I really like this Sci-Fi High Noon classic.
I'm trying to understand O'Niel's back story.
Up to his latest assignment, was O'Niel a bad cop?
Why did he keep getting transferred?
I think Shepard said that O'Niel had a reputation for having a "big mouth" - or was it "loud mouth"; how did he get that reputation?
thank you
I think O'Neil may have tried to uphold the law "too well" for the likes of the corporations that operated the outpost(s?), so they kept shifting him around.
Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop
thank you dchipman,
That was my first guess as well, so I was slightly confused as to why he felt, in this case - on this moon, he seemed to feel he needed to prove something to himself - something different was happening to him compared to the past confrontations.
Now of course, one thing that was apparently different is that his wife was leaving him, with son.
My impression is that his wife leaving with his son brought everything to a head for him - leading him to do something dangerous; unlike anything he'd done before.
Surely he had faced corruption and threats on other assignments?
Maybe, in the past, he had simply remained more of a bureaucratic "loud mouth"; not actually arresting anyone with any "pull".
What I'm trying to get at is that there seemed to be suggestion, that in the past, he had been rather mediocre in the performance of his duties - or at the very least - embarrassed by the performance of his duties (early on I got the sense that he was lacking a certain "fire in the belly"). Hence, this time it would be different - this time he would lay it on the line; risking everything.
I love "moment of truth" movies where characters come fact-to-face with their fears and decide to "do the right thing" instead of dying a little more inside.
But, I don't know?? That's why I'm trying to get more O'Niel backstory; seems like there is a novel; maybe even a play? Maybe someone familiar with novel/play can help with O'Niel's backstory?
thanks
Okay, having given it some more thought - maybe it was like this:
Marshal O'Niel, over the years, would be assigned duty keeping the peace and enforcing law at remote outposts.
Typically, he would come "into town" and lay down the law as a fairly "by the book" kind of guy - the law's the law. But, eventually, he would probably make enemies with the wrong person with power (mine owner for example) that felt O'Niel's love of the law was a bit too much and actually causing discontent among workers and maybe even getting in the way of production in these "frontier settlements". So, the local big cheeses would pull some strings and get O'Niel transferred. Thus O'Niel and his family would get bumped from one outpost to another; his reputation of being disliked following him.
Of course, it may also be that assignments were temporary too - maybe 2yrs per outpost.
So maybe that would have been the case on this moon; Boyle's character would have eventually decided there was no way of working with O'Niel and pulled some strings and gotten him transferred - again.
But, O'Niel stumbled upon Boyle's secret - in essence becoming a witness to this major criminal scheme that would reach far beyond that moon. Since O'Niel wouldn't "play-along" - he would have to be killed.
Surely O'Niel had faced petty corruption, violent drunks, and even murder cases in the past - all presenting degrees of danger to him?
So, how was this scenario different? Was it the size and magnitude of the threat against his life that made him question his courage - like never before? in a crystallizing "face your fear" - what are you "really" made of moment? Re-awakening the "fire in the belly" and winning back his life.
But, . . . more back-story would help us understand how he came to lose himself in the first place.
thoughts?
Sheppard says it all - he has a big mouth. He shoots it off, gets transferred to some other godforsaken place even worse than the last. Later in the film he complains that he's expected to play his 'rotten little part in the rotten machine', and clearly resents the powers above him that he feels are dictating this situation. It's really not much simpler than that.
shareHe kept getting transferred because a "tour of duty" was one year. After that year, you'd be transferred to a new assignment. I thought that came across quite clearly in the film, but I guess I might be wrong. We can also assume, that the drug use, wasn't happening on all the mining outposts, but this one, as we're told in the film, has record production, which we later learn, is much thanks to the use of performance enhancing drugs. To me, this suggests that O'Neil in the past, has had a very routine, "keeping the peace" type job, and only this time runs into something more sinister. The reason he takes this job so serious, or rather personal, might be because his colleagues are taking money to look the other way, and as such are a disgrace to their duty of upholding the law. This seems likely to me at least.
share"But . . . more back-story would help us understand how he came to lose himself in the first place."
While your insights are persuasive, I think the drama benefits from not having every little detail of the hero's back story spelled out for the audience.
" "But . . . more back-story would help us understand how he came to lose himself in the first place."
While your insights are persuasive, I think the drama benefits from not having every little detail of the hero's back story spelled out for the audience. " - filmklassik
My post was not meant as a criticism of this wonderful film; one of my favorites.
It's okay to discuss characters, their personalities, motivations and even speculate about their back-stories - for some of us, its even fun.
You wrote, "... the drama benefits from not having every little detail of the hero's back story spelled out for the audience."
Well yeah, I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that I was saying otherwise, but at least we are in agreement with your statement.
Hrm, I think the movie kinda weeble-wobbles on this. Early on it is suggested he wasn't that great of a cop, when it suited the characterization better for this underdog whose lost essentially everything in his life finding himself in a hostile and dangerous environment. This may also have been people misinterpreting his history and the companies tarnishing his record because they were frustrated with his watch. Later when he hits his hero arc, this kinda gets retconned to him having a long history of being a 'loud mouth' or a whistle-blower.
As someone else pointed out, he says something along the lines of not caring to be a rotten little cog in a rotten little machine anymore, suggesting that he has grown aware of this sort of corruption.
He was probably always a strict cop, even as a rookie. He probably didn't see the corruption then. He got shuffled around a lot, cause no one wanted that kinda guy on their facility. Over time he progressively noticed more and more corruption. He was a 'loud mouth', likely making note of inconsistencies, and his superiors probably quelled his suspicions with BS explanations and moved him along as quickly as possible. Now O'Neil is a marshal and he sees behind the curtain and the corruption is finally exposed. There is no one left to shove lies down his throat and kick him out the door.
Great observation nrkist!
I think "corruption" may very well be an important factor.
Oddly enough I just finished writing elsewhere that when I was young I was somewhat optimistic about mankind. Things were rough at times, but I "thought" the world would evolve for the better!?!
And now, in my 60s, I see corruption everywhere.
Being a "law and order" kind of guy, maybe it is that weariness I see in O'Neil that I am relating to; it can be a losing and lonely path that wears you down over time.
I've tried to do the right things in my life while the corrupt ones seem to always get away with murder (in a matter of speaking - and sometimes literally).
O'Neil could have hid in the bottle, having lost his family - he could have just flat out given in, but (since he's the heroic protagonist) he found the courage to make one last valiant stand.
Optimism is best. It's not necessarily that the people around O'Neil were bad. Some of them definitely were, but when O'Neil is speaking to his deputy on the court, Connery delivers a line with a heavy load of bitterness, "Yeah, you're not doing anything wrong...but you're not doing anything good, either."<paraphrase> Suggesting he has been there before. You can't always see the scope of your actions. You're just following orders, and the guy above you knows what he's doing...right? You can believe you are genuinely doing the right thing when your superiors feed you lies or tie your hands due to corporate obligations. O'Neil's career has finally culminated to the point where he is immune to the lies. He has regrets thinking back about his career. An epiphany that he is a cog in an ugly machine. That's how I take his character as introduced in the film.
shareThe boss guy said he was always getting bad duties because he had a "big mouth". The implication seemed to be that he wasn't afraid to criticise the company if it broke the law, so he was regarded as a trouble causer.
shareHe didn't "play the game."
share