MovieChat Forums > Grand Canyon (1992) Discussion > Questions about the schizophrenic homele...

Questions about the schizophrenic homeless guy

posted 12 years ago by vinidici
9 replies | jump to latest

What in the world is he mumbling about when Claire runs into him during her jogging session? And why does she act so shocked after the encounter? Is this scene some kind of hint that he's the father of the abandoned baby? But how would he have anthing to do with the infant that Claire found and later adopted? Anyone as far gone as THIS guy was could hardly be in any position to sire children, let alone to be enough of a fixture in any of his (hypothetical) offsprings' lives that he would have any ability or occasion to place an (his?) infant where Claire would find the child.

I'm trying to understand this. WAS the homeless guy the likely father of that baby, and could it be that he had seen Claire enough times during the course of her daily jogs that he, being just lucid enough to know he cannot be a fit parent to the baby, would place the child in Claire's known path?

Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!

[–] footsperry 12 years ago

imho, this guy was not directly connected to the baby.
He is part of craziness of life that Claire spoke about, and also part of what so often she and others were oblivious to, never thinking about this kind of living in their town.

[–] viewpertuis 11 years ago

Among the jumble of random phrases coming from this guy was, "Keep the baby."

That's what spun her around.

[–] catbookss 10 years ago

Yes. He said "Keep the baby" and I believe went on to add "He needs you as much as you need him."

[–] frogca 11 years ago

Where do you get that he was schizophrenic? Sheesh.

[–] TopFrog 11 years ago

Given that a significant percentage of homeless people are schizophrenic, why would you think otherwise of an unkempt homeless man who walks along muttering gibberish to himself?

[–] frogca 11 years ago

>Given that a significant percentage of homeless people are schizophrenic, why would you think otherwise of an unkempt homeless man who walks along muttering gibberish to himself?

I have never heard anyone claim such a percentage before. I have no reason to think it's true of the many homeless people I've seen. Few are having psychotic episodes.

[–] TopFrog 11 years ago

It's often stated that one-third of the homeless are schizophrenic or manic-depressive. See, e.g., mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html. A review of various studies produced a weighted average of 11% of the homeless being schizophrenic, reaching the conclusion that schizophrenia "is much more prevalent among homeless persons than in the population at large." www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12059843.

[–] frogca 11 years ago

Interesting. It wouldn't lead me to assume anyone muttering and homeless is schizophrenic, though. Not that I even noticed the guy muttering, anyway. Thanks.

[–] Razzbar 10 years ago

Sure, a lot of homeless people have mental illness, including schizophrenia, and many more have personality problems, but are not necessarily mentally ill.

But you can't make a diagnosis based on a few seconds in a couple of scenes. You're way over-analyzing the story. For the movie's purposes, he was just a scary guy from the other side of the Canyon.