SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.
Sleuth (1972) is an homage to twisty mysteries, almost to the point of
parody in its excess. But there is more going on here than just another genre
film. Thematically, the story deals with male egotism, class conflict, and
xenophobia. There are more witty lines per scene than in most movies. The
actors are chameleons in presenting several personas with the help of make-up
and various voices.
The credits are shown over miniature stages (Sleuth was first an award-winning play written by Anthony Shaffer, who also penned the screenplay), dioramas of scenes from the main character’s books, which suggest the theatrics that will occur. Besides the stars, there are four “actors” listed, which turn out to be red herrings. Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) drives up to a huge mansion situated on a large property called Cloak Manor, which suggests hiding something, but also is the clothing worn by aristocrats. It also reveals the exorbitant wealth of its occupant, successful mystery writer Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier. Both he and Caine were nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for their performances). Milo drives a red convertible sports car, which shows possible financial success, but a flashy, undignified affluence, which is looked down upon by Andrew.
Milo hears someone speaking outside and he
follows the voice into a hedge maze which is impossible to maneuver. The camera
shoots downward as we watch Milo trying to navigate the path like a confused
mouse. The effect is to show Andrew’s early dominance over Milo. Andrew is
listening to his recorded dictation of a book which contains precise diction
and various voices, with Andrew adding physical gestures as he listens. The
effect is to illustrate his pomposity and propensity for exaggerated
showmanship. Andrew’s royal amateur sleuth, Sir John Lord Merridew, is depicted
as having more abilities to reason out criminal circumstances than the
lower-class professional detectives. This condescension is at the heart of
Andrew’s egotistical character, which we later find harbors feelings of
inadequacy as a man. Perhaps the suggestion is that people vicariously are
heroes in fiction since they can’t be exalted in real life. Milo calls to
Andrew, reminding him that he was asked to come there. Andrew turns part of a
hedge which allows Milo to join him. He constructed a puzzle that only he could
solve, which shows that he cheats to make sure he wins and in the process he
can humiliate his rivals.
Andrew asks Milo if he agrees “that the
detective story is the normal recreation of noble minds.” Milo responds with,
“I’m afraid I don’t know very much about noble minds.” This exchange stresses
the difference between the social levels where these two exist. Andrew mentions
that people at high levels of government used to enjoy thrillers and the
sleuths were titled individuals. He says that all people seem to like his books
even in a “classless” society. Andrew shows that he thinks people crave the
nobility they can’t have, and he also hints at a nostalgia for a time that
wasn’t threatened by a dissolving of the social hierarchy.
The purpose of Andrew’s invitation is somewhat
revealed when he says that he understands that Milo wants to marry Andrew’s
wife, Marguerite. The discussion starts very politely. Milo says he does want
to wed Andrew’s spouse, with “his permission.” Andrew says he seems a decent
fellow but asks questions about his background. Milo’s mother was a farmer’s
daughter and his father is Italian and emigrated to England. Andrew acts like
he is a “liberal” and has no qualms about Milo’s background. He discovers that
Milo’s family name is Tindolini, which he changed so he could “become English,”
a phrase that Andrew repeats as if questioning if that process is possible.
There is the implication that an Englishman derives from historic roots, not
transplanted saplings. Milo’s father was a watch repairman and was not
successful. Milo seems disappointed in his father, saying he always told him he
couldn’t do well in that old world trade. Milo now owns Casa Tindolini, a
couple of hair salons, so the Italian name now can be used because the “birds”
like “the continental touch.” Milo quickly changes the word to “ladies” since
“birds” is slang which stresses his lower-class origins. Andrew follows with,
“English too wholesome for them, eh?” He acts like he is joking but he is
judging the encroaching lack of morality on the part of English women corrupted
by foreign influences. Andrew asks if Milo lives below, above or behind his
shop, another condescending remark. Milo says he lives in a Georgian house, and
Andrew shows contempt for the swift social rise of the immigrant by saying,
“From Genoa to Georgian in a single generation, eh? Not bad.”
