He briefly looks a little surprised ("You are in a hurry!"), but that's not a boy who's bitten off more than he can chew. That's a boy who's surprised he's apparently going to get more than he expected. (It's 1966 and "nice girls don't," after all.) But when he tells Lureen that, fast or slow, he just likes the direction she's goin', that's a young man who's very happy that his gun's goin' a go off. ...
To me, he looks like he's going along to get along. When the action takes a more drastic turn than he expected, not only does he look surprised, but his smile, to me, looks very fake. I guess this is just one a them debates that's in the eye of the beholder.
For example, if I were desperate for sex, and someone of the, well, "wrong" gender offered it ... well, no offense to anyone but, to put it delicately, I think I'd wind up still desperate for sex. I mean, if all you want is to get your gun off, do you even really need another person at all? (Sorry, I guess that's not all that delicate.) On the other hand, it's possible that, as a typical woman, I'm less desperate for sex in general than the early-20s man. Either that, or more self-sufficient!
You and I have discussed this before, Jeff, but I'd be curious what other gay men have to say. Do y'all think the typical early-20-something gay guy would be happy, in a pinch, to get it wherever he can?
I think that actually proves the contrary. If Jack wasn't the father and supposing LD Newsome actually knew it (which I doubt), he would feel more powerful to tell Jack to shut up in that scene. He would have plenty of reason to remind Jack he is a nobody in the family, not even Bobby's actual dad.
True, that could be, too. My thinking was that, if Lureen was already pregnant, and the family knows it, then for years they've depended on Jack to uphold his end of a lie. He hasn't held it over them, until now. He's allowed L.D. to be the stud duck. But when push comes to shove, he reminds them -- "this is MY child" -- that he has the power to destroy Lureen's (and the Newsomes') reputation.
Also there was no need for Jack not to be Bobby's biological dad in order to be amenable to ditching his family. Many people abandon their kids for a lot of reasons, both women and men. One thing has nothing to do with the other.
Oh, I know many people abandon their kids, but I don't agree that one has nothing to do with the other. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. It's perfectly plausible that Jack would be willing to abandon his biological child. But if Bobby were NOT his biological child, he'd have a tiny bit less motivation to stick around.
