Alternate Ending? - Jagged Edge (1985) Discussion

[–] CONNELLY_3 19 years ago

Yes you have gone out of your mind.

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[–] cyberdine74 19 years ago

RUDE

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[–] saul_rothman 13 years ago

RUDE

Are you serious? You're the one who asked:

Is this an ending anyone else has seen? Have I just gone completely out of my mind?

-- and then you get miffed when someone answers you?

As to the alternate ending, don't any of you read the IMDb Trivia section? It states:

Did You Know?
Trivia
An urban folklore exists that suggests that there was an alternate ending that alters the identity of the killer. An alternate ending does not exist, but the original ending was indeed re-filmed, when the initial release audience complained that the face of the killer was not clearly shown. In the original release, the unmasked killer's face was shown for eighteen frames (leas than a second). Another nine seconds was later spliced into the corrected version, clearly resolving the mystery and showing the killer.

Btw, I think there's a mistake in this paragraph. Where it reads that nine "seconds" were added, I'm sure it should read nine "frames". Nine seconds is an eternity on film for a close-up.

While it could possibly be someone other than Bridges, there would've had to have been scenes afterward explaining why he was framed with the typewriter, etc., and instead of Robert Loggia saying, "F him, he was trash" there'd have had to have been a scene where Bridges and Close kiss and make up and ride off into the sunset. Just doesn't work. Some of you are remembering wrong and I think that at least one of you is downright fibbing!

Saulisa

Logic is our best defense against The Experts.

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[–] jake21287 19 years ago

It is entirely possible. I've seen two movies in theaters that had endings/scenes alternate to what they have become. For instance, when I saw "Lost in Translation," the cut of the film shown in my theater had strange camera angles and views of the crew filming. Then there was Star Wars Episode I, where the guy was supposed to be cut in half by the light saber but wasn't. But possibly the most memorable such occassion for me was when I saw a screening of Fatal Attraction back when it first came out, and the ending was completely different (in the ending I saw, Glenn Close kills herself in the bathroom while listening to Miss Saigon). I later saw all these movies in their correct formats.

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[–] gtpete 19 years ago

To Cyberdine: I think that you must have remembered wrong the part about Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges uncovering the killer as it was Robert Loggia with her. In all fairness, I was also confused when the killer was unmasked the first time I saw it. Because of the mask contorting his features, it doesn't really look like Jeff Bridges. I could easily see how someone might have thought that it was the tennis pro.

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[–] AGood 19 years ago

You should have definitely put spoiler aleret on this thread title...

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] bad_habitt 19 years ago

in eszterhas's book, he claims he fought to have the ending where jeff bridges is the bad guy. so they must have filmed 2 endings. and in some countries (or states) showed the other ending.

"how about... a royal flush!" *loren avedon kicks a cauldron of boiling water into the bad guys*

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[–] vicky_lc2001-1 16 years ago

Uh??? I'm all for spoiler alerts on subject heads but the OP made sure that his subject head was pretty blatant about SPOILERS. No need to over-elaborate, it was well & clear enough.

By Grapthar's Hammer.......what a savings.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] mitchconn 19 years ago

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recall seeing Siskel & Ebert's review of the movie back in '85, and
they said they received so many questions as to the identity of
the unmasked man in the end (Jeff Bridges or the tennis pro?)
They told viewers to turn down the volume if they didn't want
to know who it was. Siskel then gave a few seconds and revealed
who the killer was, then waved his arms at the cameras to signal
he was done. I hadn't seen the movie yet, and then naturally
I find out I was going to see it THAT NIGHT. It was still enjoayble
though. As for the original poster remembering that it was the pro
then why would the broken typewriter have been found in Bridges' linen
closet? It would have made no sense otherwise.
By the way, S&E made no mention of original endings that were
changed after early screenings, which is common such as the
Fatal Attraction one mentioned earlier.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] misc-110 18 years ago

I remember seeing the movie when it first came out in Haward California with my wife at the time. Then next time I saw it was about 10 years later and I was so supprised that Jeff Bridges was the killer that I had to call my ex to confirm what we saw. She stated that when we watched it the first time it was the tennis pro. I thought I was going nuts but now I know for sure I saw two different endings.

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[–] arimarie83 18 years ago

I expected Jeff Bridges to be the killer after Glenn Close found that typewriter, so if the tennis pro had in fact been the killer and planted the typewriter, it would have been more eerie.

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[–] darthvader1961 18 years ago

I thought Jeff Bridges was the killer, but that was twenty years ago.

Wars not make one great.

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[–] trpdean 16 years ago

It would make absolutely no sense for the tennis pro to have written those notes and then hidden the typewriter at Bridges' home - remember the notes are sent to make people look to Santa Cruz where the tennis pro was - and a previous crime took place. The notes are WRITTEN to implicate the tennis pro. It would be nuts for him ever to write them. So it makes no sense to know of the notes, know of a typewriter, let alone hide the typewriter at Bridges' home.

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[–] marita_100 17 years ago

I am still confused...Some say Bobby...and some say the husband (JB)...Who is the killer??

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[–] BoSoxRule 15 years ago

Jack Forrester (Jeff Bridges) is the killer. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] Arali 18 years ago

I only remember it being Jeff Bridges. I saw it at the movie house when it came out and then just this evening and it was always him. This DVD should have had the alternate ending, though. The film makes more sense with JB as the killer however. It validates all the subtle hints about his guilt throughtout the film.

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[–] mike_cable 18 years ago

** SPOILER **

Someone leant me this film to watch and I watched it last night. The tennis ace was the killer and Jeff Bridges was the one who ran up the stairs afterwards. This is the version released here in Australia.

