@@dbonifant587 nah. In this case he first said "I'm your old friend!" And then "We're brothers!" He waa escalating. Had Daniel not kill him, he would have brought up the Church stuff after. Possibly "Please! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
this movie is the story of a man who had enough of his twin brother's religious scamming (and his town's gullibility in falling for it) so he sold his whole town out to a better scammer..
“You’re not the chosen prophet eli, it was Paul. He was the smart one, he knew what was underground. You want to know something else? I gave him 10,000 dollars cash (claps hands).”
I like it, I always saw Paul and Daniel as being of a similar stripe. They both only care about money as it is the only way for them to (in Daniel's case literally) crawl out of their meager station in life. Paul sells out his whole town, abandons his family (who sucked anyway), and starts a new life for himself with his $500. You have to hustle in America, you either get the oil, or you get the potatoes and Eli giving you false hope while taking your last dime. Everyone in the movie is running their own scam, that's the beauty of it. Except Abel he's too stupid to do anything.
I like how Daniel and Fletcher smile at Paul when he says "I'd like it better if you didn't think I was stupid." He just earned a bit of respect, calling him out like that.
Absolutely. The entire direction of the conversation changed after that. Daniel quit trying to pull one over on him and instead began negotiating with him after that comment.
@@MultiScarface7 At the end of the movie Daniel prodded Eli that Paul had his own small oil business and was making 50 thousand a month and made fun of Eli that Paul was the smart one and Eli was the worthless one, which is you pay attention to Eli during the movie he has a superiority complex. In my opinion Paul was the really smart one, he got his money and got out and started his own life. Plus, Daniels' son married one of his sisters, so he's pretty much set for life.
@@somethindarker Right. Except I'm pretty sure there's a subtle implication that daniel was lying to get under eli's skin. It would be unlike daniel to actually have paid the other brother
@@MultiScarface7 No, if anything Daniel made it clear in the movie that if he respects you he's a straight shooter and if he doesn't respect you he'll fuck with you but give you your money.
@@blackleague212 And that's why Daniel looked into Paul's eyes when he made the threat, and knew he was telling the truth....b/c if Paul was lying about the oil his eyes would have shown hesitation or fear
A major theme in TWBB is respect. In this scene, Paul respects Daniel in his calm, courteous nature, but he also respects himself enough to know when Daniel is trying to cheat him. He knows exactly what he wants, but he is patient in his approach. Eli, on the other hand, never respected Daniel at all; always cutting him off, demanding he do things, thinking he was ahead in every situation.
Yeah that is interesting. Also interesting how Daniel drops the down home friendly guy persona the moment he realizes Paul isn't a rube. His voice changes. His demeanor changes. He's the Daniel in private. Not the Public Daniel
very nice observation. I took notice twice when Paul turned his head to acknowledge the young boy behind him but before saying anything looked back at Daniel and asked if that was his son before turning back and saying hi to him, a sign of respect. The second time is when Daniel accepts that he wants to leave but shakes his hand and acknowledges him by name but looks him straight in the eye and says I better not find out you're lying to me. Paul then shakes his hand as if to say "deal". it all just seems so down to business and respectful.
Shout out to the fantastic Ciaran Hinds, who masterfully and memorably portrayed Julius Caesar in HBO' Rome, here as Fletcher, and who brings a quiet yet potent dignity to any scene he graces with his presence.
$500 in 1911 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $14,398.26 today. The difference between Paul and Eli is shown from the very beginning of their conversation here: Paul: Can I sit down? Daniel: Please. Where as Eli would assume, being a man of God, that he can sit wherever he so chooses.
We also have to look at purchasing power as well. $500 back then went a lot further than $14.5 K today. Also, Eli suffers from vanity where Paul is extremely humble. It isn't a religion thing, it is his personality. Eli is literally the false prophets that are talked about in Matthew and Revelations.
The cool part is that Paul Dano prepared for the role of Eli before also being cast as Paul. So his performance as Paul is informed by everything he knows about Eli. Equally important, both he and Lewis's interactions in this seen are informed by by all the scenes they did together when Dano was playing Eli. So Dano plays Paul as the complete opposite of Eli and Lewis plays Plainview's interaction with Paul as the opposite of how he treats Eli. Plainview's respect for Paul grows during the course of their conversation as opposed to the way his contempt grows for Eli the more they talk. Plainview gives Paul his money but refuses to give Eli his money. Plainview talks with Paul in the presense of another person (fletcher) while his interactions with Eli are one on one. Plainview tries to trick Paul into revealing what he knows but stops without getting angry when Paul refuses. But he brutilizes Eli when he challenges him. The part that really sticks out for me is the "threat" Plainview makes at the end to Paul that he will go after him if he is lying. He does it calmly, while handing him the money and ends with "do you understand?" So this isn't really a threat so much as a mutual understanding like asking "do we have a deal" on a handshake deal. Plainview respects Paul in a way he never respects Eli.
