That moment at the end?

I've done some drinking in my time. A bad liver creates a bad diposition, but an honest perspective. John Huston was an alcoholic. The Irony lies in his comment "lets talk a while" - at least I think that was the irony. They sit there and dont talk - brilliant. It's sad, you don't have to see whats coming next. Everyone's a loser.

I agree with teejay. I believe what he had was a moment of clarity. He and Jeff Bridges had just talked about the circumstances of the old man who served them. Being in a reflective mood, he looked around the room and reflected on his own situation and circumstances. It put a chill in him as he realized just how alone and hopeless he was. He was thirty years old and his life was basically over. He was spiraling down into the alcoholic abyss that would become the rest of his life, living form bottle to bottle.

John Huston said in a televised interview once that time "just stands still" but didn't elaborate himself. He just smiled and thought it was a nice touch. I would say it has something to do with Stacy Keach being punch drunk, and a little bit drunk. We've all seen the world go weird through having a drink!

Tully turns around to see all the old buzzards, lost in their routine, trapped in a small town, lifers. Folks who never have and never will amount to a whole lot in Tully's eyes; he who is obsessed with greatness. He has a moment of clarity when he realizes he's become one of those lifers. He begs Jeff Bridges to hang around because he's a young buck with his life ahead of him and Tully needs that because it reminds him of what he could have been.

Voyeuristisc Altman-esque surreal post modern naturalistic mistakist cinema

Its been a couple of years since I saw this movie, so I don't remember the lines exactly, but the way I saw it--and it made perfect sense to me: the two were sitting there watching that decrepit old cook/server bringing 'em coffee and Tully says something like, "Man, how'd you like to wake up every morning and be that guy?" They both chuckled, and then Tully looks around the room and it hits him with full force...he 'is' that guy. He's there already. I remember him sucking in some air when he realized it and then--freeze frame, and clarity. When he comes out of his shock, he asks the younger guy to stay a bit longer to alleviate his newfound loneliness, and then gives a wan smile, seeming to indicate he's now accepted his fate in life. It's a riveting scene and a visceral moment.

Mine too. I especially liked the pride he showed in dressing sharply.

I like how many interpretations this single shot has come up with, a sign of good cinematography. Personally, it's my favorite scene in the movie.

When I first saw that shot, I thought of it as him looking at all the old guys at the poker tables and having a moment of hopelessness in confronting the idea of getting older without much personal prospect.

Just as he's leaving, Ernie is asked to stay a while longer. Then they sit in morose silence as the theme song, "Help Me Make It Through The Night," kicks in, appropriately enough.

Good stuff.

"Why on earth are we here?"
"To help each other through this thing, whatever it is."

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. & one of his sons, respectively.

Really interesting thread here and this was why I came to look at this message board, so I'm glad to see it.

Some very persuasive arguments. I think that the epiphany idea is probably in the right direction. He had a moment of clarity, looked around, found himself in a cafe in the middle of the night, people gambling around him, got scared and felt sick about his life and asked the Jeff Bridges character to sit with him for a while because of that fright. I don't think it was brain damage. Let's remember, he hadn't fought for two years aside from that one fight shown in the film.

I too loved Keach's line asking Bridges to stay and talk with him, followed by Keach's stare, which did communicate more than he could have ever said with words. It's about Keach getting a window into his own character for one brief moment, hating what he sees there and spending the rest of the scene (and the film) digesting that.

Brilliant movie.