Andrew shows his jealousy by remarking that
Marguerite currently stays at Milo’s house twice a week and also frequents the
cottage Milo rents near Cloak Manor. He knows a great deal about what has been
going on, and he most likely wants Milo to know that he can’t be easily fooled.
Andrew then shouts he can say his wife talks like a six-year-old and “makes
love like an extinct shellfish,” since it’s his privileged prerogative to act
however it suits him. Milo is ready to leave after the verbal assault on the
woman he “loves.” Andrew continues spouting nasty things about Marguerite but
reels Milo back in when he asks, “Can you afford to take her off my hands?”
Andrew is now accusing Milo of not being a sufficient breadwinner, which Milo
feels he must defend. Andrew says that Milo must live like the nobility to
please Marguerite, which entails at least a large house and car, and he should
have a “mistress.” Milo knows about Andrew’s woman on the side, whose name is
Tea, because Marguerite also knows about her. The two are competing over what
they know about each other. Milo says he and Marguerite could use the knowledge
of the mistress as leverage to prevent Andrew from contesting the divorce.
After showing that they know about each other’s romantic secrets, the two drop any pretension of formality, take off their jackets, and play pool, a game of competition, which this whole movie turns out to be about. The audience becomes the third participant, trying to separate fact from fiction. Andrew later says that he used to have “treasure hunts, charades, games of infinite variety” that have been replaced by his participants with the mindless watching of television which he implies is a loss of evolved culture.
Andrew declares that he has been able to be a
sexual tutor for Tea, as he is “pretty much of an Olympic sexual athlete” and
could “copulate for England” if there were that sort of competition. That kind
of boasting usually means that there is overcompensation for insecurity, and
implies that those in the upper-class may be posers. Milo tries to knock him
down a sexual notch by implying at his age Andrew can only do “sprints” and not
“the long-distance stuff.” As they play pool, Andrew says he wants to make sure
that his wife will not return demanding more compensation if she tired of Milo’s
inability to support her expensive ways. He says she might not be satisfied
with only a bit of hair styling (noting Milo’s lower-class income) before she
bolts. He then says that his wife will not settle for “dago red” wine. He says
he means no offense, but he does, denigrating Milo’s foreign heritage. Milo
admits that he has told Marguerite that they spend too much, but she ignores
the problem, so Andrew has Milo’s attention. Andrew then says that the money
aspect is why he has invited Milo and here is where he says, “the plot
thickens.” He says it with an exaggerated Italian accent, another slight aimed
at Milo. And, yes, here is where the story mixes in more ingredients.
Andrew, after handily beating Milo at pool,
talks about how he has been “emasculated” and “castrated” by taxation. These
words gain added significance later and here act as a foreshadowing. He put a
large amount of money into jewelry instead of cash in a bank which would have
reported his assets to the government. And, the gems are insured. He wants Milo
to steal the jewelry. He says they are in a safe in his study where they now
stand and asks where Milo thinks it is. Andrew is playing another game through
which he wants to show his superiority. But Milo foils that gambit. He realizes
that Andrew loves games of competition, and the only game in the room is a dart
board. He picks up a dart and scores a bullseye, opening the safe. Andrew,
having been defeated, makes a snide comment about Milo’s lower-class status by
saying, “There are certain skills best acquired in public bars, I
suppose.”
When Milo uses the word “nick” before switching
to “steal,” Andrew winces at the vernacular language, showing how anything
associated with someone below his social rank pains him. Andrew has worked out
all the details that will allow Milo to sell the stolen goods abroad without
detection. Milo hasn’t read any of Andrew’s books and doesn’t know the name of
his protagonist, which infuriates Andrew, who describes how his creation, and
thus, himself, knows more than any policeman. Milo does know the type of story
where cops appear stupid, but he scores a point when he notes that is fiction,
not fact. He also asks Andrew why he doesn’t stage a break-in, sell the jewels
himself, and give Milo the cash. Andrew says he doesn’t have the youth and
agility to make the theft appear authentic. We have a sort of chess game, where
each player makes moves and countermoves. Olivier shows his ability with
language as he uses an American gangster accent and shortly afterwards a
Charlie Chan impersonation (a now unacceptable Asian stereotype) to sell his
plan.
