FROM "STANLEY KUBRICK'S THE SHINING"
This is a villain who not only scares me but also find him a hell of a lot of fun to watch. He's a character who comes from being a regular father to a psychopathic mad man! There's also a bit of a mystery to the character. Why is he so creepy and what's the mystery to his character? Let's take a look.
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS
Jack is a former School teacher who lives with his Wife (Wendy) and son (Danny). He applies to be the caretaker of a haunted hotel called "The Overlook". A lot people see Jack as a tragic character who loves his family and is fighting with being an alcoholic while trying to keep his job. In the King story, yes but in Kubrick’s world, that's a different story. He does quit drinking after breaking his son's arm and says he loves his family but he doesn't really show it. In fact, I find him already crazy when we first meet him. Yeah, he looks like a clean cut gentleman but just look at his face when he's hearing about a murder in the hotel, he already looks creepy and when the stories over he smiles and laughs while commenting on the story. Dude, that's something I wouldn't do after hearing something like that.
He obviously gets the job and brings his family with him. Again look at Jack when he's driving the family, he doesn't look happy, he looks bored out of his mind. When his son asks for something to eat, he coldly responds with a "oh please" face "You should of had your breakfast." Then Jack starts talking about cannibalism to his son and when Wendy tells Jack to be quiet, his son says he's seen it on TV. Instead of Jack being upset that he's watching R rated stuff he smiles and laughs telling his wife "It's alright he saw it on the Television". What a messed up father. I know most fathers (Sadly) let there kids watch this stuff in today's world (Unfortunately) but he looks like he's actually glad his son is watching this stuff and is encouraging him to keep watching it while his wife rejects it. This shows what an irresponsible father he is.
Once they go to the Hotel ,Jack becomes so in love with the place that he feels like he's been there before. He loves it so much that he tells his wife he's busy with work but while she plays with Danny in the hedge maze, Jack is in the hotel playing with a ball and hasn't even written anything for his writing project. In fact, if you watch the whole movie, he doesn't even spend any quality time with his wife or kid. He spends more time writing and exploring the hotel he loves. Jack then comes to the point when he snaps at Wendy cursing and yelling at her all because she interrupted him and tells her (Including Danny) to leave him alone when he's working. It's not showing what a nasty father he is but also shows his madness and true nature is rising.
I think the best scene that describes his madness is just
his close up scene. As Wendy and Danny play in the snow, he gazes out the
window not working, looking mindlessly into space as he stands in front of a
bright glowing fireplace symbolizing the fires of hell and his inner demons
springing out. As the camera slowly zooms on him, he doesn't look like
that clean cut man we saw at the beginning. He hasn't shaved nor has he
showered or got any sleep and we see a simple frown slowly turn into an evil
smile. That scene has no dialogue, no fast paced camera shot, it's just a
simple zoom in shot on the character with a creepy looking background and face.
In another scene, Danny asks Wendy to get his toy in his
bedroom. Wendy tells him his father is sleeping, but Danny begs Wendy to let
him go and Wendy finally responds yes but he tells him to go in quietly. Danny
then goes into the bedroom to get his toy but he finds out his father is awake.
He tells Danny that he hasn't gotten any sleep and wishes they could stay at
the hotel "Forever and ever and ever!" That line that he just said,
made Danny remember the ghostly twins telling him to play with them
"Forever and ever and ever!" Again look at Jack with his kid, he
doesn't look interested in him, he feels like he should comfort him so they can
stay in the hotel. Danny fears that he might try to hurt him and Wendy but Jack
tells him he would never do that while carrying a creepy smile and raise of an
eye brow. The next day, Jack falls asleep while working, having a dream of him
murdering his family. Wendy comforts him but then Danny walks in with bruises
on his neck. Wendy then blames Jack for it which he clearly didn't do it.
Jack spends a lot of time in the hotels Gold Room and sits
at the bar talking to the ghostly bartender Lloyd. These are my favorite scenes
with Jack because it clearly shows his madness. He talks to the ghost without
realizing he's a ghost; acts like he's a normal bartender even if it's just him
and his family at the hotel; and he even knows who he is. That's just flat out
creepy. Jack even acts like a lunatic while Lloyd just serves him seeing Jacks
odd behavior normal and smiles. Jack is also drinking again which increases his
madness, just look at his face when he takes his first sip of alcohol; he looks
like he's ready to kill.
