There is a lot going on in this truly great movie but I always zero in on the Saleri Syndrome. That’s when someone who has a passion for doing something bumps into someone else who does it much better and with far greater ease. It is an unbearable point of view at times. The Sean/Will narrative is just okay. As is the Will/Skylar narrative. But the Will Hunting/Professor Gerry Lambeau narrative is nothing short of gut wrenching. That and the equally turbulent exchanges between Gerry and Sean.
Well, to me anyway.
GOOD WILL HUNTING
Directed by Gus Van Zant [Written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon]
[b]Student: Excuse me, Professor Lambeau?
Lambeau: Yes.
Student: I’m in your applied theories class. We’re all down at the Math and Science building.
Lambeau: It’s Saturday.
Student: I know. We just couldn’t wait 'till Monday to find out.
Lambeau: Find out what?
Student: Who proved the theorem.
…
Chuckie: So this is a Harvard bar, huh? I thought there’d be equations and shit on the wall
…
Chuckie: Are we gonna have a problem here?
Clark: No, no, no, no! There’s no problem here. I was just hoping you might give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially in the southern colonies, could be most aptly described as agrarian pre-capitalist.
Will [interjecting]: Of course that’s your contention. You’re a first-year grad student; you just got finished reading some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison probably. You’re gonna be convinced of that ‘till next month when you get to James Lemon. Then you’re going to be talking about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That’s gonna last until next year; you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin’ about, you know, the pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.
Clark: Well, as a matter of fact, I won’t, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social…
Will: “Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth”? You got that from Vickers’ “Work in Essex County,” page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or do you, is that your thing, you come into a bar, read some obscure passage and then pretend - you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girls, embarrass my friend?..See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you’re gonna start doin’ some thinkin’ on your own and you’re going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don’t do that, and two, you dropped 150 grand on a fuckin’ education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!
Clark: Yeah, but I will have a degree. And you’ll be servin’ my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
Will: That may be, but at least I won’t be unoriginal. But I mean, if you have a problem with that, I mean, we could just step outside - we could figure it out.
Clark: No, man, there’s no problem. It’s cool.[/b]
I love the way this particular pedant is exposed…then pummeled. What Will has to learn though is that in his own way he is really not all that much different. He just goes to the library instead of the university.
[b]Sean: Do you have a soul mate?
Will: Define that.
Sean: Someone you can relate to, someone who opens things up for you.
Will: Sure, I got plenty.
Sean: Well, name them.
Will: Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Frost, O’Conner…
Sean: Well that’s great. They’re all dead.
Will: Not to me, they’re not.
Sean: You can’t have a lot of dialogue with them.
Will: Not without a heater and some serious smelling salts.
…
Sean: If you ever disrespect my wife again, I will end you. I will fucking end you. You got that, chief?
Will: Time’s up
…
Sean: Put it on my tab
Tim: You ever plan on paying your tab?
Sean: Yeah, chief. I’ve got the winning lottery ticket right here.
Tim: What’s the jackpot?
Sean: Twelve million.
Tim: I don’t think that will cover it.
…
Sean: Hey, Gerry, In the 1960s there was a young man that graduated from the University of Michigan. Did some brilliant work in mathematics. Specifically bounded harmonic functions. Then he went on to Berkeley. He was assistant professor. Showed amazing potential. Then he moved to Montana, and blew the competition away.
Lambeau: Yeah, so who was he?
Sean: Ted Kaczynski.
Lambeau: Haven’t heard of him.
Sean: [yelling to the bartender] Hey, Timmy!
Timmy: Yo.
Sean: Who’s Ted Kaczynski?
Timmy: Unabomber.
…
Sean: Thought about what you said to me the other day, about my painting. Stayed up half the night thinking about it. Something occurred to me… fell into a deep peaceful sleep, and haven’t thought about you since. Do you know what occurred to me?
Will: No.
Sean: You’re just a kid, you don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talkin’ about.
…
Sean: You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally… I don’t give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can’t learn anything from you, I can’t read in some fuckin’ book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I’m fascinated. I’m in. But you don’t want to do that do you sport? You’re terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.
…
Lambeau: Well, let’s see…Good…This is correct. I see you used McLauren here.
Will: Yeah, I dunno what they call it, but…
Lambeau: This can’t be right. It would be very embarrassing. Did you ever consider…
Will: I’m pretty sure it’s right.
Lambeau: But did you think of the possibility…
Will: It’s right. It’s right. Just take it home with you.
