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Topic: True Crime ending (Read 554 times)
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Xichado
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Do you guys have any explanation for the Santa Claus
reference in the movie?
After Everett visited
Beachum, he starts talking to the warden, and outside,
the warden says to Everett:
No use trying to figure out who’s
naughty or nice and then come sliding down the chimney
like a hero. Not on execution day. You’re not Santa
Claus. No such thing as Santa Claus
Then, by
the end of the movie, the homeless guy -dressed as
Santa- sees Everett coming out of the store and the
following is the last piece of their
conversation:
Homeless Man: I have been here 2 hours
freezing my ass off. I’m going home
Everett: You
haven’t got a home
Homeless Man: I got no wife
and no elves either. You want to be Santa Claus these
days, you on your own.
Everett: You’re right
there, pal. Santa Claus rides alone
The only
Santa Claus connection I can think of, is that Beachum
is going to be killed at midnight and that's the time
Santa is "scheduled" (  ) to show
up.
Santa works hard all year in order to
deliver the gifts on time, Everett will have to work
hard -in a day- to prove that Beachum is innocent and by
doing so, Everett is giving him the gift of
life.
But... this is just a thought I had and I
feel that there is more to it, I have been thinking
about it and I really can't form any other conclusion
than the one I mentioned above.
Do you guys have
any other interpretation for (or any other thought
about) the Santa Claus reference? |
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Last Edit: August 25, 2003, 08:40:11 PM by
Xichado » |
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Matt
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Xichado, I'm crowning you the "King of Symbolism" on our
board. Wear the crown with good health, my friend.
This is an interesting question,
and something that I've never stopped to wonder about.
Without looking back at the scene, I remember this line
spoken by Everett:
Santa Claus rides alone.
I've
often wondered what exactly he means by that. Now
that you've got me scratching my head a little, let me
offer the first thoughts that come to me, and maybe
it'll be way out there, or maybe it'll make sense.
To me, Santa Claus is a symbol of
generosity, selflessness, goodness and charity. And
although children believe in him, when they grow up they
don't anymore. It could be seen as one of the first big
disillusionments in many children's lives. As we grow
up, we stop believing in fairy tales, and as we see more
of the harsher realities of life, many stop believing in
some of the good things that he represents. But,
there are good people out there, doing good things for
people out of generosity, selflessness, goodness and
charity. And like Santa Claus, many of these do-gooders
will be viewed as frauds through the cynical, skeptical
eyes of a disillusioned society. Sometimes the good
deeds they want to accomplish will be roadblocked by
others who have something to gain by it. To be a "Santa
Claus" you have to be ready and willing to fight for
your cause and work hard to make people believe in
you.
. . . Everett is giving him the gift of
life.
And I think that's the bottom line.
Everett worked hard to make people believe in him,
fought those trying to stop him, and delivered his gift.
And he did it alone, just like Santa.
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Last Edit: August 25, 2003, 08:27:17 PM by
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Xichado
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Xichado, I'm crowning you the "King of
Symbolism" on our board. Wear the crown with good
health, my friend.
![]() ![]() aw! thanks! 
Thank you for your post. I was thinking
more or less the same about Santa Claus, about how
Everett has such an almost impossible task to prove
Beachum's innocence in such a small amount of time, just
like Santa needs to deliver all the gifts, in time, all
over the world.
Everett found out who was nice
(innocent) and naughty (guilty), and he did come out
looking like a hero, but a lonely one. And as a lonely
Santa Claus, we see Everett walking away with gifts for
his family. The family that he was forced to sacrifice
in order to save the life of an innocent man. Everett
will drop/offer the gifts but it's clear he's not
staying. (stealing Lilly's pic from her
post)
I tried to see the Santa
reference from different angles, from the two girls
point of view and tried to understand their roles in
this grown-up story . You explained it better when you
said:
As we grow up, we stop believing in
fairy tales, and as we see more of the harsher realities
of life, many stop believing in some of the good things
that he represents
I think the children are
there to remind us of the innocence we all had once, of
the good things we once believed in.
And with the Santa rides alone quote,
he has the reindeer....
Are you talking
about his rust-covered-falling-to-pieces red car?
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Last Edit: August 26, 2003, 11:34:57 AM by
Xichado » |
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Matt
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That's great, Xichado. It does seem to all fit
together and make sense.
What do you make of the
"false" Santa at the end? "Give me some charity on
toast, baby?!" |
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KC
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Control ...
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Don't forget, Xichado ... we have a symbolism question in the In the
Line of Fire discussion just awaiting your
attention! |
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Xichado
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Don't forget, Xichado ... we have a
symbolism question in the In the Line of Fire
discussion just awaiting your attention!
 Don't
worry, KC! It will be taken care of. .gif)
I have watched the movie -for fun-, and
I have been paying attention to the questions and posts
but I have been busy with a few other things -not
related with the board or CE- and I haven't been able to
re-watch the movie, "study" it and gather my
thoughts. I'm sure I will do it by the end of this
week.
What do you make of the "false" Santa
at the end? "Give me some charity on toast,
baby?!"
Matt, at the moment nothing comes to
mind. I haven't seen True Crime in awhile and
I'll have to see it again and try to focus on the
"toast" man ( ). Every
time I watch True Crime, I always see a duality:
-2 different men, -2 different families, -2 different
ways of looking at life, -2 dead girls, -2 priests, -the
right/wrong path that justice follows, -the human
(social) definition of right (true) or wrong
(false).
And, I guess that our "false" Santa fits
in this duality somewhere. from my point of view and
from what I remember, our "toast" man is probably there
to represent a few of Everett's characteristics:
•
"pussy on toast" - Everett is a womanizer;
•
"charity on toast"- the good deed committed by Everett
I'll get back to you on this one after
watching the movie again.  |
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Last Edit: August 26, 2003, 04:40:15 PM by
Xichado » |
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dane
with no name
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i reckon so...
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I saw the movie for the first time ever on dvd last
night and must ad mit it´s probably gonna be my number 2
non western/DH movie.
I think you all made some
very good point about the movie, so there is little i
could add there hasnt been said before, except one
thing.
to me, one of the great thing about the
movie was that all the characters were truly human. (by
that i meen flawed, lacking in strenght, complex with
good and bad sides) We dont really have a villian (Leary
is the closest one) just ordinary joes whose life is
portrayed over roughly 24 hours.
To me this angle
meant that the movie was all about the choices we make,
the everyday bigger or lesser problems and situations we
are put in. We can either go out and fight the good
fight (eastwood) or succumb to anger (Leary) despair (
both wives) indifference (woods)
There isnt some
paragon of justice looming in the horizon, eastwood isnt
draping himself in the american flag, then going out to
do some justice, we just have ordinary people living
their lives, flawed as they might be. (with the
exception of eastwood who´s put in an unique
position)
If we could all just make the right choices
(wishfull thinking, i know  ) do
anything to better ourselves and the world around us,
everyday would be like christmas. toast or no toast
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