A few questions for those in the know...

[deleted]

*SPOILERS*
Longbaugh is definitely straightening out Parker whenever he feels parker is going soft. At the gas station, he KNOWS Dr. Painter brought a gun but doesn't remove it so he could prove to Parker that he can't have faith in ppl like he does. It goes back to their earlier conversation.
Parker: he's a doctor man, he'll do what we say
Longbaugh: u have too much faith in ppl man
Parker: how can u kidnap someone without it.

If you see that whole part in the van, notice the way Longbaugh expressions are...his eyes strongly hint that there is something fishy in the bag and the dr is not to be trusted. Parker sees this and instinctly reacts. They way Parker slouches in the seat later after checking the bag shows he feels really stupid for being so gullible. Longbaugh just gives him "I told u so" look.
The part that confuses me is when Longbaugh is checking the bag as Painter walks ahead of him...Longbaugh says "lets fake it" (in the captions). In hearing it, I thought he said "go straight" or something. But the captions would mean that he just involved a knowing dr.painter into his lesson as well.

Outside the motel, Longbaugh knew that Robin, while being sincere in her effort to keep her son, is trying to get on Parker's good side. When she succeeds in convincing Parker into letting her go and he tells Longbaugh about his motives....Longbaugh notices how Robin had walked towards the shot gun, he uses this situation to again show Parker how he's been duped. He succeeds when Robin calls the cops and Parker apparently changes his mind. In the director's commentary, chris talks about Longbaugh always keeping Parker in check and his whole belief that they can not be in that business with a heart.

I really enjoyed that washroom scene too...only I noticed that Longbaugh is the one who snaps his fingers...nothing really important but I saw that after several viewings. He is about to ask the dr if robin can have the baby sooner. I don't get why Longbaugh even returns the gun to the doctor, even when he dis-assembles it? maybe they had MORE than enuf guns...probably so :)

Something else I noticed, after painter mentions he can lose the baby and/or the mother if he induces..parker immediately dismisses the idea of inducing. But when Longbaugh walks the dr to his car, he demands that the dr be ready to induce when he comes with the money. He does this without parker's knowledge...much like he did when he called the doctor. It shows how cold blooded Longbaugh really is, he's simply all about the money. This makes his later transformation all the more profound when he realizes for the first time what terrible things he has put Robin through. In kidnapping her, Parker and Longbaugh allow even more evil-minded crooks (Jeffers & Obecks) get their hands on her. Although in the big picture, they ultimately allow her to keep the baby and unite a family, along with handing (very unwillingly) that family a LOT of money!

About Sarno, showing Longbaugh his wallet was Benicio Del Toro's idea as these 2 characters are really trusting each other in this moment no matter what happens in the future...he thought that trust should be symbolized by somthing. I really liked SPUNKY's idea that he showed a pic of him and his daughter Robin but I believe that Longbaugh is not aware of their relationship. It may just be personal info which really is dangerous to share with ur nemesis.
Francesa is keeping herself aware of everything that is happening without talking to her hubby abt it. She is in it for the baby and even hints to jeffers (who she's sleeping with) that its ok to kill Robin, she hates her remember. She is planning on having a kid with jeffers as well. We might also wonder if she is already pregnant at this stage. Its not clear to me if she was also making a play for the money through jeffers. I think my reply is long enuf now.

You should check out the DVD's commentary, as Christopher McQuarrie adresses some of the things you mentioned. Plus, it's an entertaining commentary track! Here's what I remembered from it concerning your questions:

Longbaugh vs. Parker

These two have been partners for presumably a long time. They know each other fairly well. When Longbaugh leaves the gas station store and sees that Parker has called Painter, they go to the van and discuss it. Parker says something along the lines of "he's a doctor, man. We can trust him. He'll do what we tell him". Longbaugh tells Parker "you have too much faith in people". Later, when Painter arrives, Longbaugh does see the gun in his bag, but he doesn't do anything. He doesn't warn Parker because he wants to teach him a lesson. When Painter reaches for his bag and Parker whacks him in the head, Longbaugh is basically saying sarcastically "so we can trust him, huh?". The importance of this scene was to show Parker that he can't trust everyone, and if he does he will get killed.

Later on, when they decide to leave Robin at the motel, Longbaugh sees Robin's shadow walking across the room inside as he is talking with Parker. He knows his jacket is outside, but sends Parker inside anyways to retrieve his jacket. Longbaugh pulls Parker away at the last moment, saving him from being blasted away by Robin. It goes back to the gas station incident (you can't trust everyone), and it goes back to that game of hearts. You can't have a heart in this business because it makes you vulnerable and you can get killed rather easily for doing a good deed (like leaving Robin at the motel). Longbaugh did this to toughen up Parker and once again teach him a lesson.

