We rented the Clint Eastwood movie “Bloodwork” on New Years Eve and had a quiet evening in. We found the movie pretty lame overall because it was immediately obvious Jeff Daniels was going to turn out to be the killer since his character was ‘too major to be minor’ but two things really bugged us:
- Did Jeff Daniels have a job in the movie? He had a nice, working boat and presumably had to pay for upkeep and for his boat slip, but other than the odd jobs Clint Eastwood gave him to perform, how did he presumably afford to live in the marina?
And the more important annoying question…
- How did Jeff Daniels get access to the restricted database that said who was an organ donor and what blood type they were that was so important to the plot? Clint Eastwood makes a specific point in the movie about how its a big deal to get access to it. He’s former FBI and has all kinds of police connections, yet even HE can only get the list from his doctor by jumping through all kinds of hoops and agreeing to have further tests done on his heart.
Did they delete a scene where we find out Jeff Daniels is a retired psychotic transplant doctor? Otherwise, I can’t explain the above two facts…
I read the novel several years ago, and I think things are much better explained there. Seems to me Buddy was living on a trust fund or disability or something like that.
One thing to keep in mind is, he’s a psycho in a thriller. Don’t expect things to be too tidily explained. Sometimes you just have to recognize these little plot devices for what they are. 
Oh, and please don’t judge Michael Connelly on the mess they made out of his excellent novel. Highly recommended reading. Sorry you had to endure the movie.
Spoiler for the novel:
Buddy isn’t the killer in the novel, which is pretty cool, because he’s such a red herring.
What Knead said. Eastwood made hash out of a pretty good book. I don’t remember exactly how everything works out, but I think the issue of database access was addressed better there.
Clint Eastwood owes me two hours of my life back!
Gah- that movie was terrible. Tell me why nobody involved in the making of this said, “Hey wait-a-minute. If you’re too weak to drive, how can you do the bone dance with a thirty year old with out dropping dead?”
I’m still bitter I paid $8.00 and had to look at a seventy year-old’s naked chest… ewwwww.
I’m certainly not trying to support the movie, but FWIW, in the book, the injunction against driving is specifically that an accident while driving (due to impact against the steering wheel and/or airbag) could be fatal, given that his breastbone had not completely healed. It maybe be hooey, but it sure came across as one of the better-researched aspects of the story.
I just wasted a perfectly good rent-one-get-one free coupon on this turkey. As I recall, Daniels said something early on about living off of a trust fund, so he didn’t need to work. They didn’t explain how he got into the blood bank records. Maybe he just paid off a nurse.
Lord, what a predictable piece of crap. As soon as Daniels showed up, my wife and I both said. “That’s too big of a name for a random boat bum character. He must be the killer.”
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Justin