PLEASE HELP!! I understand NOTHING about this movie
-
kharley471 — 14 years ago(November 25, 2011 10:44 AM)
The film is based upon James Ellroy's novel The Black Dahlia, a well written but inaccurate source for the real crime upon which it is based.
My understanding is that over an hour of material was cut from De Palma's movie, which affected its comprehensibility. However, my fault was not that I found it hard to understand, but that the mystery is "solved" in such a clumsy manner. However, that is my issue with Ellroy, not De Palma.
I was disappointed in this film, but the actress playing Elizabeth Short was fantastic. I wish that she had had more screen time. -
Husskade — 14 years ago(December 27, 2011 10:27 AM)
And I think you explained that succinctly.
Short answer..read the book.it actually is worth the time.By the way.I'm not being flippant or rude to you,it will make more sense if you readarguably a sad reflection on the film which looks fabulous but..
'Off the record, on the QT, very Hush,Hush! -
Husskade — 14 years ago(January 20, 2012 09:18 AM)
Can I just point out that the 'Black Dahlia' was not James Ellroy's mother.
His mother was murdered when he was young, a case which remains unsolved and is something that traumatised him hugely and led to serious illness for him.
It is argued that he became obsessed with Elizabeth Short's murder (Black Dahlia)which happened before he was born because of his mother's unsolved murder.
And he has said that he's been writing about it ever since.
Thus the book is arguably an imagined explanation of the 'why' what happened to Elizabeth Short happened and then the film of the book was made..(and arguably they rushed the end soo much that it confuses people.)
'Off the record, on the QT, very Hush,Hush! -
gateandgarden — 17 years ago(June 16, 2008 05:03 PM)
I was drawn to this board because I came to IMDB today to see if I could find someone who could answer just this particular question for me.
I sat up until after 2:00 am watching this movie (taking full advantage of my free movie preview weekend on Directv), and I thought that maybe it was because of the late hour and my semi-exhausted state that I wasn't getting it.
I am going to go back and give it another go. I set up my DVR just in case I had fallen asleep in the middle of the movie. Maybe in the light of day it will make sensealthough I'm not holding out too much hope on that. It's a shame. I've always found the Dahlia case to be very interesting, but it seemed like it was just in the background here. -
bludgeoner86 — 17 years ago(June 22, 2008 01:21 PM)
Well you basically have to ignore the boxing match at the beginning, it's meaningless. The movie really starts with the shootout or the "bank robbery" I think they called it. After this the film is filled with meaningless scenes, there aren't really any hints as to who killed Elizabeth, at the end it's explained that Emmett's introduced Elizabeth to the crazy clown guy and that Emmett's wife killed her because she's crazy ? And I don't know why Madeline killed Lee, I guess he was going to figure it all out (you have to remember that scene where Dwight tosses Lee the matchbook, it's a key scene though pretty pointless at the time.)
The rest of the movie is a wash, its a bunch of stuff you didn't have to see that didn't add up to anything. I guess it was character development but you don't really care about the characters one way or another. -
mijuelborga — 14 years ago(September 29, 2011 03:28 PM)
If you read the book, the boxing match is one of the MOST important scenes throughout the entire story, but was never fully highlighted during the film version. What a shame too because I found the book to be so good. The movie version is crap. It starts out good, but somewhere along the middle, director De Palma decides that there is not enough time to tell everything and tries to rush everything in and even makes his own make-believe ending. He also leaves all the important police politics stuff out (which I thought was what made the book such an awesome read). Also, Bucky Bleichart's obsession with the Dahlia case never really took enough time to bloom. Sad, sad, sad, because the story had so much potential.
-
elevan89 — 17 years ago(July 07, 2008 04:21 PM)
Its a really bad movie that definitely would have worked better if they dropped the phoney contrived ending. Eckart's character was overacting all over the place and they never really gave a reason as to why he was so angry all the time (they mighttt have said why with like one passing line)
-
axon50 — 17 years ago(July 09, 2008 12:20 PM)
They did say why Eckart's character was angry. It was something like his sister was killed by a child molester.
He was not overacting in the context of cinema of the period.
The reason Madeline killed him is because he beat up and was blackmailing her father.
The movie makes sense, you just have to watch it carefully as the answers are given once and then not referred to again. -
jlenterprises — 15 years ago(October 15, 2010 11:18 PM)
That's exactly right, you have to watch and listen carefully right to the end of the movie. The answers to the various questions raised are not easily given and this is probably why many people do not like this movie. I enjoyed it.
-
cmtlshem15 — 9 years ago(September 10, 2016 08:14 PM)
I know that this thread is super old, but can you explain why Lee(Eckart's character) was blackmailing Madeline's father to begin with? Did it have to do with the shady building developments or something? I was just a little lost on some of the minor connecting points in the end. The big stuff was pretty easy once it was all said and done, but it was late when I watched and the subplots were getting very tedious by the end.
-
Katgal98 — 17 years ago(July 10, 2008 08:49 PM)
What was this movie about?
It was about 2 hours but felt a lot longer.
Okay, it was about ACTING, in the worst way. And DIRECTING (wow, wouldn't this be a neat camera angle!!)
It's a fakey, almost-parody of film noir.
In all: a mess. -
CIGroxBT424 — 17 years ago(July 13, 2008 12:06 AM)
the film was sort of confusing, and that's the reason i even clicked on this feed; to try and understand it better. i knew right after the boxing match ended that it would be a film i would need to watch carefully and pick up every detail. the level of confusion reminded me of the prestige, which was good just as this film was, but had several different levels to the plot, making it hard to comprehend. overall, a very good film, but i think i will need to watch it at least once more to fully understand the plot, or better yet, read the novel it was based on.
-
RazorbladeRomancexx — 17 years ago(July 29, 2008 11:30 PM)
Okay well this movie is based on the murder of elizabeth short, she was a wannabe actress that died in 1949.. google her and there should be a website with pictures and stuff..mind you there absolutely discusting so if you have a weak stomach dont look at them
hope that helps a bit
-
blackblythe — 17 years ago(August 09, 2008 02:00 PM)
Here is a website that tells it all, at least it explained for me wth happenend in the movie! It's a long story, but you should read it all and you will understand it better!!!
http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/blackdahlia.html -
FishHeadSweety — 17 years ago(August 10, 2008 01:27 PM)
SPOILERSThis movie has the worst script and acting. if you haven't seen it, don't it's pathetic.
spoiler 1. Hillary Swank's mother kills the Dahlia because her creepy boyfriend had the hots for her and women are always killing 15 year olds in a sadistic, mutilating fashion. never men. it's the MO of drunk women.
Spoiler 2. Josh Hartnet has to sleep with or the F-word Hillary Swank because he has the hots for her, even though she's a creepy suspect. and says the F-word because it's edgy and we've never heard such language before. then josh kills Hillary because she killed his partner who had tried to make him the patsy for stealing money from the murder scene where the partner, unbeknown to Josh, had committd the murders.
it's a horribly trite formula movie. box. say f-word. have sex. say f-word. kill somebody. repeat. for 2 hours. i don't think it has anyhing to do with real black dahlia case.
Ask a fish head anything you want to, they won't answer. They can't talk.