After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

In co-writer/director James Foley's fatalistic, neo-noirish crime-mystery thriller (with MTV flourishes from cinematographer Mark Plummer and impact from Maurice Jarre's haunting soundtrack), it told a tense and brooding tale (told sparsely by an unreliable narrator in voice-over) about a group of desperate losers in the hot sun and dusty and desolate desert of the Palm Springs area (including Coachella, Mecca, Indio, Palm Desert, and Palm Springs). The themes included the manipulative ensnarement and entanglement of an underestimated, simple-minded 'fall-guy' patsy, and a doomed-to-fail, devious kidnapping attempt marked by deceit, strained loyalties, mistrust, double-crosses, betrayal, and self-sacrificial death.

However, the film's title had little to do with the plot, except for its similarity to the name of one of the classic film noirs Murder, My Sweet (1944). Its tagline hinted at sexual desire and unpredictable deception-betrayal:

Seduced beyond the limits of deception. Betrayed beyond the limits of desire.

The overlooked film was one of many adaptations of tough-guy novelist Jim Thompson's potboiling crime stories adapted for the screen, along with The Killing (1956), The Getaway (1972), The Killer Inside Me (1976), and The Grifters (1990). The lurid, pulpy Thompson novel After Dark, My Sweet was published in 1955 and updated for this film by co scriptwriters James Foley and Robert Redlin (also the film's producer).

The principal characters included a dim-witted, impulsive ex-boxer (who killed an opponent in the ring) - a rambling, scruffy-looking drifter who had recently escaped from a mental facility, and met up with an enticingly sexy, hard-drinking, alluring femme-fatale widow. Due to her own exhaustion with life, her wounded nature, her widowhood and her alcoholism, she schemed and plotted with her vulnerable, newly-hired, menial-jobs handyman and another manipulative, hustling, sleazy, untrustworthy ex-police detective (nicknamed Uncle Bud although unrelated) to pull off the kidnapping of a wealthy, local man's son for the reward of a large ransom. With violent rage just below the surface of his demeanor, the bruised, troubled and imbalanced boxer was brought along for their hare-brained scheme, although at one point, he was befriended by a kindly, well-intentioned but creepy doctor who was concerned for his health and safety.

The film's most frequent but sporadic flashbacks were the boxer's disturbing and fragmented recollections of being in the ring during his last bout, where he was bloodied and cut all over his face after receiving a foul gut-punch, and was almost counted out. His retaliatory violent response ended with a casualty in the ring.

With a budget of $7 million, its gross revenue was only $2.7 million.

