I saw this disturbing but interesting movie the other night. Towards the end the Freaks seek revenge and come after Hercules(the Strongman) with knives and other weapons, however I missed what happened to him and Cleopatra (the trapeze lady). I looked on the IMDB and could not find a detailed description of the ending. I did find suggestions however that there was two different endings. One where Cleopatra became one of the freaks and one with more of a real love story ending. Has anyone seen this movie and can you explain what happened at the end. I do remember seeing some sort of Chicken Lady at the end, was this what happened to Cleopatra or was the Chicken Lady a different character altogehter?
That’s what I thought happened. So did they show them turning her into the chicken lady, or was it just the shot of her as the chicken lady. If they did show them changing her, how the hell did they do it?
We didn’t see them changing her, which I think is a good choice. The movie’s more creepy and horrifying that way.
It’s a fine, fine movie. It’s held back from true greatness, I think, by the thinness of the plot and the weak acting.
We can forgive the acting through our knowledge that most of the actors were (obviously) real circus freaks, not actors.
But the movie accomplishes all it sets out to do, IMHO, and some scenes are nothing short of brilliant, like the perfectly disturbing “We accept her…one of us” scene.
I also recommend it. That “one of us” scene will stay in my mind for a while. I also want to point out that Hans was a member of the Lollipop Guild in the Wizard of Oz.
As a slight hijack - one of the dwarves in “Freaks” (he’s in the party scene Fiver is refering to) later played the mastermind behind the pig-waste power generation system in “Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome.”
Here’s what I’ve heard from more than one source, but no idea whether or not it’s true:
Hypothetical spoilers
The reason “Freaks” is so short is that the studio censors cut out a lot of parts that are now lost forever.
Among these cuts (no pun intended) is a final scene, not sure whether it would have appeared before or after the unveiling of the chicken lady, which shows Hercules singing in a carnival musical group- singing soprano. Or castrato, if you like.
That would have been a great scene, they never show what happened to Hercules in the current version.
The one shot I love is the guy that has no arms and legs crawling to attack Hercules (or the woman, I can’t remember which) with a knife in his mouth!!! It would have been priceless to have a scene showing how exactly he used it.
IIRC, one of the pinhead characters (one was named “Zip”) was the inspiration for the Zippy the Pinhead cartoon.
The worm man with the knife in his mouth is my favorite!
In my freshman year of college, my friends and I had a tradition. Whenever someone’s birthday rolled around, we would pull out a tape of this movie and watch it. Good times.
I’m sure I remember seeing the castrato scene, and not just reading about it. There’s also a tacked on “happy ending” with the two little people reuniting, which I think is on my taped copy. Now I feel compelled to look.
:::looking:::
Well, there’s no scene in my copy with the castrated Hercules singing. It does have the reunion. I taped it off TCM maybe last Halloween.
Yeah, now that you mention it, my copy (taped off of TCM) DOES have the ending with Hans and what’s-her-name (Frieda?) hooking up years later in his Stately Mansion.
It just slipped my mind… you know… 'cause of the Chicken Lady.
Okay, so I’m sick, sick, sick, but I love this movie.
Thanks for the pick up on the question about Angelo Rossitto.
Neither of the pinheads in Freaks was named “Zippy.” They were both girls (sisters, IIRC) from North or South Carolina, and were, all by all accounts, charming. I started a post in GC about microcephaly and included a more detailed reference to them.
And I believe that marijuana was already illegal by the time “Freaks” was produced.