MovieChat Forums > My Bodyguard (1980) Discussion > Why did Cliff transfer schools?

Why did Cliff transfer schools?

posted 10 years ago by EHiggins51
4 replies | jump to latest

Not sure if this has already been addressed in a previous topic--if it was, I couldn't find it:

It's been years since I saw this movie so I don't remember if they addressed why Cliff had to transfer to that school in the first place. I know he used to go to South Side Academy, which sounded like an upper-crust school (on the South side of Chicago?!), and then his dad got a new job as the manager of the Ambassador East hotel. But I would think his dad still made enough $ that he could afford to still send Cliff to his old school. Or was it a geography thing--that his dad's new hotel was too far away from his old school, so it was just more convenient to take the limo to this other school?

[–] Catnip86 10 years ago

I had always assumed it was a money thing. When Cliff's father is talking to the grandmother, he stresses that he does not *own* the hotel, he only *manages* it. So I am thinking that maybe he went bankrupt and could not afford to keep sending Cliff to a private school. Even if it was a geography thing, I am sure there would have been other private schools available, especially since he had a driver to take him to and from school.

[–] athomas1 9 years ago

It's explained in the movie that Clifford's mother died. Maybe mom was married to a different and wealthier man. Once she died, he got shipped to his biological parent.

[–] Catnip86 9 years ago

I have not seen the movie in a while. When did he say his mother died?

[–] ccr1633 9 years ago

I have not seen the movie in a while. When did he say his mother died?

During the scene when Cliff followed Ricky home, after Ricky warmed up to him and they started talking about their personal lives. Cliff said his mother died in a car accident a couple years earlier.