• during the opening title credits, ex-boxer Kevin "Kid" Collins (Jason Patric) experienced a sudden flashback to his last bout in the ring; he was pictured in slow-motion with a bloodied and cut face after being downed, but was able to stand up before being counted out
• the unstable hitch-hiking drifter and bum had spent the night in a roadside cave amongst giant boulders; he climbed down and staggered to the road to hitch a ride, carrying a parcel wrapped in brown paper; he spoke in voice-over as he mused about becoming restless after he had recently escaped from an under-staffed and overcrowded mental institution where he had been involuntarily committed: "I wonder where I'll be tomorrow. I'll wonder why I didn't stay where I was a week ago and a thousand miles from here...I've been walking away from things for a long time, ever since I couldn't walk away from him"; he explained that as a former boxer, his brain had suffered many pummelings, and possibly affected his mental acuity
• the disheveled protagonist entered Bert's Bar in a small dusty town (Coachella or Mecca) in the desert area of Coachella Valley southeast of Palm Springs, CA; he was there to order a cold beer from disinterested and irritated bartender Bert (Rocky Giordani) wearing a muscle-shirt; he amiably rambled on with small-talk - mostly to himself, while his chattiness was largely ignored by the cranky Bert
• another regular customer named Mrs. "Fay" Anderson (Rachel Ward) walked in and sat at the end of the bar, wearing short cut-off jeans; the male drinker attempted to describe a typical down-on-his-luck story (one of his rehearsed lies) about losing track of his friend Jack Billingsley after their car broke down and he went to get a tow truck; after both Fay and the annoyed bartender seemed to rudely mock him for being 'slow,' Bert ordered him to "disappear" as he took away his unfinished beer glass for no apparent reason; Kevin explained how he hadn't done anything wrong - he had been behaving himself and was respectable (deceitfully explaining how he was an ex-serviceman who had spent a year and a half in junior college); he exploded with a quick temper after Bert grabbed his shirt; he retaliated by violently striking back and cold-cocking Bert behind the counter
• in the next scene, Kevin hurriedly shuffled along on a road to leave town (with clenched fists, a stooped posture, and doddering pace); Fay - who had initially rebuffed and needled him at the bar - drove by in her dark-red 1983 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park, and with a friendly manner, she offered to pick him up - for some unknown but clearly apparent reason; on the surface, she said that she was impressed with his fists; she vowed that she wouldn't report him to the police back in town (and neither would Bert), and she offered to take him to her neglected plantation-estate and her ranch-style home in nearby Indio, CA
• once they arrived, they exchanged names; she advised him to be accepting of his past when he identified himself as Kevin Collins - a well-known prize-fighter: ("Don't feel bad about it. It's your story. So stick with it"); when he asked about her husband, the English female answered: "He's dead, Kevin. Gone to hell"
• after making his way into the house, in any easy-to-overlook moment, he noticed that she had a newspaper clipping about a local wealthy family - the Vanderventers [Note: It revealed that she knew in advance about her friend Uncle Bud's scheme and plotting to target a rich family]; she suggested giving Kevin the nickname of "Collie" - both a cute and insulting suggestion - "You look like one. Stupid and shaggy with a big long nose to poke in other people's business"

For Unclear Motives, Fay Offered To Take Kevin To Her Home	Stooped Over, Kevin Quickly Shuffled His Way Out of Town
Kevin Was Driven to Fay's Home Where They Exchanged Names	Easily-Overlooked Detail (A News Clipping About the Wealthy Vanderventer Family): Fay Was In on the Scheme

