I dunno, but I do remember the 10-hour play adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby 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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
