MovieChat Forums > Last Man Standing (1996) Discussion > STUPID. Why didn't they...? (Spoilers)

STUPID. Why didn't they...? (Spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by youaresquishy
5 replies | jump to latest

Why didn't the Irish gang kill Bruce Willis' character when they had the chance? Why did they just beat him up and then leave him alone unsupervised?

I'm talking only about the point where they found out he sent Doyle's girlfriend to Mexico and then they beat him up. He was beaten and just lying there. He had no gun. They could've just killed him. Instead, they just left him alone, completely unsupervised.

Then, there's a short Bruce Willis narration about how his bones are broken, cut to a rainy scene in the town and two of Doyle's guys come back to where they left him lying down, and Bruce Willis' character jumps out of a box and kills them both. And then Doyle decides that his whole gang needs to search the town looking for him, presumably so that they can kill him. (We know they want him dead by then because they think he's at the Road House when they go there and burn it and kill everyone inside, so they must have wanted him dead.)

So why didn't they just shoot him when they had the chance? Why did they just beat him up and leave him alone on the floor?

Whenever I ask a question like this, someone inevitably can figure out some way to stretch something or other and at least give a weak answer to my question, but I really don't think there is an answer for this one. There is no explanation at all supplied by the film.

[–] chrismahon2005 16 years ago

The same thing happened in the clint eastwood version, he gets battered and they leave him, and then of course he escapes, i guess they thought he was in no fit state to run off, and could take there time killing him, same as this version.

[–] ContinentalOp 16 years ago

The same thing happens in the Mifune version. It is stupidity stemming from a stupid moment in a great film, 'Yojimbo'.

"Jai Guru Deva, Om"

[–] Alfabeta 13 years ago

Not quite. In Dollars we actually see how he escapes. Here, he's just gone. Not to mention that Eastwood manages to imprison them for a while and buy enough time to escape.

[–] P-K-One 16 years ago

Simple answer. They beat him up to find out where the woman went. They figured that he hid her somewhere because if he did not want her for himself, why should he save her (Those are egocentrics and "helping" never crossed their mind). But Bruce's character refused to say anything.

Then they had a lead on the woman and so they left him SUPERVISED by two people. If the lead turns out good, they get the woman back if not, they can continue to question him. When they went to the roadhouse they killed everybody because none of them was John Smith. If they had found John there they would have tried to capture him to continue questioning him.

Really, it's no big stretch of the imagination. They ask him there he send the woman as they beat him up before the voiceover starts.

I think humanity should be wiped out and then we can give evolution a second chance.

[–] Darknessviking 13 years ago

its a classic in many movie - a temporary setback to show that the hero is just human and vulnerable instead of invincible,so they put this in to show him get beaten up,so we can cheer when he gets back up