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[–] trpdean 16 years ago

Mike, if the tennis pro did it in the Australia version, then that version has no typewriter, no typewritten notes, no discovery of a typewriter at Bridges' home? Then I don't understand the Australian version.

How can the tennis pro be the killer without rewriting much of the movie?

The sole but entire ideas of the typewriter and anonymous typed notes are to implicate the tennis pro! They are to make Close look to an extraordinarily similar crime in a Santa Cruz country club where the tennis pro used to live and work AND KNEW the victim! This is the very same tennis pro now at Forrester's club in San Francisco having an affair with the now dead Mrs. Forrester!

So the typewritten notes say "HEY, LOOK AT SANTA CRUZ on X date!" There's no reason whatever for the tennis pro to have written such notes - and thus to have known of a typewriter that created them.

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[–] zee944 16 years ago

In that alternate ending would have been a good explanation if it'd turn out that problematic 'T' (or any letter) is common on '42 Corona typewriters.

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[–] Vitameatavegamin 15 years ago

I agree with you trpdean and here's why. At that time I was in high school and I worked at a movie theater chain. I can remember going into the "Jagged Edge" theater at least 100 times during the course of the film's run and standing in the back of the theater each time I worked waiting for it to get out so I could clean up for the next showing. I can say that I have seen the ending where Jeff Bridges is the killer atleast 100 times or more. If there is an alternate ending, it wasn't showing in the Boston area. I used to love watching people jump out of their seats and scream when he breaks in during that final scene. :)

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[–] catochil 18 years ago

I have just watched the film for the first time in years and yet I had exactly the same thought, that it was Jeff Bridges coming up the stairs to unmask the tennis guy. However most of the other posts say that this was wrong. So I think that it must be a romantic wish fulfilment. That you want it to be Jeff that will live with Glenn happily ever after.

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[–] starkrayz 18 years ago

SPOILER***

I saw this film back in the day and Jeff Bridges was definitely the killer at the end.

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[–] Classic_Lover 17 years ago

get a life!

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[–] buffripley 17 years ago

When I saw it a while back in Denmark, Jack Slade (the tennis pro) shoots a masked man in his house and the man is Jeff Bridges. Then the man running up the stairs is masked also and he shoots that person who is unmasked to reveal the defense attorney, Glenn Close.

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[–] BoSoxRule 17 years ago

It was Bobby Slade, not Jack Slade.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] trpdean 16 years ago

There's no version in which Glenn Close is sneaking around the tennis pro's house, climbing the stairs to his bedroom and shot.

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[–] pearlmode 16 years ago

Alternate Ending? Have never heard about this before. That's really interesting.

In the version that I saw years ago, the killer in the end was Jeff Bridges.

If there's such an alternate version, then, I agree, the typewriter stuff does not make any sense.

However, I'd love to see that version too. Secretly hoping, Jeff was not the bad guy :) lol

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[–] rhinocerosfive-1 16 years ago

Yeah, I definitely saw this version too. And then, remember, one more masked figure gallops up the stairs, trips over Glenn Close's body, and his mask is ripped off to reveal Jeff Bridges' wife's horse. In this version all the anonymous notes were stomped on long reams of 80s computer paper and implicated Peter Coyote, who marries the tennis pro. They end up moving to the land of the Houyhnhnms.

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[–] dcavalli 14 years ago

I first saw "Jagged Edge" on VHS in 1986. I thought the killer was Bobby Slade, the tennis pro. In fact, it was and always is Jeff Bridges.

Both Bridges and the actor who played Slade have the same-shaped head. The way the scene was shot, with the unmasking on the floor, it can be hard to tell them apart, especially if you just saw the film the first time. Also, the focus is completely on the killer's face, not his hair. Slade is blond, while Bridges has brown hair.

In his review (click on external reviews), Roger Ebert wrote there was a lot of confusion about who the killer was. In his book, Eszterhas writes that the confusion actually helped with the box office since people went back to the theater in order to see who the killer really was.

With this said, could an alternative ending have been shot? Maybe. Is it on the DVD?

But if Slade is the killer, how did Bridges' character know about Julie Jensen since his typewriter with the raised t's is the one used to write the anonymous notes to Teddy? If Bridges was innocent (of the murder and the Jensen attack), why bother with anonymous notes? Couldn't he have said, "There was this other case...."

See http://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=9797

Don't the two actors look a little alike?

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[–] cad8080 13 years ago

rhinocerosfive-1:

I can't stop laughing. This may be the funniest post I have come across on IMDB.

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[–] AssetsonFire 16 years ago

The Virgin Movie Guide states: "This film's ending received a great deal of discussion because it purposely obscures the killer's identity, leaving the exiting audience with an uneasy sense of doubt."

I was actually expecting what you said to happen. I expected Bridges to be running up the stairs when Loggia did, and the killer to be any of the other male characters (Coyote, Loggia or the blond guy). For Bridges to be the killer seemed anticlimactic as that's who it was 'supposed' to be.

I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?

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[–] Druxy 14 years ago

It is not uncommon for studios to shoot more than one ending for a picture.

You find them often on DVDs (e.g. FATAL ATTRACTION).

The ending of JAGGED EDGE has always seemed rather arbitrary to me, so I'd be willing to bet that there was more than one ending filmed...and probably tested with preview audiences.

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[–] macgirl66 14 years ago

I live in MN. Saw this movie when it came out. JB was the killer. Then it came out on VHS (before they got cheap). My friend's mom used to buy these VHS tapes for $50-$80 EACH. This was one that she bought and I saw it at my friend's house. JB was also the killer.

I agree, from the angle the scene was shot at, it does not look as much like him when they remove the mask, but it is indeed JB. I also agree that in order to have it be the tennis pro, they would have to do some major rewriting of the script in order for that to make sense.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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