Thursday, 11 February 2016

When did Margaret Ford know she was going to kill Mike?

In House of Games, the Lindsay Crouse character (psychiatrist Margaret Ford) seems to be unaware of her being the mark until the red convertible shows up unexpectantly. She then performs a rudimentary investigation by visiting the tavern and overhears the recap of the con by Mike (Joe Mantegna) and this co-conspirators that solidifies her suspicions.



I suspect she knew she was the mark much earlier than that, since it would be much too difficult to devise a counter-con (the elements in parens below) that quickly. It was already night when she heard the conversation, had to develop a plan before 10 PM, and execute it at the airport:



A bank story and a bag with ($250,000 cash),
A convincing story of being followed ("I'm frightened all the time"),
The gun had to have bullets (Did her suicidal "patient" really give her a loaded gun?),
The accusation and (her confidence in Mike's bravado - false or otherwise),
Mike turns against her because of her ("crap out of turn"),
"You're all bluff" - ("It's not my pistol, I was never here")



So, how early in this counter-con did Margaret know she would kill Mike?

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