History Film / Diggstown

-->'''Caine:''' Well, that's a distinct possibility. But I'd bet, I don't know, four dollars against an hour with your mother that it doesn't turn out that way. (''Paoulo punches him in the stomach'') You're right. That was insulting. I'm sorry. Five bucks.

** Also, Guillon gets some of this while thinking he can beat Caine and Honey Roy.

* InsistentTerminology: Gabriel is a conman, not a hustler. In the beginning, he states that hustlers flee town after scoring, while conman can leave at their leisure. When Gillon thinks that he has Gabriel beat, he chastises him, "Never hustle a hustler," but Gabriel corrects him, "Never con a conman," just before pulling his final con.

** Robby isn't nearly as SpoiledSweet in the book, and along with minor boxers Sam Lester and Sonny Hawkins, is a KKK member and all around {{Jerkass}} [[spoiler:Who tries to shoot Honey Roy himself after the fight as opposed to stopping his father from shooting someone]].

** Billy is a NiceGuy who throws his fight for Caine in the book, as well as being the only one of the town's young men who isn't racist. In the film he is a racist and tries to beat Honey Roy.
** In the novel Boss Gillon never drugged Diggs (and even seems to view him as a MoralityPet), never orders any (successful) murders, and never cheated the town out of their land. He also takes his losses with a certain sense of grace and amusement (although he loses less in the book than he does in the film). In the movie, he's a poison-mean SoreLoser who's screwed over almost everyone around him with no remorse and is behind two successful murders.

** Caine counts on Palmer joining the plan after it's already underway. Palmer objects to the trope's use, but follows it anyway.

** The original novel actually has them be {{Mirror Character}}s, especially as, in that novel, Guillon didn't [[spoiler: kill Slim Busby, turn into a SoreLoser, or cause Diggs' injuries by drugging him before a big fight]]. Guillon reflects that, as young men, he and Diggs had a similar scheme to the one Caine and Roy pull, going town to town, and tricking the locals into a big boxing match they'd wager on.

** Ironically, in the original novel the inverse is true, with his book counterpart feeling that a hustler is someone smart enough to get out of town once he has the money in hand, while a conman is too arrogant to get out while the going is good.

* KarmaHoudini: Sure, Gillon loses his fortune and influence and gets punched in the face, but he's still a free man at the end of the movie [[spoiler:despite having Slim killed. He also never faced any comeuppance for drugging Diggs in the past so that he ended up with brain damage.]]

* SeriousBusiness: Two things that the town of Diggstown lives by: Boxing & Gambling.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: One reason why Slim Busby decides to throw his fight for a few thousand dollar, and convinces Hambone to do the same, rather than go for the bigger prize being offered to the winner, is by saying that Honey Roy might not even get as far as the two of them (he does, and then some), and so why not take the money in hand.

* WardensAreEvil: The local warden is willing to shoot a gun within inches of an unarmed prisoner, outright have another prisoner murdered and help Guillon slants the boxing match by supplying one of his fighters.

** Caine. 1) In the book he wasn't a PrisonEscapeArtist. 2) His final BatmanGambit, [[spoiler:securing Torres cooperation to lose the final fight]] wasn't in the book and 3) he doesn't raise the stakes of the bet enough to break Gillon's bank, instead having to flee town with his winnings and his accomplices the instant the last fight is over).

** Billy is a NiceGuy who throws his fight for Diggs in the book, as well as being the only one of the town's young men who isn't racist. In the film he is a racist and tries to beat Honey Roy.

* AdaptationalWimp: Tank, the eighth boxer is the only Diggstown fighter to go the distance with Honey Roy in the book but gets Ko'd in the film.
* AdaptedOut: Several of the Diggstown locals from the book were dropped from the film, including: Reverend Hawkins (father of Sonny Hawkins), Emily's friend Sally Kay Lester (sister of one of Honey Roy's opponents) and her father and other brothers, Buck Holland's wife and sister, Gillon's wife and daughter, Emily's own parents, Chet Meeks (an African-American businessman and reluctant associate of Gillon), Cornelius Robbins (a poor farmer who trains as one of the boxers before forfeiting like Robbie did in the film) and local MissKitty Kelly Loveale (who recommends her bouncer Tank to be one of the boxers).

* GoodCounterPart: Caine and Guillon are both shrewd, well-dressed, wagering fortunes on boxing matches that aren't entirely fair, but Guillon is a killer, and Caine has a CaperRationalization.
** The original novel actually has them be {{Mirror Character}}s, especially as, in that novel, Guillon didn't [[spoiler: Kill Slim Busby, turn into a SoreLoser or cause Diggs' injuries by drugging him before a big fight]]. Guillon reflects that, as young men, he and Diggs had a similar scheme of going town to town, and tricking the locals into a big boxing match they'd wager on.

* ItsPersonal: As Honey Roy put it.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: One reason why Slim Busby decides to throw his fight for a few thousand dollar, and convinces Hambone to do the same, rather than go for the bigger prize being offered to the winner, is by saying that Honey Roy might not even get as far as the two of them, and so why not take the money in hand.
** Also, Guillon gets some of this towards Caine and Honey Roy.