bosArt | Print: Losing A Shoe In The Chase

Posted by grizzletoad1 on 04-20-2022 at18:43:

Losing A Shoe In The Chase

Guys, I have an excercise here for you. I would like to know something in regard to a woman in heels being chased by a thug. We are NOT talking about a zombie or other crazed monster, just a simple run of the mill bad guy. The woman trips and loses one shoe, then continues on in one heel. The bad guy then comes upon the lost shoe lying in the street or alley or wherever the woman lost it. Does he pick the shoe up and continue after the woman, perhaps because his mind is clouded in a fit of rage that she's gotten away from him? Does he just leave it where it lays and continue after her? Which is more dramatic or believable?Like to see what you guys here say.

Posted by hunter77721 on 04-20-2022 at20:33:

RE: Losing A Shoe In The Chase

I think it depends on whether the pursuer is a calculating criminal or a psychopath. In the latter case, he may pick up a lost shoe, treating it as part of the sick game he is playing. There was a scene in the Polish film "Strefa ciszy" (The zone of silence), I think, where the main character, trying to escape, trips and loses one shoe. Terrified, she abandons it and runs away, but the man chasing her picks up the shoe and shouts loudly: "Where are you, Cinderella?"

Posted by Nopperabo on 04-20-2022 at22:41:

Come to think of it, Jack Nicholson did more or less the same thing when he was the Joker in the first Batman movie.

And actually, a calculating criminal might as well, provided he felt he had the time. After all, that shoe is a trace, physical proof that the target was there and was in distress. A calculating criminal might be aware of that, and make sure to pick it up in order to cover his tracks.

There is also the consideration of what he plans to DO with the target when he catches her. If he plans to kill her on the spot, it doesn't really make any difference. But if he is planning to take her alive, and then take her somewhere else, he may have to consider how to do that most efficiently. A woman in one heel is slow and clumsy, which, if he intends for her to walk wherever he is taking her may make getting her there harder AND more erratic (there is nothing like an unexpected trip to throw someone off their game and give the target a chance for escape.

Under those circumstances, he can, of course, simply remove her OTHER shoe, but depending on terrain, and in what condition the target needs to be in at the other end, that may not be a good option either (if she messes up her feet so badly she CAN'T walk, HE'S going to have to CARRY her.)