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redban's Replies
I don't think you can randomly pull some crooked cop out of the blue to serve as an alibi. The jury will obviously want to know how this cop knows Tommy and John in the first place, and it will be hard to conjure some fake story about how they met, etc. It will seem fake from the beginning, in other words. With Father Bobby, they actually knew him from a young age, so there was no lying there.
Really, Father Bobby was the only safe bet because of his background. Remember that this basketball story had several flaws:
1). He keeps the stub because, though nobody has ever doubted his words, "there's a first time for everything." Really?
2). Why didn't this basketball alibi ever appear until the final hearing? Why wouldn't Tommy & John tell the police and/or Dustin Hoffman from the start? Isn't it convenient that they produced this alibi at the very end?
3). He just happens to pay in cash? Really?
Father Bobby was a longtime priest who is well respected by the community. That quality allowed him to get the boys off the hook.
4) How does Ralph Ferguson not remember Michael, Tommy, or John? I mean, if he didn't recognize their faces, which he probably wouldn't because their adults now, he must at least recognize their names. Especially considering that Michael is the prosecutor of the case. Ferguson must have heard his name mentioned somewhere, and thought it odd that Michael would be trying to put Tommy and John away.
^^ Regarding this question,
He didn't remember initially because it was such a long time ago, and he probably abused several other boys. I think he did remember them eventually, as they show a shot where he looks at Tommy and John and, thereafter, sees them as children again.
The first part was clearly better than the second, but I think "boring as hell" is a tad harsh; it wasn't that bad.
Look at "The Magdalene Sisters" (2002). It has a similar story to this one, except the protagonists are female. Another one is "King of Devil's Island" (2010).
These movies don't center on revenge, but they're very similar in their portrayals of abuse in juvenile detentions.
What you say is true, but remember that the jury has to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (i.e. 100% certainty). The jury doesn't need to believe Father Bobby 100% to give a not guilty verdict; they just need a maybe. Father Bobby gave that maybe.
On one hand, John and Tommy never mentioned the basketball game prior, which is suspicious indeed.
On the other hand Father Bobby is longtime priest who is well-respected by the community, he has a trustworthy aura (masterfully portrayed by DeNiro), and he has ticket stubs. In addition, the witnesses for the prosecution (e.g. the woman at the bar, the guard as a character witness) are flawed. Father Bobby was really the best witness in the whole trial.
If you're juror, you have to give Father Bobby's testimony enough weight to carry a not guilty verdict.
At the restaurant, Kevin Bacon's character remembered John and Tommy when they told him their names. Why wouldn't the other guard remember likewise?
When Deacon goes to the church alone -- seeing the ghost of the dead priest, seeing the cassock with worms in it, finding the door, hearing the dead priest speak about somebody's eyes, etc.
Ready to Rumble
Yeah, the actor who played the father did a fine job. I was choking up during the vision in which they drive west.
In wrestling, they have these people called "jobbers" whose role is to lose matches in order to make other wrestlers look good.
English Bob was a jobber in Unforgiven. His role was to put over Bill.
He deserved nominations. I think they passed him over because he already had two Oscar (as well as multiple nominations). He didn't get nominated for "The Green Mile" too, if I remember correctly.
There was a scene where Tom Hanks was talking to the woman (his sister-in-law?) on the phone. Afterwards, they show Jude Law picking up the phone and saying, "Operator, I got disconnected. Can you reconnect me?"
Thereby, he found out where they were going.
He's also a professional assassin who has been doing this work for some time, so he probably investigated Hanks' life. It wouldn't be difficult for him to find out about the sister-in-law's place by the beach.