• as they shared a drink (she was an obvious lush), she expressed how "Collie" had impressed her with his fast and efficient "mitts"; after learning he fought professionally, she assumed that his brain had become deadened and that he had lost mental acuity by the many punches; he felt insulted by her "erroneous impression" she had of him: "I'm not at all stupid. I may sound like I am, but I'm really not..I'm not stupid and I don't like for people to treat me like I am"; she was briefly interrupted and went outside to speak to a neighbor-associate (later identified as Uncle Bud)
• Fay immediately pressured "Collie" into being hired - starting the next day - to perform menial jobs around her property; she offered her deceased husband's work clothes as she led him outside and he followed her shapely, long-legged figure; she suggested that he could pull weeds, whack the many dead branches off of her unhealthy, dried up and withered date-palm trees (a sexually-symbolic condition), and presumably clean her dirty and scummy swimming pool; the plantation-idea was one of Fay's dead husband's get-rich-quick schemes that had failed
• Fay led "Collie" to the far end of her property's date-palm orchard and offered him the "private" use of a house trailer parked there; after he cleaned up, she offered to buy him dinner and also wanted him to become her drinking companion: ("I'm in the mood for a drink"); she urged him to keep his scraggly hair-growth: ("Oh, and Collie darling, do your Fay a favor and don't shave. I like the shaggy dog look")
• at a Mexican restaurant where she used to "tie one on" and dance once a week with her husband, Fay's neighbor Garrett Stoker (aka Uncle Bud, but unrelated) (Bruce Dern) saw Fay and her newest addition to her house dancing together (with an obvious close-up of "Collie's" boxer-hands embracing her); he was the one who had come by her house earlier; Uncle Bud introduced himself, said he knew of Kevin's reputation as boxer "Kid" Collins, and called his last fight "a big one"; while Fay went to the rest-room, the charming Uncle Bud encouraged "Kid" to settle down, find friends that admired him, rest up, and most importantly "Keep Fay out of trouble"; he also hinted: "I might be able to put you next to somethin' pretty good"
• when Kevin tried to caution Uncle Bud: ("You don't really know anything about me"), the smooth-talking Uncle Bud - who saw Kevin's potential usefulness - claimed that he had an innate sense about people: "I know what they'll do and I know what they won't do"; Uncle Bud praised what he saw in Kevin: "You're sharp, nervy, know a good angle when you see it, and you have what it takes to finish it out"; he then explained how he was an ex-detective who had brought a lot of "good deals" to many "needy" guys just like Kevin: ("I'll tell you what to need to know when you need to know it"), and then warned: "Make sure you sleep alone"
• once they returned to her house, Fay revealed she knew about Uncle Bud's recurring schemes and scams; she had a change of heart about involving him with Bud, and offered him a dire warning to leave immediately for his own best interest: "Go away, Collie. This little scheme's been cooking up for months, and if you leave, it'll go right on cooking till it boils away...I don't want him talking you into this mess"; she kissed him at the front door, and gave him a bottle of alcohol for "comfort" - telling him: "Just go and keep going. Go, go, go. Fly away into the night up to the moon"
