*** Official GRAN TORINO Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[schmidtt]

Yes, but the point is not whether the gang members will go to jail but whether Walt's death was futile. Obviously the girl could've reported the rape to the police, and the police could've gotten a search warrant and uncovered any illegal contraband in the house without Walt having to get shot 100 times.

We can only speculate what evidence would come in at the murder trial but, assuming the defense could get in what is depicted in the film I think the gang members have a decent self defense case.

 

[Mark Hawley]

Yeah, but my point was that it would have been easier for her to come forward without fear of repurcussion with them already in jail.

Say she reports them, they get arrestted, get bail and then kill her to eliminate her as a witness. That's probably why she didn't go to the police initially.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The key phrase is "depicted in the film". In real life, defense attorneys usually don't have the luxury of starting with a neatly omniscient presentation of what happened. They have to reconstruct from fragmentary clues and frequently conflicting accounts by people who are often unreliable. It takes time, talent and attention to reconstruct events with sufficient integrity to develop a good defense, and then you have to figure out how to prove it. So one of the other assumptions you'd have to make is that these gang members would know, and could afford, the caliber of legal talent that could provide that kind of representation.

And then there's the pesky matter of Michigan Criminal Procedure 780.972, which I quoted above.

 

[buttmunker]

I don't think Walt was dumb enough to think his plan was 100% fool-proof. It was, however, a two-fold deal: one, a quick death for Walt, who otherwise would probably die a very painful death due to lung cancer; two, temporary incarceration for the cousin and his crew
- enough time for the asian neighbors to move far away where they can't be found.

Clint's "Walt" must be one of those people with little to no "fear." The way he stood up and pointed a gun at "the spooks" bothering Sue and the fag. Walt had no way of knowing they were packing or not, and if Walt was forced to defend himself, he'd be sitting in a jail cell. In any case, it made the film entertaining as hell, despite Walt's not thinking of the consequences of his "bravado."

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Nice... :frowning: