It's more than a man killing his mistress that parallels An
American Tragedy. It's the whole story of a poor boy who is
trying to make something of himself, is getting use to the
good life, poor girl gets pregnant, threatens to expose the
affair to the wealthy family. Only the end is different
because he is lucky. The point isn't the luck itself.
Jeff
> --- Jeff Vorzimmer <
jvorzimmer@austin.rr.com> wrote:
> I think Theodore
>> Dreiser first wrote this
>> story in An American Tragedy in 1931, which has
been
>> made into a movie no
>> fewer than four times, most notably, A Place in
the
>> Sun starring Liz Taylor
>> and Montgomery Cliff.
>
******************************************************
> Yeah, but in AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY the cad is put
to
> death. This guy walks, and goes on apparently to
a
> rich, successful life. There is no justice or
any
> chance of justice in this story. To under
rate
> MATCHPOINT as just another 'man kills his
mistress'
> story, is, I think, to completely miss it's
point.
> Even if this guy becomes addicted to murder and
goes
> on to commit another and is finally caught,
there'll
> never be closure for Scarlet Johansson because
an
> unsuspecting loser is caught dead with her ring so
the
> case is closed. I still think it's a very original
and
> cynical twist on a set of circumstances as old
as
> humans. In Dreiser's day there were bad guys.
Today,
> the wealthy can spin their behavior and make it
look
> like self defense. This character's crimes
are
> reprehensible, two women dead, and even his
conscience
> isn't stirred.
>
> Patrick King
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