emigran
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The most frightening thing in that picture was Stanwyck's wig.
LOL and TRUE... what were they thinking...
The most frightening thing in that picture was Stanwyck's wig.
Sheridan Whitehead.
Not really a 'bad guy,' but Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) from Jaws (1975). He is such a pig-headed, know-it-all politician. I've seen the movie dozens of times, and I just wanna slap him every time I see it.
I agree - he's not evil so much as he is stupidly selfish and also a classic tribalist. He so identifies with his tribe - the going concerns of Amity as a summer vacation island - that he can't see the true danger / can't make a rational and objective decision. If he could, he would never have let his own kids in the water - that's how I knew he was a stupid, banal tribalist and not a truly evil man. When Brody shakes him down to get his signature to hire Quint - the character of two men - a spineless tribalist and a will-do-what-needs-to-be-done rationalist - couldn't be more on display. What a great movie.
He really had no easy way out, though. Either choice he made about the beaches would not have had as positive effect on the town. If he left the beaches open and a shark ate someone (else), the tourists would've fled in droves. If he closed the beaches, his town would have a very tough off-season, financially.
Even at the town meeting, it was apparent many, if not most of the townspeople were of the impression that the beaches should remain open (the women who asked him directly about the beaches was speaking for the town, cinematically).
Of course, the correct decision was obvious - close the beaches and hire Quint. But as in real life, sometimes it takes multiple catastrophes to get anything done.
I agree with everything you wrote and would aver that you hint at a very good definition of a hero. A hero would have made the hard / unpopular decision to close the beaches and save the lives of those the shark would possibly kill. He would have stood up to those townspeople that wanted the beaches kept open, even if it cost him his job. A hero's moral compass is set by objective values of right and wrong and he / she will take on popular opinion / will fight against the odds for what he or she believes is right.
I agree - he's not evil so much as he is stupidly selfish and also a classic tribalist. He so identifies with his tribe - the going concerns of Amity as a summer vacation island - that he can't see the true danger / can't make a rational and objective decision. If he could, he would never have let his own kids in the water - that's how I knew he was a stupid, banal tribalist and not a truly evil man. When Brody shakes him down to get his signature to hire Quint - the character of two men - a spineless tribalist and a will-do-what-needs-to-be-done rationalist - couldn't be more on display. What a great movie.
What moves the needle to morally bankrupt is when he tips his hand and orders the body of the Tiger shark destroyed to prevent an autopsy that would prove that it was the man-eater.
Dr Christian Szell from The Marathon Man