These two are close, and it is apparent during the shootout and other times in the story. At the end, when Parker's legs are shot by Sarno, Longbaugh leaves his safe spot and goes out in the open to help his friend get to safety. If they weren't close, Longbaugh would have left Parker to die or he would have taken Sarno's deal outside the cafe.

Longbaugh vs. Sarno

I honestly have no idea what Sarno showed Longbaugh. Whatever he showed Longbaugh, it was enough to confirm to Longbaugh that Sarno is indeed a bagman.

Wandering Francesca

I think showing her in the background during the conversations was to show that she knew everything about what was happening. She watches Robin's video, she overhears Obecks and Jeffers talking about killing Sarno and Painter, and she overhears Sarno talking to Painter about Painter's bad time in Baltimore. Francesca therefore knows that Obecks and Jeffers will kill Sarno and Dr. Painter, betray Mr. Chidduck, and steal the money. She knows what the baby looks like from the video that Robin had. She knows that something bad happened in Baltimore and Painter had something to do with it. Also (I'm not quite sure on this one, though), she would have seen that Sarno is very interested/determined in handling the situation. She could have possibly pieced together that Sarno and Robin are close to each other. So I guess, in other words, yes, she was more involved than she appeared.

Hope that helped some.

Longbaugh vs. Parker

I just had to say that when I watched this a second time, I saw Longbaugh check the doctors bag, which means he saw the pistol. Then in the van when the doctor begins to treat Robin, Longbaugh keeps eyein to parker, directly after which Parker whips the doctor and finds the gun. Someone on the thread stated that Longbaugh may have been tryin to cross Parker, I can't remember who, though. This just reinforces most of the statements that Longbaugh is keeping Parker on his feet, but not in a malicious way. I just wanted to point it out.

Lonbaugh vs. Sarno

Perhaps Sarno showed Longbaugh his ID to show thats he isnt lying about his real name or maybe to show his address as a show of faith. But hey, I'm just talkin.

I made a mistake, I just watched the van scene again. Longbaugh places the doctor's bag in such a way as to draw Parker's attention and keeps eyeing the bag and Parker keeps watching Longbaugh. Still, Longbaugh had no intentions of crossing Parker in my mind. He most likely was dropping hints for Parker or testing him like everyone else has said.

re: Longbaugh vs. Parker:
He was behaving like that to get Parker not to be so trusting. Look at Longbaugh's face when he sees Parker and Robin getting all cozy. He wants Parker to be on his toes is all. Your points were valid.

re: Longbaugh vs. Sarno:
My guess is that Sarno shows him a photo of Robin. Makes sense when you see how nervous Sarno is during the whole conversation outside the bar. He knows his daughter is in danger and he's making a kind of humble appeal to Longbaugh.

I love the scene where Longbaugh sits in the room after Jeffers has been shot and says nothing but the camera holds on him for an eternity while his mind works itself out.


"I think a plan is just a list of things that don't happen."
-Parker from "The Way of the Gun"

this is the best thread I've seen on this website. Thanks, EVERYONE. No b.s., not dumb crap, just facts and thought out opinions. This is why they came up with threads to begin with.

Longbaugh vs. Sarno:
After Sarno and Longbaugh have coffee, they exit the cafe and have a small discussion to see if he can bring Longbaugh back to get a fast million. When he does this, Sarno holds out his wallet and shows something to Longbaugh. We can't see it because of the position of the camera, but I'm wondering what it was he showed to Longbaugh. I don't think it would be an I.D. or business card, because it's not an I.D. or business card kind of position. could it be, just part of Caan's acting?
the cooemtary says a million dollar bill, the quick shot of it prolly ended up inthe cutting room :(
(atleast thats what is said farhter down inthe thread, im not one for watching commentaries, thier usually boring or over enthuastic about something they shouldnt be.)



Wandering Francesca:
In the second act during the scenes in the house, with some creative camera work we see Francesca wandering in the background during some important conversations. I wondering why Chris did this, was it to make her seem more involved? Though she overhears a lot of conversations, she doesn't see to do anything to capitalize on it.

how else is she to say informed never talking to her husband?

i have a few questions of my own. what happened in balitmore, was there a 'first' movie. and number 2, what is that song playing when the bagman guy is playing russian rullete by himself? i need to find that song!

driving me batty, been looking for a few years. noone knows or noone is gonna answer.

the movie is great, well done, acting is grat, looks more or less raw, not so scripted. what happened between the 2 bagmen? i noticed everyone came in pairs. wheres the doctors partner, is that what happened in baltimore?

i must find that song tho...

Wow... a whole year later and this thread is still going. I big heap of thanks for everyone who contributed, many good answers and ideas... and the whole thread didn't cheapen to a shouting match like many other imdb threads.

Still, it makes me sad the Chris has been off the radar for so long, I hope some more work of his is coming soon.

michael