Was Nick such an innocent victim? - The Crush (1993) Discussion

[–] xPinkMagikx 19 years ago

x Oh come on... lol... Yeah maybe he was tempted becuz it was like *alicia silverstone* but the movie shows that she was pretty obsessed and abit of a pyscho... example1 : going into there bedroom to still a used condom....example2 : Locking the girlfriend in a photoroom and releasing bees.?
Yeah he really lead her on, and made her do all these crazy things,lol. x

reply

[–] neilcooper888 19 years ago

Lets not forget that at the start of the movie Nick chose to stay in that guest-house because he had seen Adrian/Darian out the front of the main house in her roller-skates when he almost ran into her with his car. I think the long lingering look he gave and then choosing to pick that PARTICULAR accomodation showed that he was certainly interested in her. Maybe only interested in LOOKING at her after finding out she was only 14, but interested nonetheless. I'm glad the director put this in, it may hint at his own small degree of culpability in the real life story this movie was based on.

reply

[–] Taironous 19 years ago

I havent seen this movie in bloody ages, but i remember a scene where he stops at a stop sign and close by are kids playing in the park and he just sits there starring at them and the guy behind him beeps at him. But i think while he was looking at the kids play, they reminded him that Adrian was just a kid too.

reply

[–] jkitteraljr 19 years ago

Look, I'm a man, and I say that Nick didn't do anything wrong!!! lol
Seriously, Nick was wrong by giving her the impression that if she was a few years older that he might have a sexual relationship with her. As a child (and highly disturbed), this gave her hope that she could convince him to look past her age. But Adrian was wrong in countless ways. First of all, she's a psycho. Secondly, she poisoned someone to death in the past, tried to kill Nick, his girlfriend, and Cheyenne, and attacked her own father. Thirdly, she made one of the most horrible accusations imaginable against Nick out of jealousy, obsession, and the desire to control his life. Nick saw that things were getting out of hand and tried to push her away, but she wouldn't stop. He might have used poor judgement on a couple of occasions, but he never crossed the line. She kissed him, not the other way around, and he couldn't close his eyes in the closet because he was hiding and had to be on the alert. She ended up exactly where she belonged. Unfortunately, this movie is unrealistic because in real life, Nick would have been ruined forever.

reply

[–] intensivecarebear 18 years ago

"she made one of the most horrible accusations imaginable against Nick out of jealousy, obsession, and the desire to control his life."

That happens a lot in real life - as someone who was once falsely accused of rape I know this all too well. Despite the mental illness issues, she knew full well what she was doing. I'm not condoning people guilty of rape/molestation/paedophilia when I say this, but countless men have had their lives ruined by false accusations, yet the law in most countries allows the alleged male offender to be named from the outset, and the female "victim" to remain anonymous for life, even if the accusation is later proved to be false.

reply

[–] jkitteraljr 18 years ago

I'm really sorry about that, man. Women are always crying about equality, but the system is already slanted in their favor. People tend to forget that a man who is falsely accused of rape is a victim too, and there needs to be laws to protect him as well as the victims of rape.

reply

[–] intensivecarebear 18 years ago

The alleged offender should be allowed to remain anonymous too, until it has been proven that s/he committed the offence.

What really angered me the most was that in order to prove my innocence I had to reveal a very personal fact about myself, and as a result this fact - which should have remained private in my view - became public knowledge and turned me into a laughing stock (bearing in mind I was 28 at the time six years ago). Yet even after it was proven there was no way I could have done it, the so-called "victim" is STILL allowed to remain anonymous, and did not even get charged with misleading the police, lying under oath or trying to pervert the course of justice!

While acknowledging that there are areas where women have still not quite gained equality, there are certainly some aspects of life where the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, and where women hold too much of an advantage.

reply

[–] amanda0392 18 years ago

also he denied the fact that darian had a crush on him, even though it was pretty obvious that she liked him if they kissed

reply

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 9 years ago

I'm a hetero girl and if I were Nick at the beginning, regardless of the girl, I would've stayed there too. The place was nice. Why do you think he stayed just because he had a lingering look?

Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel

reply

[–] Stacehoney72 17 years ago

1) He took her to the lighthouse and was not firm enough when they kissed.
2) He kept saying things like, "If only you were older..."
3) He claimed they'd always be friends, then turned around and rejected her. In Darian's eyes, Amy stole Nick from her.

i agree with you about those reasons, he shouldn't have led her on in the beginning, i guess he didnt know how she would be affected by him and only thought of her as a "kid." He wouldn't date a 14 year old.

reply

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] atticseethr 14 years ago

I am watching the movie now. I was a Clerk once, so I saw it back in the day of the VHS release also.

Let's get real people. All the evidence is in the movie. I hail the director for doing this one. Shapiro was brave, like Kubrick's Lolita. There could have been some uneasy soul searching they had to endure to shoot these pictures well, and without pushing the limits excessively, or gratuity.

These points might make some men uneasy to openly say what is honestly on their mind.

Ive kissed women in the spur of the moment, where one is almost hypnotized by beauty of looks, or words. Luckily all legal for me. What Nick did was forget that boundary, but only for a second. Darian is Very mature for her age inside, and out. She is also an old soul (no excuse, but truth). It was not right, yet Nick is only human. He was confronted with beauty. He pulled away in a reasonable time frame. He Did not do it because he is a letch. It was an honest mistake, I don't know if I could have done any better.

Saying things like "If you were ten years older..." is wrong. I think what he meant to do was to give a compliment to boost confidence. You look Pretty kind of thing.

Yeah, he saw her naked. He never manipulated the circumstance. He looked. Guess what. If it were me, I'd have too. I'm sorry, but that is the truth. We are all attracted to beauty. It's wrong, but really people. Alicia Freaking Silverstone? It would take a strong, or gay man.

All of this made Darian go Borderline Personality on Nick. Darian is a sick kid, but she has charisma, and brains. She was able to make people exist in her world, if only for a second. When she went manic, OMG. Jr. Fatal Attraction. I have BPD too. I know the scary firsthand.

I'm sorry about the frankness of this post, but you all were dancing around the obvious. Great thread. This is the point of the movie that I think the director stove for.

I think this was shot so well, it really makes us think about boundaries. This was a situation where 2 humans made errors (as we are human), and it went awry.

reply

[–] liberalblossom15 14 years ago

"You can't really ask Men this question (whether Nick is equally to blame), because they always stick together and defend each other against everything, even things that are definitely wrong. Or, perhaps they just don't understand why things are wrong (what Nick did). It's part of the male ego, they always think women are hitting on them and interested in them, even when they're not. Just ignore them altogether, and after a few months of only getting attention from their male buddies, they'll change their tune."

Wow, it's women like you who give feminists a bad name and give us the stereotype as "man-haters." There are quite a few decent guys out there, and much of the debate on this board is actually made up of some fairly intelligent males - not one of which has completely defended the actions of the character.

As for the thread - I think the point of the movie was to make you wonder. Nick wasn't completely innocent - and he was obviously tempted. I think the film did a great job of portraying his own inner battle about the situation. Adrian is a beautiful girl who looks and acts much older than she is, and he is often reminding himself of her age. Comments such as, "If only you were ten years older..." are evidence of this. He knows it's wrong to look and to want to touch, but part of him wants to, and I think he's ashamed of that. However, he definitely didn't deserve what happened to him, nor did Cheyenne or Amy. He may have made some mistakes which led her on, however unintentionally, but she was fully responsible for her actions as well, despite her mental illness.

"Well, *beep* me pink with a hairy arse!" - Kitten from "Breakfast on Pluto"

reply

[–] atticseethr 14 years ago

Well said. I wish I could have had the right words like you did.

reply

[–] simba122504 13 years ago

She was mentally ill. He did not lead her on. From what I understand, he did not try kill anyone or sleep with an underage girl, so how is he sick?

