MovieChat Forums > Fearless (1993) Discussion > One of the greatest endings in film hist...

One of the greatest endings in film history


The ending in the film is so haunting and breath-taking, it just knocks me out. The music, the crash, the episode playing out on the living room floor. I really cannot think of a better ending in movie history. Just incredible! And yes, I know, the whole film was great. It is just that the ending is so good!

Salvation is free

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I agree...I cried at the end

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me too

Dont shoot your shotguns at the UFO. They might be here to pick me up.

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I agree.

I want it on DVD :(

(I'm from Germany and it's not out)

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i am from austria and i also want this on dvd, i´ve been waiting for years

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It just came out this week in Germany!! So I bought it today!! Huraaaahh!!

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Also full screen version?
Is there any special feature in it?
Director's comment?...

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It's listed on amazon.de as 16:9, with no mention of any extras.

-- TopFrog

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I have also cried at the end, it was so intense and I really thought he was gonna die, so him being alive made me cry of happiness I guess.

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i was watching the movie in the dark by myself and cried as well... cant remember the last time i had felt such a rush of emotions in a movie

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me too. such an under-rated picture

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I've judged a lot of movies based on the final 60 seconds -- does it pay off? does it satisfy? Fearless is my favorite movie. And although I do think some movie endings may be stronger than this one, I consider this the MOST ROMANTIC ending of any movie. All I want in my life is somebody to save me from choking on a strawberry. Max spends the movie trying to make some kind of sense out of his life (out of the fact that he survived) and the sense is that he is loved and cared for.

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No. that was the problem. He wasn't "choking" on the strawberry. He was allergic to them and having anaphlactic shock. Which basically means she couldn't have saved him like that. It made the ending stupid in my opinion.

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Anaphylactic shock, the most serious of allergic reactions, is a life-threatening medical emergency because of rapid
constriction of the airway, often within minutes of onset.
Calling for help immediately is important, as brain and organ damage rapidly occurs if the patient cannot breathe.
Anaphylactic shock requires immediate advanced medical care; but other first aid measures include rescue
breathing (part of CPR)
and administration of epinephrine (adrenaline). Rescue breathing may be hindered by the
constricted airways but is essential if the victim stops breathing on their own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylactic_shock

WYSYHYG

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Exactly. Though the movie message may be romantic, and the ending therefore may be (in artistic way) great as OP tells us, but this complete mistaking allergy and choking makes the movie unbelievable and the ending missed, a flaw.

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I Cried at the end of the movie, like I have never before in any film....

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Sorry to differ, but he WAS choking on the strawberry.
Because Laura knows he is allergic to them, when she sees him eating one, she panics.
But he has already a piece of it in his mouth. When she shouts " NOOOO ! " it startles him and that's what makes him choke.

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Sorry to differ with your differing, but if he were choking on a strawberry (he wasn't), you would NOT use mouth-to-mouth in order to dislodge the obstruction. You might apply the heel of the palm to his upper back, or the more common Heimlich Maneuver. Breathing into his mouth would serve no purpose, other than to lodge the obstruction further into his esophageal passage. The only time you would use mouth-to-mouth in this situation is if the victim has lost consciousness, and AFTER removing the obstruction, to help restart breathing.

In the situation outlined in the movie, the mouth-to-mouth would be appropriate treatment for anaphylactic shock if the victim could not breathe on their own. This seems logical here, but it would need to be accompanied by a shot of epinephrine, OR emergency services. There was no EPI pen. The lawyer began going to the phone to call 9-1-1, only to stop when the child entered the frame. This scene skipped over the caveat to the m2m treatment and therefor fails the realism test. Perhaps they would have been better served to have given Isabella's character access to an EPI pen. I assume they were available in the early 90's... However, realism was sacrificed to the gods of poetry and romanticism, and for that they can be forgiven.




"We are here to help the Vietnamese, bc inside every *beep* there is an American trying to get out"

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One of the greatest endings in film history... THAT WAS SCREWED UP! If they had just shaved off the last few seconds of film I would agree with you. The last few minutes of the film are so very powerful and moving, and when Jeff Bridges character finally comes back and his face fills the screen and he says, "I'm alive! I'm alive!" BAM!!! It should have immediately ended there. It would have been even more powerful and more dramatic. Leave the viewer with that imagae instead of having him and his wife rolling around on the floor laughing/crying acting like *beep* as the film fades away. What a total brain fart! Like with everything his wife has been through with him and he pulls another stunt like that minutes after arriving home from the hospital - I don't think she would be laughing about it all. Laughing at the end ruined it. Its like you are served the best steak in your life and then the chef puts ketchup on it. I wish I had a DVD recorder so I could end the film where it should have been ended. In spite of that it is still one of my favorite films.

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Uh...haven't any of you seen Casablanca???? THAT is the best film ending in movie history.

