Giantrobo

At the end in the Epilogue it said Mason's character died awaiting trial for murder....

Who did he murder? I though I heard him yelling for Keegee or some name like that in that house. Did he murder the Doctor who released Lolita to Peter Seller's character?

I was at work and I missed bit's and pieces of the last few minutes.

Groucho

Did you somehow miss the beginning of the film as well? He killed Quilty (Sellers).

sundog

Did you see the beginning? Humbert (Mason) confronts and shoots Quilty (Sellers) at Quilty's mansion. Timeline-wise, this happens after Humbert's last meeting with Lolita.

LasVegasMichael

I think you need to watch the entire movie again, as it sounds like you're missing some important parts to. Here is what happens:

sundog

???????

Groucho

Damn...beaten to the edit!

Oh well, my getting the name wrong proves that I haven't seen the movie, and therefore I am not a pedophile.

sundog

Well, I've seen the movie and read the book, so please classify me not as a pedophile. Prefer the more erudite pædophile.

Hiro11

No offense, my man, but isn't knowing right off the bat that Humbert is going to murder Quilty kind of the point of the movie? This normal looking guy shoots and kills this strange but affable man in a bizarre mansion, you want to know why. Then the story explains why.

Giantrobo

I missed the 1st 10 or 15 minutes....like I said, I was at work so I couldn't see the whole thing.

Psych1

As long as you need to watch it again, why not see the remake. In my opinion not as good, I love the cast of the first, but more true to the book. Then you can watch the 60's one again, then the new one, then ------------------------

Giantrobo

I saw the Jeremy Irons Re-make in bits and pieces but it was a long time ago. In fact, when I saw the original the other night I wondered how close the re-make stuck with the story so it made me want to see both in their entirety.

Groucho

That's too bad. The opening sequence is fantastic. IMHO, the rest of the movie never reaches the level achieved in that first scene...which is unfortunate.

sundog

I initially agreed with you. But then I think of Shelley Winters's scenes, Humbert sipping his drink in the bathtub, Sellers and Mason's offhand conversation at the lodge . . .

CRM114

You mean the opening credits while (presumably) Humbert is painting Lolita's toenails, right?

Giantrobo

What about Winters telling Mason when he touches her she feels limp like noodle and Mason replaying "I know what you mean"

or Sellers talking to the Check out desk guy:

Clare Quilty....She's a yellow belt. I'm a green belt. That's the way nature made it. What happens is, she throws me all over the place.

Swine...She throws you all over the place?

Clare Quilty...Yes. What she does, she gets me in a, sort of, thing called a sweeping ankle throw. She sweeps my ankles away from under me. I go down with one helluva bang.

Swine... Doesn't it hurt?

Clare Quilty... Well, I sort of lay there in pain, but I love it. I really love it. I lay there hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness. It's really the greatest.

Heat

I missed the first five minutes of the film so the ending was confusing to me too, but it is now cleared up.

Anyway, I was just wondering if the name of the camp, "Camp Climax for Girls", had the same double meaning to people in the early '60s as it does to us.

dhmac

You could read the detailed synopsis at FilmSite

And, yeah, the later adaptation is also worth-seeing too. For one thing, it includes the bit from the novel that...
(And even though I like both film adaptations, Lolita is one case in which the novel is not just better than the film versions, but vastly superior in every way. The quality of the writing is simply that good.)

JumpCutz

Great thread. Great movie. Kubrick's most underrated film.

TimeandTide