Keyser Soze
Keyser Söze (pronounced
KAI-zer
SO-zay) is a
fictional character in the
1995 movie The Usual Suspects, written by
Christopher McQuarrie. In the film, Söze is an underworld kingpin whose ruthlessness and influence have a legendary, even mythical status among law enforcement agents and criminals alike.
The following refers to Keyser Söze only as a fictional character in the confines of the film he appeared in.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 wasn't at home,
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. Söze's response to this was perhaps the most astonishing of his legendary acts. Rather than give in to their demands, he shot and killed his family and all but one of the Hungarians, whom he spared to spread word of his ruthless nature.
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. 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's. [
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. Despite this, however, if someone working for Söze without realizing it unwittingly stole from him, 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.
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 partial immunity from prosecution provided he assist investigators, including Customs Agent Dave Kujan (
Chazz Palminteri), and reveal all details about his involvement with a group of notorious criminals assumed responsible for the destruction of a ship and the murder of 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 gradually fading. He lights a cigarette with a steady hand and climbs into a car driven by a character played by Pete Postlethwaite, though it is unlikely that this character's name is actually Kobayashi. As they drive away, Kujan desperately looks around the crowded streets for Verbal with an expression of bewilderment and frustration.
The film ends on a celebrated quote, taking the form of a flashback to earlier in the film, when Verbal, during his fabricated story about "myth" Keyser Söze, says "And like that... he's gone."
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, 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." Although the twistending was a popular trend on the 90s, it has become quite unpopular over the last years (e.g.: The Village).
Keyser Söze is also mentioned in the
2005 movie
The Dukes of Hazzard.
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] and resembles the spelling and pronunciation of the
German word
Kaiser, which descended from the
Latin word
Caesar, meaning "emperor." The name Kint also resembles the word "
King". Thus, Kint's names could mean "Verbal Emperor" or "Verbal King."
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.
The name of Agent Kujan, who fails to apprehend the meaning of Kint's tale, is a
homophone for the French epithet
couillon, a doofus.
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?"
* In the
PC game
Warcraft III, the cheat "keyserSöze," 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," 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 "
Gaigun 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.
*
"The tale of Keyser Söze"
