I think you have to find the line where revenge can do more harm than good, and where revenge is just going to end the arc (so to speak)
In Montoya’s case it brings the killing to an end, because The Count (as far as we know) has no one to miss him, no one to seek vengeance for him and no one to get pissed that he is dead. So when Montoya stabs him that’s it – The Count is dead, Montoya’s need for vengeance is satisfied and the story is done.
But if you go to something like Romeo and Juliet (or West Side Story because I can remember the character names), then getting revenge there just causes the cycle of violence to continue.
Bernardo stabs Riff. Tony stabs Bernardo. Chico goes looking for Tony, and eventually shoots him. And then – at the end, the two gangs want revenge.
Now clearly if Maria kills Chico for him shooting Tony, it won’t bring Tony back, but it will cause more anger in The Sharks.
And if The Jets kill Chico for shooting Tony, then it won’t bring Tony back, but it will cause more anger in The Sharks.
And if The Sharks get revenge for Bernardo’s death by taking out Ice, then it won’t bring back Bernardo, but… you get the idea.
Which is why Maria says “no”, and tells them to let it go. She might loathe Chico and want him to pay for Tony’s death, but killing him won’t help.
I grew up with West Side Story and Xena, so I am more on the “don’t kill people for revenge” side of things.
Not that I am saying Montoya was in the wrong, of course :)
It was such a powerful scene for Montoya as well and the post by OP is missing the context.
Count offers him money and power at the request of him cementing that both of those mean nothing to him. It stresses how much he wants his father back.
Then you have the real world where Mandy pulled the emotion from his own father being taken from him (by cancer?)
Finally. This was a kids movie. You go through the whole movie with PG dialogue to be dropped that bomb. Less is more when it comes to swears.
“Son of a bitch” is pretty tame as swears go, particularly in the 80s where even G kids’ movies would probably be pushing PG-13 these days. I do agree having otherwise clean dialogue does increase the impact when it’s used, but I’d argue that it’s Mandy that really sells it. There’s a lot of real pain, loss, and anger behind that line when Mandy speaks it, and that gives it some serious weight.
I think a key point of that, though, is don’t start killing for revenge. Like comments above, if you kill 30 underlings to get to the boss you are seeking revenge against, and then stop that revenge right before killing them, you aren’t exactly taking a moral high ground.
I think you have to find the line where revenge can do more harm than good, and where revenge is just going to end the arc (so to speak)
In Montoya’s case it brings the killing to an end, because The Count (as far as we know) has no one to miss him, no one to seek vengeance for him and no one to get pissed that he is dead. So when Montoya stabs him that’s it – The Count is dead, Montoya’s need for vengeance is satisfied and the story is done.
But if you go to something like Romeo and Juliet (or West Side Story because I can remember the character names), then getting revenge there just causes the cycle of violence to continue.
Bernardo stabs Riff. Tony stabs Bernardo. Chico goes looking for Tony, and eventually shoots him. And then – at the end, the two gangs want revenge.
Now clearly if Maria kills Chico for him shooting Tony, it won’t bring Tony back, but it will cause more anger in The Sharks.
And if The Jets kill Chico for shooting Tony, then it won’t bring Tony back, but it will cause more anger in The Sharks.
And if The Sharks get revenge for Bernardo’s death by taking out Ice, then it won’t bring back Bernardo, but… you get the idea.
Which is why Maria says “no”, and tells them to let it go. She might loathe Chico and want him to pay for Tony’s death, but killing him won’t help.
I grew up with West Side Story and Xena, so I am more on the “don’t kill people for revenge” side of things.
Not that I am saying Montoya was in the wrong, of course :)
It was such a powerful scene for Montoya as well and the post by OP is missing the context.
Count offers him money and power at the request of him cementing that both of those mean nothing to him. It stresses how much he wants his father back.
Then you have the real world where Mandy pulled the emotion from his own father being taken from him (by cancer?)
Finally. This was a kids movie. You go through the whole movie with PG dialogue to be dropped that bomb. Less is more when it comes to swears.
“Son of a bitch” is pretty tame as swears go, particularly in the 80s where even G kids’ movies would probably be pushing PG-13 these days. I do agree having otherwise clean dialogue does increase the impact when it’s used, but I’d argue that it’s Mandy that really sells it. There’s a lot of real pain, loss, and anger behind that line when Mandy speaks it, and that gives it some serious weight.
I think a key point of that, though, is don’t start killing for revenge. Like comments above, if you kill 30 underlings to get to the boss you are seeking revenge against, and then stop that revenge right before killing them, you aren’t exactly taking a moral high ground.
The saying is “Before setting out on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Maybe we should pump up that number a bit.