The Big Clock had its plot holes (lockdown of the office building with no one calling in the cops) but is still very enjoyable. But the ending was unsatisfying--not Laughton falling down the shaft, which was poetic justice, but what he did before that. His character was too savvy to gun down his colleague and then flee. It made no sense. Not even a panicky "slow learner" would be so stupid.
I agree, there had to be a better way to end without him turning into a nervous idiot after handling the tension throughout the ordeal.
shareYeah, I thought the whole movie sort of fell apart at the end. Plus it got way too comic. There had been humor all through the movie, but it almost veered into slapstick territory near the end. Unsatisfying finish, but not a bad movie.
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.
You could also say that he was way too savvy and controlled to have committed murder in the first place. I didn't find that last scene to be out of place after it showed him committing the first murder.
"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."
Eponymous is on the right track.
You need to remember that this guy is a control freak and he panics in situations over which he has no control. He is so used to everyone doing what they're told, so wrapped up in his own self importance and sense of righteousness, that he cannot cope when Pauline confronts him or when Steve threatens to expose him. He subconsciously believes he owns them.
To him control is everything and it's what he measures his self-worth by. Without it he is nothing. That's why he kills.
Yeah Laughton was also panicking and ready to give himself up to the cops after committing the murder before Macready managed to calm him down and establish control over the situation. When things ceased to run like clockwork, the boss lost his head.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
okay, this is to all the ones in this thread who echoed the OPs sentiments:
how else would you have ended it?
what would have been a good way for it to end? how could it NOT end with laughton turning tail like a chicken?
waiting......
:)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2dKNeLqNas
It could also have something to do with following code. Back then the bad guys always had to be punished somehow (usually either dead or in prison), and since the 2 of them were conspiring to cover up a murder and frame someone else they both had to be punished somehow. Them both dying at the end meets that requirement.
shareThe writers should have come up with something more inventive then have Laughton just blast away.
shareI think the ending works fine as it is; as long as we don't think too much about what in all likelihood would come next, beyond the end of the movie.
Why Janoth shoots Hagen
There's no way Janoth's going to take responsibility for killing the mistress. Hagen is the only person who knows all the details first hand. Once he tells Janoth he won't take the fall for him and tells Stroud he'll testify against Janoth, he becomes a liability.
Janoth shoots Hagen to keep him quiet then tries to escape. He knows if he's caught, with Hagen dead, all the evidence they have is circumstantial and hearsay. His high-priced lawyers will still pin the murder on Hagen and they'll blame Janoth's state of mind (the stress of the day, knowing a murderer is on the loose, finding out it's his closest advisor, then learning he's been framed) for both shooting Hagen and fleeing. Alas, it's not to be because Janoth's now dead too.
Stroud's problem
Doesn't the situation leave Stroud in jeopardy? A lot of people are in the building waiting to identify him as the man who was last with the blonde. He's also been running the whole in-house investigation which can be argued was a sham (and it was).
The 'investigation' also results in the death of two people. A good prosecutor will argue he had problems with Janoth. He had spoken badly about him to others, had been forced to leave his job, and was seeing Janoth's mistress. Stroud rigged the elevator then set up the scenario to have Janoth fall to his death.
They'll say he was working with Hagen who would have benefitted professionally from Janoth's death or imprisonment. He was one of the top men at the company, with Janoth out of the way, he'd run things. Janoth caught on so he shot Hagen, tried to shoot Stroud, and save himself.
Stroud also attacked Janoth's bodyguard and the first witness to arrive; I believe he was the man from the art gallery. Stroud's wife also had the painting. The only thing Stroud has to clear his name is the cab driver who drove him home and the one who drove Janoth to Hagen's house (if they can find him; he was paid a hefty sum to get lost). Either way, that too can be easily argued away. They'll say he killed the blonde then left. Janoth shows up, finds her and is distraught so he goes to Hagen's house. After all, he couldn't go home to his wife crying over the loss of his mistress.
My point is, Stroud really hasn't cleared his name. He needed Hagen alive. Even his fragile wife might be convinced of his guilt.
The ending made sense. The victim was known by some to be Janoth's girlfriend/mistress. Steve Hagen wouldn't have any reason to kill her, but Janoth would. And Hagen admitted what had happened, and he said he'd testify to it in court.
Janoth panicked, which he tended to do whenever his tightly controlled world was threatened with disruption (e.g., as with the original murder), and figured there wasn't much else he could do, short of turning himself in and going to prison (at his age a lengthy sentence would essentially be a life sentence) or to the death chamber. So he shot the prime cover-up witness and tried to get away.
