Written by Mr. Mouseburger 9th Feb 2006
Kindly submitted by Novus
After militaristic Col. Frank Fitts witnesses what he believes to be his son performing a homosexual act on middle-aged next-door neighbour Lester Burnham, Fitts confronts Burnham while he is working out in his garage. It is pouring rain outside Fittshas on a white shirt which is soaked. He is crying.
As Lester embraces Fitts in a fatherly way, he asks the Colonel what is wrong and if he can help. Without a word, the Colonel, presumably attempting to understand why his son is gay [I disagree, see below for my comment - OB], kisses Lester. Lester pushes him back and tells him he has the wrong idea, at which point Fitts leaves the garage.
Lester Burnham's marriage had fallen apart after he became despondent with his wife and their suburban lifestyle. We see his wife, Carol, in her car outside the house listening to a self-help audio tape, pulling her gun out of the glove box, saying to herself, "Lester, I refuse to be a victim!"
After resolving his obsession with his daughter's best friend, she asks him how he is. He tells her he's great. She leaves for the bathroom, and he smiles to himself, repeating, "I'm great." A gun barrel appears behind his head and the camera pans to a white wall. The shot rings out and the wall is covered with blood and brains.
In an ironic twist, Carol enters the kitchen where Lester was killed, gun in purse, and is surprised to find her husband has been killed. She collapses, crying.
In his home office, Colonel Frank Fitts's white shirt is covered with Lester's blood as he puts up his gun, telling us who killed Lester.
I have two problems with this review.
Firstly, I personally think the Colonel had some serious latent homesexuality issues of his own, which is why he was so homophobic in the first place. I don't think he kissed Lester as an experiment, I think he was genuinely jealous (and furious) of his son, and couldn't help himself. Afterwards, the shame and humiliation he felt was enough to doom his neighbour - if Lester was killed, nobody would ever know what had happened.
Secondly, I would be inclined to say Lester was Major Ambivalent. We feel sympathy with him throughout the film but I'm not sure he has enough admirable qualities to qualify as a "Goody".
OB
Great snakes-on-a-plane, this is complicated! Please make the conflict less vague, also try to better clarify which Fitz (actually spelled Fitts). you are speaking of.A bit mixed-up on pronouns and antecedents, better as; After Lester resolves his obsession with Angela, his daughter's best friend, his wife, Carolyn asks him how he is.
Uh, no you're both wrong. It was Angela who asked him how he was.
And yes, Col Fitts was a flaming homosexual in serious denial.
Frank Fitz was not the killer! The power & velocity of a gun shot results in blood, skin & other body parts being sprayed in the same direction that the bullet was traveling. The shooter, even at close range, would not have the blood bath evident on Frank Fitz's t-shirt.
Was this just a technical mistake, or was someone else responsbile for the shooting?
Uh... yes, he was. Who else could it be?
Okay, so if Frank wasn't the one who shot Lester...where did all the blood on Frank's clothes come from, then? Technical error or not, the fact Frank is shown afterwards with blood on him is meant as a visual cue to let us know he was the killer.
i dont think that frank killed lester - like the comment before the blood spray was wrong . I reckon the colonel killed his wife after realising that his marriage was just a cover up, "for show" as said before in the garage.
I think Sam Mendes intended the audience to not know who shot Lester - for all we know it could have been someone else e.g. buddy or "brad" from work..
blood goes everywhere including some back towards the shooter
When I saw Lesters wife with the gun I was getting pissed because i remembered the begging when he says he has less than a year to live. Frank is the killer if him because of the blood on the shirt and it showed his guns after Lesters tragic death.
I agree and think that Fitz is NOT the killer. This would explain why the wife went up into the bedroom and attempted to hide the gun and her purse in the closet. I believe she killed Lester and immediately regretted it. Also, did anyone else remember Ricky saying something when he saw Lester dead on the table? Didn't he say something about his mother??
It was angela that asked him how he was and he said he never had been asked that before in a long time. I thought his wife shot him but after careful observation to understand who had killed him i took note that carolyn was walking up the patio when u hear the gunshot ring out. Notice the fence behind her as she walks up to the house? Anyway, i was paying more attention to Wes Bentley's backside. Fine, fine ass.
I reckon it could be fitts bt then again i did notice that he was wearing gloves so he could have been there getting the bullet out so evidence doesnt lead to him he did have a gun missing. Might have to examine that cabinet closely at the guns when rick shows jane the plate. Then again, i was more transfixed on Wes Bentley's toned backside!
No, it was lester than said his own life was just for cover up, not saying col. fitts life was
There were too many opinions to read on the matter. The gun shooting Lester is the same in both Carolyn's purse and Frank's gun rack (may be mistaken). But, someone said Carolyn walked into the kitchen, horrified at her husband's dead body, when she was actually in the bedroom, meaning she could've been disgusted with her own actions. It's pointless to even write about... just wanted to say.. i think the colonel is gay. i think carolyn shot her own husband, and i think the blood on frank's clothes is coming from his own wife's body, after the life long truth about his own homosexuality has been confronted. Think he offed his wife, and also think that's why ricky says to his mom at the end, "i wish there could've been better for you."
When they show the scenes after lester's shooting, they show each of the characters and what they are doing when the shot is fired. Lester's wife is outside in the rain, when a faint gunshot can be heard. So it could not have been her
i think it was fitts the blood says it all why else would he have that blood on him he would nt go and take the bullet out of his head to cover up because it would have been more hassel for him with all the blood on his t shirt in the first place fitts defently but what a great film but would have been good if lester didnt die tho would have been hard to carry on the story line after all that had happend
The film CLEARLY depicts Fitts as the killer. And it clearly depicts the reason being that he was a closet homosexual who was afraid of being outed because he's ashamed of himself.
Fitzz is the killer. Around the scene where we see fitts covered in blood there is a shot of the gun cabinet with a pistol missing. rewind to where rikki is showing off his dads Nazi plate and you will see that the missing gun is the same as carrols which is the one brought up to the back of lesters head when he is shot. Brilliant movie...[expletives deleted - OB] who think you could end it better. You missed the whole point.