Clint Eastwood and Issues of American Masculinity by Cornell Drucilla;

Author:Cornell, Drucilla; [Cornell, Drucilla;]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780823230129
Publisher: Fordham UP
Published: 2009-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

Absolute Power (1997)

Absolute Power3 tells a more optimistic tale of moral repair in the context of a father-daughter relationship gone sour as a consequence of the father’s life as a professional thief. Because Luther Whitney (Eastwood) was in prison when his daughter, Kate Whitney (Laura Linney), was growing up, his daughter spent her formative years living with her mother. Reluctantly, his wife forced herself to become distant from him. Since Whitney was released from prison, he has not openly visited his daughter, and the last time he saw her was at her mother’s funeral.

Luther Whitney is a sophisticated professional thief; he regards his profession as a kind of artistry, a skilled occupation with its own set of standards and mores. Indeed, at the start of the film, we find Whitney drawing sketches in a museum. Impressed, a young woman sketching at his side takes note of his work, commenting ironically (and all too accurately) that he must “work with his hands.” Whitney has been inactive for years, but he has finally decided to do one last job—a big one—to set himself up for the rest of his life. As Whitney breaks into the home of one of the wealthiest men in the country, everything goes smoothly until a drunken couple interrupts his work. Hiding in a strange closet equipped with a one-way mirror, Whitney has little choice but to watch the couple engage in sexual intercourse. What he sees appears at first to be rough but consensual play. Soon, however, the man’s aggression transforms the encounter into rape: he strikes the woman violently in a manner that she clearly did not invite. Finally, she pulls a letter opener on him as he strangles her, but just then two men break into the room and shoot her in the back.

Throughout the battle, the camera repeatedly returns to Whitney’s horrified, guilty expression. He has chosen his own safety over the dangers of intervening, but he is clearly ambivalent about the decision. Though he has made a career of breaking the law, he has never used violence in his thefts and can only watch in horror at the crimes unfolding before him. And it gets worse. The attempted rapist was the president of the United States, Allen Richmond (Gene Hackman), who was having an affair with the wife of his friend, and the armed men who saved him were members of the Secret Service. Waiting for the scene to clear, Whitney listens as the chief of staff discusses plans to cover up the mess: the official story will be that the house was robbed and the victim killed in the commission of the crime.

When he thinks everyone has left, Whitney leaves his hiding place, picking up the letter opener as he goes. When the president’s staff realizes that they have neglected to take important evidence, Secret Service agents return to collect it and Whitney must make a hasty escape. When they discover that the evidence has gone missing and find Whitney’s rope hanging

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