Jack Rafferty
Encyclopedia
Jack Rafferty is a fictional character in Frank Miller
's Sin City
, and a main antagonist of The Big Fat Kill
. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy. In the 2005 film adaptation of the comic books
, he was portrayed by Benicio del Toro
.
, Miller has stated that at one time, Jack Rafferty was, in fact, a decent cop. However, after years on the force, he seemingly ended up being corrupted and worn down from the job. He specifically said how the Jack Rafferty we see in the movie is at rock bottom. Miller has confirmed there will be a graphic novel coming soon showing the rise and fall of Rafferty.
At the beginning of The Big Fat Kill, a drunken Rafferty is paying a visit to his old girlfriend Shellie. She wants nothing to do with him, but when he threatens to break down the door to her apartment, she lets him in out of fear, along with his pack of equally drunk friends. He wants her to call some stripper and waitress friends of hers and hit the town with him and his 'troops'. After she refuses, Rafferty strikes Shellie in the face after claiming he had never hit a woman in his life. While relieving himself in the bathroom, he is accosted by Dwight McCarthy
, Shellie's new boyfriend, who had been hiding behind the shower curtain the whole time. Dwight threatens that if he does "ever so much as think [Shellie's] name... I'll cut you in ways that [would] make you useless to a woman." Dwight then shoves his head in the unflushed toilet.
Humiliated, Rafferty and his friends run off to Old Town, the prostitute quarter of Basin City, pursued by Dwight. After evading a police squad car by entering Old Town, where the cops are forbidden entrance while they are on duty, Rafferty tries to pick up a young hooker named Becky, who rebuffs him. He finally loses what patience he has and pulls what seems to be a M1911 Colt pistol (similar to Marv's
.) on her. This cues Miho, Old Town's resident assassin
, to cut off his hand with a Swastika
-shaped shuriken
. She slices up his gang, then comes for him. While the wounded Rafferty is distracted by Dwight, Miho throws a metal rod into his gun's barrel. When he tries to shoot Dwight, the gun backfires causing the slide to lodge itself in his skull. Finishing the job, Miho purposely botches the decapitation, causing blood to spew from his neck, similar to "a Pez dispenser".
Dwight and the Old Town girls then discover that Rafferty is actually a 'hero cop', 'Iron Jack' Rafferty. If the cops find out that the Old Town girls killed him, the truce between them will be shattered, leaving them open to a hostile takeover by the mob. Realising this, Dwight offers to get rid of the bodies. Unfortunately, since there isn't enough room in the trunk of the scrapheap car they supply him with, Jack sits in the front with Dwight, 'where anyone who cares to look will see him'. As his frustration rises and the instinctive bottling of his rage and fear that is his weakness begins afresh, Dwight begins to hallucinate and imagines that Rafferty is talking to him, mocking him at every turn. This interferes with Dwight's driving and he attracts the attention of a motorcycle cop. At the mocking suggestion of Jack, Dwight slams on the brakes, driving the gun barrel further into Rafferty's head as he slams against the dashboard. The cop, believing Jack is merely stone drunk, tells Dwight that he's simply driving with a busted tail-light, and lets him go with a warning.
As Dwight is about to dispose of the bodies at the Santa Yolanda Tar Pits, an abandoned theme park of sorts, Irish mercenaries attack and cut off Jack's head to give to the mob. Miho pulls him out of the tarpits, where the car had landed after a grenade blew it up, and he then finds out that Gail has been captured and held hostage by Manute, one of the mob's enforcers. Dwight and Miho pursue and kill the mercenaries, retrieving the head. He calls the mobsters, offering to exchange the head for Gail. They agree, and the exchange is made. However, Dwight has packed the head with a dead mercenary's grenades and detonates it. The head explodes, eliminating Rafferty's head. The Old Town girls hiding on the rooftops shower the mobsters with bullets, killing them all.
that he felt that he needed to have some minor prosthetic work so that he could look even more like the character. In response, Nicotero squared off his chin and gave him a longer, thinner nose. The resulting look was not only strikingly similar, but was also subtle enough to not be obtrusive, given the make-up used for Mickey Rourke
's Marv and Nick Stahl
's Yellow Bastard
; in guest director Quentin Tarantino's words, "you forget that that's not what [Benicio del Toro] looks like."
Quentin Tarantino
directed the scene in which Dwight hallucinates that Jackie-Boy's corpse is talking. One notable suggestion Tarantino brought to the character was that his voice be affected by his partially severed neck and vocal cords, ranging from a throaty yet sibilant gurgle to a hoarse, guttural whisper.
.
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
's Sin City
Sin City
Sin City is the title for a series of neo-noir comics by Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in "Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special" , and continued in Dark Horse Presents #51–62 from May 1991 to June 1992, under the title of Sin City, serialized in thirteen parts. Several...
, and a main antagonist of The Big Fat Kill
The Big Fat Kill
The Big Fat Kill is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Dark Horse Comics in November 1994–March 1995.-Plot:The story opens in Shellie's apartment, where a drunken former fling is furiously rapping on her door, demanding to be let in. Shellie is obviously scared, but is...
. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy. In the 2005 film adaptation of the comic books
Sin City (film)
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
, he was portrayed by Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
.
Background
In the commentaries on the Sin City DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, Miller has stated that at one time, Jack Rafferty was, in fact, a decent cop. However, after years on the force, he seemingly ended up being corrupted and worn down from the job. He specifically said how the Jack Rafferty we see in the movie is at rock bottom. Miller has confirmed there will be a graphic novel coming soon showing the rise and fall of Rafferty.
