MovieChat Forums > RonC > Replies
RonC's Replies
Agree re Madolyn/Costigan - he liked she wasn't a BSer.
There does seem to be a bit of surrogate-fathering going with Costello - though he's ultimately more paternal with Bill than Colin. He tells Bill he should wise up and go back to school (perhaps a lingering indication of his respect for Bill's father, who wasn't a crook) but with Colin, he's happy just to use him for dirty work (and keep him in the dark about things).
Agree re Dignam. He and Queenan certainly make a good cop/bad cop duo!
Agree re the Baldwin character. I guess he was another kind of cop to see besides the dedicated, the crooked and the hotheaded.
I didn't get the impression Costello molested Colin either, it's a theory that some have proposed. Costello didn't seem to really love anyone (Billy in a fatherly sort of way perhaps).
Colin seems at times to be protesting too much sexually - making a show of wolfwhistling at the woman in the office when his friend is watching, going on about how the firemen footballers are "a bunch of homos". I think he took Baldwin's advice re marriage helping career. Maybe Madolyn seemed convenient and a challenge ( he's conning people anyway, why not try it with her? She's nearby, she's good looking and bright and like him has to keep secrets, she's a "catch") though it's interesting he doesn't want her stuff in their apartment (for her safety in case Frank and the boys pop around? for his if word gets out about what she does working with police - too close for comfort?).
He might be closeted even to himself, of course, as you say. We do know had trouble performing sexually with Madolyn which might also be a sign of the stress he's under: Billy, otoh is more obviously stressed out but seems to have no problem having sex with her. And I agree, Billy is very probably the baby's father. At least Madolyn has a decent job to help support herself and the baby (I wonder if she had a life insurance policy on Colin...).
I agree Madolyn was unlikely to compromise like Kay, just a possibility to raise - I guess as someone used to working with police and ex-cons, she would have an interest in keeping the system clean ("sometimes people do get better"). She was, as you say, tough and gutsy and it seemed like Costigan recognised this (and of course didn't know about Colin) and respected her for it as well as falling for her. He needed to be able to trust somebody and with Queenan gone there weren't a lot of options.
Both he and Colin seemed to be quite alone: we don't hear anything as far as I recall about Colin's family, only surrogate "father" Costello. And as we know, Costello trusted Billy more than Colin. Billy's only other family we see is his aunt and cousin (and the latter is bad news, especially for someone raised to be honest).
Interesting re Dignam - yeah, in his new role he can just let rip,as you say, often for strategic purposes. Though picking a fight in public with Costigan probably goes a bit too far.
Agree re the rat problem. You would likely need to get someone completely from outside to try to sort through things, and that would take a lot of time to organise and get them up to speed, and would be obvious.
Am I being too harsh in judging Alec Baldwin's character as complacent and overly cynical about the job? He has little confidence in the police's ability to stop Costello ("marginally disrupt", ha ha). He certainly doesn't seem to be unduly concerned about the rat: even when Colin asks about the files and Baldwin refuses to give them to him )"You WANT those files"), it doesn't seem to raise the faintest suspicion about Colin in him. I don't think he's necessarily corrupt, but he doesn't seem terribly effectual.
What do you think about the speculation about Frank molesting Colin and/or Colin being gay/unable to conceive and/or the implication Madolyn's baby might be Billy's not Colin's? The last would seem to be a reasonable inference.
Thanks - interesting discussion. Agree re Costigan's final plan (which did work insofar as he exposed Colin posthumously: interesting that Colin gave Costigan the posthumous recognition he deserved and arguably Costigan ensured Colin would get what HE deserved...Just as well Madolyn was a good person (she might have done the Kay Corleone/Godfather thing and just lived with her husband despite her knowledge).
Dignam is said to have done "extensive" undercover work by Alec Baldwin's character when the latter is introducing him to the squad (before their foulmouthed macho banter). How such a hothead could have coped with the pressure that undercover work would entail is an interesting question (maybe he'd been bottling it up for years and his manner was his way of letting it all out...). He didn't seem to be doing undercover work now, agreed.
I know Colin was thought to be the golden child, but still, even Queenan (who seemed pure as the driven snow) could be tailed without anyone questioning it.
Dignam seemed to dislike Colin instantly on general principle - maybe suspicious of his fair-haired child status - and when he's not fighting with Billy, Dignam does at times reveal a grudging respect for the guy (SATS, "We need you pal").
I agree re Queenan and Dignam would not be expected to both be away but still, they ARE both cops, a dangerous line of work. And after Dignam walks out, there's only Queenan. Poor Costigan - the joys of being a pawn of the bureaucracy.
I was asking more about Colin Sullivan in terms of the police investigation. Everyone should've been investiaged and the too-complacent Ellerby would've been the obvious choice. Colin was lucky that Ellerby was so trusting - as was Costello with Bill but as you say there are reasons for this. Any ideas about my other questions? :)
I did think the Tobey Maguire films were good (that infamous silly emo dance aside) - I just wasn't sold on his performance. Peter even in the comics was good-looking, hardly a stereotypical nerd. Peter was flawed - remember how he used his powers for money and showing off and then his uncle was killed? And remained neurotic and haunted (how many times was comic-book Aunt May near death?). Thanks for not calling me a sock puppet. :)
He was dragging her towards the bedroom so it's not an unreasonable expectation. We know he was a sadist.
Sock puppet? Not me. What's wrong?
Matthew Broderick didn't give off much of an air of vulnerability or neurosis when young. Neither did Tobey Maguire (who seemed a little stiff and unemotional). Andrew Garfield (though perhaps a bit old) and Tom Holland were better - PP is supposed to be flawed and an angsty teenager.
I liked the review (online somewhere) that said it was like a cross between a fever dream and if David Lynch made a kiddie film...
It was apparently filmed a few years earlier - 1972, I think. Not sure why it took so long to release it.
Yeah, Gierasch never gave off an anti-Semitic vibe. I think all the adult characters you mentioned were sympathetic and some of the boys were too. David would have been OK.
Hahahaha. Might be in that porn movie playing where Frank and Colin met....
Why wouldn't Colin also be investigated when he was investigating everyone? Ellerby seemed a bit cynical and lazy as a cop, but surely it would be best to be thorough.
I also wondered how someone as hotheaded as Dignam would fare as an undercover - and why he was so hostile towards Billy, who was, after all, working for him.
And why there was no contingency in case Dignam and Queenan both died/quit/were away (as happened).
And why Billy didn't just leave the envelope, get his payout, keep his identity and THEN finger Colin.
Maybe Costello thought that with Billy's connections via family, he was more trustworthy than Colin. As you said, though, he was erratic, and probably figured his protection would save him.
Why wouldn't Colin also be investigated when he was investigating everyone? Ellerby seemed a bit cynical and lazy as a cop, but surely it would be best to be thorough.
I also wondered how someone as hotheaded as Dignam would fare as an undercover - and why he was so hostile towards Billy, who was, after all, working for him.
And why there was no contingency in case Dignam and Queenan both died/quit/were away (as happened).
And why Billy didn't just leave the envelope, get his payout, keep his identity and THEN finger Colin.
If he was a crim, maybe he felt by not ratting out Billy he would in a small way atone for the bad things he had done just as he was about to die. Sort of like a "deathbed conversion".