]The film""s claustrophobic, cyclical, bleak mood surrounding he heroic quest of the detective struck a responsive chord after he scandalous Watergate era of the early 1970s.The Girl is introduced at the dock, a winsome street waif with a "bruised little body." She is hunched over, presumably from all the beatings she has received for every imaginable infraction dreamed up by her father.People will get hurt.So I want you to promise me something, okay? Leave Gwen out of it.Promise me that." Later that evening, Peter was reluctant to enter the Chinese restaurant, and privately old Gwen he was upset and very troubled by the visions he was having.[This is the first instance in the film ofseeing""evidence,"" ""proof"" or facts in a case that can easily be misunderstood or misread.