Pajiba

i thought the theory was that McCandless did it to kill himself

The Dude should have just bought a new rug. Poor Donny.

That is the most perfect short review of "Into the Wild" I've ever read. I love the book because I'm a big fan of Jon Krakauer but McCandless was a moron.

Ha, Larold, I was thinking the same thing.

@Sinnh, I didn't get that impression when I read Krakauer's book. I haven't seen the movie, but the picture he paints in the book is of a deluded kid that wanted to "get back to nature", without bothering to learn much about how one survives out "there".

I'm not sure I can support the inclusion of Tom from Lock, Stock.... (BTW, Eddy was the card player, not Tom). The plan would have likely worked if Harry hadn't cheated in the card game.

The Tom Hansen bit is pretty much how I feel about every protagonist in a romantic movie. Unless you're that weirdo from high school who marries the first person they date and keeps the same haircut for 40 years, you will have a bad break up. If you're a real person: fix yourself a stiff margarita and move on. If you're a movie character: take down the mob, fight zombies, or infiltrate people's dreams and move on.

Having said that, yes, I was emotionally demolished by my last breakup (needed therapy, about a thousand margaritas, and many hugs from my mom's dog). But that would've still made for a tiresome movie.

But DeistBrawler shouldn't someone living off the land be able to readily identify that which is inedible AND understand what he needs to eat in order not to perish slowly as his body consumes itself? I've said it before and I say it again, "What a maroon!"

I wouldn't say that Into the Wild boy had NO problems, he was arrogant and completely incompetent, and doomed to failure from the get go, but DB is right, he misidentified a plant and caused his own death. The real issue with that punk, and his ultimate downfall, was his unbelievable arrogance. He tortured his family and abused their love and support for him. He had no right to take their money and give it away. He had no right to put his mother through all of that pain. Sure, he had every right to shove off and have his life, adventure, love, and even death, but his method was reprehensible.

The guy from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels who can play cards is named Ed. Tom is the one who "looks like he should be fat, but isn't." and "has a couple of dirty little fingers in a couple of dirty little pies."

Tom's the connections man who gets the guns. Ed is the genius at reading people and author of the robbery.

I believe the issue with McCandless was that he was living on a starvation diet by the time he picked the mushrooms (because he didn't cross the river before winter came) so his judgment was clouded and he picked the wrong ones. Yes, the guy was an arrogant thankless dick for the all the reasons articulated by many people ahead of me, but I can't help having some admiration for a guy who is committed to living without money and jobs and security. On the other hand, I sort think you have to grow up privileged to be able to walk away from all that so easily.

Anyway, what interests me about this list is that many of the examples (Ralston, McCandless, Glass, etc.) are from real life. Those Greek tragedy guys knew what they were on about.

Another "issue" of McCandless' is that he neglected to utilize proper map skills. He was a half a day from a bridge or a ranger station or something (I can't recall, it's been a while since I read the book)where his life could have been saved but because he refused to use a map he didn't know it was there. Idiot.

"Never have enjoyed myself so much watching people get clipped, in my life."

And coming from B'Slim that's really saying something.

Prisco, thank you for calling out that insufferable little twit in 500 Days of Summer. That movie made me hate JGL.

Dude. She said she didn't want a relationship. So it must have been a real shock when it turned out she didn't want to be in the relationship.

Whiny little simp.

When I saw the inclusion of 500 Days of Summer on the list, I thought you were going to point out the more obvious (I thought) point which was that Summer flat-out told him she didn't want a relationship, so he brought the hurt on himself by ignoring her words...not just that he was a whiny bitch who needed to get over it.

I read most of the book but I can't see Into The Wild because romanticizing McCandless and his foolish arrogance makes me completely ridiculously furious!
I respect the hardy souls who build real lives for themselves in the bush, not idiots who wander in thinking they'll figure it out as they go along. Respect the danger you're putting yourself in and bring appropriate supplies or you will starve to death. Which is what he did.

