MovieChat Forums > Marked for Death (1990) Discussion > Ten dollars remark near the end?

Ten dollars remark near the end?

posted 13 years ago by tp320
2 replies | jump to latest

Okay, so I've seen this dozens of times. Easily one of the greatest action films of all time! Fast, violent, great score (unreleased, of course), brilliant villain, no unnecessary romance between Seagal and Pacula and no padding at the end. Once the goal has been reached, it's time for end credits. Great stuff. Always preferred invincible Seagal to action guys who pretend like they're in danger but then win. Seagal just does the job oozing confidence and even arrogance and I love it!

But that's a matter of opinion. Here's the thing I'm wondering... Before going to the meeting near the end, Hatcher asks Charles in the van if he delivered his message and then offers ten dollars. To whom? And why? To Charles for delivering the message? But it's Max who says it ain't over yet and Hatcher then asks one of them (which one?) if this guy (who?) ever pays him (who?) on time. This is played like a humorous scene, a quick and fun throwaway line, but what's the meaning? I'm not from the US so is this some inside thing?

This is probably something really obvious and I feel like an idiot, but seriously, I just don't get it. I haven't noticed anything earlier in the film to explain it, either. Why ten bucks and to whom and for what?

[–] the_bamboo_spear 13 years ago

Basically, Charles approached the Jamaicans and told them to leave town. Hatcher and Max had a bet about what the response would be - I'm assuming Hatcher said they would refuse, and Max said they would leave. So Charles confirmed what Hatcher had predicted, and Max didn't want to pay him yet because they still hadn't shown the severed head, which I'm guessing Max thought would get them to leave, and he could get his 10 bucks from Hatcher.

I didn't get it either at first, until I watched it with the DVD subtitles on.

[–] tp320 13 years ago

That makes sense, thanks. The way it was subtitled here was that Hatcher's "Ten dollars"-line became "Here's your ten dollars", so I was left with the impression Hatcher was offering ten bucks to someone (either to Max for winning a bet or to Charles for delivering the message and now wanting him out of danger). Instead, he wanted ten bucks from Max for winning the bet. But it is a bit vague, though. And rather premature for Hatch to demand the money, since the Jamaicans had just agreed to the meeting and said that business is business.

Now, as it happened, Screwface 2 kinda screwed up the bet, didn't he? Perhaps we need a sequel to settle the winner? And, as an added twist, we could find out in the end that they indeed WERE triplets. However, no-one could come up with a way to top Screwface 2's death, so around the 85min mark, the film would turn into Blair Witch-style and follow the footage from Hatcher's night vision goggles and just when he sees Screwface 3 somewhere, there's a "battery low"-text, the screen goes black and end credits roll...