Wait, what?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Malice
markdancedcrazy — 9 years ago(June 15, 2016 04:56 AM)
Pretty great movie with some very memorable dialog and performances, but I feel like I missed an important detail or maybe watched a theatrical cut. What was the deal with the man who killed Gwyneth Paltrow and was keeping his victim's hair? I thought he was going to be revealed as Alec Baldwin, but it seemed like some random guy?
What did I miss? -
Alyse_MA — 9 years ago(July 29, 2016 06:12 PM)
The rapist/killer was a maintenance man who worked for Andy's school and who saw the girls he wanted to attack in Andy's office (as girls who had appointments with Andy at the college). The man is shown literally bumping into Gwyneth Paltrow on her way out of Andy's office after the one appointment that appears in the movie.
It was significant because the proximity of the girls to Andy gave the police detective a reason to ask Andy for a sperm sample to clear him as a suspect.
This was significant because it resulted in a lab test which showed Andy as being sterile.
This was significant because Andy told the police detective that Tracy had been pregnant when her ovarian cyst erupted and her life was in danger.
This was significant because it caused Tracy's and Jed's insurance scheme to fall apart.
The rapist/killer was a plot device, in other words. -
evguenimlodik — 9 years ago(November 06, 2016 07:38 PM)
Hitchcock would call the plot device of the rapist the "McGuffin."
Not quite. In this case, the rapist subplot was a "red herring." A "McGuffin" is something entirely different. It's a plot device to set the story in motion, but in the end it does't really affect anything and is all but forgotten by the time the climax.