• the "Kid" took Fay's advice, grabbed his brown-paper parcel, and ambled off into the night, as he thought to himself in voice-over: "Whether she was watching me or not, I don't know. I only knew that I was moving again, away from her and Uncle Bud"
• he entered a restaurant-diner (late-nite truck stop) where the counterman (Tom Wagner) complained about him bringing in his own booze bottle, and told the slightly drunk "Kid" to quit "jabbering away" at two truckers (Mike Hagerty and James E. Bowen Jr.) and scaring them away by asking for a ride; he asked if the bum could at least avoid trouble by sitting in one of the unoccupied back booths until daylight; the "Kid" slightly tripped and fell into the booth of a concerned, well-intentioned Dr. Jake Goldman (George Dickerson), who offered to buy him some food and coffee; the "Kid" declined: "I think I'll sit here and wait for my friend Jack Billingsley"; the doctor intuitively recognized that the drifter had been a former mental patient: ("How long since you were under commitment?"), and also asked: "Would you like to go back? Don't you think you should go back?"; after the "Kid" refused help and resisted returning to the facility, the doctor offered more advice: "You lay off the booze and behave yourself"
• after two violent white slashes (the transition between scenes), "Collie" was at the kind and lonely doctor's home (with an adjoining doctor's office) trimming his front hedges; he had been given a private room, but in voice-over was longing for Fay and worried how she might be unsafe with Uncle Bud: "I kept thinking about Fay and worrying about her"; with some ambiguity about his motives and with a homo-erotic undertone, Dr. Goldman discussed how he thought that "Collie" could remain with him for a year in a mutually-beneficial arrangement - a preferable choice over being recommitted; Goldman was concerned that "Collie" could be "easily influenced" and become "dependent" on others - a combination that could lead to "tragedy"; "Collie" denied any wrong-doing: "I never really hurt anyone. I never did anything really bad"; he looked down at his boxer's 'killer' hands - seen in an intense close-up - and experienced a flashback of facing a boxing opponent (Vince Mazzella Jr.) in his last bout in the ring
• later in the middle of the night, after being spooked by the doctor's personal interest in him, "Collie" gathered his meager belongings, left without a goodbye, and hitch-hiked in the back of a truck to Fay's place; as he jumped out of the moving truck, his red-ribboned bottle of red wine stashed under his jacket shattered, leaving a blotchy stain on his T-shirt; Fay greeted him at her front door: "Oh Collie, you crazy, silly sweet" - as he sheepishly told her: "I just happened to be in the neighborhood"; she sat in his lap and told him: "I'm glad you came back, Collie. I wish you hadn't. I prayed you wouldn't. But I'm glad"; he was uncertain about his choice to return, but relieved too - it was a way to make a change in his life: "(I) couldn't keep doin' the same thing. It's like you don't know what it is that you're supposed to do, but, uh...it feels good with you, Fay. You feel good"

Returning to Fay: "I just happened to be in the neighborhood"

"Collie" to Fay Sitting in His Lap: "You feel good"

