Considering the circumstances and the environment he was in he should've been a little smarter than to mess around with Sally. But then again if he didn't you wouldn't have had a movie. I thought he was a bit backstabbing going after her like that but that's certainly not a race or religion thing. It definitely was a scapegoat but he should not have gone there. Bad move.
shareYou seem to be forgetting that it was Sally who initially called him. She had even told him that everybody who assumed that she and Dillon would, of course, be going steady together, just because their families knew each other from way back, assumed wrong. The movie was about far more than David's and Sally's relationship, we'd certainly have a movie even without it. Is everything OK?
shareThat's the catalyst for everything. You would have no movie without their relationship b/c Dillon would not have stormed off when he found out about their relationship and stumbled upon the conversation between the two alumni of St Matthews and St. Lukes. He would not have found out otherwise. Like I said, should've known better. I cannot get involved with someone at my work and if a girl shows interest I just don't go there. Bad business. Same priniple. In that situation he should've been more guarded, kept his head down, and kept to his studies. Not gotten involved with a girl that everyone presumes is the most popular guy on campuses g/f. Pretty simple common sense, but then again David was 17 and I'm 32.
shareBut what about the fact that she wasn't interested in Dillon? Was she also supposed to just go along with the idea that she was supposed to be his, due to the fact that the Dillon family name carried so much weight around Saint Matthew's Academy? Right off the bat, at the interschool dance with St Matt's and Overbrook, she told David Greene that she wasn't interested in Charlie Dillon, aka Casey Stengel. Dillon's mediocrity was legion; it was clear that he wasn't going to be getting things in his life, merely because he had the name Dillon. His mediocrity was the true cause of her lack of interest in him, not any backstabbing on David Greene's part.
shareAll girls love the star quarterback anyway. Only exception to this rule is Vicki Vallencourt loving the linebacker/waterboy. Otherwise, QBs get the QTs.
shareBut, honestly, what girl would want to be with such an insecure person as Damon's character? You could smell the pomp and insecurity from a mile away (figure of speech of course).
To boot, y would Damon's character ASSUME they are going together. If he really thinks so highly of her, he should ask her to go steady or at least DEFINE the relationship, right? Not just tell everyone BUT HER they they were in a relationship.
btw, I'm not arguing with your point. Lots'a girls like the QB's too :)
I kinda agree with OP. Yes, Dillon is not her bf and she called on Greene first. But he knew Dillon was interested in her.Yeah Dillon is insecure and she does not want to be with him. But, Greene knew how miserable Dillon was feeling in the first place about everything. You don't back stab your friend. He shouldn't have come between them. Atleast he should've talked it over with Dillon first.
shareOh c'mon - they were 17, and beautiful - I know who I'd rather have had for a boyfriend, and it wouldn't have been runty litle Matt Damon.
shareYeah agree with everything you wrote! I thought to myself it's very risky of David to move in on Charlie's "girlfriend." Each time the latter returned to Sally at social functions he'd say to David, "Thanks for looking after my girl." So obviously Charlie viewed theirs as a romantic relationship. David should've wised up quickly about his Jewish background being a liability when he arrived at St. Matthew's Academy and his coach advised him to "not tell anyone more than they need to know." So he shouldn't have made waves, especially since it'd be difficult enough that the coach has sidelined your friend to make way for you to take his coveted position as "star quarterback" on the team, and now you want to intrude in on your friend's relationship and take his girl away from him too?! No true friend would do that to another. I think David should've sussed out from Charlie first about his relationship with Sally before even thinking about making a move on her. And if Sally had misgivings about her relationship with Charlie she should've been the one to speak to him in private and explain the way she felt. Further, the fact that David's circle of friends expressed anti-Jewish sentiment should've raised red flags that any girls associated with them, especially Charlie's "gal," and their respective families, might think likewise. So it's no surprise then that Sally rejected David after she found out about his Jewish background and claimed he lied to her as an excuse to break up. So why, in my opinion, go there and risk everything you have for nothing in the first place?!
