MovieChat Forums > Unlawful Entry (1992) Discussion > This movie pisses me off!!!

This movie pisses me off!!!

posted 15 years ago by Lincbond442
21 replies | jump to latest

I did not feel bad for the Kurt Russell character getting framed. He deserved it for being such a complete idiot! He listens to his idiot lawyer who tells him to pay off the cop, then he meets with him alone, not even one witness or someone to back him up! This is a crazy cop with a gun who he is confronting! Then he acts apologetic when he is talking to him! This cop just watched him in bed with his wife and he is apologizing to him? Have some self respect and some for your wife!

And how was the Ray Liotta character able to pull everything off! It seems like he controlled everything. The credit card companies, traffic enforcement, the legal system. He can even visit Russell in jail and torment him without anyone questioning why he is there. I know that some of this stuff could theoretically happen, but you also need a complete boob like Russell to let it happen.

And what's up with the wife? It seems like she gets off on having two guys fighting over her. Why the hell would she have coffee with the cop and then share intimate secrets about her marriage? It felt like she was baiting Russell and like the idiot that his character was, he fell for it. This could have all been nipped in the bud early on, but then we wouldn't have this movie that so many seem to enjoy.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Lincbond442 15 years ago

Thanks for responding to my post and for your insightful comments! My biggest gripes about this movie were that the Liotta character seemed to have carte blanche over everyone and the Russell character was not using his own common sense. These characters where created by male writers. Does this mean that the writers think men are "dumb"? Too bad there was not a woman involved in the writing of this story, it might have been a whole lot better. The Stowe character whould have definitely benefited from that.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Lincbond442 15 years ago

I just saw Ray Liotta recently in the film "Youth in Revolt" with Michael Cera. The funny thing is that he plays a cop who oversteps his boundries. Where have we seen this before? He shows up to a grieving womans's home and before too long is shacking up and taking showers with her. He verbally threatens her son (Michael Cera) and ultimately reports him to the police for starting a fire which burns down "Most of Berkley". While he plays a jerk in this role, he is nowhere as psychotic as he is in "Unlawful Enrty".

[–] BoSoxRule 15 years ago

What witnesses should Russell have had when he was meeting him to pay him off? His wife? And he apologized to him as a way to defuse the situation, when Liotta ignored him, that's when he tried to pay him off.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

[–] Lincbond442 15 years ago

By this point in the movie, it is clear that the cop is unstable and should be feared. Why would Russell meet with him knowing this, and also knowing that the chances are pretty good that the cop is carrying a gun? He should have never put himself in that situation. You already know he is going to get a beating from Liotta before it happens. Russell could have brought a friend with him or someone could have been looking out from a distance. They could have testifed about the assult committed on him.

Russell also knows that the cop is after his wife, not money. Why would he offer him money when Liotta has given no indication that he was after money. Money will not stop an obsessed stalker. Also, you do not want to be accused of offering a bribe to a police officer.

Why didn't Russell or his wife file a restraining order? If one person at the police station will not listen to them, go to another station. Talk to another person. They could have filed complaints to various agencies. Even if this cop is highly decorated, these are red flags that might prompt someone else to come forward who may have seen something unusual. There are many real-life accounts of highly decorated officers of the law commiting some very serious crimes.

Instead of buying a gun, why didn't Russell spend that money on a home surveilance system? This would have proved that Liotta planted the drugs in his house. Instead, Russell, who knew how his wife felt about guns, only alienated her by buying the gun. She felt even more unsafe after he purchased it. That might be why she turned to Liotta.

And don't get me started on Liotta controlling the credit card companies. This could have been a good movie if the situations were more believable.

[–] BoSoxRule 15 years ago

What he should have done is gone straight to the Internal Affairs Department about it, I will give you that.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

[–] tcw214 14 years ago

i agree.. but i have done one better.. i recorded a cop threating me. .. from 3 differnt camaras.

nothing like a huge F U! to a skumbag like that.

[–] mcfly-31 14 years ago

Largest thing being overlooked in this thread...

it's a movie. Writers exaggerate situations to advance plots.

