Keyser Söze

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Keyser Söze (IPA pronunciation: [kajzɚ sozej]) is a fictional character in the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects, written by Christopher McQuarrie. Söze is an underworld kingpin whose ruthlessness and influence have a legendary, even mythical status among law enforcement agents and criminals alike.

Contents 1 Background 2 Film revelations 3 Cultural impact 4 Meaning of name 5 Trivia 6 In media 7 External links

[edit] Background

Supposedly of Turkish nationality but the son of a German father, Söze allegedly began his criminal career in Turkey as a low-level drug smuggler. The entity that is Keyser Söze was truly born, however, when rival smugglers working for the Hungarian Mafia invaded his house while he was away, raping his wife, and holding his children hostage, killing one of them when Söze arrived to show him they were serious. They then threatened to kill his wife and remaining children if he did not surrender his business to them. Rather than give in to their demands, he shot and killed his family and all but one of the Hungarians, whom he spared knowing that the survivor would tell the mafia gang what he was planning to do.

After burying his family, Söze went after the Mob, killing dozens of people, including the mobsters' families, friends, and even people who owed them money, as well as destroying their homes and businesses. He then "went underground", never again doing business in person and remaining invisible even to his henchmen, who almost never knew who they were working for. To quote one of the most famous lines from the movie: "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist." This sentence is inspired by a line from a work of the French poet Charles Baudelaire. [1]) When he did commit crimes, it was always in disguise and under a fake name, leaving no one the wiser.

Söze's ruthlessness is legendary, having enemies and disloyal henchmen brutally murdered, along with everyone they held dear, for the slightest infractions. If someone working for Söze without realizing it unwittingly stole from him, however, he would offer them the chance to redeem themselves. Over the years, his criminal empire, centered around the drug trade, flourished, as did his legend; he became "a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night", and on a par with the Devil in the world of crime.

[edit] Film revelations

The film "The Usual Suspects" consists mostly of flashbacks narrated by con artist Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey), a petty criminal with cerebral palsy affecting one leg and one arm. Verbal has been granted near-total immunity from prosecution provided he assist investigators, including Customs Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), and reveal all details of his involvement with a group of notorious criminals assumed responsible for the destruction of a ship and the murder of nearly everyone aboard.

While Verbal is telling his story, Kujan learns the name Keyser Söze from FBI agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito), including Söze's reputation as a shadowy criminal mastermind, and demands Verbal tell him what he knows. Apparently deeply distraught, Verbal describes how he and a small group of career criminals were blackmailed by Söze, through Söze's British lawyer Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), into destroying a large drug shipment belonging to Hungarian rivals of Söze's. All the criminals but Verbal and all the Hungarians but one were killed during the attack. Baer believes there were no drugs and the true purpose of the attack was to eliminate a passenger on the ship that had seen and could identify Söze. Kujan confronts Verbal with the theory that Söze was, in fact, one of the criminals that Verbal had worked with; a corrupt former police officer and professional thief named Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne). Kujan's ongoing investigation of Keaton is what involved him in the case initially.

In the final scenes of the movie, it is suggested that Verbal's story is an elaborate concoction, made up of strung-together details culled from a crowded bulletin board in the office where the interrogation took place. The filmic methods used to persuade the audience of this included a buzzing montage of voices from the movie, effectively cut and pasted with pictures and text from the board, as well as the "KOBAYASHI" manufacturer's logo printed on the bottom of Kujan's coffee cup. The surviving Hungarian, severely burned and hospitalized, describes to a sketch artist a man he saw during the attack that he believes is Keyser Söze. The sketch, a near-perfect drawing of Verbal, is faxed to the police station too late. Verbal has already walked out on bail, his cerebral palsy limp suddenly fading. He uses a gold cigarette lighter similar to one Söze was seen with at the beginning of the film to light a cigarette with a steady hand, and climbs into a car driven by the character he has referred to throughout as Kobayashi. As they drive away, Kujan desperately looks around the crowded streets for Verbal having realized, too late, Verbal's true identity.

[edit] Cultural impact

Since the release of the film, the name Keyser Söze has become somewhat of a neologism. It has two popular uses in Western culture: the first is as a description of a legend, usually of underworld crime, which is a result of the character's Satanic presence in The Usual Suspects. One such reference can be found in the video game Max Payne, where the titular character refers to one Rico Muerte as "a regular Keyser Söze."

The second use of the name in popular culture is to one who has fooled many as to his/her true identity and agendas. This use of the name is owed to the film's legendary twist, which is widely considered one of the greatest surprise endings in film history. One such reference can be found in the hit television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Nicholas Brendon's character, upon discovering the disappearance of a possessed dummy that had convinced the heroes it was on their side asks, "Does anyone else feel like they've been Keyser Sözed?"

