Why didn't the Skulls destroy the tape?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Skulls
True_Love — 15 years ago(January 29, 2011 08:45 AM)
If the Skulls knew what really happened to Will Beckford, why didn't they destroy the tape that day? Why did they keep it in that tape room?
At first I thought, well they keep information about everyone in the Skulls society so they can later use it as blackmail against each other. But then that's stupid. There's no way Mandrake and Lombard (who twisted Will's neck) wouldn't run to destroy all evidence of that day.
Also, why did Det. Sparrow switch the tapes. What did he have to gain/lose if he didn't switch the tapes. Didn't he work for Sen. Levritt (a good guy)? What would Levritt care if Mandrake & Lombard were caught. He didn't like them anyway?
And Luke was SO stupid! The FIRST thing I would do after seeing that tape is make like 10 copies of it!!! He brought the one and only copy he had to the cops. Stupid move! But then I guess the movie would be over from that point on. -
Goodbye_from_Fox_In_A_Box — 13 years ago(August 25, 2012 05:16 PM)
It was made clear in the movie that the Skulls kept everything that was taped in case they wanted to use it as blackmail in the future. So if the Chancellor suddenly wants out, they can say "We have you on tape snapping Will's neck and killing him. He wasn't dead from the fall.".
The cop switched the tapes because at that time he didn't want to show his hand; that he was working for William Petersen's character and not the entire Skulls organization. The Skulls knew Luke had the tape and would be coming to the police with it. The cop didn't need to have the tape shown in the precinct. He knew what really happened and was following Luke, on WP's call after he and Leslie Bibb's character broke him out of the asylum. When the Chancellor was about to shoot Luke. THAT'S when the cop showed his hand, by saving Luke. So at that point on we knew he was a "good" guy out to help Luke.
I don't know why Luke didn't make a copy. That was just dumb.I smell ice cream! -
genevaporter — 12 years ago(December 10, 2013 12:55 PM)
The Skulls kept the tape as a means of leverage against each other, to ensure that the secrecy of the murder is kept.
Opponents of the senior Mandrake could hurt him simply by showing the police the portion where Caleb appeared to kill Will and then called his dad, who helped him cover it up. Either they kept the tape without Mandrake's knowledge (I don't remember, sorry) or Mandrake wanted it so that if they pointed fingers at him or Caleb, he'd take them down with him.
And yeah, Luke was an idiot for not making copies of the tape.