This movie has one of my favorite endings in all filmdom. It's so sweet, genuine, and touching, it still gets me every time....and I've seen this movie numerous times.
shareExcept Joe has no memory of his real life, and Max is messed up.
"I can understand it, but I don't like it none!"--Cheyenne.
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Personally, I enjoyed everything about the movie EXCEPT for the ending. The Ending Sucked! What was the point of putting Joe in a new body, but then taking away his own memories and giving him the memories of Jarret? Basically, Joe died and Jarret got to live the rest of what should have been Joe's life. The one possibly redeeming ending could have been to have some see Joe still alive in Jarret's eyes, as was alluded to earlier in the film, but Joe's trainer tried to find Joe in Jarret's eyes, and HE WAS NOT THERE!! So basically, Joe got hosed and Jarret got to live the rest of Joe's life. Sucks.
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Im watching it now as we speak and love the film but the ending makes the whole film pointless!
"No second chances,i'm that kind of a man"
GF
I have to agree that the ending was kind of a downer. The whole point of the film is for Joe to be able to live out the rest of his life due to the mistake that was made. However, by taking away Joe's memory and making him think that he is Jarret, he still ends up being dead.
shareThe ending is infuriating. Makes the whole movie completely meaningless. He might have just stayed in Heaven...at least he exists up there.
It's not even like he was still dead, he just ceased to exist completely. This movie had the worst ending I've seen in a movie. I just kept thinking, oh there's a hunk missing where we see Joe again, but no...it just ends like that. Grrrr@the ending to this movie.
My Sig: Nothing Here.
I agree - the ending ruined the movie for me. I saw this many, many years ago as a teen and have seen it several time since and I still hate the ending!
"Mister, I don't want to kill you and you don't want to be dead." Mal - Silverado
People who are complaining or are confused about the ending when Joe loses his memory fail to understand that that is the only way it could end. If we are reincarnated, and souls are somehow recycled (as this story implies), then we could never function with all the past memories, and would lack free will. This was a procedural foul-up by the authorities, but showed that destiny is written for all of us in the long run. This does not make the film "pointless", it reinforces the message that destiny cannot be changed - even when a low level executive makes a minor mistake. A "Hollywood" ending would have him retain his memory, get the girl - and would ring totally false.
"The great Johnny Rocco, with Nora's spittle hanging from his face."
I agree with the way that it ended with Joe losing himself through the loss of his memories being unfair. But I believe why he had to is because as Jarrett he could not remember what happened as Joe when it came to the mistake made. He could not be allowed to remember Mr. Jordan or anything related to Farnsworth or 'Heaven'. Mr. Jordan did say it at the end in the locker room...that he could/would not remember who Mr. Jordan was and as Joe he would have.
It did really suck that Max had to lose his friend twice. But, they did allow Joe to have his love.
what people miss is that the 'ending' with the trainer was actually a false ending.
the real ending is when he meets the girl
the fact that they both felt a connection and both had a vague memory means that whatever Mr Jordan does to make people forget is not permanent.
it can be reversed
he has a more vivid connection with the girl because thats how we are wired, our connections with the opposite sex are generally going to be stronger
im sure he loves the old trainer, but i can understand why he might not have responded to the trainer but would to the hot chick he wanted to get in bed with in a previous life
i bet you if he were to go back to the trainer and try to remember, eventually he would
because the angel guys dont transplant brains, they transplant the soul/spirit
i would say that its the subconscious
so jarret has the mind of jarret, the body of jarret, but when he had that football injury he really did die in spiritual way
his soul was removed and joe was allowed to take over his body
and part of his body is his brain
but joe remains strong as jarrets mental and spiritual subconsciousness
i would guess that as time went on and jarret spent more and more time with the english woman that his Joe subconscious would become more and more prevalent and become fully a part of jarrets personality
GI:JOE Images - http://dailysportspages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5523
That was a very good way of explaining the ending. I saw this movie about 5 times and really do think it is a wonderful comedy!
shareJarrett doesn't realize he's got any Joe in him, but the last scene shows that Julie Christie's character sure knows it ("are you the quarterback?!"). The trainer will have a knowing confidant in Julie's character, and vice versa. I don't know if its the perfect ending, for those of us who'll miss Joe, but it seems to work well.
shareOh, it pains me to see so many people don't "get" the perfect ending to this wonderful film.
