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I see... Blllooooodddd!!!
~ Martin "The Bow Tie Killer" Beck.

Martin "The Bow Tie Killer" Beck is the main antagonist of the 1990 comedy movie Problem Child. He is a dangerous serial killer who, in the film, is arrested and then escaped. He is Junior's idol, who considers him a good person, without knowing what his true nature is.

He was portrayed by Michael Richards.

Biography[]

Martin first appears in the film when Junior, set to clean the orphanage's attic by the Mother Superior as punishment for a prank, turns on the television and stumbles upon a news report in which he is seen getting arrested after escaping from prison. When he shouts to the cameras that he is not an evil man but "just a misunderstood" hated by everyone and that no one ever cared about, Junior begins to develop empathy and admiration for him, recognizing himself in his sad fate of a boy who has never been loved by anyone and, to look like them, wears a bow tie taken from a doll and begins to correspond via letters with him, filming himself "JR". Unfortunately, Martin gets it into his head that his interlocutor is a dangerous ex-convict criminal and starts planning to escape and join him to form an alliance with him.

Martin takes the opportunity to escape during a psychological visit by the prison psychologist, after having attacked the prison warden (throwing a heavy barbell after he had mocked him). After being interrupted three times by the warden – who accuses Martin of lying to the answers of the Rorschach Test and of seeing, in the images of the test, only violent and bloody images – the psychologist invites him out, and Martin strangles him to death, and then flee by posing as him.

After a long journey, Martin finally arrives at the home of Ben and Flo Healy - the couple who adopted Junior - and is extremely disappointed to learn that "JR" is not a criminal like him, but just a seven-year-old boy. Despite this, he stops at the Healys' house at their invitation, pretending to be Junior's uncle after he has introduced him to Ben and Flo as such and, while Flo - exasperated, like Ben, by the excessively lively character of Junior - tries to convince him that Junior is a very good boy to take it with him, so that Martin, who has not seen a woman for years due to the period spent in prison, seduces and has sex with her.

The next morning, Martin kidnaps Junior and Flo and leaves a message for Ben written on the wall, which says that if he wants to see them both alive again, he must pay them a $100,000 ransom. Initially he is tempted to leave them at the mercy of Martin but, when he realizes, seeing a drawing of Junior that portrays him, that he really loved him, he decides to follow Martin to save him, which Martin took to a circus as a place of rendezvous for the delivery of money.

During the drive, Martin makes it clear that he hates Junior and doesn't want to work with him, throwing out a suitcase full of toy guns that Junior had brought along as "supply", leaving him deeply disappointed. When Flo complains that she was deceived by Martin with the false promise of her elopement, he, exasperated by her lamentations, locks her in a suitcase to silence her.

Initially Martin does not want to honor the agreement and, after taking the bag of money (in the television cut of the film it does not actually contain real money) he asks Junior to join him and embark on a criminal career (we do not know if is sincere or if he pretends because he wants to kill him) but Junior refuses by kicking him in the crotch. After a long chase that culminates on a street, the police manage to capture and handcuff Martin, but he manages to arm himself with one of their guns and shoots Junior, hitting Ben who had shielded him with his body. Luckily, he is saved, as the bullet hit a hardened prune that he had received as a gift from his grandfather and that he had in turn given to Junior as a sign of affection. Martin is finally arrested and returned to prison.

After his arrest, Junior takes off his bow tie and throws it away, to eliminate any resemblance to the man he was wrong to idolize.

Personality[]

Martin is an extremely aggressive, arrogant, and unscrupulous man, as well as very sure of himself and of the fear he exercises in people. His viciousness and brutality are such as to terrify as many as three states, after the news of his escape, and even all the inmates and warders of the prison where he is locked up (to the point that, after asking for a large number of inmates for a cigarette he promptly hands them each one, and when a jailer delivers a letter from Junior to him, he is visibly terrified as he hands it to him.) He is also a skilled manipulator and deceiver, who indirectly manages to make Junior believe that he is a good person that no one has ever loved and to cheat the psychologist during the Rorschach test and Flo into believing that he is in love with him. He shares with Junior an intense hatred for clowns (in fact at the circus he knocks one out with a punch after he shows him a balloon in the shape of a giraffe) and is particularly fond of a brand of snacks called "Smiley Pies".

Problem Child 2[]

In the sequel, there was a news article that LaWanda was looking through while looking at Junior's profile which was titled "Boy and Convicted Killer Go on a Joyride". Later in another scene, Junior shows Ben his science project at school entitled "How electricity works" which is a doll of Martin in the electric chair screaming "I'm innocent!" as he gets zapped.

Gallery[]