Clark's destiny = Superman, Lex Luthor & Lois Lane.

reply

[–] crh_2010 13 years ago

I knew people would say this, we live in a society where (men=evil women=good) and its assumed that women/girls would never lie about anything and that men are guilty even when proven innocent

"There are aspects, of my personality that I can't control"

reply

[–] blackberrybabe 13 years ago

While that is not always the case, you make a valid point. Remember the whole lacrosse scandal? A woman accused several guys on a lacrosse team of raping her. The truth that she lied did come out later, but unfortunately damage was already done. I saw through her lies from the beginning but that's because I'm an intelligent woman. I believe the men were invited back to their university (I forget where it was), but their lives will forever be tarnished.

Our fingerprints don't fade from the lives we touch--Remember Me

reply

[–] Tracey73 9 years ago

we live in a society where (men=evil women=good) and its assumed that women/girls would never lie about anything and that men are guilty even when proven innocent

As a 42 year old female, I 100% agree with you. There is a horrible double standard in our society when it comes to males being victims vs females being victims. Let's face it, if Nick was a female and Darian (Adrian) was a male, no one would even question whether she was responsible for a very intelligent, beautiful, spoiled, conniving 14 year old male stalking her and basically making her life a living hell.

Nick was a victim. Good Lord, she was stalking him, making his life a living hell, then falsely accused him of raping her. WTH??? How could anyone not think that he was responsible for all of that? Yes, he told her "if you were only 10 years older ..." So what? He was letting her down gently. What was he supposed to say, being that her father was his landlord?

We've all made at least one poor choice. Nick's poor choice was allowing her to kiss him. He stopped the kiss as soon as he realized it was wrong. Does this mean that he's responsible for her choice in making such a horrible false accusation against him? Absolutely not.

Just curious if some of you who think he's somewhat responsible for what happened - let's turn the tables ... If a female rape victim made out with her rapist (think of date rape) prior to him raping her, would SHE be somewhat responsible for what he did to her? NO. Victims are victims, regardless of their gender.

Just as rape is a horrible thing to do to another human, falsely accusing someone of rape is just as horrible. Even if you're acquitted, there will be some people who will still think you're guilty. Your mugshot and name is in the paper for your entire town to see. By most, you are already assumed guilty.

One more thing - Personally, I think she should have had her ass thrown in juvenile detention for a LONG time for making such a horrible accusation, but that's just my opinion.

The beauty is I'm learning how to face my beast ~ Blue October

reply

[–] elmonje07 13 years ago

Bottom line? Was Nick tempted? Yes, he was. Did he find Adrian attractive? Sure did. When she was roller-skating at the beginning of the film? When she was showing off her piano skills at the party? When she was lying out beneath his window in her bikini? When she dropped her robe, having deduced that he was in her closet? When she kissed him at the lighthouse? When she edited his article and impressed his new boss for him? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. You bet. All of the above. Do I blame him for being interested? No. I would've likely been interested too. Remember their little exchange after Adrian's dad comes home and asks Nick what he was doing in the house? Nick tells him that he'd been returning a book that Adrian had lent him. When Adrian enters the room, her father asks her which book it was, and, after thinking things over for a second, she says that it must've be "Wuthering Heights", and she asks Nick if he liked it, to which Nick responds that he liked it "very much". When she asked Nick whether he liked it, she wasn't talking about the book, and when he responded that he liked it "very much", I don't think he was talking about a book either. As someone pointed out earlier, it's one thing to think about it, and all together another to act upon it. With the exception of his allowing her to kiss him, if only for a second, I think he showed the proper amount of restraint in his dealings with her. As for his not averting his eyes when she knowingly bared it all for him to see? I think that, under the circumstances, I'll just have to forgive him for that one.

reply