McCandless was a dumb ass rich kid who didn't know the first fucking thing about living in the wilderness.

The guy from the 127 Hours is different from what I've read. He was a legitimate climber who knew what he was doing before going out there. Accidents happen. It's not tragic if a dumbass does something stupid and gets killed.

sansho1 is right, this list is woefully missing "Grizzly Man."

Boromir - Lord of the Rings

Honestly, being so smart and Sean Bean and all that, couldn't they just have done it the way that "How Lord of the Rings should have ended" shows us? I mean... eagles. Big fucking eagles.
The last eight and a half hours they could've used up showing more Sean Bean to everyone's utter delight and getting Legolas to take care of Haldir's eyebrows.

Ted Haggard - The trials of Ted Haggard

He preached the gospel message of intolerance and self-loathing...

See, I completely agree on the note for 500 Days of Summer--except when you say it was a sweet movie. It was a fucking terrible movie about a whiny, over-imaginative little bitch who was unlikable in every way imaginable. WHY does anyone like that movie?!

Llewelyn Moss was a supreme idiot to bring water back to a dying drug dealer. Basically allowing him to be tracked and putting his transponder now forever in range of Chigurh's reciever. That's why I could never really get into No Country for Old Men. The movie mostly loses me at that point.

It finishes the job with Llewelyn sitting right in front of the hotelroom door waiting for Chigurh to come in. Really has he never heard of a shotgun? Crouching behind the bed, behind cover, under the line of fire?

Unbelievable!

There's more to the McCandless story than just his sheer stupidity. Something that is not talked about is that, near as we can tell, McCandless destroyed food and other supplies at a small camping/hunting shack not too far away from where his camp was. You can probably find the details in back copies of the Daily News-Miner, but essentially, it looks like McCandless came across a cache of food and supplies, and, in order to prevent temptation, destroyed them. This appears to have been long before he started running out of food himself, but for Alaskans, this is an unforgivable action. In Alaska, if you happen upon a supply cache, you replace what you take, and maybe leave a little extra. This is for the same reason you can still hitchhike in Fairbanks - you never know when you might need help on a -40 degree day.

So sure, he died in part because he misidentified some food, but the bigger point was he went out in the woods without the proper supplies or the knowledge to live on the land without them. He did not respect his environment. People do that in Alaska all the time. Some of them die, most come crawling back into Fairbanks at some point during the winter, and show up at the Stone Soup foodbank over on 1st Ave.

Roman Dial, an amazing, serious badass that was quoted in the afterword of the Krakower book, noted that most Alaskans would not have fared much better. But what Roman didn't say is that most true Alaskans know better. Ultimately, that's the reason most folks who live north of Anchorage have little or no interest in the McCandless story - he represents someone who came to Alaska, but failed to understand Alaska.

" But what Roman didn't say is that most true Alaskans know better. Ultimately, that's the reason most folks who live north of Anchorage have little or no interest in the McCandless story - he represents someone who came to Alaska, but failed to understand Alaska."

I will proudly identify right here as one who will fail to understand Alaska for the rest of my days. Incredible physical beauty, but I may actually consider turning done a large payout to spend even a year there.

""I feel sorry for drug addicts all-around, so flame away. I don't think anybody willingly signs on to that kind of thing." - samantha

Except for when they, y'know, start taking drugs on their own volition."

Your point? Doesn't everybody? I feel sorry for anybody so addicted to a substance that they will upend their and their loved ones' lives - doesn't really matter to me how the addiction started.

The fact pattern fits.. The ranstacked stuff wasn't eaten, it was made inedible. The structure itself wasn't damaged, but the contents were strewn about.

Also, he was one of the few people anywhere close to the cabin.

It may be speculation, but it's informed speculation.

Regardless, I still go back to the principle that his failure was because for all of his "embrace nature" outlook, he didn't bother to get to know it before sleeping with it. And unlike a an unfortunate one night stand from the local bar, Nature's the kind of girl that can ruin your day if you don't respect her :)

I agree. Some people are better off dead.