And I love "if a female writer..." crap. Women are the fairer sex, therefore, more frightened, fearful, protective of themselves, etc. Kinda been goin' on for centuries. Heroines who kick ass don't exist. Well, maybe a lez.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] ChuckyDucky 12 years ago

Largest thing being overlooked in this thread...

it's a movie. Writers exaggerate situations to advance plots.

And I love "if a female writer..." crap. Women are the fairer sex, therefore, more frightened, fearful, protective of themselves, etc. Kinda been goin' on for centuries. Heroines who kick ass don't exist. Well, maybe a lez.

Is this what sarcasm has come to? Cheap shots and canned humour! Yeash! For your information, my unfunny friend, "heroines who kicked ass" existed long before Rome was a patch of land slaves spat on; and no, the pre-requisit for those traits did/do not rely on sexual preferences.

The list of women who literally and figuratively kicked ass is endless but for your uninformed eyes and ears, I'll give you but small sample:

1. Ching Shih (1785-1844) Cantonese
2. Hatshesut (c. 1520-1483 BCE) Egypt
3. Boadicea (d. AD 60 or 61) Welsh...during Roman Empire
4. Nanny of the Maroons (1685 –1755) Jamaica
5. Isabella of France (1295 – 22 August 1358) France
6. Emma Edmonds (1841-1898) Civil war soldier in the United States
7. Mary Elizabeth(1820-1913) Black Civil war spy in the United States
8. Lydia Litvyak (1921-1943) World War II-Fighter pilot Soviet Union
(There are pages upon pages of female Russian soldiers out there, man.)

And the list goes on and on. There are women from Pakistan, Instabul, Africa, London, Canada, India, Native Americans, Native Australians, etc...women have been holding their own long before the bible was written and then rediscovered and translated by King James; and I'm talking millions of women and no amount of socialization is going to stop women from doing (what they feel) they have to do (to survive). Anyway....

[–] baran_erik 9 years ago

Yes, there have been some "kick ass " females throughout history, but your average suburban soccer isn't one of them.

[–] activista 9 years ago

@mcfly

Oh, shut up, you sexist. Kick-ass heroines do exist in real life. The poster made that remark to say that a female writer would have made the female character a lot more realistic,that's all. Plus some male screenwriters (not all, but some) seen to have no idea how to write female characters outside of the typical wife/mother/girlfriend/good girl/bad girl stereotypes they Hollywood usually drops women in.

[–] anfinke 13 years ago

Jesusg442, you are getting a little too wound up about this. It's safe to say that as an office, Pete had more street smarts than Michael. What made Michael try to bribe him was pure desperation after Pete scared away his investors. The movie CLEARLY illustrated the importance of his major business deal going through. He obviously had a lot of money riding on it.

Cops are in a very powerful position and they can make your life hell if they really wanted to. I don't think Michael behaved in an unrealistic way. How many people in his position would be truly prepared to deal with a cunning psychopath with legal authority like Pete. Of course he will make some mistakes. It's called being a victim!

[–] baran_erik 9 years ago

He didn't try to bribe him, a bribe suggests he was offering something illegally or dishonestly. It was a request to leave him alone. If that was a bribe, you could say employers offer bribes to their employees.

[–] BoSoxRules 8 years ago

No, it was a bribe. Michael even calls it a bribe when Roger suggests paying him off: "Roger, as my lawyer you're advising me to bribe a police officer?"

[–] baran_erik 8 years ago

Offering money to a cop to leave him alone is not really a "bribe" in the way most people think of a bribe. There was nothing illegal in paying him off to leave him alone.

Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

[–] BoSoxRules 8 years ago

Fair enough, but Pete certainly took it as a bribe when he offered him the money:

"A bribe, Mikey?"

"Call it whatever you want, Pete."

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

anfinke, Liotta’s put on some weight, to be sure, but he’s not yet as big as an office.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Stratego (30582) 2 years ago

"And how was the Ray Liotta character able to pull everything off! It seems like he controlled everything. The credit card companies, traffic enforcement, the legal system. He can even visit Russell in jail and torment him without anyone questioning why he is there."

Yep, that bothered me as well. The movie really went downhill after Liotta shot his partner.

I don't get why Russell didn't try to at least record the conversation where he tried to buy off Liotta.