The impression I got of Crane was that she was loose. There's nothing to indicate the man she kissed at the door of her party was her fiancee. Just a random guy she's having sex with, and she would have had sex with Hunham too. Otherwise, she would have been a total cocktease, and that just doesn't make sense within the plot of this movie? Why devote so much screen time to an otherwise friendly, wholesome character manipulating the protagonist?
---
Hmmm. Oh, I dunno. The way it played out, I felt she was simply "always being nice" to Hunham as a matter of her personality(and maybe he was higher on the staff food chain at the school, worthy of professional respect.) I guess she kissed Hunham under the mistletoe, but it was rather a quick friendly peck. Still, I think it was the MAKERS of The Holdovers(director, writers) -- not Miss Crane -- who led us in the audience on that this could be "the love connection" for Hunham. We're only human. We are hoping they will get together and...nope. And it hurts us like it hurts Hunham. And keeps his character sad to watch.
So perhaps(SPOILER) at the end, when Hunham must leave the school for good, it is GOOD to leave the false promise of Miss Crane behind and see what a new place will bring to him.
reply
share
CalvinJarrett (462)
7 months ago
That was another thing I found incredulous - 'what the new place will bring him.'
Did anyone else get the impression that he was totally screwed from an employment perspective? What hope did he have to secure another teaching job at anywhere near a prestigious private school as Barton with the basis of his departure looming over him. We know that he was largely innocent, but he fell on his sword and was fired under the cloud of a profanity-laced diatribe at a student's parents. What school would hire him except the roughest, inner city public school? What other skills did he have to secure alternative employment? Even if he wrote his monograph about Cathage, would it be published? Would it sell - except to a very narrow audience of other esoteric individuals?
reply
share
roger1 (3703)
7 months ago
That was another thing I found incredulous - 'what the new place will bring him.'
Did anyone else get the impression that he was totally screwed from an employment perspective?
---
Not necessarily. Oftimes in matters of seeking employment after having been fired from another job, a certain "understanding" between the previous employer and the "firee" is part of it. The firee can use vague terms like "it didn't work out" and in this case...the school might back him up to avoid controversy. The real reason he WAS fired was for a humane and compassionate act...a school might not want to reveal they FIRED him over it.
---What hope did he have to secure another teaching job at anywhere near a prestigious private school as Barton with the basis of his departure looming over him. We know that he was largely innocent, but he fell on his sword and was fired under the cloud of a profanity-laced diatribe at a student's parents. What school would hire him except the roughest, inner city public school?
---
Well, maybe he could handle a rough inner city school. Failing that, the US was (and is) FILLED with various colleges of various types and levels...he could probably find a job SOMEWHERE doing what he does. Colleges need people who can teach the MOST esoteric and non-practical subjects. But..."its only a movie" and we are left to guess.
THIS I believe strongly: ten years from now, assuming that Angus is successful and rich(family money available?) I think he WILL come to Hunham's rescue. He could loan Hunham money, use his connections to get him a job --sure Hunham has to struggle during those ten years, but I believe that Angus will always value the sacrifice and come through for him in the end. Maybe before the 10 years pass...Angus could pressure or even blackmail his mother and stepdad into helping Hunham. Etc.
That's the thing about "a story well told and people you believe in." You try to see the story AFTER the movie ends..
reply
share
CalvinJarrett (462)
7 months ago
Sorry, too many leaps in logic for me. You're giving 1970's educational institutions too much credit, Hunham's ability to survive another ten years too much credit, and Angus's ability and willingness to help out an old teacher ten years later. Remember, at the end of the movie, Angus is unaware of the precise sacrifice Hunham made for him so that he would not have to go to military school, and Vietnam. He may never be made aware, and by the early '80's, he may not care much about his high school years, Vietnam, or how close he came to attending military school. He'll be too busy selling junk bonds and mutual funds with the rest of the yuppies of his class and generation.
I think he'd be dead by 1974 from some alcohol related illness or injury.
reply
share