I'm just making sure I didn't miss something. I don't think it was ever said, which I'm fine with. But in case I just missed it, who was having the trucks hijacked? Was the ending supposed to hint that that ADA was behind the hijackings?
I need a new sig.
it was never confirmed.
shareWhy would the ADA be behind the hijackings? For what purpose? I thought it was the fat guy in the barber shop...although I'm not sure why he seemed so frightened of Abel at the end, when Abel never did anything to protect himself, other than to give the other guys lectures on morality. These are a few reasons why I think audiences haven't embraced the film the way critics have -- too difficult to make sense of, and tone isn't enough, personally, to win me over.
shareits just lame execution,
what i expected and what would make this movie less boring,
would be the internal conflict and the innerchange of the main character where he becomes dangerous,brutal and more protective and loses some of his morals
I thought it was the fat guy in the barber shop...although I'm not sure why he seemed so frightened of Abel at the end, when Abel never did anything to protect himself, other than to give the other guys lectures on morality.
It was definitely confirmed. Towards the end when Abel follows the hijacked truck and beats up the perpetrator and then lets him go, the guy confesses "I don't work for anybody, but I sold a load of your fuel in Far Rockaway". Abel then knew the only business that operated in Far Rockaway was the fat balding guy from the barbershop, who he confronts and says that one of his fuel loads was marked, and hence in the fat guy's storage tanks is Abel's marked fuel. He even confesses and says "But I was just buying the stuff of these guys, I only bought a couple of loads".
shareThat doesn't mean that he was having the trucks hijacked though. If he was telling the truth (which it is impossible to tell), he was just buying from a couple of independent hijackers who approached him with some cheap oil.
shareThe hijackers were just a couple of everyday criminals. They weren't hired by anyone, but they did sell their stolen oil to his competitors. Arnold admitted he bought some when confronted, and he implicated the other heating oil competitors when he stated that he was not the only one.
In the end, the hijackers were just part of the violent landscape that was New York in 1981.
Then who was responsible for beating up the salesman?
shareDid you actually watch the movie? It's revealed who did it...it was the 2 guys you see do it. They did it for the money and were selling to anyone willing (all the competitors, really).
You don't need a new sig, you need a new brain.
OP probably fell asleep and I don't blame him.
shareDid you actually watch the movie? It's revealed who did it...it was the 2 guys you see do it. They did it for the money and were selling to anyone willing (all the competitors, really).
Jesus, how do you guys watch a movie. They were the SAME guys!!
shareThat means you have to believe a criminal making excuses when caught?
I also though they were the same hijackers both times we see them but it's hard to tell.
I agree the film makes reasonably clear that the hijackings were done by two "independents". The connection to Abel's competitors was that at least one of them was buying the fuel from the hijackers, presumably at a discount. The film strongly implies they did so because they felt they could not compete against Abel over the long run.
shareThere's no reason not to believe the hijacker at that point. Abel was letting him go and it's obvious he was responding to this gesture by giving him the information he wants. If the hijacker was protecting the competitors then he wouldn't have told him he sold a load in Far Rockaway. What he said was confirmed when the guy in the barbershop admits to buying some and said he's not the only one. That suggest that the hijackers were operating independently and selling it around the city.
shareMy understanding is that it was the same guys each time, and they were not specifically hired by any of the competitors (or so the hijacker claimed).
But in that case, who kidnapped the salesman? Was this made clear in the film and I somehow missed it? If not, it adds an extra mystery because it suggests someone was specifically trying to drive him out of business.
I didn't notice that the hijackers were the same guys, so if that is true it explains something.
I'm afraid that I was too concerned with my guess that the Orthodox Jews were behind it to ensure Abel lost his deposit.
I'm ashamed to say that towards the end, when Abel tells his wife he has paid $11000 for the oil left in the tanks, I thought he would somehow identify the oil as part of the #4 batch from Texas that caught out the fat guy in the barbers!
And when the bullet pierced the tank, in my stupidity I still thought Abel would be able to somehow tell when he went over to stem the oil flow!
I blame the films of the last 30 years. They've got me expecting and looking for a twist of some kind, where this had the confidence to tell a pretty straightforward story.
I thought the exact same thing as stemal-1. Perhaps we will find out in the sequel- A Sort of Violent Year.
shareThat is what i could not work out, who got Nucky Thompsons nephew? He aint gonna be happy, im sure his concerns will stretch as far as oil?
Joking aside, who did beat up the sales kid?
[deleted]
It's a MacGuffin. It really doesn't matter.
Originality needs a reboot.