I also just remembered…
Humperdinck was planning to kill Buttercup on their weddng night and blame Gilder for it, so the rescue couldn’t have taken place long after the wedding.
…was that included on a DVD version? Becayse I have only seen AOD once… and I swear that was the ending that I saw. Weird.
Well, maybe you were part of that test audience…
I don’t doubt it. There have been several different DVD releases; I expect that you probably saw the Director’s Cut, which also featured a different title (Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness) for various occult reasons. The original ending is also included as a bonus track on some of the other releases.
If you enjoyed AoD at all, though, check out the ‘S-Mart’ ending if you ever get the chance-- you may not find it more enjoyable, but it’s a fascinating departure from the original to say the least. It’s practically a self-contained short film in its own right, sort of a live-action Warner Brothers cartoon (including over-the-top shotgun action!).
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory had a significant departure from the book it was based on. The book ends with
Charlie getting the chocolate factory simply because he survived the tour, and they pile into the elevator and the final line is, “Grandpa says Whoopeeee!” The 1971 movie turned the whole thing into an elaborate test on Wonka’s part to find a decent child through the Everlasting Gobstopper ordeal.
Dahl hated the movie, but I think the new ending really enhanced the original story.
In 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the ending was different, as well, even though this version was truer to the book. In this one,
Charlie is offered the chocolate factory only if he agrees to have nothing more to do with his family. Charlie says no, and turns it down. Willy Wonka keeps dogging Charlie, who finally convinces Willy that family is important, and not only does Charlie get the chocolate factory, Willy Wonka decides to make up with his estranged dentist father, a character made up for this movie.
I think the 2005 change was good, since Dahl’s ending was frankly kind of weak. I still prefer the 1971 ending, though I do like both.
I’ve only seen the original ending of AoD. What was the S-Mart ending?
The version I saw on “satellite” TV here a couple of years ago had the original ending It was actually a huge disappointment - my wife and I were watching it together, and as I had seen the movie before I was really psyching her up for the final scene.
Campion, I agree with Pixiesnix that I don’t remember anything like that. Will HAVE to check my copy of the book Princess Bride when I get back home, but IIRC…
Westley relapses again from the effects of the Pain Machine and being mostly dead, and Inigo’s gut wound from the Count’s dagger reopens or gets infected or something. Oh, and Fezzik’s horse gets its foot hurt. All this while they’re still trying to escape from the Prince’s men and get to the ship.
So I, too, say that the movie ending is more satisfying. In fact, Goldman might have put more than one ending in the book - that above was the ‘Morgenstern’ ending, while Goldman tried ‘his own’ ending that was a little sappier, but not as sappy as the movie.
Alessan, to which movie are you referring?
I think Peter Jackson’s retooling of the One Ring’s destruction in The Return of the King was a wise move.
Tolkien’s version works in the book but would have seemed silly in the movie. Making the fall a result of Frodo and Gollum’s struggle is a lot more satisfying, while still retaining Tolkien’s main point that the ring’s destruction was ultimately accidental.
Little Shop of Horrors
In the original play, Audrey II consumes Seymour and weird alien plants overrun the earth.
The movie provided a more exciting ending. In the film version, Seymour manages to defeat Audrey II at the last moment and all ends well.
While I am not usually a fan of sappy, happy, Hollywood endings, I was glad for the change in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the book ending for the book, but I just think the changed ending made for a more satisfying movie wrap up.
The specific part of the ending of Shawshank Redemption that I thought was better in the movie was how the protogonist set the warden up to get busted, then the pay off at the end. If I remember correctly, that wasn’t in King’s novella.
Should have made myself clear.
Re: The Princess Bride
[spoiler]No, the book doesn’t end with Buttercup pregnant with Humperdinck’s child. Didn’t happen. They never even got married, really. As Westly said, if you didn’t say it, you didn’t do it.
And the ending of the book where he talks about all the troubles they have in the future isn’t a downer ending…it’s a recognition that the adventures of these characters doesn’t end with the end of the book, they’ve overcome setbacks and adversity and death throughout the book, and they’ll continue to face such things in the future.[/spoiler]
Army of Darkness.
Not exactly the ending, but I think Baz Luhrman’s reworking of Romeo + Juliet improved on the Shakespeare (and I would have considered that impossible):
In Shakespeare, Romeo dies several minutes before Juliet awakens. In the movie, Romeo has taken poison and is dying, but he sees Juliet awaken and understands the mistake he has made.
Altman’s The Long Goodbye. I love Chandler, but for me the solution was never the point in the Marlowe books, and The Long Goodbye in particular has a weak ending imho. In the movie, the exploration of friendship and loyalty is more nuanced and uncomfortable, where in the book the plot was complicated but the emotions pretty simple- the crazy lady did it! Leigh Brackett’s solution to the murders and the last scene where Marlowe kills Terry Lennox and walks away, leaving Nina Van Pallandt to find the body really completes the movie for me.
I think the original ending to The Bad News Bears, where they crash in the Andes and wind up eating Walter Matthau, was a little too dark.
I, too, liked how the movie changed the ending from the book–the 1971 movie with Gene Wilder.
In the book, Charlie inherits the factory pretty much because he survives the tour intact (which actually feels typical of Roald Dahl’s dark subversive humour: Charlie wins because he shuts up, stays quiet, and defers to Wonka–the perfect second in command).
In the 1971 movie, Charlie inherits the factory because, even in the face of Wonka’s betrayal (refusing to give him the lifetime supply of chocolate) and his grandfather urging him to spill Wonka’s secret to Mr. Slugworth, he does the right thing and returns the Gobstopper. This is the ending I prefer most of all: it’s sweet without being too cloying, and it’s a perfect illustration of Charlie’s loyalty.
And I enjoyed Tim Burton’s 2005 version–especially Johnny Depp–but by the end my eyes had rolled out of my head and were somewhere on the floor between the seats. The whole ‘family is important’ message felt like I was being hit repeatedly over the head with a giant bucket of treacle.
The Big Sleep: In Chandler’s original novel – and in the film as originally shot – Marlowe and Carmen do not fall in love or hook up. They changed it to cash in on Lauren Bacall’s new star status. The frustrating thing is, the movie’s plot is so convoluted and confusing that the Marlowe-Carmen romance is practically the only thing that works in strict storytelling terms; and the Bogart-Bacall screen chemisty is definitely hot.