With all his money and connections, if he hadn't fallen down the elevator shaft, he might have been able to get away and live out his days in seclusion in some foreign locale. Remember, more than one member of his staff was helping to suppress witnesses and otherwise tamper with evidence. So there were probably several people (e.g., Harry Morgan's gun-wielding character, Bill Womack) who, for the right price, would help him escape. But, of course, the film production code wouldn't allow him to get away, so he had to die.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A. Einstein
Chas Laughton's character believed he was smarter than, and could outwit, the other guy. Just like Robert Durst. The law had the goods on him during his last murder trial, and Durst somehow walked. Laughton's character would have tried to do the same. He would have exhausted all legal and illegal avenues to beat the rap. It just wasn't in his DNA to act so impulsively, so stupidly.
The ending was just an untidy way to wrap an otherwise well-done film.
It just wasn't in his DNA to act so impulsively, so stupidly.
The important distinction is that Laughton THOUGHT he was smarter anyone else. For that reason, his character wouldn't have come apart so quickly at the end. He would have looked for a way to beat the rap first with his army of lawyers.
The contrived ending was necessitated by the Code and by the lack of imagination by the screenwriters.
The important distinction is that Laughton THOUGHT he was smarter anyone [sic] else. For that reason, his character wouldn't have come apart so quickly at the end.
I'm not going to repeat my comments on Laughton's character which stand. But his actions coupled with his contrived death result in a weak ending. Laughton bolted for the elevator but both he and the audience got the shaft.
shareIt's just as well that you've essentially given up, since I've offered all sorts of support for my viewpoint from actual scenes/lines in the movie itself; while you've offered nothing to back up your claim that
The important distinction is that Laughton THOUGHT he was smarter anyone else. For that reason, his character wouldn't have come apart so quickly at the end.
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None of those acts was as stupid as murdering someone in front of a witness and fleeing. But what really contributed to the weak ending was the elevator shaft. How convenient! How contrived!
shareBut what really contributed to the weak ending was the elevator shaft. How convenient! How contrived!
Of course,there have been fatal elevator accidents but the odds of occurrence are millions to one. The odds of one occurring immediately after a murder are even more infinitesimal. Odds much lower in a "B" ending to an otherwise "A" movie.
shareAgain,thanks to all for keeping this thread alive after all this time. I am still resolute that the ending was a let down both literally and figuratively.
shareWow, you apparently failed to notice a key element of the plot: Ray Milland's character stopped the elevator purposely (not coincidentally) from reaching the floor by jamming something in the edge of the door. And the fact that Janoth didn't know that is certainly no coincidence either. He'd have to be psychic to know it. In fact, his death was a virtual certainty if he went for the only available quick means of escape--the elevator; which he did, of course.
By the way, although it certainly was no coincidence, actual coincidences are far more common than most folks realize. You need only to Google the phrase "how common are coincidences" to find that out. I already knew this, because I've spent several decades as an applied statistician. But most folks are clueless about how common coincidences--both good and bad--really are. We tend to notice them only when they happen to us personally, or when their consequences are so ironic and huge that they make it into the news. But they're actually happening all the time, everywhere.
You don't have a leg to stand on, so I suggest you quit trying to tap dance around the issue.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A. Einstein
The ending was a deus ex machina (look it up).
shareI don't need to look it up. I learned that term probably 20+ years before you were born. And you still have not given any logical argument based on scenes/lines from the film, nor have you directly attempted to rebut my detailed information. You just keep repeating the same tired viewpoint because that's all you can do. So I guess I'm not going to waste any more time on you.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A. Einstein
SPOILER AHEAD At the end of The Maltese Falcon, a classic detective film I highly recommend, the murderer, played by Mary Astor, boards an apartment elevator with arresting officers played by Ward Bond and Barton MacLane. What,if instead, she pulls a gun, shoots villain Sydney Greenstreet and in her attempted escape plunges down an elevator shaft? In that case, you'd have a classic film with a cheesy ending.
Same here.
Thank you for your contribution, although 5 years after my original post. Well, better never than late!
The ending reminded me of the melodramatic climaxes of so many of those radio melodramas of the '30s and '40s. "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit."
the ending was quite convenient to wrap things up, but i've seen this kind of thing happen alot in movies from that era
i wonder if it's just a budget thing, where they just run out of money for shooting the movie and say let's just have the bad guy give himself away and finish the movie
so many movies, so little time
The end of the movie makes sense. There were no cops there yet, only the building's security guards. With Janoth's dough, he probably had a private plane and pilot at the nearest airport that he could get into the air quickly and escape to someplace with no extradition agreement. Once he got down the elevator, all he had to do was pocket the gun and act natural and his own security guards most likely would have let him pass, even if someone had phoned down from upstairs.
share