That's because he never saw Paul as a threat, a cheat, or a rival. Paul saw that he wanted oil, and was willing to give him oil, straight up deal. Daniel even says later to Eli that he set Paul up by investing 10,000 dollars in him and giving him partnership over three wells, which of course may or may not have just been a jab.
So true. And at the end, the threat was more a promise if things weren't as said by Paul. But Daniel is a gentleman about it in a way that doesn't exist today. And that Paul doesn't seemed rattled by it further shows Daniel that he is being truthful because if Paul had even just an ounce of self doubt, he'd of just said nevermind after the "threat'.. Speaking of.. did Daniel imply that he would kill him when he told him that he'd get more than just his money back?
I think Daniel has Paul Sunday killed after this scene. Think about how valuable Paul’s info is and how much damage it would do to the Little Boston project if the land owners or other prospectors knew what Paul knows. Paul himself suspects he’s in danger, which is why he is so insistent on leaving right away at the end of the scene. It also speaks to why Fletcher can’t seem to peel his eyes off him from the second he starts talking. Aside from perhaps HW, seems like everyone as an idea of what’s about to go down.
The salt water from the wells line solidifies Paul's information. Some of the best petroleum traps in the world are salt domes. Salty water indicates the possible presence of salt domes, which a layman such as Paul would definitely be unable to know, both the presence of salt and its usefulness in trapping oil. Very good throwaway line.
@@dcxplant throwaway in the sense that Paul didn't realize the significance of that information otherwise he'd have started his negotiations with a much higher asking price
I love how Paul is a stark contrast to Eli. Paul is intelligent, courteous, respectful, never raises his voice, and plays his cards extremely carefully when negotiating with Daniel since he recognises what type of man Daniel is, but also because he respects himself and the worth of his family's land. Eli meanwhile is self-serious, interruptive, emotionally unstable and demanding of people's attention and effort towards his own goals rather than the goals of his family.
Difference between Greed and being Humble. As we see with both Daniel and Eli what Greed does to a person and we see with Paul and H.W. what being humble gets you. Not the biggest pot, but peace of mind, security and the ability to be content with life.
It's his twin brother, not the same person. Another actor was originally supposed to play Paul but dropped out, so they just cast Paul Dano as a twin. Also in the last "milkshake" scene Daniel explains to Eli how his brother was the smart one etc. and it upsets Eli even more@@kinghailz786
"If I travel all the way up there and I find that you've been lying to me, I'm going to find you and I'm going to take more than my money back. Is that alright with you?"
Daniel actually admired and respected the hell out of Paul. Paul was absolutely nothing like Eli. Daniel was disgusted by the way Eli exploited God and his fake church. I love how at the end Daniel rubs it in to Eli that he gave Paul a nice heavy payment (backpay) after the info he gave him proved true.
I don`t think Daniel was disgusted of Eli cause he was exploiting gullible people with his church...Daniel plays the same game. I think Daniel hated Eli cause he was a rival in exploiting other people.
I doubt Daniel ever gave Paul any back pay. He probably never heard from him again after he leaves this office. But he lies and says that he gave Paul a lot more money to try and twist the knife into Eli at the end and humiliate him.
There was no backpay, he gave Paul what he wanted: $500 and he never saw him again in 1911. For context that's about $16,000 dollars in today's money. What he told Eli later on in 1929 was a lie to further hurt and humiliate Eli, I don't even think he knows what Paul is up to let alone how his own supposed oil drilling business is going.
I feel like if this film were made in the 50’s or something Paul would have been the hero of the story, with Eli as his pathetic brother and Daniel the mad villain.
It cost him more than $500. Paul had great instincts. He didn't trust Daniel. And Paul knew exactly what he was doing sending him there. Living in that town corrupted Paul's view of people the same way it affected Daniel. For the most part Daniel was a good man in the beginning. But everything that happened to him in his pursuits turned him into an callous beast. Paul knew exactly what he was getting Daniel into.
