Loved movie except the scene . . .

I actually was thinking..."Punch that son of a bitch!"

I completely disagree. Pegram was the opposite of Woody, being a complete bear of a man, both physically and mentally. He was certainly what you'd call able-bodied. Most of us have a code against hitting old men, but we've seen videos of and Vietnam vets who might have their pants hiked up to their chest, but got provoked by the young and stupid and made them pay dearly. We probably all know some tough old guys who could still thrash men a third their age. The punch might not be something to admire per se, but it was absolutely essential to the story. He's come to understand his father, and the constant mockery is too much to put up with in that moment.

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F that, he deserved it. Maybe a light slap would've been better so you don't kill the old man. Otherwise that ahole was making fun of his mother too.

I guess you know Bob,if I see you again I'll just start shootin and figure it's self defense. -Bill

*Spoiler ahead*

Totally agree, that scene and to a lesser extent the climactic drive along the street (where all the key characters just happen to be there at that precise moment) spoiled the film for me. I actually couldn't believe this was nominated for best picture?

I wonder when films will stop portraying a punch as a harmless dramatic statement. There are so many 'one punch kills' these days that it seems reckless of films to perpetuate the myth that they are harmless. Soberly punching an elderly man for being a bit of an a-hole is just ridiculous.

And yes, I know I'm taking it a little too seriously but I genuinely believe that people have this particular act of violence normalized by cinema and TV it's sad to see it carrying on.

Are you kidding? 70 years old or not, he called his mother a bitch right in front of him (that's probably when he should have hit him the first time). Then he tries to take advantage of his dad, AGAIN, then he tries to extort him, then he humiliates him. The fcker got off easy. He should have been curb stomped.

HARUMPH!

Listen, I'm as much of a pacifist as the next guy, but my dad was somewhat like this. Not full-blown Alzheimer's or anything, or even partially-blown, which I think Woody had in the movie, but my dad was on the internet in his 80s. He didn't immediately get that there really wasn't a Nigerian prince who wanted to send him money, or that Bill Gates wasn't going to give him a million dollars for forwarding this email to everyone he knows.

And if someone was talking that kind of sh!t about my old man, in public, ridiculing him, I don't care if he's 22 or 72, he's going down. Sometimes violence is the answer. And that guy deserved to get punched out like few others in the history of the world.

Having said that - and I'm only kidding a tiny little bit - do you see that for some significant portion of the population, that WAS the appropriate response? You might disagree personally because of your own ethical/philosophical reasons, but do you see that others would and do agree with that action? So, no, it was not a weak moment in the script. It was a justified moment in the script. Again, you disagree, and that's fine, but there are plenty of others who would agree with it. In fact, when I saw David turning away without punching him, I said out loud, "Aw, come on! Punch him!"




I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

Agreed with the OP. The punch, and the silly scene where the brothers hide from the clueless old couple after returning their air compressor were the only eyeroll moments in the flick, in my opinion-- loved it otherwise. The punch scene was just an awful choice to throw into the movie.. ludicrous on top of being despicable and out of character. The only consolation is that Stacy Keach is pretty far from a frail old man and could certainly take a punch.