Uncle Bud Intervening Between Fay and "Collie" With a Quick-Money Scheme

• in the next scene, "Collie" was turned away in Uncle Bud's car, listening to the ever-plotting no-gooder who was enticing him with the promise of making money: "What do the words mean, Kid? What's good? What's bad? I'd say it'd be bad for a nice guy like you to have to go on like he's been goin'. I'd say it'd be good if you never had to worry about money the rest of your life"; he described his basic scheme: "Just be a case of puttin' pressure on certain people, people that have more money than they know what to do with, make them come across. That'd be alright, wouldn't it?"; Uncle Bud parked their car in view of the Vanderventer estate, while complaining about the family's wealthy lifestyle, and how the children had precisely-timed appointments for their play: ("All that money. Their kids have to make an appointment to play") - he pulled out a clipping with a photo of his proposed target - young Charlie Vanderventer
• manipulative and inept con-man Uncle Bud's confident, well-thought-out plan was for someone to impersonate the child's uniformed chauffeur (presumably his perfect pawn Kevin), and kidnap the boy by picking him up after his predictable afternoon play-date at a golf course, a few minutes before his real chauffeur (Mr. Rogers) arrived; two more white flashes signified another transition to a repeat of his boxing-ring flashback
• "Collie" had an unexpected visit from Dr. Goldman who had traced him to the widow's house; the ex-boxer and mental patient apologized for leaving: ("I just couldn't stay there, you know I couldn't, just wouldn't be right"), and again vowed he wasn't confused: "I'm not mixed up"; he also claimed that the widow and he had mutual needs to be fulfilled: "She needs me, Doc. You know what that means to have someone really need you for the first time in your life?"; Goldman accepted Collie's wish to stay, but felt it was still his duty to inform Fay about his background and mental condition - Collie objected: "You're going to tell her I'm on the loose from an insane asylum?" and persuasively forced Goldman to promise to hold off on personally meeting with Fay to warn her for the time being
• as Fay erotically dipped her finger into sugar on a plate of donuts while sitting at her dining table, Uncle Bud was asking if Collie had any questions about their kidnap plan; unsure of the plan, Collie suggested a revision to the plan in which they would fake or pretend to kidnap the boy, and Uncle Bud would play the "hero" by rescuing the boy; the family would then reward Bud, but it would be for a smaller amount of money; however, Uncle Bud logically disagreed that they needed the apprehension of a culprit: "How do I become a hero, though, if, uh, nobody gets caught? It's not gonna work. Just can't be done that way"; the original plan was confirmed and was to be executed the next day
• excited by Fay's sexual come-on to prove how much she 'stacked up' in Collie's eyes, she teased that she was receptive to him and propositioned him: "Well, you know where I'll be. In fact, I may as well..."; Collie raced back to his trailer to quickly clean up and then returned hoping to find her in her bedroom; on the contrary, he realized in the interim that she had hurriedly driven off; a phone call from Dr. Goldman explained why she had fled from the house - she had reacted to the phone call (about Collie's past) with alarm and upset; before Collie could 'hit the trail' again, Uncle Bud showed up after being called by a distraught Fay; he was undoubtedly checking up on Collie - nervous that their plan was now disrupted; Uncle Bud reassured Collie: "Nothing bothers me. You know, a man's a man. All that. Bet you'd like a drink"
• the original plan was now slightly revised, as explained by Collie in voice-over; he had realized that he was being set up to die: "Fay wouldn't be in the car to help with the kid, but he was convinced I could handle it on my own. I began to see, how from his point of view, the situation had actually improved...You'd have to be blind not to see what was comin'. I was due to get killed, and Uncle Bud was due - or thought he was - to be a hero"
• lightning flashes signaled another flashback to the boxing ring (this one showed the complete end of the fight), where "Kid" received a low-blow to the gut, and then was knocked down to the mat, but stood up after a count to 8; enraged, he tossed the boxing referee (Napoleon Walls) to the side, turned on his opponent now down on his knees, ripped off his right-hand's boxing glove, and mercilessly pummeled his competitor to death with his bare hand; as he stood up, a circling shot moved around him; flashbulbs popped and illuminated him as he realized what he had done; he stared into the camera - an image known as a "Kubrick stare"
• after the flashback, Collie sat at his trailer's window that night staring back at the darkened house; later, he laid back on his bed with clenched fists in utter agony, worrying about how he had lost control of his life
• the next day on the drive in Fay's car to the golf course - the kidnapping location, Collie (wearing a chauffeur's uniform) described in flashback how he was fatefully resigned to proceed with the fool-hardy scheme: "Knowing what I did, I couldn't say why I was going ahead. Just seemed like something I had to do, like I'd been set in a rut and had to follow it out to the end. I was hurt, of course, hurt and mad at the whole world. Guess that was why. All I knew was I had to go ahead"

