Good Wilt Hunting Movie Discussion 11/23/06

[DoubleLatte]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Wilt's "legend" status took place during the movie, as he made his way cross-country on that rusty old lawnmower, NOT during that eight-year-period between him being injured and arriving at Foster's. It was a joke, really, him being considered a "legend" by the people of the small town(where obviously there were no lawnmowers or lawn-care specialists)because he, being Wilt, felt he needed to help out by annonymously cutting the grass for everyone, a good deed that the judge felt needed rewarding by releasing Wilt and dropping the charges against him. His status as a "legend" was in that little town only, and due solely to that one incident. There's nothing in the judge's speech to indicate he'd heard of Wilt except because of that. He even refers to Wilt as "The Lawn Ranger"!

pitbulllady

But see, the thing is, we don't know what happened to Wilt during that 8 year period, and what TheLH suggested is actually a pretty good speculation. I've read the book and I agree. Just as Wilt became "The Lawn Ranger" in that small town, he might have also acquired different names in different places and became an urban legend for his good deeds among the locals during those eight years. He may not be known accross the country as a humanitarian phenomenon, but I'm not inclined to brush off the idea that Wilt might have already gathered a reputation for helping out random folks all over the place, even if they don't know him by name or even interacted with him directly, much like the judge mentioned. Who's to confirm that Wilt only established a reputation after the movie and only in that town? We don't know every single place he's been to or what he's done, but he obviously has had deep-seated feelings for years to want to help as many people as possible in a self-less manner to compensate for his "failure". I would NOT put it past Wilt to have actually spent those years moving from place to place, lending a hand and impressing several people for whom altruism is an alien concept, and eventually finding Foster's.