This is an interesting question and can for the most part be answered in the novel, basically Charly started out being a loving person until she was a teenager and her Father died under a set up thinking it was his own daughter who set him up. With no Mother and then with the guilt of watching her Father die thinking she set him up, she then transformed herself into a cold lethal machine, the only way she was able to cope with her sadness was to be emotionless. But she wasn't able to totally destroy her true loving nature just bury it, hence Mitch's line "maybe Samantha Caine really wasn't a cover up, maybe you just forgot to hate yourself for awhile.."
True Mitch is able to bring out a pal/true friend side of Charly, with her always making sure he's saved, but it's only the love of her daughter that can truly melt her and heal her. She tries constantly to make Mitch believe she still has no emotions and has no desire to be a Mother, but Mitch never buys it. She desperately loves her daughter and she can't make it go away, she's not even able to watch her daughter through the scope of her gun without getting teary eyed. Charly/Sam is truly an awesome complex character, who fights with her emotions throughout the film.
If you do read the book though, just skip the part at the end where Mitch dies! Thankgoodness that was changed in the movie!
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Lisaluv1
15 years ago
Thanks didn't realize there was a book ~ Ironically there were other movies that I ended up finding out had books and the story within the books were much better. Hope it's same title or I'm in trouble for trying to find it
Poop in his hand ... Poop in his hand
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nickyblue333
15 years ago
You're welcome, it does still have the same title and it's written by Randall Boyll, I actually just got my copy of the book about a week ago, the only place I could find it was on Amazon, it's a good read and I recommend it. I don't want to give anything away but I especially liked how the book started the story off. The only thing I didn't like about the book was Mitch dying at the end, I wish that had been changed like in the movie!
here's a link to some good priced copies of the book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0312953143/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259848088&sr=8-1&condition=used
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jillybob
15 years ago
I haven't read the book, and I don't know why the endings are different, but the novel was based on the film, not the other way around. You can tell because Shane Black is the only credited writer here on IMDb, and because on Amazon they explain that it was published as a tie-in with the film release.
I hear the book is a great read and would love to check it out sometime myself, though.
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c-huddleston
15 years ago
Usually the novel - if tied in to the movie - is based on an earlier script version than the final one. Looking at Mitch's injuries in the latter part of the movie it could well be that the initial plan was to have him die, perhaps after saving Charlie, but the director decided differently at a later stage.
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