Collie Disguised as Chauffeur Rogers For the Kidnapping: (Voice-Over: "All I knew was I had to go ahead")	His Kidnapping Target - Schoolboy Charlie Vanderventer	Another Student Jack Informing Collie of Charlie's Abusive Parents and Sickness
Dolly Shot of Uncle Bud: "That's the wrong boy"	Collie Kidnapping the Young Boy	Charlie Was Promised That He Wouldn't Be Harmed by Collie

• as Collie (impersonating chauffeur Mr. Rogers) was figuring out the best way to kidnap Charlie Vanderventer (James Cotton), another classmate Jack (Corey Carrier) (to avoid retaliation from bullies) jumped into his station wagon; as Collie drove off with the wrong boy, he was told that Charlie had always been abusively treated by his parents, and was very sick: "He's been sick for years and he's getting sicker. And the worse he gets, the tougher they make it for him"; Collie's accomplices Uncle Bud and Fay drove up to take the boy, and Bud got out of his car and ominously approached Collie; filmed with a vertigo-inducing dolly shot ("push-pull," "reverse-tracking shot"), Bud pointed his finger and harshly reprimanded Collie: "That's the wrong boy!'; after a tense discussion, Bud accepted Collie's suggestion to take the boy back and possibly pick up the right one the following day
• the 'wrong' young boy agreed to be brought back and was dropped off at 3:45 pm; Collie was quickly able to kidnap Charlie by grabbing him with his strong arms and hands, and carrying him to the car; when the actual chauffeur arrived (in the same exact make and car model!), Collie punched him out and drove the boy off to Fay's house, while promising him no harm: ("I won't, and no one else will either"); after depositing the boy in a back bedroom, the group listened to a radio report about the kidnapping
• Collie was shocked by Fay's reaction to the kidnapping: "Why in the world did you do it?", causing him to respond in disbelief: "Why not, it's what we planned on"; Uncle Bud was congratulatory, although Collie knew he had been used and he had smartly foiled their set-up to kill him: "All you gotta do is pick yourself a guy who's a little bit off and throw him a curve, he'll do it"; Collie physically grabbed Bud and scared him, grabbed his gun, and then angrily confronted the screaming Fay: "I told you Fay, right from the beginning that I wasn't stupid, and I didn't like for people to treat me like I was"; he accepted her apology for running off the previous day, but then questioned her asserted desire to be in the car with him, when instead - she had clearly and conveniently been in the car with Bud; Collie then interjected that maybe he had picked up the wrong boy 'on purpose' - to test them; as they had discussed the previous day - someone would have to "get caught" in order to collect the reward, and he would have been the one to take the fall while they collected the money; suddenly, it dawned on Fay that it looked like Bud had set them up to kill Collie
• due to her revelation, Fay was now uncertain about Collie's feelings for her; she asked: "Is that what you think of me?" and then answered her own question: "Well sure, why not? If a person won't stop at kidnapping, hey, why should she stop at murder, huh?"; Bud tried to cool everyone down and stop the distrust: "Look, we had a little misunderstanding. And it's all over now. We got what we wanted. We are about to collect"
• later that evening, Collie buried his chauffeur's uniform in the backyard, and then noticed Fay providing Charlie with sweets for dinner (Coca-Cola and a piece of blueberry pie); Collie claimed to Fay that he had reconsidered and was wrong about her, but knew she was in on Bud's diabolical plan to kill him: ("I know what he planned to do, but that doesn't mean you had to be in on it"); she suggested her new-found knowledge of his background (from the doctor) had swayed her opinions; Collie proposed that they could now escape and be together if they wanted: ("We could end all this right now, you and me"), but she seriously doubted it would work out: "And then what?"; she was highly skeptical: "You and me, together forever?...You really believe there could be a you and me?"; he promised: "I could take care of you real good," but she drove off (in Bud's car) without him [Note: meanwhile, Bud was disposing of Fay's car, to destroy evidence]
• slightly paranoid, Collie was thoroughly confused by Fay's mixed signals, accusations, and feelings for him: (voice-over) "Maybe this was her plan, a way of cutting me out of the deal. She'd point me in one direction so she could move in another. Right from the beginning, she'd been able to get me so rattled and mixed up I didn't know what I was doing"
• the young boy Charlie became so sick that he puked into the toilet, and then expected to be scolded, but was surprised to learn that his male kidnapper wasn't mad at him at all, cleaned him up and hugged him - Charlie reacted: "I like you, mister. I like you very much"
• after a few lightning flashes transition, Collie was awakened by Fay who worried that the boy in her back bedroom was pale and dying - and Collie quickly recognized the symptoms as diabetes; Uncle Bud was in the living room reporting that the family was ready to pay up the following day without police interference; to his cold, inept and callous partners who thought it might be easier and less "risky" if the boy died, Collie disagreed: "It'd sure be a lot better if he was alive" - he heroically volunteered to get Charlie his required insulin from Dr. Goldman's office
• Collie was driven to Dr. Goldman's home-office, where he slipped in through the bedroom window, entered the medical area, stole two injection-syringes, and found two vials of insulin in a small refrigerator; then as pre-arranged, he entered the town's pool-hall to meet up with Uncle Bud; he intervened when he observed Bud being threatened in the restroom with a switchblade by angry bartender Bert (who was accusing Bud of being a "cheatin' bastard" who owed him money), and knocked him out
• upon their return to Fay's house, Collie administered the life-saving drug to Charlie and saved his life with an intravenous injection; he firmly told Fay: "He's alright and he's gonna stay that way"; she was astonished about Collie's unpredictability and how he was so uncharacteristically "sharp" and clear-minded, while he told her she was too indecisive: "If I only knew what you wanted, if you just talked straight to me, then maybe I could..."
• Collie suddenly and impulsively grabbed Fay in the bathroom and began to voraciously kiss and hug her, and she reciprocated his passion; he carried her into her bedroom, threw her down, ripped off her cut-off jeans, removed his own clothes as she reclined back, and then mounted her with thrusting motions as she grasped his lower back before a fade to black

