In the end, Bruce Cabot is lying there dead all hacked up from a machete. The dog is lying there dead all hacked up. In the end, they smile and they're like, "Okay, let's go home." Never mind that their friends are lying there chopped up. Nobody looked like they felt bad and nobody even went over to their bodies. Nobody said, "Poor dog or poor Sam," or "too bad they got killed." Very weird ending.
shareI just watched it again last night. I was also surprised a bit about the ending. I do not remember it being so upbeat.
Besides the dead friends. (Are they going to burry Sam?) There are still 10 dead back at the ranch + 3 dead Rangers. The boy's father is also probably dead.
Also Jake has left behind his beloved Greeners, his Colt and "Betsy".
Dog got knifed badly when he attacked Machete Man (MM) for the 2nd time AFTER the strongbox was finally opened by Richard Boone. Dog's squeals/ cries were later heard when he was finally killed by MM during his third ferocious attack on the man in order to save "the boy."
As for (not) knowing of Indian Sam's death, Richard Boone - just before being killed - wondered out loud to Big Jake if "the boy was going to get it" by bullet or machete just like the Indian.
Since we're never told of the death of the son Jeff, it's assumed that he (painfully) lived.
As for his guns, they did their job; keeping them would only remind him of the loss of his friends Indian Sam and Dog. :-(
Do John Wayne westerns/ war movies usually EVER end on a sappy note e.g., all's well at home - when obviously there's 10+ deaths to mourn and a long, sore, painful ride still left to return back home?
Also, the movie primarily concerned the retrieval of "the boy" by Big Jake et. al. no matter the cost - WITHOUT repeated scenes of his wife worrying about her husband, sons, & grandson.
Agreed ----crazy silly ending --This has been noted on this board before.
shareIt's the Chuck Cunningham syndrome. Just pretend like they never existed.
shareJust watched it and thought that. I was sure I saw another ending once where they went back to the ranch and Bobby Vinton was in a cast etc...
Never saw the preliminary black and white intro. either before, introducing the bad guys. So there must be other cuts!
Kathy....dog mom
One of the dead rangers, who lost a brother in the ambush, wasn't really dead, and the Indian crawled back to find him and nurse them both back to health, and the ranger made a mask out of his dead brother's shirt, and you know the rest.
Yes, even the first time I saw it, I thought the ending was off beat, too, considering the camaraderie they had.
Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time
Yeah, I felt it had been cut off far too quickly.
I wanted to see them all reunited with Mom and ex-wife, lamenting the death of their friend and Dog -- Maybe even brought there to be buried on their land - etc.
Just strange.
I thought the same thing, the cheerful Elmer Berstein score felt especially out of place.
The film could have done with another scene with them returning to the ranch and burying the corpses or they could have at least made the deaths of the Indian and the dog less brutal.
Overly cheerful endings after something horrible has happened to one of the lead characters is a pet peeve of mine.
Yeah they should've just added a few lines about getting Sam and the dogs bodies to give them a proper burial. I always wanted one final scene of them getting back to the McCandles ranch for an ending scene with Martha being reunited with everyone.
share