Of Course Spoilers
The death of Scatman Crothers’ character Dick Hallorann in Stanley
Kubrick’s seminal film adaptation of The Shining (1980) is possibly one of the
most isolated deaths in mainstream horror cinema. He travels through brutal,
treacherous terrain to heed the telepathic beckoned call of a terrified young
boy. He never makes it. Moments after he reaches his destination, he is felled
by a swinging axe to the chest. His demise is swift, violent and above all
else, it’s near pointless. In other horror films, ones not made by obsessive,
precise auteurs, such a death is often considered laughable. The most notable
parody of The Shining lies in The Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror V (1994), in
which Groundskeeper Willy is murdered by an insane Homer Simpson in a similar
style to what occurs in the film. Hallorann’s death can easily be mocked. For
myself, this is perhaps part of the sadness. This is a character whom we see
near the start of the movie delivering a careful exposition of ‘The Shining’ to
a fretful young scallywag in a poorly disguised Chekhov’s gun only to have the
bullet skew wildly when it is fired. Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd), the
telepathic child, who uses his ‘shine’ to summon the wilful wannabe hero is
only left with mental scars as his deranged father Jack Torrance (Jack Nicolson)
drives an emergency axe through the elderly man’s chest mere moments after
arriving back to his place of work, in a desperate attempt to save the child
and his mother from the evil which has taken over the mind and body of Jack.
Dick Hallorann’s death is a tragedy in The Shining that
feels easily forgotten and ignored, due to the grander context. Hallorann
himself is only in a few scenes. In the beginning, he establishes himself as a
person of trust. His final moments are devastating because the film invests so
much time of his travelling to his final destination. When you isolate
Hallorann’s time in the film, half of his scenes are spent with him navigating
his way back to the snowbound overlook hotel. He travels by plane. He drives
during the final third of his journey. We’re still aware of how long it took
Jack Torrance to get to The Overlook and that was without the poor weather
conditions which blight Dick. A few moments after Hallorann arrives, Jack
swings an axe cruelly into Dick’s chest. The struggle is brief, the wound is
severe and Hallorann’s heroic gesture, in which he came to aid Danny and Wendy,
is quickly snuffed Out.
It’s easy to giggle at the futile effort. The film seems to
set up a greater confrontation involving Hallorann and Torrance. His earlier,
expositional scenes suggest that his knowledge of ‘The Shining’: a telepathic
link between people, will become key. It is said shining that Danny uses to
send out an SOS call to Hallorann. This gift is powerful enough to give Danny
an aspect of foresight. He witnesses excruciating scenes of terror through this
clairvoyant link. Elevators filled with blood. Dead bodies of the past strewn
on the floor. However, the events which cause his dad to run riot and have
Danny scarper as far as his legs can carry him, also ensure that the failed
heroism by Hallorann is in vain.
It’s a difficult death even despite its futility. In both
Stanley Kubrick’s film and Stephen Kings novel, the attack dutifully notes
Hallorann’s race. Before the attack, Jack is advised by a spiteful spirit;
Delbert Grady that a “nigger cook” is on his way to complicate the matter of
Jack correcting his Wife; Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their talented son. The
performance by Phillip Stone as Grady has always been memorable to me due to
the venom of the exchange which takes place in the men’s bathroom with
Nickleson’s Jack. It’s here where the severity of Hallorann’s demise hits home,
practically for me as it’s in this moment that becomes one of the first moments
of explicit racism in a movie that I’ve witnessed. People often get frustrated
with film adaptations as they place a face to a character that they find hard
for their imaginations to shake off. Stone’s face and aggression have always
been etched into my mind from a young age. But conversation which takes place
also compounds an illicit agreement between two white men, to kill the film’s
only truly likable character.
In the film Room 237 (2012); a highly subjective documentary
showcasing how the film is viewed by various analysts, one theory establishes
that the overt references in The Shining make the film about the genocide of
Native Americans and American imperialism, with one of the film’s main
highlights being that of an opening sequence involving hotel manager Stuart
Ullman (Barry Nelson) mentioning that the Overlook Hotel is built on an ancient
Indian burial ground. This becomes a challenging factor when we consider the
films mysterious ending in Jack, the man who has “always been the caretaker” is
seen in the last frame of the film captured in a picture which dates back to
the 1920s. Hallorann, the only person of colour within the film, may not be
native American, but the theory of his killing is perhaps due to the hands of a
white man who may be possessed by spirits of America’s well known racist past
make an impactful indictment of Torrance’s foul dismissal of the kindly
African-American who treated his son to some ice cream. It’s possible to
consider The Shining as a film which conspires to kill the film’s most solitary
character, it’s only black character, through insidious white collusion.
Hallorann’s death conjures even more provocative elements
when we consider his place within the film. His early exposition, as well as
his psychic talent, could easily consider him the fabled “magical negro”. The
sexless black stereotype whose role is to give the white protagonists value
through his magical abilities. This is a cook whose purpose is to serve the
rich white folk who come to indulge in the overlook, while his sole motivation
in the film is to come to the aid of Danny, which he fails. When Hallorann receives
the call from Danny, consider the mise en scene surrounding him. Framed
pictures of young, naked ebony women are hung around his walls, but there’s
very little about Hallorann himself to suggest that he’s a sexual person. In
watching the film again, this scene is most indicative of the loneliness of
Hallorann. Having explained the Shining ability to Danny, this seemingly
asexual man, now surrounded by sensual imagery, has his sole purpose by this
point in the film to be marked for death. To be killed by a man whose cavorting
with naked bathtub spirits allows him to be possessed. Yes, we know that the
woman who seduces Jack in room 237 turns out to be a rotting corpse ghoul, but
still…
Hallorann is unceremoniously dispatched by Jack after hours
of travel to reach his destination point. His body is not found by Danny, the
boy he strived to save, but Wendy who’s bulging eyes cannot comprehend what she
is seeing. Considering that what she’s seen only a few moments before have
already been difficult to logically compartmentalise. It is Wendy who sees the
elevator of blood in (her) reality over Danny’s vision. She finds bloodied
guests laundering about the halls when it is only supposed to be her family
inhabiting the hotel. But it’s the short sharp crash zoom to Hallorann’s body
which has her really lose her proverbial poop.
Duvall’s Wendy has really taken a battering from detractors
of the film over the years as for the most part she is nothing but a shrinking
violet, yet it is through her face as well as Danny’s in which we see much of
the film’s terror. Duvall has such an unconventional movie star features and
it’s no surprise that Altman used her in tandem with Sissy Spacek for the
evocative 1977 film 3 Women. Spacek who featured in Carrie another adaptation
of Stephen King also holds the same characteristic that makes Duvall stand out.
Those large eyes. They see all.
I bring this up because it’s her face, those eyes that water
with fear when Wendy finally sees apparitions. She is also the only person who sees
Hallorann’s lifeless corpse lying in the reception area. It is one of the last
sights she sees in the hotel itself. By the time she sees it, she’s witnessed
so many bizarre supernatural phenomena that she may not believe that the body
is real. That’s the sadness. The last person to see Hallorann on the day of his
death may be too wigged out to even believe he’s there. Struck apart by race,
sex and sheer distance. Dick’s body may have been considered as much as an
apparition as the ghostly guests waltzing the hallways. He dies by himself in
the hotel’s reception. What a lonely way to go.