First Round of Sexual Passion

• during a second round of sex, he stretched out his arms on her wooden headboard as she nakedly sat and slowly moved atop him, and pleasurably shut her eyes; after another fade to black, in a third session, he made love to her in the traditional missionary position while holding her outstretched arms, and then finally during a short fourth sequence, in a cuddling position, they snuggled and intensely kissed each other [Note: It was the image used in the most prominent promotional poster]
• the next morning, Fay (fully dressed) awakened Collie still naked in bed with nervous fear and distress in her voice about how they must meet up at Bud's place since the boy had run away; Collie calmly reacted that they should look for him since he was probably somewhere nearby and hiding; the boy had even made his bed before disappearing, and Collie was suspicious and distrustful of Fay: ("What did you do with him?"); he slapped her hard across the face, and then pointed out to her: "That was just a sample. Try something like that again, and see what happens" - she counter-warned: "I'm warning you, I'll kill you for that"

Collie Slapping and Warning Fay

• Collie dragged her outside to show him where the boy was located; she reluctantly complied, and shortly later, the unharmed boy was found and carried back to the house in Collie's arms; as Collie attentively cleaned the boy's muddy face with a sponge, Fay entered and projected her embarrassment and anger toward her accuser: "Well, I guess I screwed up, huh? Didn't hit him hard enough?"
• Collie guessed what might have happened - that she had left him out there hoping that he'd be found; to spite Collie for his accusatory but intelligent insightfulness, the outraged Fay described an even more exaggerated account of brutality: "Well, shove it, bright boy. I hit him, get me? I slugged him as hard as I could with a big rock and left him out there to die. If I'd had more time, I'd have beat his brains out!"; she also berated Collie as an SOB for thinking the worst of her: "Didn't I just try to kill him? Well, didn't I? You rotten, mean, hateful son-of-a-bitch? You're right if that's the kind of woman I am. I tried to kill him! I meant to! I did! I did!"; she then turned and noticed Dr. Goldman had quietly entered behind her
• Collie fibbed to the concerned Dr. Goldman that the young boy was Fay's visiting nephew; after mentioning that the boy looked a bit sick, the doctor offered to open his black medicine bag to give the boy a B-12 shot, but then mentioned - with a knowing glance - that he was missing two syringes; and then privately, he asked Collie: "How did it happen, Collie? How could you have done it?" - he knew that Collie had been manipulated into becoming involved in the boy's kidnapping, as he had earlier predicted: "You don't know what you're doing. Someone duped you into this. They're using you for their own criminal purposes"; as the doctor attempted to leave the house, Collie blocked his way and refused to let him pass: ("You're not going anywhere"); Collie alerted Fay to get her things together for their departure, and then punched the resistant doctor in the side and rendered him unconscious
• Collie delivered a fatalistic voice-over, accompanied by a heart-beat on the soundtrack as they drove to meet up with Bud: "There's something inside every man that keeps him going long after he has any reason to. For years, I kept going when going didn't seem to make any sense. And now, I just had to keep going. I had to have the end come"
• Fay, Bud, Collie, and the boy (wrapped in a blanket) entered a warehouse with sweat-shop female migrant workers seated at a noisy mechanized date-sorting and processing machine; they entered a back-room (Bud's hide-out with a kichen and cheap food items such as SPAM, canned tuna fish, and Dinty Moore's Beef Stew on the counter) where Bud fed Collie a processed white bread ham and cheese sandwich; as Bud announced he was leaving by himself to get things arranged and check on his police connections, Collie disagreed (realizing it could be another double-cross) and suspiciously insisted that they all go together to get the money: ("Stay right where you are. We're going with you...for the same reason you're going - to get the money"); Collie explained his reasoning: "Fay doesn't trust me, and I don't trust her. We both don't trust you"; Collie demanded that he join Bud and await his return outside the Palm Springs airport terminal (the ransom drop-off point) for 15 minutes before alerting the police
• when confronted, Bud admitted he had lied about his police associations and leveled with Collie: "I'm not quite the guy you think I am...I've got no pipelines into the department. The guys I know, they won't even speak to me anymore"; Collie suspected they would be walking into a "trap"; for the next half-hour, Collie (in voice-over) spoke about how Uncle Bud ceaselessly talked with "meaningless" jabbering of words: ("They didn't mean a thing to me. They were just a lot of noises coming from a sickish-looking face...and what he said was meaningless"); Bud was chickening out, and actually begged Collie to not force him to carry out the plan: "I'm begging you. I've got a bad feeling about this," but Collie ordered him to proceed

At Bud's Hideout - Collie Was Distrustful of Uncle Bud

Uncle Bud Confessed He Had Lied About His Police Connections

"I've got a bad feeling about this"

