The Green Mile

The Green Mile (1999)

4 suggested corrections

(26 votes)

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Suggested correction: How can you tell his jaw is slack when he had a hood over it the entire time?

lartaker1975

I have the movie and during Del's execution, the hood is partially burned off. After he finally dies, his jaw is completely slack.

I also have the movie and can confirm that not only is Del's jaw slack but, when the hood is burned off it looks like most of his face has been burned off leaving nothing but a skull. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh3u3Kqdynw.

Suggested correction: Rigor mortis can occur as quickly as 2 hours after death. One of the first muscles of the body to stiffen is the jaw. It also depends on the age of the deceased and calcium amount.

lionhead

Suggested correction: The guards would have done what they could to make his remains less grotesque. Closing his jaw is probably one of their regular duties.

MovieFan612

Once the body dies, muscles can not constrict, and they relax. A guard could never close the jaw or mouth after death anymore than he could close a dead man's eyes shortly after death. That's a movie myth.

Bishop73

Continuity mistake: When they tape Percy's mouth shut before putting him in the restraint room, the handkerchief is partly outside his mouth and gets stuck to the tape, when they let Percy out, the handkerchief has moved. If he's been locked in there with the straight jacket on, there is no way he could have moved it.

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Suggested correction: He could have and likely did move the handkerchief with his mouth.

MovieFan612

Character mistake: You'd think prison guards on Death Row would have known a little more about safe restraints, the way they bind and gag Percy could eventually kill him. They stuff a handkerchief all the way into his mouth, then tape his mouth closed. The gag reflex could suck the handkerchief into his windpipe and suffocate him in about three or four minutes. Even if he might be able to find away around the danger of suffocation the fact remains that no trained, experienced prison guard is ever going to restrain someone in that way.

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Suggested correction: Not everyone even has a gag reflex, and it is easy, though not comfortable to push the handkerchief forward into the mouth with the tongue. You can see Percy breathing through his nose, so he's not running out of air. The other guards had no intention of leaving him in the cell for a long time, only long enough to teach him a lesson.

It doesn't matter what he "might" be able to do, or even if he could push the handkerchief forward. That's not the mistake. A trained, experienced prison guard would not restrain someone like that. Never.

Again, what might or might not have happened is irrelevant. No skilled, trained, experienced prison guard would apply a gag in this way.

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Suggested correction: Too vague. The girls are represented by dummies and the scene is consistent.

MovieFan612

Factual error: This movie is set in 1935. Back then, executions were done by hanging. The Louisiana Legislature changed the method from hanging to electrocution in 1940.

More mistakes in The Green Mile

Old Paul Edgecomb: I'm a hundred and eight years old, Elaine. I was forty-four the year that John Coffey walked the Green Mile. You mustn't blame John. He couldn't help what happened to him...he was just a force of nature. Oh I've lived to see some amazing things Elly. Another century come to past, but I've...I've had to see my friends and loved ones die off through the years... Hal and Melinda...Brutus Howell...my wife... my boy. And you Elaine...you'll die too, and my curse is knowing that I'll be there to see it. It's my atonement you see; it's my punishment, for letting John Coffey ride the lightning; for killing a miracle of God. You'll be gone like all the others. I'll have to stay. Oh, I'll die eventually, that I'm sure. I have no illusions of immortality, but I will wished for death...long before death finds me. In truth, I wish for it already.

More quotes from The Green Mile

Trivia: In the movie John Coffey has sort of a "messiah"-like role. His initials J.C might be a reference to Jesus Christ, as this is very fitting for his role. [This is a not-so-subtle attempt which places Paul Edgecomb in the role of Pontius Pilate]

More trivia for The Green Mile

Question: When the guards are talking to Percy in the restraint room, Paul says he knows he sabotaged Del's execution. Why did he let him get away with it?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Percy's aunt is married to the state Governor, giving Percy powerful connections. All it would take is one phone call from Percy and Paul and the other guards could lose their jobs and if Percy wanted to, never find jobs again. Something Paul or his friends didn't want to happen.

The characters talk about this several different times in the movies, how political connections can ruin careers.

MovieFan612

More questions & answers from The Green Mile

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