Andrew insists Milo must be disguised despite the remote setting in case there is someone passing by. And, he argues, there should not be a way of leaving evidence of his footprints or clothes that would lead the authorities back to Milo. (There doesn’t seem to be much concern about Milo already leaving fingerprints inside the house, which is odd). Down in the basement of the house is Andrew’s chest of costumes, and Andrew continues to grandstand about his stories. He mentions a recurring character, a policeman named Inspector Plodder, an obviously negative name, which will resurface later. At first Milo is impatient as Andrew assumes different characters with various costumes, but then he joins in, putting on a dress and suggesting he commit the crime in drag. He improvises dialogue with Andrew who is dressed, appropriately, like a snuff-sniffing aristocrat from England’s history. The number of characters these two assume along with the various sized dolls help the audience forget that it’s just the two of them carrying the action. Milo is thrilled to find a clown outfit, but when Andrew calls him “the complete clown,” we know that he is trying to humiliate Milo. (The director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, uses camera angles to eliminate the claustrophobia that might arise from shooting within a house. Here, he has the camera point through a barred window and Andrew and Milo look like figures in one of Andrew’s dioramas, suggesting that the two of them are characters in a murder mystery).
Andrew gives him tools to cut the glass in the window and open the safe to make it look like a real burglary. While Milo uses a ladder to climb into the upstairs window Andrew takes Milo’s clothes and mysteriously locks them in a wardrobe. Milo falls down the ladder once, and as he enters the house Andrew observes “Somehow I thought you’d be better than that at climbing ladders.” He is referring to Milo’s attempt to raise himself out of his working-class position by going after Andrew’s wife. Andrew says that Milo must mess up the place a bit looking for the safe. But, he heads straight for his wife’s bedroom which has a turnstile in which one must deposit money to enter, which paints Marguerite as a sort of prostitute who dispenses sex if paid. Andrew wants Marguerite’s clothes ripped apart, and this scene seems more like Andrew venting his rage at his unfaithful wife than faking a break-in. Milo looks on with an insightful face and then wants to go to Andrew’s bedroom as he feels it’s his turn at playing the ransacking game. But Andrew says since they are supposed to be looking for women’s jewelry, he should be looking for a safe. They go to the study and Andrew rigs a charge that blows off the front of the safe, and Milo pockets the goods. He reminisces how his poor father struggled so his son could become an “Anglo-Saxon.” Milo almost snarls as he says the words in contempt since he obviously believes he was short-changed for the sacrifice.
Andrew throws a curve here, saying the next part of the plot has the homeowner awakened by the detonation. He then “surprises the burglar” which is followed by the two getting into a fight. Andrew can then tell the cops it wasn’t Milo who was the intruder. As part of simulating a burglary, Milo enjoys throwing in the air Andrew’s latest manuscript and messing up a puzzle he was working on. Then the fight must take place, and Andrew surprises Milo with punches to the face and stomach, which angers Milo. But Andrew says Milo must now hurt Andrew, and Milo is thrilled to inflict an injury. It’s sort of a proletariat's delight for him. Milo would like to use a fireplace poker, but he seems too eager for Andrew’s liking. He suggests instead that he be tied up, but Milo rightly asks how would he get him in that position? Andrew says he can hold a gun on him. He pulls out his pistol and shoots a vase Milo holds and then a photo of Marguerite, pretending he aimed for something else. But Milo knows he hit his target.
Andrew then aims at Milo saying it’s always open season on seducers and wife-stealers. Andrew then uses that derogatory Italian accent again, saying he's “a-gonna killa” Milo. Andrew now says the real game he’s playing is “you’re going to die, and no one will suspect murder.” He says it’s all been staged to make it look as if Milo broke in to steal Marguerite’s jewels and Milo killed him defending his home. He says even Marguerite will think Milo was just a gold digger. Andrew tells Milo he’ll give him a chance to make a run for it, but Andrew hid his clothes while taking the key to his car (which the camera shows has his initials “M.T.” on the door, and, of course, that is important later).
