Hi all...as I said a number of posts above, I asked a detective friend in a major police department to review certain scenes for me. I received the results a week ago, but due to time, was just able to get the response ready for posting.
His name is John and he told his partners what he was doing and 2 of them wanted to help out, so this turned out far better than I expected. None of the 3 had seen the movie, so I asked that they not view the entire movie first, but to review only specific scenes, then view it in one sweep.
For ease of identification I will use the first initial of all people involved, including characters:
Both male detectives are John; my friend is gay so he is GJ, the other is straight-SJ, and Magaret is M. Jack-J, Ennis-E, Alma-A, Alma Jr.-Jr., Randall-R, Lureen-Lu, Lashawn-La.
Each of the 3 purchased a DVD individually soas not to get 2 from the same place, ending up with 2 full screen, and 1 wide screen. Typical police investigative techniques were employeed.
TS1: a. some viewers reported J and E were holding hands. No, not in the
traditional sense. During the sex act, E places his right hand on top
of the back of J right hand, where it remains until the act ends.
b. Many viewers claim to see J place E hand on his (J) crotch. After both
E and J have sat up, and before J starts to remove his jacket, they
move their hands around a lot trying to establish a hold on each other.
In this struggle, E places his left hand on J left forearm; J begins to move
his arm down and we see some shoulder movement by J. The rest is
out of the viewer's range, below the bottom edge of the film. But by
the process of extrapolation, and the "moment of content" view on
E face, all 3 analysts agree that it is 99% possible that it did occur.
c. When the "Fuck me" line was first mentioned, a few viewers stated
they heard it, but as it got more momentum, more and more claim to
have heard it. After removing all sound from the film, except voice
prints, all 3 analysists agree that it is non-existent.
TS2: The big question is who speaks, and what is said? There is only 1 voice
print in this scene, and he says "I'M sorry" followed by "It's all right, it's
all right. Lie back, Come on". That voice belongs to J.
Reunion Kiss: This scene was analyzed from the moment E begins to descend
the stairs, until he starts back up to introduce J. Again, all
sound, except voice prints, are removed, and both voices are
heard, but only 1 statement each: J says "Son of a bitch" as
they embrace. E looks around for "spys", grabs J by the shirt,
begins to push him to the stairwell, and says "Come here".
Nothing else is there, specifically "later" by E as they separate,
as was suggeted and affirmed to by several viewers.
Closet scene: This is perhaps the most controvertial scene in the movie, as to
what was said/not said. The scene was alalyzed from the time
E starts up the stairs, to the time he reappears in the kitchen.
All sound, except voice prints, were removed and there is nothing
there, as agreed to by all 3 analysts.
A personal comment here on this scene: 1. I can't begin to imagine E saying such a thing when he has never said endearing comments to J before, not commented back to J upon hearing J says something endearing to him. It just simply is not in E character to do something like that. 2. With as much detail to subtitling (crow cawing, crickets chirrping, clink of buckle, among others), how could they have missed "I love you" if it was said? How did they overlook perhaps the most significant line in the movie? This is my sole basis for not believing E said anything in this scene in the first place.
Benefit Dance Scene: This scene was the more difficult to analyze because so
much is going on at one time. M and GJ both agreed that to
understand who says what to whom, you have to pay close
attention to vocal tones (is it sultry, just plain talk, downright
nasty, sarcasism, or in a jocking manner), voice inflextions (the rise and fall
of syllables and key expressions), and eye movement. J eyes dart
around a lot from Lu to La to R, and to off in the distance, but at
the moment when he says "You want to dance?" he is looking
directly at La. SJ agrees to this, but adds that R responds as if
HE were asked. M and GJ respond that R is suprised that J asks
La to dance, the reason for the look on his face, and then the
look he give La when she accepts. After a few more runs through
the machine, SJ finally agrees that J most definitely asks La to
dance, but is still questioning the reaction of R.
So there you have it. Please remember the expression "Don't kill the messenger."
Doug
