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Question

posted 16 years ago by KDCobain6794
4 replies | jump to latest

I've viewed this movie several times on Starz but I have never been able to catch the very beginning of the movie. The earliest I have seen is when they're in the frat house and Judd Nelson's parents surprise him with a visit.

I have some nagging questions because I feel like I'm missing an important plot point. Are Gardner and Debbie ever together? Is there a scene in the beginning where Gardner's feelings for Debbie are actually shown? I assume there is because otherwise Gardner's feelings seem more like a crush than love. Finally, what is the importance of the red handkerchief?

I know all the questions can be answered by buying the movie but it's 12:45AM and I just finished it again and was wondering if anyone could help me out. Thanks. :D

[–] LaserDoug 16 years ago

I'll take a crack at this.. At the very beginning, there's a pic of her
up on a bulletin board, Gardners looking at it and say's something to
the effect that he's lucky he got away from her. As for the bandanna,
later on in the film in a dream sequence where Gardner is thinking of
his time with her, he's teasing her with it while chasing around in
a field, I'm guessing from that, at some point they had danced using
the bandanna much the way it was shown in the dream/dance sequence
at the wedding.
I'll try and watch it again this afternoon to see if I mangled that
badly and put up a correction if needed..

lb.

[–] Nikon11 16 years ago

Yeah, he's throwing darts at the picture on the dart board. He goes to the board and looks at the picture for a moment, and you can tell that he's thinking about her, and then says says something like, "Almost, darlin' - but not quite". And then he tears the picture in half (almost perfectly separating them, I might add), and crumples the half with her, I think, and throws it on the floor. (I think that the darts only hit him in the picture).

It's been a long time since I saw it, and a really long time since I first saw it. So, I can't remember when it is that we finally find out that Waggener's girlfriend is Gardner's old love. I remember being somewhat surprised, especially when you think about the scene with Waggener asking Gardner if he has any regrets about certain women. That really makes sense when you know - especially with the dream sequence right after that.

[–] transmentalist 15 years ago

Oh there's no question that Debbie's appearance at the landing strip is the first time the audience learns that she is "the girl" from Gardner's dreams. They even make a point of hiding her appearance when she first runs out to Truman's plane.

It really does add some poignancy to Gardner's choice to set up the wedding; throughout the movie, he'd been trying to get Kenneth to follow Gardner's own path: failing to graduate, dodging the draft, running out on Debbie. It's nice to see Gardner was, underneath it all, grown-up enough to realize Kenneth's path was different.

[–] one189teen50five 16 years ago

They're showing pure chaos in the house. Gardner Barnes is throwing darts at a picture of Debbie and himself. Then he rips his half off and joins the party.