Journeys and Destinations

[thehefner]

There's an old Hollywood axiom that warns, "Movies are about their last twenty minutes," which is pretty much a direct rebuttal to the great writer's mantra, "It's the journey, not the destination."

So, questions, my lovely flisters:

Ever seen a brilliant movie or read an awesome book that was ruined by its shitty ending? For me, it was THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG. A magnificently moving tragedy utterly destroyed in the last fifteen minutes by the tacked-on subplot that served to do nothing but be an excuse to force everything to go to shit, because oooh, that's so literary!

Conversely, ever seen/read anything that was made--or even salvaged--by a great ending? Even if the first half or more was tedious, boring, awful, painful, did the ending at least make you forgive the story, if not outright love it? A couple examples of movies with much better second halves that come to mind for me are THE SPANISH PRISONER and KISS OF THE SPIDER-WOMAN. Has this ever happened to you? With what?

Your answers just might make it into the new monologue I'm composing. I'm actually considering maybe trying to do this as a podcast or a multi-part web video, trying to expand my creative horizons. Assuming I can find a sound/video editor to help me out.

Comments

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Good call! Great one, in fact! If it weren't for the Speilbergian tacked-on ending, that film might actually be remembered far more fondly. I still think there was enough good in that film that it may be looked upon with more respect in the years to come, as a noble failure if nothing else.

I have a fondness for noble failures, just because they at least took risks. I'll take them over safe successes any day.