No its not that paul planned this. Its the godamn story. The 500 dollars, in eccence money, is what changed daniel. You can almost think of it as a trade, on trade, boom change. This started with the pursuit, and ended with the loss of himself. When he says i am finished, it can be taken in many ways
@@clarencebodicker3299 that was almost certainly a lie just to further humiliate Eli Given we don’t see Daniel pay Paul, it’s theoretically possible he told the truth to Eli, but it’s also questionable that Daniel would pay Paul so much for information that may not be true when he asked for far less cash
At the end, when Daniel tells Eli that he paid Paul $10,000 cash in hand, I'm starting to get the sense that he was lying, and he said that just to get under Eli's skin. We'll never really know though.
@@lxuaes6915 I figured Paul writes to his family at least or his success got wind in his hometown. I think Eli knew this and Daniel was just reminding him to mentally bully him.
I absolutely love this movie. Daniel Day Lewis is exceptional in it. I remember I watched it for the first time when I was 13, and I couldn't appreiciate it. Now watching it back at 25 it's one of the best movies for acting I've ever seen
Listen , if I travel all the way out there and I find that you have been lying to me am going to find you and am going to take more than my money back , is that all right with you .. Absolutely legendary
Daniel Day Lewis at his finest. Wonderful performances all around. The story is intriguing and this is one of the best time period pieces ever made. Lewis may be the best male actor of all time and in this movie he shows off his skill to his craft.
Daniel: "Just tell me one thing to help me decide, what else do you have "up" there? What do you grow? Paul: "We have a big ranch, but it's mostly rocks. We plant things but nothing will grow but weeds. What makes you think it's "up"? I love how that was written to highlight just how clever Paul was in denying Daniel any satisfaction in thinking he could clue together where the ranch was.
Paul: I would appreciate it better if you didn’t think I was stupid. Eli: A Stupid Father to a Stupid son! Daniel: You’re not the chosen Prophet Eli, it was Paul. He was the Smart one.
But he actually wasn't that smart, b/c he originally asked for too little...$500...then raised his ask to $600 when he heard Daniel talk about a $1K bonus...first rule of negotiation is, ask for more than you're willing to settle for...and then negotiate down (not up!)
@@koko40800just checked, accounting for inflation 500$ in 1911 is equivalent to 16,159.26$ today, so not too shabby of a price just to give a lead on a place :D
@@koko40800no, he was smart. he asked for the maximum amount he knew Daniel would be willing to give for a simple tip. Nobody-much less Daniel-would be stupid enough to pay $1k upfront to a stranger who walked in off the street claiming to know where oil is. And Paul’s only leverage was in having and withholding the information, so any variation of a deal where he agreed to be paid after giving up the info would’ve been extremely foolish on Paul’s part. $500 was his sweet spot number, he rightfully took the money and bounced.
The tension in this scene makes me squirm. Neither side wants to give an inch. Paul also surprisingly holds his own; totally bypasses Fletcher's query about his name. A lot of talent on display. A hell of a lot, and its not solely on the actors.
I love how Daniel constantly uses half truths throughout the movie to gloat. “I gave him $10,000 cash in hand, he as 3 wells making $5000 a week.” When he really gave him $500, but wanted to twist the truth to make Eli’s sufferage worse
@@chandlerburse2754 doest make sense. He obviously like Paul and paid him the 10k as a good gesture. He obviously knew him well enough, the way he spoke about Paul at the end, he had respect for Paul and no respect for Eli. That's why he called him an afterbirth, and said Paul was the prophet not you. What you have to remember too is that Paul is his son in law as well, and Paul help make him rich.
Yup, he paid Paul $500, Daniel would never pay more than he has to, and definitely not that much more. The $10,000 is the amount he promised Eli and never gave him. The 3 wells making $5,000 a week is referring to his adopted son making that much in Mexico.
You know as I watch this again this is the first time I’ve noticed that Daniel seems to kinda like Paul. Maybe he really did give him the 10K. Really well done character. Daniel Day Lewis was so wonderful in this , but Paul Dano was terrific too as Paul and Eli.
he likes him because he a a country bumpkin selling out his land and town for only a small fortune, Daniel hates Eli because they are of the same breed
"I like them all. I like everything." Said by a man who likes nothing and no one. Daniel Plainview is a violent sociopath trying his hardest to seem like a normal, respectable person. The lengths he goes to are sometimes hilarious, like in this scene. He gets asked about his faith-and you can almost cut the tension with a knife as he tries to come up with an answer, a respectable answer that won't reveal his true nature. He resents being asked and he resents having to put in the effort to maintain the illusion. And in a way, his answer "I like everything" is almost a commentary on how he sees other people. It's a banal and brainless answer from a person who sees other people as banal and brainless. He's trying to fit in.
