# Movies that should have kept the original endings intact... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439 "2006-12-16T22:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/61 "2006-12-28T00:53:23Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] Can someone help me out here? I saw Baz Luhrman’s _William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet_ in Los Angeles, extremely early in its run. (Yes, I loved it. That’s not the argument.) I distinctly remember that Romeo killed “Dave” Paris near the end. As he did in the play. But when I later saw it on TV & on DVD–that scene was missing. Am I just imagining this? Or was the sight of Leonardo di Caprio killing another teen cutie–Paul Rudd–too much for some audiences? [/QUOTE] [hijack] I dunno, but I do remember the 10-hour play adaptation of [_Nicholas Nickleby_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Nickleby#Adaptations) includes a scene (not in Dickens’ novel) where the theatrical troupe Nicholas has joined puts on a production of _R&J_ where, in jubilant Victorian optimism, the ending is changed so, just as it appears both star-crossed lovers have died, Romeo actually lives, Juliet lives, **Mercutio** turns up alive – everybody lives but Thibault (well, it **is** a **tragedy,** after all). I saw it on _Masterpiece Theater_ – Alistair Cooke explained afterwards that when Dickens was publishing _NN_ in serial form, theater companies were adapting it for the stage before it was even finished – and they usually included improbably optimistic endings; so the above was a dig (one Dickens might have appreciated) at that tidbit of literary history. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/62 "2006-12-28T00:56:07Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] Medicine doesn’t get much stronger than that. I can see why test audiences might have quailed at that ending, but I thought it had real guts. [/QUOTE] That ending had me bawling. Then, I read about the original ending and basically thought “Whew, lucky I missed that one!”. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/63 "2006-12-28T01:12:11Z")
**Witness for the Prosecution** , the film based on the Agatha Christie short story. The ending of the story was clever. The ending of the film was melodramatic rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/64 "2006-12-28T07:01:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] I heard that in Pretty in Pink, Molly Ringwald’s character was supposed to end up with Ducky (Jon Cryer’s character, who played her best friend who carried a torch for her) instead of Andrew McCarthy’s rich popular-guy character. This ending didn’t test well with viewers, so they changed it around. I always thought it ended wrong. [/QUOTE] YES! YES! FUCKIN’ A YES! The biggest travesty in mid-80 movie ending-changing clusterfucks ever. If I ever meet John Hughes I’m going to stab him in the eye with a pencil, just for changing the ending to the ridiculous, saccharine, lame, stupid piece of crap that we got. Andie belongs with Ducky, anything else is a travesty and a sin against God. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/65 "2006-12-28T16:34:01Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] YES! YES! FUCKIN’ A YES! The biggest travesty in mid-80 movie ending-changing clusterfucks ever. If I ever meet John Hughes I’m going to stab him in the eye with a pencil, just for changing the ending to the ridiculous, saccharine, lame, stupid piece of crap that we got. Andie belongs with Ducky, anything else is a travesty and a sin against God. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: [/QUOTE] I dunno. To me, there was no way to end Pretty in Pink satisfactorily. If she ends up with Ducky, he gets to be her consolation prize, which doesn’t bode well. If she winds up with Blaine, he gets rewarded for being a prick. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/66 "2006-12-28T17:04:17Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] An even better way to end that movie is for everyone involved to take Jodie Foster’s approach to it. [/QUOTE] That’s what I did. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/67 "2006-12-28T18:25:21Z")
[QUOTE=Scupper] I dunno. To me, there was no way to end Pretty in Pink satisfactorily. If she ends up with Ducky, he gets to be her consolation prize, which doesn’t bode well. If she winds up with Blaine, he gets rewarded for being a prick. [/QUOTE] So the only good ending is one with falling rocks? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boggette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@Boggette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boggette)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/68 "2006-12-28T20:28:32Z")
Going back in time a bit, when I was much younger, I loved VC Andrews’ “Flowers in the Attic”. I was surprised when they said they were making it into a movie. They slaughtered the entire book, but the ending was particulary bad and (luckily) ended all chances for them to go on to ruin any additional books in the series. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/69 "2006-12-28T20:51:11Z")
I was watching the spooky children’s movie, _The Watcher in the Woods_ last weekend; the ending is distinctly a “what the hell just happened?” moment. But the DVD has two alternate endings which explain things a little better, and were more in keeping with the original story as I remember it (I read it about 25 years ago). Also, these versions show the Watcher, who turns out to be a pretty decent creepy special effect, especially for a 1980s live-action Disney movie. I think that a combination of the two alternates would have worked best, since each edit has some different scenes, but either would have been better than the final scene that was used. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/70 "2006-12-29T00:57:56Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Can’t find a cite, but I’ve read that Mark Christopher originally intended to end [54](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54_%28film%29) with Shane, Anita and Greg forming a bisexual _menage a trois_ relationship. They should’ve kept that, there were enough hints it was coming even in the theatrical release. [/QUOTE] I’ve never heard that as an ENDING to the movie but rather a subplot that was cut out. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/71 "2007-01-09T21:44:04Z")
Fairy tales and other works of fiction made into **Disney** movies tend to get forced through the meat grinder - especially the endings. **The Hunchback of Notre Dame** and **The Little Mermaid** come to mind. The fact that Disney was able to make sequels for both tells you all you need to know about how badly they were changed. ---
**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 9, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/72 "2007-01-09T22:19:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Fairy tales and other works of fiction made into Disney movies tend to get forced through the meat grinder - especially the endings. The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Little Mermaid come to mind. The fact that Disney was able to make sequels for both tells you all you need to know about how badly they were changed. Don’t take Disney to task alone in regard to Hunchback – I don’t know of a single film version that’s faithful to the Victor Hugo novel. As for The Little Mermaid, I’ve made my feelings known in another thread. Anderson loved the pointless sad ending. Little Mermaid isn’t as bad as The Steadfast Tin Soldier, where a Sad Ending comes out of nowhere to snatch tragedy from the very jaws of a happy ending, but it’s a close second. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439/73 "2007-01-09T22:23:29Z")
Unlike the Brothers Grimm, Andersen can only be improved by the changes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-have-kept-the-original-endings-intact/384439.md?page=3)