At the beginning of The Big Fat Kill, a drunken Rafferty is paying a visit to his old girlfriend Shellie. She wants nothing to do with him, but when he threatens to break down the door to her apartment, she lets him in out of fear, along with his pack of equally drunk friends. He wants her to call some stripper and waitress friends of hers and hit the town with him and his 'troops'. After she refuses, Rafferty strikes Shellie in the face after claiming he had never hit a woman in his life. While relieving himself in the bathroom, he is accosted by Dwight McCarthy
Dwight McCarthy
Dwight McCarthy is a main protagonist in Frank Miller's Sin City universe. He appears in A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, The Babe Wore Red and That Yellow Bastard. In the 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Clive Owen.-Appearance:In Dwight's first appearance in A Dame To...
, Shellie's new boyfriend, who had been hiding behind the shower curtain the whole time. Dwight threatens that if he does "ever so much as think [Shellie's] name... I'll cut you in ways that [would] make you useless to a woman." Dwight then shoves his head in the unflushed toilet.
Humiliated, Rafferty and his friends run off to Old Town, the prostitute quarter of Basin City, pursued by Dwight. After evading a police squad car by entering Old Town, where the cops are forbidden entrance while they are on duty, Rafferty tries to pick up a young hooker named Becky, who rebuffs him. He finally loses what patience he has and pulls what seems to be a M1911 Colt pistol (similar to Marv's
Marv
Marv is a fictional character in the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. In the 2005 film adaptation, he is played by Mickey Rourke. He first appears in The Hard Goodbye and follows with appearances in A Dame to Kill For, Just Another Saturday Night, and Silent Night...
.) on her. This cues Miho, Old Town's resident assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, to cut off his hand with a Swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
-shaped shuriken
Shuriken
A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
. She slices up his gang, then comes for him. While the wounded Rafferty is distracted by Dwight, Miho throws a metal rod into his gun's barrel. When he tries to shoot Dwight, the gun backfires causing the slide to lodge itself in his skull. Finishing the job, Miho purposely botches the decapitation, causing blood to spew from his neck, similar to "a Pez dispenser".
Dwight and the Old Town girls then discover that Rafferty is actually a 'hero cop', 'Iron Jack' Rafferty. If the cops find out that the Old Town girls killed him, the truce between them will be shattered, leaving them open to a hostile takeover by the mob. Realising this, Dwight offers to get rid of the bodies. Unfortunately, since there isn't enough room in the trunk of the scrapheap car they supply him with, Jack sits in the front with Dwight, 'where anyone who cares to look will see him'. As his frustration rises and the instinctive bottling of his rage and fear that is his weakness begins afresh, Dwight begins to hallucinate and imagines that Rafferty is talking to him, mocking him at every turn. This interferes with Dwight's driving and he attracts the attention of a motorcycle cop. At the mocking suggestion of Jack, Dwight slams on the brakes, driving the gun barrel further into Rafferty's head as he slams against the dashboard. The cop, believing Jack is merely stone drunk, tells Dwight that he's simply driving with a busted tail-light, and lets him go with a warning.
As Dwight is about to dispose of the bodies at the Santa Yolanda Tar Pits, an abandoned theme park of sorts, Irish mercenaries attack and cut off Jack's head to give to the mob. Miho pulls him out of the tarpits, where the car had landed after a grenade blew it up, and he then finds out that Gail has been captured and held hostage by Manute, one of the mob's enforcers. Dwight and Miho pursue and kill the mercenaries, retrieving the head. He calls the mobsters, offering to exchange the head for Gail. They agree, and the exchange is made. However, Dwight has packed the head with a dead mercenary's grenades and detonates it. The head explodes, eliminating Rafferty's head. The Old Town girls hiding on the rooftops shower the mobsters with bullets, killing them all.
Film appearances
During the making of the film, del Toro told makeup artist Gregory NicoteroGregory Nicotero
Gregory Nicotero is an American special effects creator and actor. In 1988, along with Robert Kurtzman and Howard Berger, he formed KNB Efx Group, a special effects studio which has gone on to work on over 400 film and television projects...
that he felt that he needed to have some minor prosthetic work so that he could look even more like the character. In response, Nicotero squared off his chin and gave him a longer, thinner nose. The resulting look was not only strikingly similar, but was also subtle enough to not be obtrusive, given the make-up used for Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
's Marv and Nick Stahl
Nick Stahl
Nicolas Kent "Nick" Stahl is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film The Man Without a Face and then embarked on a successful career as a child actor...
's Yellow Bastard
That Yellow Bastard
That Yellow Bastard is a six-issue comic book limited series, and the sixth in the Sin City series. It was published by Dark Horse Comics in February–July 1996, It follows the usual black and white noir style artistry of previous Sin City novels, with the exception of yellow on Roark Junior...
; in guest director Quentin Tarantino's words, "you forget that that's not what [Benicio del Toro] looks like."
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
directed the scene in which Dwight hallucinates that Jackie-Boy's corpse is talking. One notable suggestion Tarantino brought to the character was that his voice be affected by his partially severed neck and vocal cords, ranging from a throaty yet sibilant gurgle to a hoarse, guttural whisper.
Possible new Sin City appearance
Due generally to good reception to character Jack Rafferty (both in comic and film), Frank Miller has stated that he wouldn't mind doing a novel on the "rise and fall of Jack Rafferty". This novel would showcase Rafferty's slow but steady descent into alcoholism, womanizing and the formation of somewhat of a Messiah complexMessiah complex
A messiah complex is a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief they are, or are destined to become, a savior. The messiah complex does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ....
.