Query About Pre-Title Scene
I'm wondering what exactly the pre-title scene is supposed to be saying: the bit where Gene is wandering around with the shotgun and the notebook. I'm aware that he on one hand scoping out and planning the airport job, because he's in that location, and we see the petrol can. However, why is he carrying the shotgun? Is it just Mamet's nod to Chekhov, who he has adapted before, and the dictum (paraphrasing) about when there is shotgun hanging on the wall in the first act, the audience will expect it to be fired in the last? Or is there some relevance to the story that I'm missing? And why is it necessary to show that Hackman has planned the job out well in advance? Given the type of character he plays, we would assume this to be the case anyway. Given that Mamet usually doesn't believe in putting in scenes irrelevant to the drama, is there some plot significance, in terms of the later twists, that I'm missing?
Cheers if anyone bothers to answer (or even read this).
Great film and filmmaker, BTW.