I mean in know he was a dilusional cowboy who shot someone and almost killed them but .......i couldn't help but liking harlan and even feeling bad for him for most of the movie he seemed like a nice, polite and funny guy.
I was really bummed when he died
The movie was trying to show parents about staying close with their kids and talking to them before some pedophile gets to them first..that's what i noticed with the ending and how ''off'' the kids were with feeling bad for harlan.
most kidnapped children and rape victims are known to feel bad for their prey.reason being these poor victims are such good souls that they can't begin to understand the selfishness of people like harlan.he wasn't that crazy.i've seen worse but with better intentions.not all ill people are rapists and kidnappers.
p.s it is weird people defend what they know nothing about..
What a bunch of new age nonsense...
It's called an anti-hero and you are supposed to like him. He was unable to keep up with the times and was living in the old west.
Harlan grew up in a juvenile home and was a kid at heart. Tobe is the most honest and well defined teenage girl in movies today. She is a kid who loved her father but has a lot of passion for life and challenges boundaries. When the time comes she knows "no" is the correct answer.
I wonder if we would have liked Harlan less if he wasn't so brilliantly played by the one of our best American actors today.
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I was thinking when he had "Twig" with him and he was camping out, riding his horse, waving his guns around, it was almost like a game to him. It's almost like he was having his most fun by living out his fantasy of being a cowboy.
shareJust watched it again last night. Being a Calif. cowgirl at heart, with the city encroaching regardless of how many times I try to move my horses and my life away from it, I did indeed feel a bit sorry for Harlan.
But I also think that when people lose control over their fantasies-- so that it overcomes rational thinking in the light of day-- it begins to affect others. And therefore it becomes dangerous.
Hence, I concur with this:
Harlan had constructed the I-am-an-outdoor-close-to-nature-cowboy belief in a desperate struggle to save himself from being lost in the cracks of concrete. He tried to make this "self" so real that he had to inflict his cowboy fantasy on others. When people resisted going on this cowboy ride, he tried to make them, and with tragic consequences. A fantasy made to play in the real world doesn't sit well with most of us.
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SPOILERS
Harlan definitely loved Tobe, but he loved himself and his fantasy more.
Think about it, he called 911 after he shot Tobe, HOWEVER, he simply left her when Wade came home. If he had cared enough, he would have stayed and tried to stop the bleeding, regardless of the consequences. He would have owned up to his responsibilities (remember, he preached about that in the beginning of the film). Instead, he cowardly ran away, and managed to manipulate the boy into coming with him after he tweaked the circumstances by shooting himself.
Harlan is a beautifully crafted character, who seems to have a really genuine and vulnerable quality to him (even with all the murder and lies). The audience is seduced just as the kids are.
But let's not kid ourselves, this is one crazy mofo.
"... Harlan is a beautifully crafted character, who seems to have a really genuine and vulnerable quality to him (even with all the murder and lies). The audience is seduced just as the kids are..."
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Absolutely, you've really hit the nail on the head with that one
The whole way through the film I had complete empathy for Harlan, and quickly came to dislike Tobe as I feel she took advantage of a person who was incredibly naive. She may have been the younger of the two but I definately think roles were switched and who you expected to to be the decision maker (Harlan) was actually the one being controlled.
*I saw in your eyes that you hate the world, I hate it too...*
I felt really bad for him as well, because he never really seemed to have anyone, and once he got someone important in his life, he messed it up. It was really sad to see him die. I never like seeing EN die in movies :(
shareYeah...I hear ya. I feel sorry for that Korean student at Virginia Tech too. He seems like a nice guy but they he started killing people.
This Harlen character is the same. He killed people without any remorse. He doesn't portray a killer but he was.
Everybody keeps saying he almost killed someone. Did you guys forget the police officers he killed and shot at the end. Do you feel really bad for them? No you guys are right, he was just misunderstood.
shareI did like Harlan to end, even as he became rapidly unhinged. I think that a huge part of that is the fact that even unhinged you can still see some of him that's worth caring about. I mean my favorite scene, the doughnut hole scene, is after he's starting to become a little less together. Plus, Ed Norton is able to imbue him, even unhinged, with a charm that is capable of seduction.
share"Yeah...I hear ya. I feel sorry for that Korean student at Virginia Tech too. He seems like a nice guy but they he started killing people."
Actually he was Schizophrenic, deemed mentally ill by a judge. The fact that he lives in the Rethuglican NRA's America and was able to so easily obtain a gun and at the same time was never given any help because of the underfunded and pathetic mental health system is the real tragedy. I know small minded lizard brain Right wingers like to pretend that mental illness doesn't affect someone's behavior, but guess what you jesus freak morons it does. The blood is on all of your greedy little hands. I don't personally feel any empathy one way or the other, but facts are facts. Accept it you ignorant recreants.
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That would solve everything wouldn't it?
OA-5599
How can it be possible to feel sorry for this insane man who did all that he did, including having an affair with an apparently underage girl?! No, not for one moment did I feel bad for him!
I'm watching it now. He shot the girl for finally coming to her senses for at least a moment. He took a trusting child with him, and he's now playing with the little boy's fear of the dark! I can't feel sorry that something bad happens to him! He's no anti-hero or martyr; just a crazy, murderous drifter. Remember, at the motel he couldn't have cared less if his bullet killed someone! How can you sympathize or even like this delusional person who is a thief, a burglar and a horsethief and who picks up jailbait?! Don't romanticize him, please. That's what happens too often with young girls I've noticed: idealizing this type of person. But, why are YOU romanticizing him?
He's not nice, he's not honestly polite, only as a ploy to get people to trust him, and he's not funny. He's a liar, too, because he was smoking marijuana and drinking in his room though he told October that he didn't do that sort of thing. He's one of those people out there who are constantly preying on trusting people. I'm certain that you would not want to meet anyone like him. Real-life Harlans end up on "America's Most Wanted" or in a Lifetime movie.
Actually, I am no fan of the actor, who seems to be desperately trying to be James Dean~not in a million years! I loathe the character, who is completely over the edge. Frankly, this has been an unending movie. My mom admitted to checking the time about five times! It still has nearly a half-hour to go, and it continues to drag on. Maybe is this role had been played by Luke Wilson or some other actor, it might have been OK.
I definitely know that I would never watch this thing again. Once certainly is enough!
Maybe is this role had been played by Luke Wilson or some other actor, it might have been OK.
He's no anti-hero or martyr; just a crazy, murderous drifterThat's what's so good about this movie. On the surface and according to his own rules, Harlan is a reasonable, aw-shucks ma'am type of character. On the surface, he's a spontaneous (irresponsible), romantic (robber), and cool (delusional).
When did you feel the most sorry for Harlan? How about when he shot the young woman he claimed to love? How about when he killed the detective who accompanied Wade to the Wild West movie set? How about when shot Wade during the film's climax?
Yes, I'm being sarcastic.
My heart really went out to this character until he shot Tobe...a lot of mysympathy for hgim drained away but I didn't want to see the character die either. It was still sad when Harlan died.
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