Hi everyone:
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Thief
markamahabir — 20 years ago(June 07, 2005 03:33 PM)
Hi everyone:
I just wanted everyone's thoughts on the negotiating scene between the lawyer and judge (the one where the lawyer and judge hold up fingers to their faces to indicate the amount of the payoff). Does anyone think that this scene would fly today? I find that movies today hardly ever portray judges as corrupt whereas lawyers are considered the lowest of the low. Just a thought on how the american movie culture has changed over time and how Thief remains one of the best by being so over the top.
Marky Mark -
porsche1974 — 17 years ago(June 24, 2008 09:48 PM)
Today's audience might not even get the subtle body language in this scene.
But consider this though. It enables the movie to very quickly resolve the issue of getting Okla out of jail so he can die with dignity. -
Redux006 — 12 years ago(July 21, 2013 12:55 AM)
I think you are underestimating people a tad bit there, it wasn't exactly subtle. They make a big deal out of their strange gestures, and one guy even shouts "what are they doing, picking their noses?", which is immediately followed by the lawyer informing Frank point blank that the judge wanted $6000 for Oakland's release.
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filmbuff1974 — 13 years ago(February 12, 2013 05:32 PM)
SPOILER ALERT*
This goes on every single day and it just isn't in criminal court, but civil court as well. Now, is it as comically overt as shown in this movie? Probably not. But be assured, judges can be and are bribed all the time.
Live Full & Die Empty. Tap Your Potential and Realise Your Dreams! -
enzo_Q — 12 years ago(May 06, 2013 08:39 AM)
Mann always does extensive research on these things and often uses real life scenarios. so you can be sure: this bribery thing is based on reality.
even Frank's burglary tools were real burglary tools and the film's tehcnical advisors was a real thief. -
meguroutsubo — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 11:09 PM)
I find that movies today hardly ever portray judges as corrupt whereas lawyers are considered the lowest of the low.
There was
severe distrust of authority figures
of all kinds back in the 70s and early 80s. The decade began with Richard Nixon and his crew breaking into the Watergate Hotel and planting listening devices; the Vietnam war was sending American kids to die in a country that hadn't (and couldn't) attack the US; and the disastrous ending to the riot in Attica prison showed that the authorities were capable of treating civilian employees like collateral damage.
I don't know why it is that lawyers are routinely depicted as scum in entertainment but judges seldom are.
(In the Al Pacino movie,
And Justice For All
, the judge is a suicidal nutbar; but there aren't many other examples that come to mind.) Perhaps our need for a happy ending simply demands that judges, being in a higher place, will come in at the end of the movie/TV show and set everything straight, because they are old enough and wise enough to play God.