ending
No one has a problem with the way this movie ended??? What was the point? He loses everything! The guy who always wins wins again! I repeat, what the heck is the point?
shareI kind of liked the end, it is the exact opposite of Rounders and most movies today where **spoiler** the hero always wins in the end.
Life is also about taking defeats and how we deal with them, usually the hero in a movie takes a defeat and then pulls himself up and overcomes obstacles etc, and through his perserverance wins the girl,money,glory at the end. This movie leaves you with the question of 'how does he take this defeat?'. Although it only shows a few minutes of McQeens character after the bad beat, you can see that probably he will be just fine. Not many movies end like this, and goes against the standard Hollywood ending.
Well-put. "Rocky I" (by far the best of the "Rocky" series) had a non-standard Hollywood ending -- Rocky lost the split-decision, but gained something more important -- his self-respect.
As Glenn Close's character (Iris) told a disappointed Robert Redford in "The Natural": "I believe we all live two lives. The life we learn with, and the life we lead after that."
Charlie Brown is a real-life hero of sorts -- he not only get beat, he gets beat badly -- but he never gives up hope.
i just saw this movie 1 hour ago.
a couple of friends, who are fond of poker, told me they didn't liked the ending because, obviously, the king's play wasn't very good, he didn't have the odds to make that play with his 3 flush.
But, the good suprise is that i thought that the kid won that way!!! Then, withouth having seen the movie, i was quite disapointed, how can the hero make such a poor play?
As it is howard who makes this play, it makes much sense: the kid played perfectly but howard, because he's old and tired with all these hours of play (physically tired but mentally too because this kid makes him doubt so much), makes a last mistake and proves this way that the kid outplays him.
But, howard gets lucky and wins. And i like it very much because, those who play poker know that outplaying someone doesn't make you beat him every time.
That's a couple of years i play poker and i know very much that feeling to lose when you played some good, solid poker.
Not a great movie, but worth 7 out 10, especially for poker amteurs.
Wow, you guys are way off the mark here.
Howard says why he makes the play, "its all about making the wrong move at the right time." Anyone can see the Kid has the house, if he only had two pair then any diamond or jack would give Howard the straight or flush and win, I doubt the Kid would be in against those. As any solid player will tell you, bad hands win too, and they usually win more money because they arent expected.
Regarding the ending, it shows the downfall or all heros. In every movie or epic you see, the hero is incredible at what they do, fighting or playing cards or some sort of sport. However, they always have one fatal character flaw that leads to their initial demise, 90% of the time its overconfidence. The old man plays like he has all these years and wins once again.
Its not a sad ending though, he loses his money but the last scene is huge. He walks up to that hot blonde and she hugs him, after he has just cheated on her, showing that through it all shes there. Just like Howard was getting at during the first break when he asked the Kid if he had a girl.
There's a reason hollywood spoon feeds the happy neck-to-neck endings. Its because just like most of you who posted here, you cant accept an unhappy ending. Even though i wouldnt consider this unhappy in any aspect except the fact that he loses a big game... and shooter is probably dead but youre not sposed to think about that.
The ending in which Tuesday Weld shows up at the very end and walks off with McQueen (after he has lost to the shoe-shine boy) was not in any print I saw until it was shown recently. After having seen the movie in the theater a couple of times and then countless times on VHS, it's a real shock to see this extra scene, which seems tacked on. Weld already left in tears, and there's no explanation for her sudden re-appearance. Unfortunately, the recent DVD release contains this "alternate" ending.
In the book, the point is this: the Kid learns that no matter how good you are at something, there's always someone who can do it better. "For every number one man, there is a number two man." The novel further mentions that there is a rematch a few months later, and the Kid loses again. And he learns to accept that he's not The Greatest.
Unfortunately, this is difficult to work into a film. Also the book is really a short story, and the plot line with Weld and Ann-Margaret was added by the screenwriter, Terry Southern. Some people feel that it's merely padding; I can see it both ways.
Of course, the problem with having Rip Torn blackmail Malden into dealing the Kid "an occasional helpful card" is that anyone who is known as a mechanic will never play in a real poker game. Much is made of Malden's sterling reputation as a dealer, but if he's known to be a mechanic, why is his reputation so solid? Anyone could figure he would be vulnerable to pressure. It does make for good movie drama, though.
This is similar to the issue of how Lancey Howard plays the final hand. You would have to be an idiot to stay on a flush draw with a pair showing, let alone two pair. In Hold 'Em, you might be able to get away with it (although you're still a fool to try), but in five card stud, it's unthinkable. Again, it makes for good drama. (In Jessup's novel, Lancey's hand was hearts, not diamonds. Pretty easy to see why they changed that for the movie.)
It's been a while since I've seen this film and I'm not exactly a poker expert, but I never got the impression that Shooter (Malden) was a habitual mechanic. He got his solid reputation because he was fair. If he was a habitual mechanic, then why wouldn't he have just accepted Slade's (Torn) offer in the first place? He would have stood to gain a lot financially by helping The Kid win. Instead, he wainted to be fair, and only agreed to help The Kid out because Slade had him in a bad predicament with his markers.
That's how I perceived it. Unless I'm missing something.
Good call. He loses the most important thing in the world to him at the time, but at the end very tenatively returns the "hot blonde" hugs (c'mon she's Tuesday Weld, a sex goodess at the time; what great chemistry they had! Back then, this was considered an "adult" movie because of the sex scene with Ann Margret.) He's finally starting to accept unconditional love from a woman and realize that "Life isn't fair." (One of Mcqueen's favorite sayings.)Plus, nothing keeps him down for long- he's the quintessential American hero.
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