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I guess it's a mother/daughter thing. :)

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>>I don't think she would be laughing about it all.<<

I think you're missing the point. She's not just laughing; they're both laughing, crying and hysterical with the whole emotional ride after the accident, and with the spiritual reunion they've just experienced. It ends right when it should, and Weir obviously knew what he was doing.

"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde

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Exactly. Earlier in the film she says that she wants to be a part of his new fearless world, and he says that she can't be. The ending with him going into shock takes both of them through the experience, and thus into the same place where they can be appreciate of him still being alive. He brings her into his world, at the same time coming back to her world.

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I also felt they should have left the ending ambiguous. "I'm alive!" could have meant that Max either "crossed over" into the next life (i.e. died because of his strawberry allergy) or "crossed back" into this world. As it was, they chose to end it unambiguously as the latter. Honestly they could have ended the story either way and it would have made dramatic sense, since really the film was about how Max was (spiritually) trapped between life and death. But it would have been powerful to have a less clear-cut ending which would only show that Max was at peace and no longer lost (whether he was "dead" or "alive"). It would be up to the viewer to imagine whether Max actually physically died or survived.

I didn't have a problem with the laughing.

The ending certainly didn't ruin the movie for me (because as it turns out, Max didn't die from strawberry ingestion, didn't go to the great beyond and that's OK), but it seemed like a missed opportunity that could have lifted the film even more.

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm so glad I saw it in the theater.

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A very late response (ahem!): I totally agree re the ending of Fearless. It was such an emotionally draining movie, and most of it rang true to life, more so than most films of its (or our) era, and then they mess up the ending like that. A very good film, rough around the edges, which, depending on what's happening, works for and against it. Very raw. The ultimate Jeff Bridges picture.

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Heard of this movie in when it came out in 1993 and I was 12 at the time. Glad I waited 12 more years to witness this awesome movie. The ending was very emotional. One of the best!

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saw it with my dad and my brother in the theatre. when it ended we just sat there, watching the credits role. insisted on taking the rest of the family to see it the very next day. truly a great film. unfortunately the dvd version only comes formatted for tv, not widescreen. for a film freak like me, this is unacceptable. oh well...

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I have the laserdisc which has the film in the original widescreen version - very enjoyable!

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It's not quite as haunting as Tomas and Tereza driving into the white light in Unbearable Lightness, nor does it have the power of seeing Popeye Doyle walking off to stalk the drug peddler after wasting the FBI man, but it will do until something better comes along.

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...or not quite as painful as seeing Pamsanalyst ruin other film's endings for us. Nice job, oh pompous one!!!

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I couldn't agree more. The ending of this movie was just magnificent. I could barely breathe and I was in tears. Just amazing.

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i am still looking to rent the film, okay, i am late. but can anyone opine in terms of "Cinema Paradiso" the last 2.5 minutes of which have been, to me, the most romantic and the most cinematic, minutes of film.

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Flawless ending. What more needs to be said?

no quote

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Fearless is in my top ten favorite movies of all time, and I've seen a s--tload of movies. The first time I saw it, I was completely slack-jawed when the credits came up. What a ballsy ending. So emotionally draining and complete. I never watch it without getting chills.

Strangely enough, the ending of United 93 feels reminiscent to that of Fearless, and no--not just for the obvious reasons. I mean it feels like maybe Paul Greengrass has seen Fearless and admired it and tried to recapture the feeling of the crash scene for the final moments of his film (which is also stunning, btw).

I have the full-frame DVD that Warner put out a few years back, but why, oh why can't they release a widescreen special edition??? Clearly the majority of people who see this film have a strong reaction to it so there IS a market.

We should start some kind of petition...

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yes! a special edition for Fearless! how can we be heard by Warner for it?

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I also love cinema paradiso. What a great movie.

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I agree. Fearless is one of two movies I can't watch all the way through without getting that "lump in the throat" feeling. (the other being Iron Giant, right before he hits the nuke and says 'Superman'...gets me everytime.)

Anyway, I was listening to the song played during the ending scene (Henryk Gorecki - Symphony #3 Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile, get it anyway you can...so good)and decided to llok this film up. Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels this way. Definately an underrated film.

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I wish I had a DVD recorder so I could end the film where it should have been ended
It's funny you say that, because I just found a taped version of this movie, and it cuts off right there. That's the ending I saw, right when he says "I'm Alive!" Then it was over.

What if the hokey pokey is what it's all about?

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I just can't find precisely the version they use in the movie :(
Such a beautiful song...

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All it takes is a little google magic.

http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/gorecki-symphony-no-3

I believe this is also the exact version, but I'm not as positive as I am on the first link:

http://www.amazon.com/Gorecki-Symphony-No-Opus-36/dp/B000005J1C

You can also listen to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVITZUQ_uIU&list=FLfiVkjgp3mcTcAyamVy8CZw&index=64

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Great collection of final movie scenes.
This should have been included


http://vimeo.com/74216460


Enjoy =0)


ari vederci

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I was mess as the closing credits began to roll on this movie...it left me completely drained.

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