Milo is frightened and desperate now as Andrew mentally tortures him about how his body will be found as he playfully enacts how he and the local police will discuss the crime scene. Andrew temporarily looks for a golf club to beat Milo and returns, preventing Milo from making a phone call for help. Andrew tells Milo to go up the stairs to make it look like he was heading for the ladder. Andrew likens it to an execution carried out by the ruling class, saying Milo “mounts the steps to the scaffold.” Milo is sobbing now, pleading for his life. He asks why would he want to kill him? Andrew says he hates him, and his xenophobia is evident here as he says he despises Milo being a “blue-eyed wop, and not one of me,” and someone “who doesn’t know his place.” Milo rallies by saying that the fact that his wife doesn’t love him anymore and that there will be other lovers after him is what Andrew can’t tolerate. Milo is basically saying that Andrew can’t stand being usurped by those he considers to be his inferiors. Andrew’s contemptuous, haughty, bigoted summation is, “Finally, at your moment of dying, you are yourself - a sniveling, dago clown.” Andrew fires the gun, and Milo topples down the stairs, followed by Andrew taking Milo’s pulse.
That is the conclusion of the first act, or the initial game. The next game now begins. The house has the many toys turned on simultaneously, and the cacophony is jarring, possibly reflecting a deranged mind. Andrew joins in on this noisy celebration by dancing, as if he is relishing his victory over Milo. Outside, footsteps sound in counterpoint to the festivities inside. The man outside rings the house doorbell, spoiling Andrew’s aristocratic lunch consisting of caviar. The man is Inspector Doppler (which the movie’s titles says is played by Alec Cawthorne). The character’s name should remind one of the word “doppelganger” which means a “double,” or an alter ego. Hint, hint. Andrew sees him as similar to his dull-minded Inspector Plodder, only this guy turns out to be much smarter. He is tall and large with a mustache, large nose, receding hairline, and wears bargain-basement clothes consisting of an overcoat, sweater-vest and scarf, and he speaks with a deep voice. Doppler fits Andrew’s condescending stereotype of an unintelligent cop when he tries the caviar and doesn’t like it, supposedly showing ignorance by saying it tastes like fish eggs. Doppler notes the large collection of “toys,” but Andrew corrects him by calling them by the snobby term “automata.”
Doppler says he is investigating the
disappearance of Milo, who a local bartender said was headed to Andrew’s house
two night’s prior. Andrew implies those in bars are not reliable witnesses
because of being steeped in an alcoholic atmosphere. Andrew tries throwing the
word “vinous” over Doppler’s head, but Doppler catches the reference to wine.
Doppler looks at the wall and there is a hole in it that could have been caused
by a bullet. He tells Andrew that a person passing by said he heard gunshots
coming from the manor. Doppler plays with one of Andrew’s “automata,” which is
a clown doing gymnastics. This activity leads us to think of Milo dressed as a
clown. Another clue. Doppler says they couldn’t contact Milo but at his cottage
they found Andrew’s note asking Milo to visit him, confirming the bartender's
information. (IMDb notes that the picture of Marguerite that Andrew shot has
been replaced by a photograph of renowned mystery writer Agatha
Christie).
Andrew says that he and Milo played a burglary
game, but Doppler is not approving of the supposed playfulness of the activity.
Andrew says that Milo was there for ninety minutes and left, but Doppler points
out that nobody has seen the man since. Andrew belittles Doppler’s
investigative technique by comparing it to the stock detective character in
mystery books. But Doppler nobly confirms that he is just “doing his job,”
which supposedly aristocrats don’t really appreciate. Doppler learned of Milo’s
association with Marguerite, and Doppler points out that Andrew had the
“means,” “motive” and “opportunity” to do away with Milo.