• the threesome (with the boy) drove into the front of the Palm Springs airport terminal and parked; as the dejected Bud was dropped off and walked inside, Collie was approached in the vehicle by a stern police officer (Burke Byrnes) and asked for his vehicle's registration; as Fay stalled and searched in her bag for the registration, Collie restated his tale about waiting for Jack Billingsley, and the encounter became scary and intense, but then everything calmed when the cop remembered the "Kid" as a boxer (now retired); he recalled how he had won $100 betting on one of his bouts; the cop shook his hand, apologized for being harsh, and graciously offered to wave him on through and out of the airport (besieged by cops) and urged him to come back later for his friend
• as Collie was backing up the car, Bud was seen running from the terminal waving the suitcase of ransom money, and pursued by Bert who shot him in the back; the police then shot and killed Bert after he grabbed the suitcase; Collie drove away and fled with Fay who was visibly upset in the backseat with the boy; the radio reported that ex-boxer Kevin "Kid" Collins was in fact the kidnapping suspect at the airport, that Fay had possibly been abducted by him, and that Dr. Goldman was another victim ("found this morning bound and gagged in an isolated desert home...(he) apparently died from a single blow to the heart")
• Collie (voice-over) mused as he drove away: "When a man stops caring what happens, all the strain is lifted from him. Suspicion and worry and fear, all the things that twist his thinking out of focus are brushed aside, and he can see people exactly as they are at last - as I saw Fay then: weak and frightened but basically as good as a person could be and hating herself for not being better. Suddenly, the only thing that mattered was that she live, it was the only way my having lived would make any sense. It was why I had been made like I was - to do something for her that she could not do for herself, and then to protect her so that she could go on, so that she would have the reason for living that I'd never had"
• after driving into the desolate desert, Collie parked to reassess the situation and experienced a moment of clarity; he re-judged Fay as an honest, weak and innocent female who had also been carried away and "abducted" by the evil and bad influences of both Uncle Bud and himself; if he hadn't randomly come into her life, their deadly scheme would never have happened: ("None of this would've happened if I hadn't come along. As she said, this scheme had been cooking a long time. Now without me, it would just boil away to nothin'"); he decided that the only way to find meaning and purpose in his life, and to make sense out of everything was to heroically sacrifice himself for her (to keep her free of blame) and to keep the kidnapped boy alive: ("I needed a way, one last plan to make the whole thing right and leave her in the clear")

Film's Ending: Parked in the Desert
	A Time of Reflection and Reconsideration for Collie

• Fay reluctantly realized that they now had to "get it over with" and take the boy back to his parents and surrender, but was totally taken aback by Collie's complete about-face stance and endorsement of eliminating the boy; to carry through on his own thoughts (and to have Fay turn against him), Collie pretended that he was insistent on killing the boy to silence him and protect himself ("He's not gonna do any talking"); he explained that if the boy talked, Collie would be held as the one responsible for the crime, and Fay might - but might not - get off easy; with his new plan to make it look like Fay was also his victim, he knew that he could completely remove her from any and all implied consequences
• Collie confessed that he was truly an avowed killer ("up for murder") and might kill her next; he claimed that he recently had full-time "practice" acting crazy: ("the crazy stuff...acting stupid") so that he could be declared insane and evade prosecution: ("I was up for murder, Fay, and it was the only thing I could think of, so I went into the act, and it got me off"); Collie's fabricated story about how he had fooled the mental institution to free himself ("They keep falling for the same act and feeling sorry for ya") was also used to string Fay along; to stage that Fay was also his victim, he threatened her with his gun to "mess (her) up a bit" by having it look like she tried to prevent him from harming the boy - and there was an accidental gun-shot
• Collie set up what would happen next by conveniently stashing his gun in his side pocket that would be conveniently accessible to Fay; as he leaned over and went to reach for the kidnapped boy Charlie in the car, Fay was goaded into defending herself against him - and making herself look like an innocent victim; she grabbed his gun and shot him point-blank; he struggled out of the back seat and confirmed for her that she did the right thing: ("It's OK, Fay, you did the right thing")

Collie's Conveniently-Accessible Gun In His Pocket

Collie Shot and Lethally Wounded by Fay

"It's OK, Fay, you did the right thing"

• he fell down by the side of the dirt road, and calmly and poignantly drifted off into death; with a zoom-in close-up of his eye as he was dying, he remembered (in voice-over) a brief earlier conversation between them about their future:
  • Fay: You and me, together forever. You really believe that, Collie? You really believe there could be a you and me?
    Collie: I know it, Fay. (Fade to black)

Final Moments Before Collie's Death - Ending With a Zoom Close-Up of His Blinking Eye