I would not say i completley agree with how you said it. But my view is that when he said" i like everything", it more so the way he percives faithful people they like everything. However the funny thing they both say it with the same hypocricy.
Paul could have been a conman, and for all he knows he just came up with random bullshit out of his ass. There really was no way to track him down and kill him once he gave him the $500.
The ONLY complaint I have with this movie is that the Paul/Eli thing is confusing. I think most people thought they were the same person...like Eli had some kind of split personality, but we know from the original casting that they were really brothers. My problem is this: Paul acts EXACTLY like Eli does. Despite what you'd be lead to believe based on later in the movie. Paul was an opportunist and left his family. I just really wish Dano had played him slightly different. I mean he even asks Daniel what church he belongs to.
Part of me feels like Paul was just trying to confirm that Daniel wasn't part of the same "church" his family belonged to. Since he sold his family's land out for 500 dollars he clearly wasn't too happy with them by this point. Also the fact that Paul does not tell Daniel he has a twin brother is unusual for a twin, at least imo. That aside I do agree with you that the two seemed just too much alike
You’re the first & only person I’ve ever heard be confused by Paul Dano playing both brothers. Maybe I’ve watched it so many times to notice the subtle differences, but they’re there. Paul’s part in the story is setting it all in motion, whereas Eli is the one standing in the way. He asks him about church because it’s a small, fundamentalist town & family, but a key difference is he accepts Daniel’s salesman reply, whereas Eli would’ve made some smug, sanctimonious reply. But at the end of the day, all that matters is that the new road leads to the church. 🤠
"Listen Paul... if I travel all the way out there, and I find that you've been lying to me, I'm going to find you and I'm going to take more than my money back. Is that alright with you?" Jesus fucking Christ. I can't think of a scarier threat delivered by a businessman.
Never occurred to me until now, but I don't think Paul simply wanted money for the information. I think he knew of Daniel's reputation as sort of a crazy SOB and he really wanted to sic Daniel on Eli. Eli seems to have some irrational hatred for Paul. He blamed him for Daniel coming here when he himself tormented their father over it. So needless to say, Paul had enough of his BS and thought. "You think you're bad, I'll show you bad. You think you're God's chosen son? Well I'll show you a real devil then. One that you can't escape from."
You could have a point. I’m sure Paul heard about how crazy a man Daniel can be and won’t tolerate bullshit but no one was getting through to his brother Eli and Paul was well aware of his brother’s falshlehoods. The oil being there was a great convinience to ask him to come up there lol. I mean sure, money would have always been a help but there was more going on that Paul wanted to change at his home.
Daniel always tried to put on a “family man entrepreneur” persona tho, so would people know how ruthless he was in reality? It’s possible. Paul dodged the question of why he chose to visit Daniel to sell this information, he seemed kinda nervous while negotiating with Daniel and left in a hurry soon as he got his money. It’s possible Paul was looking for an escape from his shitty family (and especially his mad weasel of a brother) and so decided to seek out a well-to-do oil man that wasn’t Standard Oil, maybe one that had a reputation for cutthroat business practices, get some money for a fresh start and get out. I think he recognized in that meeting the kinda man Daniel was and decided he was safer the further away from Daniel (and Eli) he got.
@@chasemcnab7610 Ya, but Daniel did track him down and gave him $10 000 for giving him a spot that was more than he bargained for. Compared to the millions he made off it and making his mansion, that was toilet paper. Even let him have a small oil company producing three wells, something he couldn't even let H.W. have. There was no escape from a man like Daniel Plainview. You leave because he wants you to leave for now.
Difference between Greed and being Humble. As we see with both Daniel and Eli what Greed does to a person and we see with Paul and H.W. what being humble gets you. Not the biggest pot, but peace of mind, security and the ability to be content with life.
Notice how Daniel pays Paul $500 yet he later tells Eli he paid Paul $10,000 up front just to make him feel worse because Eli wanted $10,000 for his church and tells him Paul makes $5000 a week which is probably a lie just to upset Eli even more.
That was exactly my thought too. We as the audience know the real story, that Daniel gave Paul 500 dollars out the door and the two never saw each other again. But Eli doesn't know that, so we the audience can see how Daniel is just twisting the knife as hard as he possibly can with his made-up story about his brother.
