# Movies with the worst endings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512 "2011-03-13T07:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/162 "2011-05-20T10:11:22Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Ending it with him walking off the set was the best possible way they could have closed the movie. I think this is one of those cases where it is better not to know how things fared out for Truman, for two reasons. One, it would be a subject matter that would probably require its own film, which would likely be a depressing character study of a man struggling to cope. Another ten or twenty minutes tacked on showing what Truman did next would not actually be long enough to answer that question more than superficially, and could in no way fit with the tone of the film that preceeded it. It would be a change of pace lambasted as much as the Aliens in AI. I guess you could do a Bill and Ted style newspaper headline montage over the closing credits, but I dont think that would suit either. More importantly, the original ends with Truman full of hope and wonder as he faces his now undetermined future. No matter what the director presents as what Truman did next, it could not maintain that feeling of hope. Everybody will have their own interpretation of how Truman fared out, and seeing some scenario (good or bad) presented as canon will only take away that feeling of promise. The reality could never match our own feelings and the film would be less because of that. It would be interesting to compare “The Truman show” with “Castaway” when wondering if it is better to always show what happened next. Is Castaway better for showing the effects of Tom Hanks return from the Island? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/163 "2011-05-20T11:14:01Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Though the movie is not as explicit as Clarke’s novel, the ending is clearly a bookend to the change of Moonwatcher caused by the aliens. > And it is much better on the big screen than a small screen, but better still in Cinerama which is how I first saw it. And anyone who watches 2001 on a phone should be banished from the company of any person who loves movies. Like Miller further down, I believe that your understanding is guided by having read the book of the film (or some other explanation of what appears on screen). The film itself does not explain what is happening. I read Clarke’s book in 1968 or 1969 when the film had come out - it was developed with the film script and was not a retrospective novelisation of a script like many such books. I had also read his earlier short story “the Sentinel” before I saw the film. Indeed, I thought the film had stolen the idea of the moon scene, before I learned that Clarke was involved in the production. However, before I read the book, my response was WTF, and that was shared by most of the original audience. Everyone said “Great film, pity about the weird ending.” ---
**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:** [May 20, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/164 "2011-05-20T11:42:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by well he’s back View Post > The ending of “My Fair Lady” always bugged me. Eliza would Not be fetching the Professor’s slippers. > Everybody always seems to misquote the end of this movie. The line is “where the devil are my slippers.” He doesn’t tell her to fetch them (and there’s no suggestion that she does), just asks where they are. That’s a subtle distinction, I guess, but an important one. jIn the whole movie, when does Higgins ask anyone for help, about anything. That he’s willing to ask Eliza anything means he accepts that she does have a mind of her own. Just to note, as I have before, that the ending of the movie **My Fair Lady** is not original with the movie. It’s not even original with Lerner and Lowe’s stage version. This ending actually appears in the original 1938 Leslie Howard/Wendy Hiller film of George Bernard Shaw’s _Pygmalion_ – despite the fact that Shaw himself is credited as working on the film (they didn’t merely use his play – they got _him_). Clearly, they didn’t feel constrained to abide by his script (iMDB lists four other writers). And clearly, Alan Jay Lerner, in writing about changing the ending (which he did in the published version of _My Fair Lady_ didn’t feel compelled to reveal that his contribution wasn’t original with him. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/165 "2011-05-20T12:20:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Just to note, as I have before, that the ending of the movie **My Fair Lady** is not original with the movie. It’s not even original with Lerner and Lowe’s stage version. This ending actually appears in the original 1938 Leslie Howard/Wendy Hiller film of George Bernard Shaw’s _Pygmalion_ – despite the fact that Shaw himself is credited as working on the film (they didn’t merely use his play – they got _him_). Clearly, they didn’t feel constrained to abide by his script (iMDB lists four other writers). And clearly, Alan Jay Lerner, in writing about changing the ending (which he did in the published version of _My Fair Lady_ didn’t feel compelled to reveal that his contribution wasn’t original with him. Pygmalion, the original play, has essentially the same ending with a note from GBS affirming that Eliza marries Freddie with some financial help from Higgins and Pickering. What other change was there to the ending? ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/166 "2011-05-20T12:23:50Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > I’ve always assumed that was director Frank Darabont, who was coming off the feel-good films Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Majestic, saying, “Oh yeah? You think I can’t do dark? I’LL show you dark!”. That’s an interesting idea, and makes sense. Never thought about it that way. > [@Anamorphic](#): > > I don’t mind a bleak ending, but this one just seemed so forced, so deliberate. Hated it. I doubly hated it, because like someone else mentioned upthread, the rest of the movie was pretty damn good. And as **Poysyn** noted, the suddenness of their suicide made it seem like even more of a tacked-on ending. DARABONT, I HOPE YOU READ THIS. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/167 "2011-05-20T12:43:45Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Pygmalion, the original play, has essentially the same ending with a note from GBS affirming that Eliza marries Freddie with some financial help from Higgins and Pickering. What other change was there to the ending? No, it doesn’t. Watch the film again. > [@](#): > > Against Shaw’s wishes, a happy ending was added, with Eliza fleeing Higgins with Freddy but then returning to Higgins’ home (though whether permanently or on her own terms is left deliberately ambiguous). Shaw and his fellow writers did, however, retain the controversial line “Not bloody likely!” from the playtext, making Hiller the first person to utter that swear word in a British film[citation needed] and giving rise to adverts for the film reading “Miss Pygmalion? Not \*\*\*\*\*\* likely!”