his friends eyes and he was the only one there. I just assumed Charlie didn't know either.
shareI'm pretty sure he did know he was dead. Once he turned around and recognized his friend. He tells him something about "everyone looks better after" while referring to a mutual friend who got killed in a mine blast. Charlie gets it; after he "died" he has one foot in the live world and one in the dead world so he can see both.
I suspect that encoutering a ghost is similar to having a dream. I don't know about you, but I often dream of people who in real life are dead. And in those dreams I forget that they are dead.
One thing I noticed when I watched this film yesterday was that the ghost of the marine lieutenant seemed awfully young. He appeared to be about 16-17. I suppose this is unavoidable if the part is to be played by the same actor (Sully at age 17 and also as he would have appeared at the time of his death).
for some reason, when charlie said "everyone looks better after," i assumed it was in response to his friend saying the mutual friend's body looked a mess. i thought charlie was reassuring the friend that the mortician made everyone look good, regardless of how they died.
share"The thing I didn't understand is that Charlie didn't realize he was talking to a dead person"
Yes, he did; he just didn't make a big deal out of it. I think he was standing next to his Marine friend's grave, but I'm too lazy to get the DVD out and check.