To me he seems sad when he thinks RD has been killed. Probably because of the way things unravelled between him and Duck. When he realises RD is alive he is overjoyed. Is the moral of this story no matter how bad someone is they can always be turned around?
Bye the way, I love watching this now and again and find the start and end so dramatic that I nearly cry!
I think he just finally saw some humor in the whole situation... It kind of became comedic to him when he saw Rubber Ducky getting away again. It's like Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, they are always trying to kill eachother but it never happens, if it did happen they'd miss eachother because they'd have no purpose and no nemesis. My 0.2 cents anyways. :P
http://www.youtube.com/anotherschmoe
It taps right into Peckinpahs nihilism. War is hell, and at the end of the day, nobody even knows whose side they were on or why they were fighting. When the dust is finally settled, all there is, is to laugh about it. Because the fight wasn't worth a damn in the first place. They laugh, as brothers in arms, from different sides of a war. Comrades, in mutual respect of each other.
shareI know its an old thread but... yes you are quite right, classic Peckinpah a la the end of Cross of Iron where James Coburn is laughing at Mximillian Schell and even a youg Russian soldier is laughing - that's Peckinpah's statement on conflict