Ciarán Hinds performs an amazing role as Fletcher Hamilton, Plainviews right hand man. He looks over the every day affairs of Plainviews growing empire.
I feel like even though he kinda betrayed his family. Paul did right. His mother and father would have beat him like they did his siblings. Eli's narcissism would have been apparent to him all his life, and even if the Sundays got screwed by Daniel, the little money they made would honestly probably leave them better off than they were on that run down, infertile, farm. Screwing his parents and brother was his revenge. And I imagine he knew that his sisters would marry into other families and not be terribly effected by any misfortune brought on the sundays in the long run as they would be taken care of by their husbands, or if necessary himself.
I think Plainview decided that Paul was being honest when he admitted that the ranch was a dud, agriculture-wise. Paul wasn't trying to make a hard sell here, he just knew what he had and wouldn't give it up easily. Better poker face than his nutjob twin brother, that's for sure.
What makes this scene pay off at the end is that despite all the reprehensible things Daniel has done he respects honesty and plain speaking. Even after paying him 500 dollars he sets him up with his own business and makes him a rich man where He humiliates Eli and murders him.
First time I saw this movie, the Paul character really confused me as I thought that he and Eli were the same person. Thought it was Eli under the guise of “Paul” to lure Daniel to the area to get even more $ for his church. It makes sense now, but it threw me off watching for the first time. Dano should have gotten Best Supporting that year.
Paul Sunday was trully the smarter of the brothers. By the end Eli was broke, while Paul turned a sale of a worthless land, which he was never going to properly profit from, into a business earning hi 5,000$ a week. That’s an incredible achievement.
wow wow yatta yatta respect eli daniel respects so much respect did you know respect is a theme of this movie ? wow he respects daniel and also himself wow :O thanks for reading my original comment and if you notice any others like mine down here dont worry about it :) we're all posting our own original thoughts about this video and about how respect daniel paul respect himself but also others wow stark contrast to eli wow
Paul asked for $500. For perspective $500 in 1918 is roughly $10,000 in todays money. Eli asked for $5,000, which would be worth nearly $100.k. Daniel later said he gave the $5,000 to Paul instead, who used the money to start a oil business of his own. Wether Daniel said this just to get under the skin of Eli is up for debate but I believe this is what happened. If Daniel was ever taken to court he could explain that he did give the $5k agreed on already to his twin. Which could be seen as an honest mistake I suppose.
So this is the nice twin isnt it? Then when Daniel goes to the ranch this twin has already left for business and the "bad" twin is there pretending to be him? Then we find out later this twin is a successful businessmen who Daniel has heard is doing well.
It’s interesting how Paul Dano was only supposed to play Paul. When the original actor for Eli, Kel O'Neill, was let go after things weren’t working out as hoped and Paul Thomas Anderson asked Dano if he’d like to play Eli as well and once he said yes, it was decided to make Eli and Paul Sunday twins. It’s interesting to think how O'Neill would have been had he not quit the film, but Paul Dano is incredible and I can’t see him not playing Eli honestly.
Why does he ask Daniel what church he belongs to? Is this just small talk? His intentions were to basically sell out his brother who is religious so I’m a bit confused.
Not an uncommon thing to ask someone in those days. “What devotion are you sir?” Just some small talk to start out with and gauge what kind of person you’re dealing with.
I thought it was a telling detail in light of Eli's character. Paul is clearly sharp enough to catch bullshit. So Paul probably noted that Daniel's not religious at all with that sort of rubbish answer. My head canon is that Paul's thinking "Man you're in for a treat with my brother lol".
@@schwegburt3002 Daniel's bullshit answer proves he isn't religious at all and to Paul that means Daniel is not stupid and in all likelyhood unscrupulous. Which proves to be right from the way Daniel and his associate fail to weasel Paul into giving up the information he's trying to sell them. He doesn't want to risk being around any longer with people like that, which is why as soon as he gets the money, he asks to leave immediately despite of Daniel's requests to stay for the night.
I think he asked to see if Daniel was religious he wouldn't give the information about his town. I get a feeling Paul wants nothing to do with religion because of the craze in Little Boston
Brilliant blocking in this scene. We go from thinking that this is a one on one conversation to realizing that there is a third party. This man is clearly on Daniels’ side in the matter. Paul feels outflanked and intimidated until the boy is revealed, and put directly on Pauls’ side. That tips the scales of the meeting and leads to the resolution of the scene.
