Ugh. I hated the cinematic ending. I’ve always thought that the novella ended in the best possible way it could have- they’re probably screwed, but just might make it.
The movie’s ending was like the mist was saying “Screw this one guy, right here, in particular.”
I enjoy the movie, but always turn it off right before the car runs out of gas.
My example is a classic, “African Queen”, a really good movie, and I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned yet. So there’s the story of two polar opposites of characters bound together by destiny to survive an adventurous journey, one being an uncouth, unkempt, down-right dirty and hopeless cynical alcoholic and the other an uptight female missionary, a spinster of course with a stick up her ass. They bitch and bitch throughout the whole movie, while slowly gaining their mutual respect, and that’s all played exceptionally well. But what happens in the end? They fucking marry, which is totally against the grain of the whole setup. I couldn’t believe this ending, it ruined the whole movie for me.
If she had been careful, her groove would never have left in the first place. Stella was a poor custodian of her groove.
mmm
Another “Happy Ending” to the movie is that the African Queen, although it sank, still protrudes enough above the surface so that the Louisa can run into it, this setting off the torpedoes that would have run into her if the African Queen hadn’t sunk. So they actually succeeded in the end. In C.S. Forester’s book, that didn’t happen – a British gunboat sinks the Louisa
I can’t say it spoiled it, though. Without that success, Charlie and Rose’s efforts would have been completely wasted.
Somebody mentioned “Clerks” in a recent thread. Here is the original ending:
He wasn’t even supposed to be there that day!
Noises Off is about a production of a stage play that keeps going wrong no matter how hard the actors try. The 1992 film adaptation ends with them…finally getting it right.
I love the ending of The Mist movie. That’s the only good thing about it. I haven’t read the story.
Yeah, you have to have a stomach for grim endings, but I liked the movie ending because it was a twist that still flowed naturally from the story, and defied the typical happy Hollywood ending. It is a horror story after all, so a horrific ending is appropriate.
That makes two of us. I’ve watched that (imperfect) film 4 times and each time came away with that feeling.
(Admission: I always thought they were aliens)
The remake of The Little Shop of Horrors.
The ending of Pretty in Pink.
Both sucky endings due to audience reaction from previews.
I’ve never seen it, but the 1975 movie Lucky Lady reportedly had up to three endings, one of them a “happy” ending. I’m not sure if any of them worked.
Not a movie but Mozart’s Don Giovanni has a happy ending that feels tacked on to a modern audience.
The titular character has just been dragged to hell by the statue of a man he killed at the very beginning of the opera. It’s one of the most spectacular scenes in the whole repertoire and the music is among the most haunting and intense that Mozart ever wrote.
It is followed by as light-hearted concluding ensemble in D Major where Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, and Masetto arrive, searching for the villain. They find instead Leporello hiding under the table, shaken by the supernatural horror he has witnessed. He assures them that no one will ever see Don Giovanni again. The remaining characters announce their plans for the future: Donna Anna and Don Ottavio will marry when Donna Anna’s year of mourning is over; Donna Elvira will withdraw from society for the rest of her life; Zerlina and Masetto will finally go home for dinner; and Leporello will go to the tavern to find a better master.
It feels so artificial to a modern audience that some performances omit it, finishing on the dramatic comeuppance of the unrepentant Don Giovanni.
Heh, someone should make a SF/Horror movie where we see:
THE END.
.
.
.
(Really, it is the end; the monster’s dead).
The same device turns up in parodied form at the end of P.D.Q. Bach’s opera The Stoned Guest: after every character has been killed or falls over dead, the entire ensemble suddenly jumps up to sing one last chorus in praise of happy endings.
It’s shit like this that make this The Coolest Fucking Website Ever.
Not only did they give him “what he wanted,” once they did that, they effectively robo-euthanized him (put him to sleep forever). It’s only a happy ending if, like David, the viewer lacks the sophistication to comprehend what is really happening.
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.
The Horse Whisperer. Eff Redford for what he did to that book.
Yup, a delightful essay.
Adams didn’t write the screenplay. Not exactly. The article you posted says the final script was based on his final draft. His final draft was not filmed. Without reading his final draft we can’t see how close it was to what was filmed.