I re-watched this film several times over the years, and the letter from Lincoln is a plot point that comes up several times throughout the film. My interpretation of the letter is that it was indeed real. Towards the end of the film, he's confronted about the letter at the dining room table by the whole group at once, and I believe he only lied about it being fake to avoid further confrontation from the folks in the group. He's incredibly protective over the letter from the start of the film, so much so that he attacks the lady being taken to be hanged when she spits on it, an instinct I don't believe someone would have it was a fake.
Even with the 'truth' being revealed towards the end of the film, it's still a cause of pride for the character, which leads me to believe it was real. Curious if anyone else had a different view of this.
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level 1
He even told the other guy it wasn't and why he had it.
level 2
I just finished watching it for the second time and it seemed like he was lying when he admitted it the second time on the bed. Just a thought. I'm not convinced.
level 2
I know this is very late, but it was real. You can tell by his reaction when Daisy spits on it.
The bit at the end about it not being real was almost certainly a lie considering his reaction at the start.
level 1
I know what you mean, I kind of wanted the movie to reveal at the end that the letter was real, but based on his conversation with Mannix at the end it seemed that the letter was indeed fake.
level 1
I'm fairly certain he was not truthful about many many things. He probably wasn't even at some of the battles he was talking about, as other threads have mentioned how black soldiers weren't fighting in the war yet (at least in that area). Heck, he may have lied about his identity for years at that point in order to seem cool.
level 1
You must have fallen asleep since he admitted it was fake.
level 2
Believe it or not people do lie in movies. Rewatch him admit it, you may see what I saw.
I felt that it was left in the dark kinda..
In my personal opinion it was real tho, written prior to those incidents that caused him to leave the army.
He had a reputation and was well known, even before that war for killing indians, so its possible..
And even in the war itself, again, he had an amazing record and i think the sheriff even mentions that they couldn't prove anything, they just " thought it out loud "
I thought that was the reason why the sheriff asks if he can see the letter at the end, knowing they'll die, because in his mind the major was right about everything all along.
As for why he'd tell John Ruth that it was fake at the dinner table, its because its the only real easy way to get everyone off his back about it, and the story that he said about it disarming white people, could very well be real too..
As for the story with smithers, I kinda thought that was real too altho him making it up to kill the general is plausible too..
But it makes sence that a black major with that history and a very high bounty did see his fair share of people coming to collect, the general himself told the new sheriff (forgot his name) prior to the major entering that he's there to visit his sons grave, and that he's certain he's dead because if he succeeded he would've come home..
If the son went up there to kill the major, the story could very well be legit.
But yeah, its never really clear if its lies or not, so its up 2 the viewer i guess :)
level 1
ofcourse he did, he even admits it at the end of the movie.
level 1
yeah, it was just a scam to help him get into places he couldnt otherwise. lincoln letter was like a free social pass.
level 1
Ol Mary Todd’s calling, nice touch.
level 1
Yes he faked it, now if only QT revealed that mannix was faking being sheriff, I think the movie would be even better with the whole sheriff thing being an act
level 2
I think that would take away something from the message of the movie. Marquis needed to fake this because he was black. the "sherif" didn't need to fake anything because he was white, and anyone would believe him anyway...
level 1
My question at the end of the movie was if the rest of the Domin-gray gang was real
level 1
Well at least I know a real sheriff when I see one