MovieChat Forums > The Elephant Man (1980) Discussion > Has the ending changed?

Has the ending changed?

posted 9 years ago by SomeCreepinaVan
4 replies | jump to latest

I sat down to watch and was surprised by the ending. I have never seen this mother and stars ending. I've seen The Elephant Man 3 times in the last six years and this wasn't the ending. The doctor comes in and finds John dead. Then he gives a voice over speaking about John as to whether it was a deliberate suicide or John's "pathetic" attempt to be more human.

I've only watched The Elephant Man on on-demand. The first few times were on netflix, then comcast where it was thenmother/stars ending most recently. Where is the original ending without the mother and stars that was originally shot? This is mentioned in the trivia section.

Has there ever been an alternative cut that was released?

[–] Miike_Maniac 8 years ago

That's definitely the film's original finale. As evidence, I offer a portion of Roger Ebert's review of the film from from 1/1/1980 (which is pretty terrible), which ends with "...and an equally idiotic closing scene in which Merrick becomes the Star Child from 2001, or something."

[–] SomeCreepinaVan 8 years ago

Then why do so many people remember the different ending with out the mother and star scene? Here is a video about it.

https://youtu.be/w9fPJOitIXE

[–] ThreeSadTigers 8 years ago

No, it's always had that ending. And further to the evidence of the Ebert review from below, an anecdote from Mel Brooks repeated in the IMDB trivia section also confirms...

When Paramount studio executives were shown a cut of the film, they wanted the film's opening and closing surrealist sequences to be cut. Executive producer Mel Brooks, according to producer Stuart Cornfeld, said to them: "We are involved in a business venture. We screened the film for you to bring you up to date as to the status of that venture. Do not misconstrue this as our soliciting the input of raging primitives."

David Lynch's The Elephant Man always began and ended with "poetic" sequences involving Merrick's mother. If people think otherwise they must be getting this version mixed up with the stage play or the 80s TV movie.

[–] janet-conant 8 years ago

I saw it at the theater in 1982 and that ending as John is dying with the mother's face saying nothing will die is the original and effective ending to a tragic story. I don't know what everyone is talking about.