shareYou are forgetting that Sally was the one who contacted David first and asked him out. Being a 17-year-old he was quite flattered by her attention and did not think that 1) she might not like his Jewish background if she learned about it and 2) his friend Charlie would definitely not appreciate him agreeing to go on a date with Sally. Could you really imagine a 17-year-old saying, "Sorry, I cannot accept your invitation because this would not be right to my friend Charlie, who thinks you are his girlfriend"? I don't think so.
shareDavid should've wised up quickly about his Jewish background being a liability when he arrived at St. Matthew's Academy and his coach advised him to "not tell anyone more than they need to know."
With no family around and very little known about his background, David could pretend to be someone else for senior year.
He was unlikely to see any of his teammates again, and if any of them did bump into him at Harvard and discovered his "secret" then, it wouldn't matter. If Ben Affleck's comments when they're getting ready for the dance are anything to go by, there's a strong Jewish community there so he wouldn't have to hide anything there.
When it came to Sally, though, I'm not sure how he thought that relationship could progress. Maybe he wasn't thinking and was just following his cock.
If there was no Sally character to be the 'catalyst', don't you think the screenwriter would have come up with another way for Dillon to storm towards the bar in anger, thus finding out about David? He certainly had enough anger and resentment over the football game and his brother to cause anyone to want a drink at that moment. The scene at the bar would have played out exactly the same way.
sharePerhaps. I think it was a cumulative effect. Charlie had a disheartening talk with his father (who was well-meaning but failed to console Charlie) and then, five minutes later, he found out that his rival on the football field also stole the girl who Charlie claimed as his girlfriend. This was too much for him. He angrily stormed toward the bar and you know the rest.
What I wonder about, though, is that what kind of bartender would serve alcohol to a 17-year-old? Probably laws were looser about it back then.
I think part of David Greenes attraction to Sally was the FU element to Matt Damon. Matt Damon was a real POS and certainly made lots of anti semetic cracks. There was a certain comeuppance in Davids mind.
shareSemitic, not semetic, refers to Semites.
MGD
Do we have to pull out the screen captures AGAIN, Dan?????
shareI dunno. On the one hand, I get his situation; the girl likes him, has made it clear to him that she isn't Dillon's girl, and wants to see him. But on the other hand, he knew Dillon thought the girl was with him, and that he liked her. I never really got the vibe from her that she'd told Dillon they weren't a couple the way he assumed. She kept going out with him, like when she was at the dance. Seemed to be a bit of leading him on, or at least not firmly letting him know they were just freinds. She should have had that conversation a loooooooong time before she did.
share[deleted]
Why did David go after Sally? Because she was FINE. "School Ties" was not the first movie Brendan Fraser and Amy Locane appeared in together. They were also a couple in the 1994 movie "Airheads". I wonder if they dated in real life or were close friends.
share"School Ties" was not the first movie Brendan Fraser and Amy Locane appeared in together. They were also a couple in the 1994 movie "Airheads".
I think I meant to say that "School Ties" was not the ONLY movie that Brendan Fraser and Amy Locane appeared together.
shareThat whole situation with Dillon and Sally didn't really make sense. Even if we buy that Charlie had deluded himself that they were romantically involved (and from what we're shown of him, that is entirely believable, to be fair!), it doesn't explain why Sally didn't object when he referred to her as "his girl" at the dance (and has possibly done it on numerous other occasions that we're not shown).
Then, later in the film, in their absence, someone mentions David stealing or moving in on Charlie's girl. How would they know? David and Sally had kept their relationship a secret, Dillon was the only one who found out, and given his obsession with his own perfect image, surely he'd have kept that information to himself to save face.
While it's not a plot hole, it's something I wish they'd have tidied up or been clearer on.
I agree with the OP though - David still broke the bro code