Right Hand/Left Hand
Posted by Harikrishnan Menon on March 07, 2003
In Reply to: Right Hand/Left Hand posted by R. Berg on March 07, 2003
: Without benefit of having seen the movie, I venture a guess that the writer had in mind the common expression "The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing," meaning that a person's or organization's behavior is contradictory or inconsistent.
The original quote from the Bible reads: "When thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may
be in secret..." Here, it clearly means "don't do something good with publicity
in mind".
However, it doesn't make much sense in the film's context, unless
Lancaster meant to say he's been exceptionally selfless and charitable for thirty
years. This seems most unlikely, considering that Lancaster's character (newsman
JJ Hunsecker) is based on notorious gossip columnist Walter Winchell (1897-1972)
who was not by any account America's Sweetheart.
- Never let your left hand know... ESC 03/07/03