As he leads Doppler to the cellar, Andrew admits
that he wouldn’t accept having his wife taken from him by the likes of a
lower-class phony Englishman such as Milo. And Andrew admits that playing his
sort of games is his whole life. Doppler repeats what was noted earlier that
Andrew’s preoccupation with game-playing “sounds a bit sad to me, sir. Like a
child not growing up.” Andrew defends his activities by boasting that his games
are so complex “that Jung and Einstein would have been proud to have been asked
to participate in them.” Andrew’s grandiosity is in full bloom here, comparing
himself to great historical minds, maybe even saying he ranks above them since
they would be grateful to join him if he deemed to ask them. Andrew makes the
argument that “sex is the game. Marriage is the penalty,” so he wasn’t upset
about ending his marriage. But not, it seems, as he said earlier, to a less
noble Englishman.
Andrew changes an old saying when he pronounces,
“The shortest way to a man’s heart is through humiliation.” The game he played
with Milo was a test of the strength of his character. Andrew now retells what
happened concerning the story about stealing the jewels to keep Marguerite at
the level of luxury she was used to. He says that he eventually convinced Milo that
he would kill him as an invading burglar. Milo crumbled, showing he failed the
aristocratic test. Andrew shot him with a blank, which we can assume was
substituted when Andrew went to obtain his golf club. Andrew said Milo then
fainted. Doppler is horrified to think Andrew held a gun to the man’s head as
part of “a game.” Andrew falls back behind his aristocratic barricades,
claiming that his game showed that one can’t assume an elevated status, that
“the quality that breeding brings cannot be acquired.” He implies upper-class
entitlement is an inherited right based on superior genetics.
Doppler is not willing to accept Andrew’s making
light of the situation because Milo is still missing, and suggests a possible
assault charge against Andrew at the least. Doppler points out the two bullet
holes, which Andrew says were just the set-up to convince Milo he was serious.
Doppler checks out where Milo kneeled on the stairs when the shot was fired and
he finds some dried blood there and on the carpet, which Andrew can’t explain.
Doppler says he saw no clown costume in the trunk that Andrew said Milo wore,
and he points out that there is a fresh mound of dirt in the garden, which
could be where a body is buried. After inspecting the grounds, as they go back
into the house, there is a camera shot of the red sports car with “M.T.” on the
door hidden behind some bushes. The audience could be wondering if that is
where Andrew hid Milo’s car. But wouldn’t he be foolish to leave evidence
sitting about?
Doppler finds Milo’s clothes with his initials on them in the bottom of the wardrobe in Andrew’s room, which is where Andrew tossed them. But he says Milo changed back into his clothes before leaving so he is at a loss as to how they could still be in his bedroom. Doppler says that Andrew may have started out playing a nasty prank on Milo but the third shot turned out to be real. Even if there is no body in the garden it just means he started to bury Milo there and then changed to another place. Doppler is ready to arrest Andrew, who resists. Doppler manhandles him on a downstairs couch. As he holds Andrew and threatens him with at least seven years in prison, he says that he has read several detective stories and the police are not as dumb as portrayed in those books. He then says that he has come to conclude that “the detective story is the normal recreation of noble minds.” Which is exactly the phrase that Andrew said to Milo. Doppler now removes make-up as he explains the meaning of “doppler” which is also almost an anagram for “plodder,” and shows himself to be Milo in disguise. He has used Andrew’s game-playing to reverse the staging of a frame-up to get his version of humiliation revenge on Andrew.
Andrew is at first outraged by the deception but
then has to concede the charade was well done. Milo laughingly takes a victory
lap as he throws his make-up and clothes all over and prefers using Andrew’s
bathroom to clean up, in a way usurping the owner’s position of superiority.