Wendy tells Jack that a crazy woman in one of the rooms
tried to strangle Danny. Jack thinks she's crazy but goes anyway. He goes to
the room and finds a hot naked girl coming out of the bathtub. Jack has a face
full evil and lust and makes out with her despite the fact he's married. When
he finds out what the woman really is, he runs out of the room. He goes back to
the room lying to Wendy telling her he saw nothing and tries to convince her
that Danny did it to himself. He still wants to stay at the hotel despite all
the crazy things he's seen. Wendy suggest they leave and Jack goes into another
outburst yelling and cursing at his wife and knocking things down as he walks
out.
Jack then goes to a party in the Gold Ballroom filled with
ghostly guests who know him. Jack still doesn't find it strange at all and
joins the party. He then meets a clumsy waiter named Delbert Grady who Jack recognizes
and smiles and tells him about him murdering his family and killing himself
when he was the caretaker. Grady tells Jack about Danny's powers and that
Danny's bringing the hotels cook to have them replaced and orders Jack to
"Correct" his family. After that conversation Jack's inner demons are
all finally let out.
Jack first destroys the two way radio and the snow cat, so
the family can't leave. Then he sits at his desk and constantly writes on his
type writer "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". This then
leads up to another one of my favorite scenes with Jack. As Wendy reads it in
shock, Jack comes out of the shadows asking Wendy if she likes it and smiles
menacingly. He starts talking to Wendy in an eerie voice and then finally
explodes trying to take the bat away from Wendy so he can bash her brains.
Wendy knocks Jack out and locks him in the food cellar. Jack tries to get into
Wendy's emotions to try to let him out but Wendy doesn't buy it. Jack is then
freed by Grady and is given one more chance to "Correct" his
family. Jack then grabs an axe and tries to kill Wendy and Danny. Wendy
and Danny hide in the bathroom while Jack tries to break it down, after quoting
"The Three Little Pigs". Danny escapes but Wendy is stuck in the
bathroom. Jack breaks the door with his axe and peaks through the hole saying a
famous quote from "The Tonight starring Johnny Carson" and just as
he's about to unlock the door, Wendy slashes his hand with the kitchen knife.
That scene is truly the highlight of the film and character.
Jack hears the hotels cook arriving and goes after him and
plans to kill Wendy later. Jack comes out of nowhere chopping up the cook and
then hears Danny's screams. Jack then finds Danny and tries to kill him. He
chases Danny in a thrilling chase and disoriented sequence through the hedge maze. Danny outsmarts Jack and escapes with Wendy. Jack becomes trapped
in the maze and freezes to death with a creepy look on his face.
At the end of the film we see an old picture of the hotel from 1921 of a party and the person standing in front of the group is Jack. A lot of people tend to question the picture so much that they analyze it to death. Some people say it's the haunted hotels power. Others say once you served the hotel and die, you become part of the hotel. Here's what I think the picture is all about.
There are actually two Grady's in the movie. The Grady we hear about from Mr.Ullman was named Charles Grady and he watched over the hotel in the 70s but then killed his wife and kids and blew his brains out. The second Grady is the one who Jack meets. His name is Delbert and he looks and acts like a British man from the 20's which is where the party and picture is set at. He also killed his wife and kids and blew his brains out. How does this connect with Jack? A lot of people (including me) see Jack as a reincarnation of Grady. How is that possible. First off, we don't know what Jack's back story is. Second, Grady tells Jack that he's "Always been the caretaker", also telling him, "He's always been here". Jack even tells Wendy he felt like he was at the hotel before and knew what was behind every corner.
It's not confirmed but it is a good guess. The truth is we'll never know what Jack really is. He could be a simple father who just went crazy or a demon who has been around for a long time. He just keeps you guessing and guessing. Throw in a good scary story; a remarkable director; and a good actor, and you get a great villain.
"HERE'S JOHNNY"
-Jack Torrance
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