On his 1999 review of Fight Club, film critic Roger Ebert commented, "A lot of recent films seem unsatisfied unless they can add final scenes that redefine the reality of everything that has gone before; call it the Keyser Soze syndrome."

Keyser Söze is also mentioned in the 2005 movie The Dukes of Hazzard.

[edit] Meaning of name

The name "Söze" resembles the Turkish word sözel, meaning "verbal," which was Kint's nickname. Additionally, the same term has a Hungarian-sounding pronunciation, when it is spelled with an "ö.". The name "Keyser", derives from the Turkish Ottoman title "Qaysar" [from Qaysar-in-Rum] like the German word Kaiser, which descended from the Latin word Caesar, itself from the Greek 'Kaisar' meaning "emperor". The name Kint also resembles the word "King". Thus, Kint's names could mean "Verbal Emperor" or "Verbal King." Although this derivation from the Turkish has been confirmed by the director, some would say that it is entirely from Ancient Greek - "Kaisar sozei" would mean "Caesar/The King saves". This has little relevance to the actual meaning of the name.

Söze's name in the script had originally been "Keyser Sume", the name of a lawyer Christopher McQuarrie had been introduced to while writing the script. It was changed before production.

[edit] Trivia

The question 'Who is Keyser Söze?' does have a correct answer: Scott B. Morgan. A long-haired production assistant on the film, Morgan was asked on the day of filming to play the infamous mystery man in the only frames we ever see him - walking through fire in a flash-back sequence. His few, barely identifiable seconds of cult stardom were the only time he ever appeared on film, despite going on to a prolific production career in reality television.

The Tex-Mex restaurant Moe's Southwest Grill, famous for its use of pop-culture references in its menu, calls its chunky salsa "Who is Keyser Salsa?"

There is a bar in Berlin/Germany named Keyser Soze.

[edit] In media

• In the PC game Warcraft III, the cheat "keysersoze," without any numbers, is instant 500 gold.
• In the PC / videogame Max Payne, the mobster Rico Muerte is compared by Max Payne to Keyser Söze.
• The band Scooter has a song (intro) called "Keyser Söze" on their 1999 album Back To The Heavyweight Jam.
• The band Muffler has also a track called "Keyser Söze" on their album Muffler's Mighty Megamix Mania.
• The artist YTCracker references Keyser Söze in the song "Warez Loader" on his 2005 album Nerdrap Entertainment System.
• In episode 3.23 "Hiatus: Part 1" of the television series NCIS, character Tony DiNozzo makes reference to Keyser Söze.
• "Keyser Söze," [2] a ska band based out of the Reno-Tahoe area, has established a presence throughout California and the western states of the U.S.
• In the background information of the sci-fi RPG Xenosaga "Söze Kukai" is mentioned as the father and grandfather of "Gaignun Kukai" and "Gaignun Kukai, Jr.". In truth, Söze Kukai never existed and "Gaignun Jr." is actually the older brother of "Gaignun Sr."; a 27 year-old man trapped in a child's body.
• In Three 6 Mafia, Lord Infamous uses the name Keyser Söze as another alias.
• In the 1998 film Dr. Dolittle, a white dog in the pound proclaims "I Am Keyser Söze!"
• In the crime drama CSI Miami, Episode 86 season 4, Delko confronts one of the two suspects for the crimes in this episode who was cleared, accusing him of having staged the crimes to frame his friend. The suspect replies, "Who do you think I am, Keyser Söze?"
• In the Bloodhound Gang song "Take The Long Way Home", Jimmy Pop sings the words "Make it up as you go Keyser Soze".
• In the Swedish movie Smala Sussie one of the characters (Pölsa) has the name Keyser Söze on his mailslot, and it becomes clear that he (off-screen) has used the name about himself. This leads to the police officer in the movie to at one time ask another character "Do you know anyone by the name of Keyser Söze?".
• Keyser Soze is used as an alias for a "society" member in the novel Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund.
• In the Season 2 Newsradio episode "The Breakup" Beth states "Sometimes I feel like I'm working for Keyzer Soze" referring to her boss, Dave.
• In the remix of "I Shot Ya" by LL Cool J on his "Mr Smith" album, Fat Joe uses the name Keyser Soze as an alias.
• In "Money, Power, Respect" by The LOX on their album of the same title, Sheek states "I'm about to set you up like Keyser and walk straight in the end".
• The band Space mentions Söze in the lyrics of their track Voodoo Roller ("Keyser Soze's real so they say/But I don't believe a word").
• In the Marvel Comics miniseries "The Hood", a criminal called the Golem is said to "make Keyser Soze look like Paste Pot Pete"
• In the fourth episode of the second series of British Sitcom "Peep Show" Mark refers to Keyser Soze on a number of occasions when lying to a girl about his identity, even going so far as to suggest that his halls of residence are named after Keyser.

[edit] External links

• "The tale of Keyser Söze"