I enjoyed it well enough for the most part, but is it just me or did this movie not make any sense at all?
[spoiler]Russel Crowe’s character is a totally evil guy, but he’s willing to let his crew get shot up and turn himself in to jail so a guy will look good in front of his son? Then he shoots his whole crew, why?
I’m just so confused by the whole thing[/spoiler]
I haven’t seen the remake, but the original had the same “What the” ending you describe in the box except . . .Van Heflin’s kid wasn’t even there. Glen Ford sacrificed himself because “I don’t want to be beholden to anybody.” O-o-kay.
Here’s how I took it:
[spoiler]I got the feeling that Ben Wade pretty much thought that everyone he killed was a shmuck on some level and it would seem that generally he’s not entirely wrong. Ben knew that this didn’t make him a good guy, but it made it that much easier to remain guilt free.
The problem he had when he met Dan is that Dan seemed to be a legitimately good guy and was in fact one of the few people Ben would have a problem killing. He had a soft spot for the guy and in the end didn’t really mind getting on the train because he knew he was probably just going to escape anyhow so why not just give him this one thing. He tried to escape all of those times simply because he didn’t know that well yet.
Up until he got to the train station city (whatever it was), he didn’t bother calling off his crew because he thought, shit, if they can get me out of this, why not (as I said before, he hadn’t completely formed his opinion on Dan yet). His problem is, he let the whole situation snowball out of control because eventually Ben’s number 2 got the entire damn town involved. The catch 22 had to be that if he calls them off and he gets on the train on his own accord Ben’s the good guy. The problem is that if he doesn’t call his crew off Dan might die - but at least he looks like a hero.
When his crew killed Dan he was pissed because his crew was finally responsible for the death of someone he liked. Whether Dan wants you to believe it or not, he was at least on some level a decent guy as we all know that anytime someone says that he or she is completely evil, they most certainly are not.
Ben, I think, felt that the least he could do was to give Dan’s kid this one thing; to make this one man Ben respected a hero, at least in the sons eyes, seeing as he’s essentially responsible for Dan’s death.
He also knew that he was going to escape anyhow, so why the fuck not?
That’s how I saw it. I quite liked the ending.
[/spoiler]
I loved the movie - as you might guess.
Did you know the spoiler in the first post shows up with a mouseover on the thread title?
I enjoyed it a lot but had two problems with it-
When Wade is loaded into the coach-
the scene then jumps quickly to the ranch and suddenly they are discussing “the plan” (switching Wade with one of the deputies). The transition was awkard and confusing.
The other problem I had was just with a ridiculous plot point-
After the plan fails and Wade’s gang finds out where the real Wade is headed, for some reason the main characters witness all this through binoculars…Why the hell were they anywhere near the diversion? Let alone binocular distance! It didn’t make any sense given that the wagon left the day before and in the opposite direction the main characters were headed.
Where the heck do you guys live? I’m guessing New York or Los Angeles, right? It hasn’t opened in Chicago yet, and if it hasn’t opened here, it hasn’t opened in the rest of the flyover states.
Toronto…
I caught a preview screening Sunday night, myself.
I saw it at Woodfield mall outside of Chicago.
Ah, a preview screening then. I think it opens for real on Friday, maybe.
drm, are you at the Toronto Film Festival? Or was it just a regular preview screening?
Nope, regular screening. It had one showing Sunday night at 7pm so I dropped by Friday and snatched a pair of tickets.
Funny that you mention TIFF though, this will be the first year in about a decade that I don’t go. I just don’t have the time this year. It’s disappointing, it’s a lot of fun.
I’m pumped to see this movie. It’s supposedly getting oscar buzz. So- is it worth all the hype or am I just building it up in my head too much (HATE when I do that…)
The original is something of a masterpiece of the minimalist western, so I’m equal parts excited and trepidatious. It opens Friday.
I always thought that there was some sexual tension between to two leads. 
Quite possible; there was a lot more that kind of thing in “old Hollywood” than you’d imagine.
I started a thread some weeks ago expressing my trepidation. Given some of the buzz since then, my excitement is growing. I’ll probably see it, but crankily.
After seeing the trailer a couple of months ago, I put the 1957 version up on top of my Netflix queue. A really good movie, I thought.
So, I had high expectations for the new film. I was on the verge of giving it a solid 9 up until the end. I haven’t read the short story, so I don’t know which version is more faithful, but I hated the “new” ending.
My interpretation of the ending is [spoiler]that Ben Wade is tired of “the life.” His conversation with the girl at the bar is proof of this; he is seriously considering leaving his entire lifestyle behind. When he allows Dan to escort him to the train, he is allowing him to save face in front of his son, but he also is saving the son from continuing to idolize him. He knows that Dan’s family are decent people and deserve better than that, better than the opportunities he had in life.
On the way to the train, Ben tells Dan that he has been in Yuma Prison twice, and has escaped twice. He obviously plans to escape again (especially when he calls his horse to follow the train at the end). He’s not going to jail out of some sense of nobility. It’s just the practical thing to do at the moment.
The reason he shoots up his own gang at the end is because they will keep following him around and tying him to his life of crime, and escaping them seems to be a lot harder than escaping prison. With them dead, he finally can be free.[/spoiler]
I just saw the movie and I really enjoyed it. I had the same interpretation of the ending as cbawlmer did.
Giving up his life a crime makes more sense, I didn’t get a sense of that during the movie though. Maybe I’ll give it another go and see if I agree.
I did not think of it after watching the film, but I think cbawlmer’s explanation makes a lot of sense.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Wade seem a little bit pissed off when his #2 shot the Pinkerton guy? I mean, he seemed to know it wouldn’t be fatal, but I thought he gave the #2 a dirty look. He had expressed his fondness for the Pinkerton guy, so it would follow that if he really and truly liked Dan, he would be extraordinarily pissed off at his gang.
Anyway, that was my initial reaction prior to reading cbawlmer’s rationale.