Strangers On A Train: Good Guy or Bad Guy

[@sbonel3224]

When bruno helps the blind man cross the street I interpreted it more of him using the blind man as a way to disguise himself and escape the crime scene without being detained by the police that was closing in on the amusement park.

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

Entirely possible.

[@jaykauffman4775]

No

[@elaineteeter9485]

As a dedicated fan of Robert Walker I admit that most of my attention always goes to him in this picture. However, your astute analysis of Guy's reactions to Miriam's murder has opened the door to more intense attention to Guy's character and intention. His reactions to Miriam's murder and the close camera shots reveal much more layered motives than I had observed in all the many times I have watched this picture. This was an excellent analysis of a tremendous picture.

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

Walker certainly dominates the film, and his character is the more obviously colorful. Thanks for your comment!

[@GoobsNYC]

Great overview, helped me out a ton for my film class

[@andromedastar4900]

There's definitely more to Guy than just being this pure and innocent soul caught up in a sociopath's web. In the novel, it delves into this very well. I saw a comment on a discussion board about the story that put it best: Guy sees Bruno as the physical embodiment of that other side of him...the dark side that hates and wants to kill his wife, it's like he's found the other part of his soul. Also, there is a lot of homoerotic subtext and sexual tension between the two main characters. Bruno is clearly obsessed with Guy and deep down, although Guy is bewildered at what is going on, he finds Bruno intriguing, seductive, titillating, and enjoys Bruno's erotic pursuit of him and obsession with him.

[@chandlerzhu9735]

Guy being abmiguous when he hears the plan is enough to prove that he is not innocent

[@69kellygreen]

omg farley granger was so gorgeous

[@patquon4875]

Interesting interpretation of whether Guy Haines is just as guilty as Bruno as it would appear he did in some shape of form, exploit Bruno's insistence of killing Guy's wife. He had many opportunities to stop Bruno from committing murder but he just never bothered knowing Bruno was mentally imbalanced and psychotic. I also see lots of Hitchcock's dark and white colors and stripes portrayed in the clothing and shoes that Bruno and Guy were wearing, symbolic of their personalities. Great review.

[@andromedastar4900]

Bruno becomes more enraged and unhinged as the film goes on in large part due to Guy's innocent "I don't want any part of this" act, which Bruno sees right through. Maybe Farley Granger doesn't do a good enough job of conveying it, but Guy is clearly not just a helpless and innocent party in all this. The two men feed off of each other's feelings as emotions, each one is enamored with the other. Guy just likes to tell himself that he doesn't have the same feelings Bruno does and keeps up appearances for the other people in his life. He can fool others, he can even fool himself, but he can't fool Bruno.

[@georgelaing2578]

Recall that the Guy in Dial M for Murder is a tennis player.

[@clumsydad7158]

Granger plays the role as confused, just as he did in Rope, and is excellent at being the second fiddle, dragged along and unable to know nor assert his true self. Although I enjoyed his performance, I think Hitch left the door open for the definitive version of this movie to be made. We may yet have a pending classic on our hands, if it can fall into deft hands that go back to Highsmith's source material, and draws out the deeper moral ambiguity in a new adaptation.

[@clumsydad7158]

This could have been on of Hitchcock's greats, a very strong first half. Everything languishes hard though w/ the dry tennis match and into the finale. I also thought there was a lost opportunity to make Granger's character even more ambiguous, such as the possibility of a wry smile at the end. As in fact, he is the beneficiary of Walker's warped sensibilities, in that he took care of his ex- for him. Similar to Bates in Psycho, Bruno is an immature villain and feels victimized by family dysfunction.

[@hanneloreotto2988]

One of my favorite movies. Thanks

[@eveelliotauthor]

Great analysis, and very well presented

[@jakek.8128]

This was really insightful!

[@nickpowell2401]

Great analysis, very interesting

[@leploeo7145]

thanks for this interesting video 👍

[@RobertGraziose]

Who played Bruno? The actors name. Wasn't he the guy George C Scott hit in Patton?

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

Bruno is played by Robert Walker, who would probably have been much better known today if not for his tragic death at a young age. The soldier in Patton was played by Tim Considine. I do see some resemblance now that you mention it.

[@RanBlakePiano]

Fantastic insights

[@kwill898]

Love every Hitchcock. A great suspenseful and psychological movie. The merry-go-round from hell.👍

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

Thanks for checking out so many of my videos! Please feel free to make suggestions as well.

[@larryditkoff7058]

Maybe it's me, but this film is overrated due to plot homes. 1) Bruno has no leverage over Guy. He acted unilaterally. 2) Bruno has no way of knowing that Guy doesn't have an airtight alibi. He is a well known person and could very easily prove he wasn't there. 3) Guy says act normally. His wife has been killed and he talks about playing tennis. 4) the police would have already searched the fairgrounds and could not conceivably place the evidence. It is no longer a crime scene. 5) the cop at the end fires into a spinning Merry go round with children on it. Ridiculous. Also nobody cares that the Merry go round operator is killed. Full is too far fetched

[@RanBlakePiano]

Audio

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

This was only the second video I ever made, so I didn't have the sound worked out yet. Sorry about that.