Letter Clue Errors? Spoilers!

James Mason was positioned under the 'S' because he was the holder of the 'Shoplifter' card. Raquel Welch was positioned under the 'H' because she was holding the 'Homosexual' card. But on the first night of the game, both she and James Mason knew that the person they were looking for - the Shoplifter - was actually her, since she'd once been arrested for shoplifting, and he'd bailed her out.

Raquel Welch was in the unique position that first night to know what the game was really about, since they were looking for the Shoplifter, and her secret card said "You Are A Homosexual," something she knew about another member of the group. For the first half of the film, that person's identity is kept secret: Raquel Welch secretly meets 'X' on the deck late that night to talk about her misgivings, and tells 'X' about her own arrest for shoplifting. "But it's not just me..." She holds out her card, where we can see "Homosexual" written on it. "And I thought of you..."

If you're watching closely, and you know what to look for, your clue for the identity of the 'Homosexual' is seen at Tom's & Lee's house, where a photo of Tom and Clinton at the golf course shows the two standing a little too close.

During the denouement, Mason made the point that the card couldn't have been 'Hit-and-Run Killer' because it didn't begin with an 'A.' The lines go something like this (bear with me; I'm going by memory):

"I remember something else about that first day, Tom - you crumpled your card. This card" - (holding the 'Hit-and-Run Killer' card) - "is smooth. That was dumb, Tom."

Mason continues: "What did your original card say? Let's see - something about Lee, something that begins with 'A'... 'Adulterer'? No, that's you. 'Alcoholic'? That's a secret; not too light, not too heavy. After all, Clinton was only a minor-league sadist; he only wanted to make us uncomfortable. You made it more than that; you killed him."

You see, that original card would have to have been 'Alcoholic' and not 'Adulterer' because it's the card Tom was holding, and one never held one's own secret: the 'A' card would have to have had a secret corresponding to someone other than him. Lee was an alcoholic, something Clinton knew. But he never knew that Lee had been the one to kill Sheila; Tom only guessed because he'd read the billing statement from Harry's Rent-a-Car, a piece of knowledge he'd placed in Clinton's mouth when imitating him from inside the priest's box: "Harry's Rent-a-Car in Las Vegas. I happened to meet Harry."

§« The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. »§

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