Andrew pathetically tries to save his uppity face by saying he caught on at the
end and was also putting on a performance. Milo says Andrew, despite his saying
he can lose gracefully, is incapable of admitting defeat. Andrew rolls back his
desire for humiliation and says he tested Milo and found him to be as good a
game player as he is. Milo admits that he thought he was really going to die
when Andrew pointed the gun at him. Andrew counters by saying that means Milo
lived more intensely than he had ever done before. Andrew argues that they came
from different places but found themselves on an equal playing field. But Milo
isn’t going to pretend that their backgrounds don’t still matter. He says in
his world, “there was no time for bright fancies and happy inventions, no
stopping for tea. The only game we played was to survive, or go to the wall. If
you didn’t win, you didn’t finish. Loser, lose all.” Milo is stressing that
Andrew has always had the luxury of playing games that had no real
consequences, and were just for amusement. In Milo’s world of poverty-stricken
existence, growing up meant the stakes were frighteningly real.
Andrew seems to think that they are even now for
exacting revenge on each other. But that is not how Milo sees it. In tense
words, Milo says that Andrew frightened him almost to death. He actually
thought the button on his jacket, his finger, and the stair railing were the
last things he was to see, and the sound of the gun going off was like hearing
the sound of his own death. Milo says his performance as Doppler doesn’t settle
the score.
Milo angrily yells that his father and
grandfather were losers. He doesn’t want a draw with Andrew. He proclaims that
now it’s time for the Tindles to start winning and for others to be the losers.
We now start the third game of the film, as Milo says he has actually killed
someone, and now “it’s a real game and a real murder.” Milo is making Andrew
realize the actual consequences that occur in Milo’s world when people take
actions. There is no safety net. He says while planting the evidence in and
around the house while Andrew was away, Andrew’s mistress Tea showed up. He
seduced her and they had sex. He then strangled her and placed her in the
temporary grave outside. Milo then relocated her and he says that the police
will find her body. He says he alerted the cops and they should arrive in
thirty minutes. Milo told the cops that Andrew was obsessed with games about
murder and his greatest desire was to “commit an actual, real life murder, hide
the body, then leave clues linking” him with the crime, believing that “the
poor, simple-minded police would never recognize ‘em for what they were.” Milo
adds that he told the police that Tea knew that Andrew thought she was having
affairs with other men and threatened to kill her. This plan is a variation on
the two versions by each man previously to set up the other person to appear
guilty. It also is in sync with the disdainful way Andrew depicted policemen in
his novels.
Andrew thinks that Milo is bluffing but then he calls a woman named Joyce who verifies that Tea was strangled and the police have already been investigating. Milo now wants to see Andrew as frightened as he was and test him on his proclaimed genius at games-playing. He hid four pieces of evidence, including the murder weapon, in the room which the “plodding” cops will find if Andrew doesn’t. Milo is challenging Andrew to be able to outwit the police as he boasts or risk humiliation. Milo reveals he has familiarity with the objects which shows he was in close contact with Tea (which is spelled the same as “tea,” something Andrew would serve as an upstanding British citizen). Milo then gives cryptic clues which show his intelligence, something Andrew underestimated, as Milo reverses their positions of power. Milo enjoys watching the exasperated Andrew run around looking for the planted evidence. Milo taunts him by repeating the same condescending lines that Andrew used on him as Doppler, and calls Andrew’s sleuth “Merridick,” a derogatory version of “Merridew.” Milo uses evidence and clues associated with Andrew’s position in the ruling class, such as a diamond necklace and a song a rich boy’s nanny would sing, to be his undoing. Milo points out the one time Andrew shows a slight sign of regret about what happened to his mistress. Andrew is so selfish he enjoys having an adrenaline rush playing the game which blots out any feelings of grief. Tea’s shoe is hidden in a coal bin, and Andrew gets blackened looking for the item, appearing like a commoner working in the mines. Milo points out that Andrew is a bigot who only portrayed people of various ethnic backgrounds in derogatory stereotypical ways in his writings.