. > **[Pygmalion (1938 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_%281938_film%29)** > > Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play of the same name, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle. > The film was a financial and critical success, and won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and three more nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Howard), and Best Actress (Hiller). The screenplay later was adapted into the 1956 theatrical musical My Fair Lady, which in turn led to the 19... In the play (and in the original screenplay written by Shaw) Eliza goes off with Freddy. In the film _Pygmalion_, Eliza goes back to Higgins. Mt jaw dropped the first time I saw the film. I’d seen Pygmalion the play and read Shaw’s screenplay, and had seen My Fair Lady on stage and screen and read Lerner’s note about changing the ending. Nothing prepared me to see that the film _Pygmalion_ ended as _My Fair Lady_ did. . . . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/168 "2011-05-20T12:46:21Z")
Ah, just found it on [online-literature.com](http://online-literature.com). The ending sure reads differently than I remember it from 32 years ago… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/169 "2011-05-20T15:31:36Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > …It would be a change of pace lambasted as much as the Aliens in AI… As noted earlier, those aren’t aliens - they’re ultra-advanced mechas. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/170 "2011-05-20T18:22:08Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > Like Miller further down, I believe that your understanding is guided by having read the book of the film (or some other explanation of what appears on screen). The film itself does not explain what is happening. > > I read Clarke’s book in 1968 or 1969 when the film had come out - it was developed with the film script and was not a retrospective novelisation of a script like many such books. I had also read his earlier short story “the Sentinel” before I saw the film. Indeed, I thought the film had stolen the idea of the moon scene, before I learned that Clarke was involved in the production. > > However, before I read the book, my response was WTF, and that was shared by most of the original audience. Everyone said “Great film, pity about the weird ending.” I saw the film just before the book came out - or at least before I bought it. (I have a first edition hardcover.) Now, I admit I was given a hint by the Life Magazine feature on 2001, which showed the trip sequence, but Childhood’s End gave enough of a clue. I had read pretty much everything Clarke wrote up to that point when I saw the movie. The musical cue should be enough to tie the two events together. Plus, the Starchild had Bowman’s eyes. Now the reviews republished in Agel’s book make it clear that the standard reviewer of the time who had never read “scifi” had not clue for the most part - but I bet Roger Ebert got it right away. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/171 "2011-05-20T18:31:14Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > Like Miller further down, I believe that your understanding is guided by having read the book of the film (or some other explanation of what appears on screen). The film itself does not explain what is happening. > > I read Clarke’s book in 1968 or 1969 when the film had come out - it was developed with the film script and was not a retrospective novelisation of a script like many such books. I had also read his earlier short story “the Sentinel” before I saw the film. Indeed, I thought the film had stolen the idea of the moon scene, before I learned that Clarke was involved in the production. > > However, before I read the book, my response was WTF, and that was shared by most of the original audience. Everyone said “Great film, pity about the weird ending.” I never read any novelization, and I ‘got it’. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/172 "2011-05-20T18:51:32Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Now the reviews republished in Agel’s book make it clear that the standard reviewer of the time who had never read “scifi” had not clue for the most part - but I bet Roger Ebert got it right away. [It looks like he did.](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19680412/REVIEWS/804120301) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/173 "2011-05-20T20:06:28Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Empire Strikes Back. That wasn’t an ending, that was a goddamn chapter break. And yet it’s by far the best movie of the series. How would you change the ending? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/174 "2011-05-20T20:55:42Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > Like Miller further down, I believe that your understanding is guided by having read the book of the film (or some other explanation of what appears on screen). The film itself does not explain what is happening. That’s partly true - I saw the movie a couple times as a little kid, because I’d watch just about anything that had spaceships in it, and like I said, it didn’t make any sense. Read the book in high school, which was about the time I was getting old enough to figure this sort of stuff out on my own, watched the film again and went, “Oh!” Still, looking at the film as an adult, I maintain that the ending is not that difficult to figure out. The parallel between Bowman and Moonwatcher is obvious - big black monolith shows up and makes ape-man smarter. Millenia later, big black monolith shows up and makes hu-man smarter. The only major intuitive leap necessary is recognizing that what’s happening to Bowman after he finds the monolith is as incomprehensible to us, as what happened to Bowman before he finds to the monolith would be to the ape-men at the beginning of the film. I know I got that specific idea from Clarke’s book, but I’m reasonably certain I’d have puzzled it out on my own. Certainly, I’ve made sense out of less coherent films. Other aspects of my interpretation are, I believe, original to myself - which is not to say that I invented them, but that I arrived at them without outside aid. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/175 "2011-05-20T21:24:00Z")
I bow to your greater genius. 😉 Don’t mistake me. I believe _2001 A Space Odyssey_ is one of the best films made - but as I have said, it must be viewed in a cinema to fully understand why the camera work is so good. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/176 "2011-05-20T21:48:57Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I never read any novelization, and I ‘got it’. As did my father (who explained it to me when I watched it with him as a kid). I’m actually surprised more people don’t “get” it. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/177 "2011-05-20T21:51:40Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > Don’t mistake me. I believe _2001 A Space Odyssey_ is one of the best films made - but as I have said, it must be viewed in a cinema to fully understand why the camera work is so good. I also saw it in Seattle’s Cinerama when it was released in 2001 and it was amazing. Shame not many more theaters rereleased it in that year ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/178 "2011-05-21T17:17:32Z")
\*The Incident \*with Martin Sheen (deput) & Tony Musante, et alii _Pay It Forward_ with Haley Joel Osment ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512/179 "2011-05-21T23:00:25Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > And yet [The Empire Strikes Back] by far the best movie of the series… I still think the very first was, but to each his own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-worst-endings/574512.md?page=8)