The case for Captain Rhodes (he wasn't the bad guy.)
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user-769 — 16 years ago(September 20, 2009 01:12 AM)
I'm not entirely sure how I watched this movie a couple of times without noticing it. But you're completely right. Steele also was very upset to shoot his other comrade mid movie. And you're right about Sarah, too. She had no problem threatening to shoot Steele. Now that I think of that, you could also argue the support crew were more vicious than the soldiers (and lazier,) they simply got more screen time and were painted prettier.
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user-769 — 16 years ago(September 21, 2009 02:40 AM)
When I first watched it, I was thinking "Wow, Rhodes is always yelling and is really trying to threaten the science staff." But then I put myself "into the movie" and thought about the fact that if the science team had been acting the same way they were in the movie, for the several years prior to the film taking place, then no damn wonder Rhodes was yelling all the time.
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BlondeZombie — 16 years ago(September 21, 2009 01:29 PM)
The Rickles character has always made me sad because of the emphasis on his wedding ring (we see it twice). In most zombie movies, you get to know a character's "story" as Riley calls it "Land of the Dead". You know that there was a "before" to all characters, good and bad. But in "Day of the Dead" you don't really know anyone's "story". You know that Logan's dad was also a doctor, but that's pretty much it. But when we see Rickles' ring, we know that there is a story there. Whatever happened, he was a happily married man at one point, perhaps with a family, and now he's alone. And that can go a long way to deciding whether or not he's annoying.
"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." -
veisbier — 16 years ago(September 21, 2009 07:24 PM)
I don't ever recall Rhodes threatening to rape Sarah. He made a lewd comment about her giving the other men a chance if Miguel was out of the picture, that was it. When he had the chance, after finally snapping he never threatened her with sexual assault, though tossing her and Billy to the zombies is pretty bad as well.
I'd never noticed Rickles' wedding ring myself. This does make the character much more sypathetic in my eyes. -
BlondeZombie — 16 years ago(September 21, 2009 01:24 PM)
Rhodes is the bad guy. Is his anger justified? Absolutely. Do I understand where he's coming from when he kills Logan? Of course. Is it necessary for him to kill Ted? Sure, he needs John to realize he's serious.
But he threatens Sarah with rape, and that makes him a bad guy.
"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." -
BlondeZombie — 16 years ago(September 22, 2009 06:39 AM)
No, he never actually threatens to rape her, but in critical analysis I've studied (I wrote my senior thesis in college on George's zombie movies, so I've had to really dig deep!) most critics sum up Rhode's lewd comment as "threatening rape", so I've come to say that as well. But he still threatens to remove the man in her life in order to leave her "vulnerable" - except she's the strong one in the relationship, so it's a flawed plan - which several critics deem to be a "rape", not necessarily in the "taking sex by force" way that is typically used today, but more of a "violation", which is how the term "rape" was formerly used.
"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." -
user-769 — 16 years ago(September 22, 2009 04:44 PM)
The defense I would make is that Rhodes was in a position where if he wanted, he could have easily removed Miguel from the situation and took advantage of Sarah at the drop of a hat.
Yet, he never did, nor did he make any move to even after she openly disobeyed him and doped Miguel up again. -
shipwreckdelgado — 16 years ago(September 23, 2009 12:36 AM)
This is funny. I was just answering the same question in another forum. This was my last reply to the question of Rhodes as a bad Guy
Another thing about the character of Rhodes that I noticed is that he is more concerned about his command than anything else. When we first see him in the movie, he starts off by pacing around stating that he is in command. Also when he finds that Logan is feeding Bub the dead soldiers he doesn't state "That's Johnson in there!" Instead he goes into hysterics, screaming "Those are MY Men in there!" He won't salute Bub because it is demeaning to his command. We he talks about "giving some of us a chance at some loving" it is clearly directed at himself. He even forces Steel to shoot Sarah because he commanded it. It's funny in a way, but rewatch the movie. Every speech he gives and all of his actions are about one thing only Himself.
To sum up the theme of this topic Yes, Rhodes was a bad guy. He was self centered, narcissistic, a murderer, a coward and selfish.
And if that doesn't clear it up, even Joseph Pilato states in the dvd extras that Rhodes was a very bad man. -
McQualude — 16 years ago(October 23, 2009 06:30 AM)
This is funny, because I was in the army, and NO ONE ever behaved the way any of these guys do. Not that you couldn't have fun, but if Rhodes or the Major had run a tight ship, there wouldn't be anyone growing pot, having unshaved faces, having long hair, or being so out of shape as some of them were.
Historical context is important, Army discipline was much more relaxed following the Vietnam war. In the early 80's it wasn't uncommon (in my unit and probably others) for soldiers to smoke pot in their barracks during the day. Reagan changed all that very quickly.
|Statistics show that 100% of people bitten by a snake were close to it.|
and did he actually threaten to rape her? I remember him saying he'll let move Miguel to give the other guys a chance, but that was said more as spite any thing.