Clean Kills and Other Trophies - Recap

Lawyer Jeffrey Pierce travels to the woodlands estate of Colonel Archie Dittman. Also present is Dittman’s 21-year-old son, Archie Jr. Dittman introduces his servant, Tom, who he says is the son of an African chief of the Ebo tribe, and despite his Harvard education is still a pagan savage. Pierce is there to get Dittman’s signature on the $2 million trust fund, but Dittman is disinterested. Instead he speaks of his time in the jungles of the world, hunting animals for sport. He says his son is a coward and says that he’s never hunted. When Pierce objects on the boy’s behalf, Dittman insists his son is a milksop and an alcoholic, and talks of how the Maasai tribe put their senior citizens out into the brush to die. Pierce says that it’s savage, but it serves a purpose, and hunting animals does no such thing. Dittman tells the lawyer that he does hunt for a purpose: to prove himself superior.

Dittman finally focuses on the trust fund and asks is son if he knows that he stands to inherit the $2 million. He then tells Pierce that he’s adding a codicil: Archie must kill an animal within 15 days or he gets nothing. Pierce refuses to get involved in what he considers a family business, but Dittman warns that the trust is the law firm’s business. Pierce says that Archie can sue, but Dittman warns that his son is too great a coward to ever go through with something. The big game hunter leaves for bed and tells Piece that in the morning Archie will be going on a hunt. If Archie doesn’t fulfill the codicil, Dittman will bleed away the whole $2 million in bad investments. Archie yells after him, asking if he should kill a child and insisting there’s no difference between that and an animal. Dittman tells him that everyone is either stalker or prey and throws him a rifle, daring him to shoot. Archie prepares to fire but Tom stops him at the last second. After Dittman goes to his room, Pierce tells Archie that he doesn’t have to put up with any of this, and that the lawyer can recommend a law firm to freeze the trust fund and get is rightfully Archie’s. Archie says that it wouldn’t do any good, because his father is the norm and it’s Archie that is the freak. He says that killing a deer is better than killing a man, and leaves. Tom goes into the trophy room and explains to Pierce that he came with Dittman to America to protect Archie, and keep him from becoming yet another trophy in his father’s collection.

Later, Dittman comes to the trophy room and finds Tom in his native garb, praying to his gods. Tom asks the colonel why he has chosen the next day of all days to make Archie kill, and Dittman insists that he’s making a man out of the boy. The servant warns that it will do the exact opposite, and that when he grew up, he was allowed to kill for food or protection, but never for sports. As he goes back to his prayers, Dittman tells him to pray for good weather for the hunt, but Toms says that he’s praying for something else.

The next morning, Dittman and his son go out alone and stalk a deer. Dittman advises his son on the viable target zones, and that Archie should make a clean kill. When they finally find the deer, Archie aims but then freezes. When Dittman slaps him, the gun goes off, wounding the deer as it runs away. Dittman tells his son that now they’ll have to follow the deer and finish it off.

Later, Dittman and his son return with their deer, and Dittman informs Pierce that Archie botched the shot and put the deer through painful suffering. Pierce points out that at least Archie tried, but Dittman dismisses the effort as inconsequential. He goes into the trophy room for a drink and finds Tom waiting for him. As Tom stares at him, Dittman complains about the heat and then clutches at his head in pain. Tom then emerges from the trophy room, and Pierce tells him to watch over Archie and make sure the boy understands that Dittman is the true executioner. Tom informs him that Dittman has met with final justice, and tells Pierce not to look for him in the trophy room. Pierce ignores him and goes inside, and then backs out in horror. He turns to Tom, who says that there are gods to whom vengeance is an art form. Tom tells him to leave and to take Archie with him. When Archie comes downstairs and asks where his father is, Tom tells him that Dittman is in good company. Once the others leave, Tom goes into the trophy room, pours himself a drink, and then offers a toast to Dittman... his head mounted and stuff on the wall.

Share this article with your friends