The Edge: Bookworm

I learned from reading a biography of Anthony Hopkins that the working title of The Edge was "Bookworm," referring to the billionaire cuckold character. The logic evidently was that, without a bookworm in their midst who'd internalized a wilderness survival skill or two, the eminently foolish photographer and his gender-bending sidekick would have simply died in the wreck of the Beaver. Or that's the implication. It's a pretty macho movie, and my first thought was "Ick." It grew on me, when it shouldn't have. And it's stuck there.

Charles Morse's most-bookwormish lines stick with me, is why. Here are two that keep cropping up in my life:

1. [somewhat petulantly] Never feel sorry for a man who owns a plane.

When he gets him alone, Bob--the Younger Man, the transgressor, the third leg of the love triangle—takes his opportunity to needle his lover's husband, by way of appearing to pay him a compliment. He says, basically, "It must be tough to be so rich." (Envy, again.) The above line is Charles Morse's reply.

I used this line once, on a retired Air Force pilot, when he was telling me that someone was jealous of him. He laughed politely. I will always wonder what he must have thought. One has to be careful, when quoting lines from movies.

2. (Why is the rabbit unafraid?) Because he's smarter than the panther.

This one takes some describing. The inn-keeper, a Good Ol' Boy played by L.Q. Jenkins, is lamenting not being able to go huntin', and he's nonplussed when Charles Morse (billionaire bookworm) responds by giving him a useful suggestion on how to get his rifle sighted in. Now, this is good ol' boy territory! What's a bookworm doing making a useable suggestion? G.O.B. says as much:

Morse: "Well, an ironing-board makes a good bench rest."

G.O.B.: "No disrespect; I'm surprised you know what a bench rest is."

F.T.W. (Faithless Trophy Wife): "Charles knows what everything is! Got a question? Ask him! Charles knows everything!"

G.O.B.: "Take a mighty accomplished man to claim that."

Morse: "I didn't claim it."--looking glum--"I don't claim anything."

"Betcha can't stump 'im!" continues The Wife.

"Betcha I can!" says G.O.B., taking the bait. He takes down a shellacked wooden paddle from the wall. On one side is painted a black panther. "I will give you FIVE DOLLARS, if you can tell me what's on the other side of this blade!"

There's a hush.

Morse: "It's a rabbit, smoking a pipe."

"A rabbit smoking a pipe," says the transgressor. "My, my, my! Why in the world would that be, Charles?"

"Ah, oh."--Hopkins is magnificent, here, just as when he was William Bligh, being cross-examined by the English court in The Bounty. He has just the right, self-effacing touch. "Oh,” he says, “it's a symbol of the Cree Indians. On one side, the panther; on the other, his prey, the rabbit: he sits, unafraid; he smokes his pipe. It’s a traditional motif."

G.O.B. "Why… is he unafraid?"

Morse, significantly (as it turns out): "Because he's smarter than the panther."

Ah: This is what the movie is about! And, even though it might have struck me quicker, were I a man—as quickly as during the opening credits, were I my father—I guess I got there fast enough.

Traditional motif, indeed.