MovieChat Forums > White Man's Burden (1995) Discussion > Better ending?

Better ending?

posted 19 years ago by MountainMan
4 replies | jump to latest

Some screenwriters favor bad endings, they probably feel that joyful happy endings are old fashioned and unrealistic.
THIS MOVIE SHOULD HAVE ENDED AS FOLLOWS:
When Belafonte escapes from Travolta, Travolta chases around, but can't find him. When he goes back to the fast food place to get his truck, there is Belafonte sitting at the table - to prove he really cares about Travolta and can be trusted. From there it goes on to a happy ending - and we can put away the hankies.
Mountain Man

[–] ekedolphin 19 years ago

Eh-- I don't know about that. Travolta had just told Belafonte that "I'm not sure I can let you go," which obviously implied "I'm afraid I'm probably gonna have to kill you and hide your body so it's never found, so my life isn't ruined when you go to the cops and tell 'em I kidnapped you." There's no *way* Belafonte should have simply run away and then gone back to the table-- he felt his life was in danger if he remained with Travolta.

Besides which, in my opinion the movie ends better as a tragedy, saying "See? See what racism does to our society?"

[–] grockbuster 18 years ago

The movie is not about a happy ending. The movie has exactly the right ending, right down to the closing line: "How much will ever be enough?"

[–] dizzydarkness 18 years ago

I agree with you about the ending:

We were watching it in my History through Film class, and when it ended, everybody was left with a perplexed look on their faces.

It really had nothing to do with anything.

I think that instead of what happened, Louis should have been arrested, and maybe the movie could have added another five minutes to explore a character-evolving epiphany... You know, Thad visiting Louis... blahblahblah.

I dunno. Just an idea. What's done is done.

[–] CGlMDB 10 years ago

That's how the Lifetime Movie ending would have gone...