Heaven made a mistake, so they allow Joe's consciousness to live in Farnsworth's body until they can find him a more suitable body (closer to his own in age and condition) in which to continue life. They never meant to let him live on with his old memories. The only reason they allow him to keep his old "Joe Pendleton" memories while in Farnsworth's body is because 1. They (Heaven) goofed, and 2. It's just a temporary situation. They can't put his memories in a new body and allow him to go around telling people, "I used to be someone else, but the angels made a mistake." Taking on a new life and losing his old memories is part of the deal.
Joe didn't fully understand this, but he unwittingly prepared Julie Christie's character for it when he told her the bit about how she might meet a guy someday, a guy who might be a quarterback, and she should give him a chance. Shortly after, Farnsworth is killed.
Then it's the big game, Jarret gets hurt, they put Joe into Jarret's body, and they win the game. Joe still has his old memories, so he has a moment with Max, but then Mr. Jordon drops the hammer - Jarret is your new body and you'll continue living HIS life without Joe's memories. Mr. Jordon slowly fades away behind the cameraman, Joe is "absorbed" into Jarret, and Max is confused but chalks it up to Jarret's injury.
Then comes the big scene, the magical scene - Beatty & Christie in the stadium tunnel. They both have an erie deja-vou feeling, but she is sad about the death of Farnsworth, and he just won the Super Bowl, so it's no surprise they are both a little out of sorts. Then the lights go out, and in the darkness Joe's voice comes through, reassuring her that everything is going to be alright. Christie character suddenly realizes she has been given a peak into a hidden level of reality, and she delivers her line quietly, with the perfect mixture of surprise and wonder:
"You're the quarterback . . . "
They walk across the empty football field as the lights dim, and we suspect that more than a cup of coffee awaits them.
Perfect ending.
"Push the button, Max!"
Kol-8 hit the nail on the head 👍
shareThe ending is exactly the same in the original, although the set up is better. In the 1941 classic "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," Joe is told that no matter whose body he inhabits his true personality will always shine through. The line expressing this was not used in the remake, although the idea of the love interest seeing something special in Joe's eyes is retained. I think the reason he is made to forget is so he can live his life without having those entanglements from previous lives getting in the way of the rest of his new existence. Also, in the original, the manager/friend character played by James Gleason in the original and Jack Warden in this, was taken on as Joe's new manager even though he doesn't remember him. He just likes him. In the remake, there's no way to do this really, since it isn't boxing anymore, but there is that moment in the locker room where Beatty makes sure the guy is okay. So maybe they get to be friends later on off screen.
Bottom line is the end makes sense when you consider the story.
The ending is just confusing. I mean it's like Joe's soul/spirit cease to exist.
I agree with other people's opinions, but it's still the mixed bag ending.
It just becomes a mixed bag when the Pembleton character dies. And then the trainer gets really messed up.
And what gets me as that the sources are hasty at giving Joe a body and then break their backs and to find one and then whine about it.
Either
1) don't give joe a body and have THE 3 of them continue to look
-Or-
2) Just leave it at Pembleton's body
The whole movie's kind of a mixed bag especially how quickly Joe's body is cremated.
But what about Jarrett? Does he have Pendleton's memories now? So he waits until Pendleton as Jarrett, then he finally remembers that he's Jarrett and that he was the one playing in the Super Bowl until he died?
shareI would find it more consistent with the "personality shines through" if the trainer also saw that "spark" in his eyes. Remember, this guy was his good friend going back YEARS. You're telling me he can't see any hint of Joe, but the love interest who knew him for perhaps a month can? That just doesn't sit right with me.
shareJayz, when Joe is put into Jarrett's body, Jarrett was dead from his football injury but Joe takes over his body, allowing Jarrett to continue his life. Joe has Jarrett's body and memories now, and Joe ceases to exist, body and mind. Had Buck Henry's character not taken Joe out before the wreck, he would have continued living another 50 years. Jarrett, however, was destined to die in the Super Bowl. The only way Mr. Jordan could work this out so Joe could both have a football player's body AND get the girl he loves was to make that switch at the end. Joe asked to be in Farnsworth's body only temporarily, and it was long enough for him to do some good things and meet Betty.
Does that make sense now?
THANK YOU! I totally agree. The ending was bogus BS and totally confusing. Made the movie completely meaningless. At least the cast made up for it.
We got a job.
What kind?
...The Forever Kind.
I love the ending, too. When the lights come back on and she remembers the words that he said in the dark, looks into his eyes and says, "You're the quarterback?" and it's a statement as much as a question.
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