# Movies ruined by "Happy Endings". So spoilers, I hope **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 24, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749 "2022-06-24T15:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/141 "2022-08-17T15:34:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Mid-90s, hell. Spielberg fucked up _ **JAWS** _ in 1975 with an ending (to quote _ **MAD Magazine** _) “not even a shark could swallow.” > > I have a copy of _ **Pygmalion** _ with the original ending, in which Eliza walks out on Higgins, and Shaw’s reaction to the contrived “happy ending” that was tacked on later. Spielberg greatly improved on the book which was disappointingly poorly written. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/142 "2022-08-17T15:49:16Z")
I was looking forward to Hooper being eaten by the shark. Talk about disappointment! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/143 "2022-08-17T16:01:33Z")
I’ve never read the novel _Jaws_, but wasn’t Hooper getting eaten by the shark still a happy ending? He was sleeping with Brody’s wife, so having him get killed seems like a win for the novel’s protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/144 "2022-08-17T16:16:51Z")
I haven’t read the book since July 1975, but I remember Brody being disturbed by Hooper’s death. (Sort of “So what if he banged my wife, it’s all in the past now.”) Spielberg threw out the whole adultery subplot to (a) keep the main story moving along and (b) not give the audience a reason for disliking Hooper. Another thing that disappointed me greatly was how the grieving mother confronted Brody and the Mayor. In the book, she was angry as hell; in the movie, just suffering nobly. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/145 "2022-08-17T20:51:03Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve never read the novel _Jaws_, but wasn’t Hooper getting eaten by the shark still a happy ending? He was sleeping with Brody’s wife, so having him get killed seems like a win for the novel’s protagonist. Book Hooper didn’t have any redeeming qualities other than being rich. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/146 "2022-08-17T21:02:20Z")
I just finished the audiobook. I was seriously considering starting a thread about how awful that book is. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/147 "2022-08-17T21:12:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Another thing that disappointed me greatly was how the grieving mother confronted Brody and the Mayor. In the book, she was angry as hell; in the movie, just suffering nobly. She spit in Brody’s face. That’s a pretty good indication of anger to me. A merely grieving mother would not have done that. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/148 "2022-08-17T22:08:07Z")
She was _much_ more subdued in the movie than in the book. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749/149 "2022-08-17T23:35:36Z")
I thought _Garden State_ would have been much better if Andrew stayed on the plane and didn’t [run back to Sam.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XKjKc8DKg) They met at a messed-up part of both their lives and their brief fling helped them see life more positively. They could take their experience, go their separate ways, be sad but grow to become better, more self-sufficient people. Instead they are bound by trauma and will both hold each other back from what they could have been. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-ruined-by-happy-endings-so-spoilers-i-hope/966749.md?page=7)