He discovers the necklace which isn’t
incriminating since Tea could have left it there, but Andrew throws the
solitary shoe into the furnace. Milo starts chuckling louder and louder, and
then moves his arms around mechanically until Andrew realizes he must search
his mechanical sailor Jolly Jack Tar, one of his playthings that Milo now uses
against Andrew. When the remote button is pressed the doll winks at him, as if
signaling a clue, and Andrew finds that Jolly Jack is wearing one of Tea’s
eyelashes, which he then burns. Andrew resorts to an Italian slur toward Milo,
who becomes angry and then, in retribution, gives him the final clue in
Italian, which Andrew, after some struggling, translates to, “All that glitters
is not gold.” Andrew is stumped, so Milo plays a little of “Anything Goes” on
the piano, which mentions a “glimpse of stocking.” But the almost defeated
Andrew practically begs for more help now, showing how Milo is forcing him to
grovel.
Milo taunts Andrew as he continues to search by
saying he hears the approach of the police, but says he’ll go outside and try
to hold them off. Andrew “glimpses” a stocking, the murder weapon, wrapped
around the pendulum of his grandfather clock (another of his pricey objects).
It also reminds us of Milo’s father’s occupation and implies the working-class
is getting its revenge. Andrew flushes the stocking down the toilet, and he
cleans himself up for the entrance of the cops, who don’t really exist, another
bit of fakery on Milo’s part.
Milo now tells the truth. Tea called while he
was staging the trick to play on Andrew. Milo told her of the nasty prank that
Andrew played on him and she knew how he enjoyed “inflicting on other people”
games of “humiliation.” Tea was glad to help him get some revenge so she
donated her things and Joyce, her flatmate, joined in. Tea also told Milo that
she and Andrew hadn’t been together in over a year and that Andrew was
“practically impotent.” (Given this bit of information, the gun, the poker, the
golf club, the cue stack, the dart, the prophylactically sheathed clock
pendulum, and Milo’s distortion of the amateur detective’s name, “Merridick,”
all can be seen as phallic references commenting ironically on Andrew’s inability
to perform sexually). Andrew looks like he has been tortured, having been
dragged off of his self-appointed perch of superiority.
Milo angrily says that he doesn’t play “games of
humiliation for sport,” suggesting he has suffered enough degradation in life,
so when he plays it’s a more exacting enterprise. He sums up by reversing
Andrew’s statement and says his writing is “the normal recreation of snobbish,
outdated, life-hating, ignoble minds.” He then goes to get Marguerite’s fur
coat, since Andrew’s wife will not be returning. But, one can exact only so
much pain before the injured party lashes out. Andrew now verbally writes the
story he will tell the police about a burglar (here we go again), stealing his
wife’s fur coat. He loads his revolver while saying he shot the intruder,
killing him.
Andrew says to Milo he can’t allow him telling
anyone about what has happened, especially since it would show he was bested by
a “wop” upstart who knows of Andrew’s impotence. Milo says that he actually did
go to the cops after Andrew played his first game, but the policeman didn’t
seem too interested in a story from a lower-class man stealing an elite man’s
wife. But Milo points out that if he were found dead there, it couldn’t appear
as the shooting of an unknown criminal. However, there have been so many
falsehoods told that Andrew doesn’t believe that Milo went to the police. When
one can’t tell the difference between truth and fiction, one tends to believe
what one wants to believe. Andrew says Milo dared to take his wife, question
his virility, and mock his writing, all of which warrants severe punishment
from his lofty social perch. Andrew then shoots Milo.
But Milo was telling the truth and the police acted upon Milo’s report. They pull up and the police car’s light is flashing. Milo’s dying words are, “Remember, be sure to tell them, it was only a bloody game.” In Andrew’s world the ruling class always outplays the lower class, and losing for him is not an option. But, in this case, Milo has brought Andrew down because of the man’s inability to realize his false superiority. Milo grabs the remote and Jolly Jack Tar laughs as if ridiculing Andrew, and his other mechanical figures seem to jeer at Andrew’s bigoted ignorance. The last shot transforms into one of Andrew’s dioramas, where instead of catching the murderer, Andrew turns into the caught killer.
The next film is The
Grifters.
