MovieChat Forums > Strangers on a Train (1951) Discussion > they didn't justify Brunos reasons for h...

they didn't justify Brunos reasons for hating his father so much.

posted 14 years ago by fartherdown747
23 replies | jump to latest

The whole movie Bruno is just obsessed with getting Guy to kill his father..it is pretty much eating at him as if it pains him every second longer his father is alive...but why? He may of talked about his dad for a few sentences to Guy on the train, but he didn't really elaborate or really justify why he would want him dead.It was more like you should want your wife dead and HEY! i want my dad dead as well, never mind why I just do ..so heres the plan lol.. I think they did a good job of establishing Guys wife as a cheating,shallow, double crosser..But in the scene where you see the dad..Bruno brushes past him and is like "long distance" he appears to be more the ass.

I think maybe since the time period this movie was made you couldn't go to deep into it....He was clearly gay (bruno)...and maybe it had a lot more to do with his father not accepting his lifestyle and sexual preference rather then wanting him to follow a different career path, and i guess then i could see why they couldn't elaborate..and then again he was nuts so maybe a lot of it was just all in his head anyways.

Maybe i am the only one but I just kept waiting to see scenes where his dad was just this horrible to be around hard ass or something.

and lastly...he was like in his 30's don't like it move out! lol

[–] zuzupetal_99 14 years ago

Absolutely agree - I was hoping to see what made the father so terrible for his son to be psychotic & plotting his murder! Maybe that would've made Bruno too sympathetic? If we saw that his father really was a monster & was the reason why Bruno was so messed up in the head, we may have felt differently about Bruno. I don't know....I also wondered if perhaps he was too in love w/ his mom, but nothing was really suggested there either, although the manicure scene was a bit creepy.

He came off as a spoiled brat, considering how old he was & was still living at home & whining about his dad - I agree there too - if he was that unhappy why not move out?!

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[–] fartherdown747 14 years ago

Me too ...I was like his dad is just so horrible that it warrants someone killing him ...I want to see it ...not just get the feeling they didnt get along, but it Was never shown..All i saw was this little spoiled brat. I think maybe your right and maybe they didnt want you to feel bad for him...they only wanted you to see his crazy mind at work..Maybe his dad wasnt all that bad and a lot of it was just in his head anyways and they couldnt really show you that..you just had to trust he was insane ...I got the feeling that his mom was just in denial and was maybe protective of her son..and didn't want to face some truths like he could commit murder and was in the closet. but still without seeing a lot of what we discussed it left too much up for interpretation ...but still was an interesting enough movie to watch.

[–] cada123 14 years ago

IMO, there was no justification needed for Bruno hating his father. In the 1950's when this was made, there was a lot of discussion of the "Nature vs. Nurture" variety ~ that is, criminal behavior is due to either "bad" parenting (nurture), *Or* due to one having been born with a "criminal brain" (nature), in which such behavior is inevitable, and even a superficially charming person can rapidly turn to rage or revenge by the slightest provocation (or none at all). Bruno demonstrates this change from charming to menacing when he realizes that Guy has no intention of committing "his" murder.

By Not stating what Bruno's father did that was so horrible, I believe that Hitchcock is saying that Bruno falls in the "Nature" category. In other words, he was born that way. Dad did not need to do anything more horrible to Bruno than not let him borrow the car when he was 16 years old.

[–] jennygtindall 10 years ago

Yes it was pointedly nature. His mother was oblivious and co dependent. The father held the money, made him work and knew he was psychologically ill (psychopath) and had a drinking problem. His father was an obstacle in the way of him getting what he perceived he deserved. In his sick mind he deserved to be killed, in his rational mind he did not want to be punished for it. He thought he had a foolproof plan. Remember this was before hi tech CSI crime fighting.

[–] lewiskendell 14 years ago

Bruno had a few screws loose, that's why his father wanted to get him help in the first place. I assumed that Bruno knew that his father wanted to send him away somewhere to get some treatment, and he saw that as a threat to his unhealthy relationship with his mother. Look at how casually Bruno killed Guy's wife. The man was clearly pschopathic. We're never told why he's that way, but we never learn why Miriam is such a slut, either. It's not important to the story why they're that way, they just are.

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[–] wiseguyro 14 years ago

So a deranged individual, brought up in luxury and spoiled by his mother, with no intention of earning his keep, but only to enjoy life in whatever twisted way he saw fit wouldn't hate his strict father who stood in his way to fortune and wealth? Also, his father seems to be quite aware of his son's mental issues, which must have bothered him as you can see the rage in his eyes every time someone suggests he has issues.

I'd mention Oedipus but that would be a bit cliche.

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[–] ryobest902008 14 years ago

when you have very successful parents there is a lot of pressure. you must get good grades, you must only talk to certain people, you must do this, you must do that. it isn't about what you want, only about what you will do.

anyone who is subjected to this is allowed to hate the people who cause so much pressure. my guess is that bruno's father was no different. on the train bruno called himself a name that i can't recall and said that his father called him that. meaning his dad isn't the friendliest of characters.

