used to tell me
My father would tell me that when Dillinger was killed...The Thin Blue Line · 1988 — 第 10 / 20 章 · 4'58" · C1
Why the Story Was Two Hours Late, Explained：cover for
The film lines up two timelines and lets the gap do the work: meals, a bowling alley, a motel, each remembered two hours apart. "His whole story from the start was two hours late," one voice says. It's less an argument than a demonstration of how a story can drift.
あらすじ
Randall Adams's alibi collapses when the brother who first swore they were together all night takes it back. Meanwhile every stop on the day of the killing, from a morning meeting to a bowling alley to a motel, is placed two hours later by the state's witness. An eyewitness's courtroom account and her first statement, taken minutes after the killing, don't match either.
注目の表現
the Lady in Redcover forback offwas supposed to
00:00 / 04:58Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
いま
このシーンの表現
cover for
protect someone by lying
The speaker concludes the brother's first alibi was meant to protect Adams.
I'm not going to cover for him this time.
このシーンの他の表現
- the Lady in Red
the wrongly named Lady in Red
- back off
withdraw from a claim
- was supposed to
was meant to
- behind the counter
serving in a shop
- eyewitness testimony
a witness account
このシーンのメモ一覧
72 行のセリフに 23 件のメモ
soak a cloth in liquid
people were dipping their handkerchiefs in the blood...Link the words so they run together without a break.
people were dipping their handkerchiefs in the blood...was wearing
she had on an orange dress. This is trivia, okay?as a prize for her
As her reward, she got a new fur coat...line up with
Everything that we did coincide with, he was two hours late.Coincide links straight into with.
Everything that we did coincide with, he was two hours late.leave the highway
as we were getting off the freeway on Inwood Avenue...sink down limply
He gets scared and he slumps down in the seat of the car.historic present: The present tense inside a past report makes the moment feel immediate.
He gets scared and he slumps down in the seat of the car.lower a car window
and shines his flashlight, and I roll down my window...over to the other side
he'd gone across the motel courtyard...The word to reduces, and over there runs on.
I didn't get over there to Fort Worth for a long time.distinguish one from the other
"I couldn't tell one night from another. Might have been that night or another.shield someone — Casual; shielding someone from blame.
He was trying to cover for his brother.am not / is not — Nonstandard speech; keep it out of writing.
"I'll be in the penitentiary with him, and it ain't going to do any good...going to — Everyday speech; avoid it in formal writing.
"so I just ain't going to testify. I ain't gonna say nothing."with no witnesses at all
and Adams was left without any witnesses.passive voice: The passive keeps the focus on Adams's position, not on who caused it.
and Adams was left without any witnesses.testimony given in court
Her in-court testimony and her original statement...non-defining relative clause: Which refers back to the whole idea and adds a comment, not a definition.
which should be the best.not in the least
It doesn't match. Doesn't match at all.subject ellipsis: The subject is dropped in the second sentence to punch the point home.
It doesn't match. Doesn't match at all.「Why the Story Was Two Hours Late」を読み解く
What's really going on
The Dillinger opening sets the tone: a crowd dipping handkerchiefs in a dead man's blood for souvenirs, a woman remembered for a dress that wasn't even red. It's a story about how memory and legend harden around a death — exactly the problem the case runs into. The alibi that might have freed Adams rests on a brother who first says "Randall, my brother, was with me all night long," then decides that testifying would only send him to prison too, and backs off. "and Adams was left without any witnesses." The prosecution's own witness supplies a version two hours later than everyone else's, and even the eyewitness testimony "doesn't match. Doesn't match at all."
Theme
JusticeA brother's recanted alibi and a two-hour gap in a witness's account show how thin the proof against Adams really was.
MemoryThe Dillinger souvenir hunters and the mismatched testimony both turn on how unreliable memory is around a killing.
このチャプターで学べること
- A nickname can encode a mistake that outlives the truth.
- Loyalty can make a witness change his story.
- Small time gaps decide whether a confession holds.
- The strongest evidence can still fail to line up.
発音のポイント
- handkerchiefs in the — Link the words so they run together without a break.
- coincide with — Coincide links straight into with.
- over there to — The word to reduces, and over there runs on.
His whole story from the start was two hours late.Every time the witness places an event on the day of the killing — meeting, bowling, motel — it lands two hours later than the other person remembers it.
Two hours later. Two hours into the night.The same two-hour shift, restated: the killing the witness describes happens two hours further into the night than the timeline allows.
He was trying to cover for his brother.The brother first gives Randall an alibi for the whole night, then takes it back — and the narrator reads the first version as a protective lie.
and Adams was left without any witnesses.Once the brother withdraws his account, there is no one left to say Randall was somewhere else when the officer was killed.
It doesn't match. Doesn't match at all.The eyewitness's courtroom testimony and her first statement, taken right after the killing, contradict each other on every detail.
people were dipping their handkerchiefs in the blood...At Dillinger's death, bystanders soak their handkerchiefs in his blood to keep as souvenirs — the film's image of how legend forms around a killing.
このシーンについての質問
Why does Randall's brother change his story?
At first he swears Randall was with him all night watching wrestling. Then he reasons that if he testifies and is charged with perjury, he'll go to prison too and it won't help — so he backs off and Randall has no alibi witness.
Why include the Dillinger souvenir story?
It makes the film's point about memory and myth. A crowd soaks handkerchiefs in Dillinger's blood, a woman is remembered for a red dress that was really orange, and a legend is built from small errors — the same kind of error the case is full of.
What's the significance of the two-hour gap?
It shows how the prosecution's account drifts. Every landmark on the day of the killing is placed two hours later by its witness, which quietly changes when — and whether — Randall could have been at the scene.
Why couldn't the store clerk confirm the alibi?
Because the clerk couldn't place the customer on any specific night: they came in for cigarettes so often that one night looked like another, so he honestly couldn't say.
Doesn't the eyewitness testimony hold up?
No. The film points out that her courtroom account and her first statement, made only fifteen to twenty minutes after the killing, don't match each other at all.
The Thin Blue Line · 全 20 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 11 章refreshed her memoryMrs. Miller Changes Her Story
第 1 章meant to beRandall Meets David at the Gas Station
第 2 章give a damnDetective Forces Adams to Sign
第 3 章graveyard shiftOfficer Wood Shot at Traffic Stop
第 4 章swear up and downDavid Harris Brags About the Killing
第 5 章come to find outRecounting the Night of the Shooting
第 6 章acting strangeRandall Recounts the Motel Night
第 7 章went blankAdams's Statement Labeled a Confession
第 8 章under the impressionThe Car With No Bullet Marks
第 9 章scot-freeDavid Harris Gets Off Scot-Free
再生中 · 第 10 章cover forWhy the Story Was Two Hours Late
第 11 章refreshed her memoryMrs. Miller Changes Her Story
第 12 章hinge onA Couple Witnesses the Shooting
第 13 章wheels start rollingWitnesses Testify for Money
第 14 章without remorseDr. Grigson's Prison Test
第 15 章put food on the tableDr. Death Takes the Stand
第 16 章hard-nosedRandall Adams on Death Row
第 17 章set the wheels of justice in motionThe Case the Supreme Court Reversed
第 18 章came over meDavid Harris's Same M.O.
第 19 章tore my head offThe Scales Are Not Balanced
第 20 章point-blank rangeDavid Harris Confesses in the Bayou第 10 / 20 章 · 残り約 42 分