# Movies that changed the endings and were right to do so **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805 "2006-12-27T23:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/61 "2007-01-02T22:05:58Z")
**Manhunter** , Michael Mann’s film version of Thomas Harris’ novel “Red Dragon” (and the first Hannibal Lektor film) changed the ending of the book. In the book The Tooth Fairy fakes his death and comes agfter Wuill and his family. It’s a tired old cliche by now, and the movie dispensed with it altogether. Tom Noonan dies in a shootout with the police. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/62 "2007-01-02T22:22:24Z")
This was a test audience change, of **Thelma & Louise**. Apparently there was a “happy” ending of them landing safely and it was rejected. Good move. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/63 "2007-01-09T19:53:47Z")
[spoiler]\<1\>Actually “Y\_ S\_\_ B\_\_\_\_” occurs much earlier in the film… \<2\>ASH: L\_\_\_, I\_ A\_\_\_\_\_ I\_ G\_\_\_\_\_ T\_ H\_\_\_ T\_ A\_\_ Y\_\_ T\_ L\_\_\_\_ T\_\_ S\_\_\_\_. DEMON: Who the hell are you?! \<3\>ASH: T\_\_ N\_\_\_\_ A\_\_\_… H\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. DEMON: I’ll swallow your soul! \<4\>ASH: C\_\_\_ G\_\_ S\_\_\_. Man, you know you’re a fan of a movie when you can recognize dialogue from just the first letters of each word. I wonder if that also applies to Monty Python sketches… \<5\>“T\_\_\_ I\_ A\_ E\_- P\_\_\_\_\_!”[/spoiler] **Terrifel** , I butchered your post up for clarity - that’s why I didn’t use a quote box. Anyway 1. Yup, you’re right. That occurs just before the (awesome)shotgun over the shoulder scene. 2. It is sad that I looked at what you wrote and knew right away what the quote was. It is a good line, but not the caliber of his other one liners. 3. That is one that I missed. It works much better if you put the gun cocking sound in where the … is. 4. yup - good one. 5. No it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/64 "2007-01-09T20:07:48Z")
[_Less Than Zero_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less_Than_Zero_%28film%29) – if that counts at all in this context; Harley Payton didn’t just change the ending from Brett Easton Ellis’ [novel,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less_than_zero) he changed the whole plot, i.e., by providing one. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/65 "2007-01-09T21:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] 3.) **The Little Mermaid** and The Steadfast Tin Soldier in **Fantasia 2000**. Hans Christian Anderson had a thing for pointless sad endings. Especially in TSTS, the sad endiong comes outta nowhere and spoils the mood. It’s not as if he was recounting traditional tales – Anderson himself made these up. I’m, glad Disney changed them (something I’m not always happy about. By the way, in Carlo Collodi’s “Pinocchio”, the puppet _squishes_ his conscience/cricket.) [/QUOTE] People do complain a lot about the ‘disneyfication’ of these stories, but when your target audience is little kids I think many of the changes are a good thing. Like in Snow White, removing the part about the queen being forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes till she died or in Cinderella with the sisters cutting off parts of their feet to fit the slippers were good moves. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/66 "2007-01-19T07:22:28Z")
**The Secret Garden**. In the book, Craven comes home to find Colin happy and healthy, out of bed and walking around, but we see them together from Medlock and Weatherstaff’s POV, watching through the window. In the movie, Colin, Mary and Dickon are in the garden when Colin’s dad returns. Seeing their reunion, Mary breaks down crying and runs out onto the moor, because it has finally hit home with her that her parents are dead, and she’ll never have a reunion like that. They all go after her, and the story ends with the four of them rejoicing. Far more satisfying, especially since Mary and Dickon deserve some credit for Colin’s recovery, which they didn’t get in FHB’s version. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/67 "2007-01-19T11:02:33Z")
I picked up the DVD boxset of the Evil Dead a while back (just in time for my only mate who’d watch it with me to go to Japan :rolleyes: ) IIRC, the US was the only market to get the shopping centre ending, everyone else got the downer ending. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/68 "2007-01-19T11:14:00Z")
I’ve heard that Chuck Palahniuk has said that he likes the movie ending to _Fight Club_\* better than his own novel’s ending. I can’t say which one I like better, but the movie definitely hits hard. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/69 "2007-01-19T11:15:22Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] I picked up the DVD boxset of the Evil Dead a while back (just in time for my only mate who’d watch it with me to go to Japan :rolleyes: ) IIRC, the US was the only market to get the shopping centre ending, everyone else got the downer ending. [/QUOTE] The version released in Japan (where the title was _Captain Supermarket_) also has the S-Mart ending. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/70 "2007-01-19T11:16:08Z")
Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh. In the book, spermwhale rolls over like a bitch and sells everyone down the river. In the movie, he comes back and saves the day. I like Spermwhale and whilst the book version in more realistic, the movie is a lot more satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805/71 "2007-01-19T11:39:48Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] **Manhunter** , Michael Mann’s film version of Thomas Harris’ novel “Red Dragon” (and the first Hannibal Lektor film) changed the ending of the book. In the book The Tooth Fairy fakes his death and comes agfter Wuill and his family. It’s a tired old cliche by now, and the movie dispensed with it altogether. Tom Noonan dies in a shootout with the police. [/QUOTE] One of the reasons I think Manhunter is far better than Red Dragon (the movie). Dolarhyde in Red Dragon was more Hollywood crazy while Dolarhyde in Manhunter had some real social problems. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-changed-the-endings-and-were-right-to-do-so/385805.md?page=3)