[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

Bruno obviously had been a "problem child" growing up. I don't know how or if, there was any way to handle his condition say, in the 1930's, even if you were well-to-do. I assume his father had to buy Bruno's way out of many situations, which exacerbated their relationship. Isn't there a throwaway line about Bruno plotting to blow up the White House or the Capitol? Bruno should've thanked his lucky stars that Dad hadn't had him locked up and lobotomized (which was actually a handy "solution" for mental problems circa 1950).
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] dabukaba 13 years ago

[–] shanehaynes 9 years ago

In addition to being nuttier than a fruit cake, Bruno was also obviously gay. I'm sure during those times his father wasn't too accepting of that either. Maybe Bruno just wanted his father dead so he could live his life as a crazy, gay man. (Him mother seemed a little dotty herself)

What I don't understand is why he didn't kill his father himself. He killed Miriam as casually as if he were just sneezing. Not to mention that old lady at the party he darn near choked to death.

[–] CharlesTheBold 9 years ago

What I don't understand is why he didn't kill his father himself.
==============
He explained that at the beginning of the movie: he would be immediately suspected and arrested. He knew he could get away with Marian's murder because of the "no motive" plot.

As for the party scene, he was no longer thinking clearly at that point, and was flashing back to the killing of Marian.

[–] roger1 (3226) a year ago

I thought the power of imagination was more potent than showing his cruelty would have been -- ''I'm sick and tired of bowing and scraping to the King." - Bruno . Besides, the guy was a total, disturbed maniac.

---

Bruno has already revealed to Guy(on the train) that he's been thrown out of colleges for gambling and drinking; WE can see he's nutty from the get-go(how he INSISTS on Guy accepting a murder plan that Guy only humors.)

And we can see how mother-fixated(lovingly so) Bruno is with his mother. Then we get the bowing and scraping to the King line.

But THEN, we finally SEE the father and in a great Hitchcock shot, he's in deep background while Bruno is in foreground focus -- and we can HEAR the father telling the mother than he's at the end of his rope and wants to put Bruno away. The father clearly believes that he has raised an insane son.

The game is almost over for Bruno...his father is forcing the murder.

[–] poetcomic1 13 years ago

Notice when he loses the lighter down the drain. He is like a petulant child who expects complete strangers to 'rescue him'. One can easily imagine Bruno's spoiled rotten narcissism drives his dad crazy.

[–] DeepFriedJello 12 years ago

I had thought I had missed something in the story which explained Bruno's relationship with his father. Evidently I didn't.

[–] leader-7 12 years ago

No reason for the viewer to know why. that's background and unnecessary. The whole plot was about the murder exchange, not about why Bruno hates his father.

We never really know why Guy hated his wife, either, do we?

[–] VanDerShippen 12 years ago

No, they didn't, but I don't think it was necessary either. Leaves more room for interpretation ;-)

[–] dangus 11 years ago

Wasn't Miriam unfaithful and pregnant with another man's child? And then she reneged on their agreement to divorce, which would prevent him from marrying the senator's daughter.

[–] leader-7 11 years ago

who cares? bruno had his issues, and the point was (don't read into the motive) "I want to kill my wife, and you want someone else dead."

[–] greenbudgie 11 years ago

I don't think that leaving home was an option for Bruno. He was too comfortable living with his mother who would indulge his every whim. It is difficult to tell whether Bruno really did hate his father as much as he said that he did. It seemed to me to be part of the story that he spun Guy in order to get Guy under his control. Bruno seemed convinced that Guy would never carry out the killing anyway. Otherwise Bruno would never have waited in his father's bed for Guy to carry out the murder. So if he is so convinced about that, can we be convinced that Bruno did really have an intense hatred for his father?

[–] necoleman 11 years ago

I am formerly known as HillieBoliday....Member since May 2006:

I suspect that Bruno's father was not a tyrant, but sick and tired of a grown adult son who was spoiled by his mother and still living at home. I got the impression that his father was a sort of "captain of industry," very wealthy and very successful. Whereas.....Bruno was a lazy psychotic, doing whatever he wanted too.

The scene after the weird manicure by the mother and viewing of that hideous painting, when the father comes home; their parents have a pretty intense argument while Bruno is on the phone. It seems that the father wanted him to be put away. I think the father new that Bruno was unstable and dangerous. That is a pretty hard thing to accept about your child...especially in this case....their son whom I sure they wanted to follow in the father's legacy of success and acceptance of responsibility.

Bruno hated his father because his father knew the truth about his mental instability, and wanting to have him committed. He was desperate to do something to eliminate the father......and eventually the mother as well so he could continue to live his lazy, psychotic life.

"OOhhoo..."I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"

[–] goldenagefilmstv (178) a year ago

Bruno is sociopathic, not psychotic.

[–] daughterofolaf 9 years ago

It probably would have been too time consuming to explain it in any natural way. I don't suppose his reason was the point of the story which is why they didn't explore it. I would be curious to know the reason but not enough to make me not enjoy the film.

Dick, I am VERY disappointed.