…
Sean: [yelling at Gerald] And why does he hang out with those retarded gorillas, as you called them? Because any one of them, if he asked them to, would take a fucking bat to your head, okay?
…
Lambeau: I think you could show me some appreciation.
Will: A little appreciation? Do you know how easy this is for me? Do you have any fuckin’ idea how easy this is? This is a fuckin’ joke. And I’m sorry you can’t do this. I really am because I wouldn’t have to fuckin’ sit here and watch you fumble around and fuck it up. Lambeau: Then you’d have more time to sit around and get drunk instead, wouldn’t you?
Will: You’re right. This is probably a total waste of my time.
Lambeau: You’re right, Will. I can’t do this proof. But you can, and when it comes to that it’s only about…it’s just a handful of people in the world who can tell the difference between you and me. But I’m one of them.
Will: Sorry.
Lambeau: Yeah, so am I. Most days I wish I never met you. Because then I could sleep at night, and I wouldn’t…and I wouldn’t have to walk around with the knowledge that there’s someone like you out there…And I didn’t have to watch you throw it all away.
…
Will: Why shouldn’t I work for the N.S.A.? That’s a tough one, but I’ll take a shot. Say I’m working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself, ‘cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin’, “Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area” ‘cause they don’t give a shit. It won’t be their kid over there, gettin’ shot. Just like it wasn’t them when their number got called, ‘cause they were pullin’ a tour in the National Guard. It’ll be some kid from Southie takin’ shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, ‘cause he’ll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain’t helping my buddy at three-fifty a gallon. And they’re takin’ their sweet time bringin’ the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin’ play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain’t too long ‘til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy’s out of work and he can’t afford to drive, so he’s got to walk to the fuckin’ job interviews, which sucks ‘cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin’ him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he’s starvin’, ‘cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they’re servin’ is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I’m holdin’ out for somethin’ better. I figure fuck it, while I’m at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.
…
Sean: I teach this shit, I didn’t say I know how to do it.
…
Will: I mean, w-w-what’s wrong with layin’ brick?
Sean: Nothing.
Will: There’s nothing wrong—That’s some…that’s somebody’s home I’m building.
Sean: Right. My dad laid brick. Okay? Busted his ass so I could have an education.
Will: Exactly. That’s an honorable profession. What’s wrong with…with fixing somebody’s car. Someone can get to work the next day because of me. There’s honor in that.
Sean: Yeah, there is, Will. There is honor in that. And there’s honor in, you know, taking that forty minute train ride so those (college kids come) in the morning and the floors are clean and the wastebaskets are empty. That’s real work.
Will: That’s right.
Sean: Right. And that’s honorable. I’m sure that’s why you took that job, I mean, for the honor of it. I just have a little question here. You could be a janitor anywhere. Why did you work at the most prestigious technical college in the whole fuckin’ world? And why did you sneak around at night and finish other people’s formulas that only one or two people in the world could do, and then lie about it? Cus’ I don’t see a lot of honor in that, Will. So, what do you really want to do?
…
Will: What do I wanna way outta here for? I’m gonna live here the rest of my fuckin’ life. We’ll be neighbors, have little kids, take ‘em to Little League up at Foley Field.
Chuckie: Look, you’re my best friend, so don’t take this the wrong way but, in 20 years if you’re still livin’ here, comin’ over to my house, watchin’ the Patriots games, workin’ construction, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya. That’s not a threat, that’s a fact, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.
Will: What the fuck you talkin’ about?
Chuckie: You got somethin’ none of us have…
Will: Oh, come on! What? Why is it always this? I mean, I fuckin’ owe it to myself to do this or that. What if I don’t want to?
Chuckie: No. No, no no no. Fuck you, you don’t owe it to yourself man, you owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I’m gonna wake up and I’ll be 50, and I’ll still be doin’ this shit. And that’s all right. That’s fine. I mean, you’re sittin’ on a winnin’ lottery ticket. And you’re too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that’s bullshit. ‘Cause I’d do fuckin’ anything to have what you got. So would any of these fuckin’ guys. It’d be an insult to us if you’re still here in 20 years. Hangin’ around here is a fuckin’ waste of your time.
…
Chuckie: Every day I come by your house and I pick you up. And we go out. We have a few drinks, and a few laughs, and it’s great. But you know what the best part of my day is? For about ten seconds, from when I pull up to the curb and when I get to your door, 'cause I think, maybe I’ll get up there and I’ll knock on the door and you won’t be there. No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing. You just left. I don’t know much, but I know that.[/b]
