I didn't understand the prosecution
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mikeyg24 — 13 years ago(June 29, 2012 06:41 PM)
I agree, very well put. They got their revenge but it didn't give them back their lives. I always thought Brad Pitt was glum because perhaps against his best judgement he hoped there would be some consolation.
Your's sincerely, General Joseph Liebgott -
mikeyg24 — 12 years ago(September 27, 2013 03:41 AM)
He was also glum because his career was over, he basically gave up his career as a lawyer to get revenge.
Well not really as because as Shakes said he could switch to defense '
So,you switch to the other side and work as a defense lawyer. The money's better. There's always gonna be more bad guys than good, Mikey. And can you imagine the work you'd get from John and Tommy's crew? That's a house and a pool.
' In any case he says '
I've seen all the law I want to see
' so I'm not sure he's too cut up about about his career over or not.
Your's sincerely, General Joseph Liebgott -
rebus29 — 12 years ago(August 17, 2013 03:22 AM)
Might have put the DA's office onto his plan had he jumped up and cheered for the release of John and TommyMichael played his part to perfection and looked dazed and confused, as if to say "Gee, how did I flub this surefire case up?"
I confer with the thought he may have expected to feel relief and closure after getting revenge on his tormenters and the Wilkenson Home for Boys, and a Not Guilty verdict for John and Tommy. -
jaystarstar — 12 years ago(August 18, 2013 02:15 AM)
Stefeeric's explanation is best.
But I was also somewhat confused the first time Michael meets with Shakes and is discussing the plan, he says, "it's messy, not the way I planned it"
but how DID he plan it??
Obviously he had been collecting info on Ferguson, Styler and Addison for some time, but what about Nokes, who had been the ringleader?
It was just random chance that Nokes decided to have dinner in the same bar where Tommy and John were drinking. If that doesn't happen, how and when do they track down Nokes?
It really doesn't seem like Michael had much of a 'plan' put together before, by sheer chance, Tommy and John end up killing Nokes.
Although I suppose Michael also had a dossier of info put together on Nokes, too.- You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.
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OnlyRocknRoll — 12 years ago(October 03, 2013 06:03 AM)
My take was that Michael had been planning it for years, that he went into Law to figure out how he was going to do it. The other forced his slow, deliberate plan by running across Nokes by accident and executing him. Nokes had become a complete lowlife and was probably more difficult to track than the other perpetrators.
"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!"
Maximus Decimus Meridius -
JW-7 — 12 years ago(October 31, 2013 04:59 PM)
Has anybody who replied to this post
watched the damn movie
??? There is no "take". It is all explicitly laid out. The Pitt character was one of the 4, and the whole idea was to expose what was going on at the home. They said so in so many words. Why is there even a discussion about this? -
pgtracey — 10 years ago(January 24, 2016 06:02 PM)
Has anybody read the original question
I think it was clear the poster was asking why he took the role of prosecutor rather than defender. You could argue that he could have taken the role of defender and still exposed all the seedy goings on, although it was probably easier to orchestrate from his position, especially with a bumbling defence lawyer. -
JW-7 — 10 years ago(January 24, 2016 10:07 PM)
You could argue that he could have taken the role of defender
No you could
not
have argued that, Tracey. You, the OP and several others missed the whole setup. Michael (Pitt) was one of the four victims. 20 years later by the time John and Tommy (Eldard and Crudup) murdered Nokes (Bacon), Michael's record had been sealed, which enabled him to get a job in the DA's office as a prosecutor. He maneuvered to have the Nokes murder case assigned to him, and from that position, got Snyder (Hoffman) as defense attorney. As prosecutor, he knew what witnesses and evidence would be presented at the trial. He fed Snyder the entire script as to how to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses,which we are shown. Most importantly, with the aid of King Benny, the neighborhood
Capo
, he obtained a set of ticket stubs for the Celtics game the night of the murder.
Shakes (Patric) the final member of the four, was the outside liaison, who talked Father Bobby (DeNiro) into testifying falsely and displaying the ticket stubs. Since no matter how badly they had been abused at the "Home for Boys", John and Tommy would not have been acquitted, it was the alibi provided by Father Bobby that got them acquitted. Michael orchestrated the entire scenario.
So Michael was never in position to have been defender, but used his position to expose the "Home for Boys" for what it was [which got it investigated and closed down] and provided the means to get his two childhood chums and fellow victims off.
All this was explicitly laid out in so many words by the voiceover narration. -
stevenackerman69 — 9 years ago(January 14, 2017 11:40 PM)
He was one of the four boys who were raped and beaten. He knew that if another prosecutor took the case, that prosecutor would've fought very hard for justice for Nokes. He took the case to lose so this way the gangsters got their revenge and are free.