MovieChat Forums > Le salaire de la peur (1955) Discussion > The Ending

The Ending

posted 18 years ago by kthelonius
51 replies | jump to latest

I've read many comments from people who don't find the ending to the film
believable. Most of them have trouble believing that Mario would behave so
recklessly or childishly. IMHO, this is exactly as he was bound to behave by
the very laws established in the film. Remember when they're recruiting
the drivers earlier in the film and they tell them what the job is, one man
backs out saying he's seen men who've done the same job turned old and white
from fear. Later in the film Jo chides Mario for his lack of caution saying
he (Jo) has imagination and brains and thus knows the consequences of recklessness.
Meanwhile, Mario laments that Jo doesn't have guts as well as
brains. In fact, ever since Jo's display of cowardice, Mario has treated him with scorn and contempt.
No trace of their former comeraderie remains. This scene finishes with Jo commenting that Mario's gut will be strewn
from the trees like dead leaves.
Thus, I read the ending of the film as Mario's final vanquishing of fear. He's come through his ordeal, the sole survivor,
and he's filled with euphoria. He feels indestructible, perhaps immortal. And it is precisely this absence of fear which
amounts to a disregard of his own mortality that brings about the fall
of the protagonist of the story.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] realistdreamer 15 years ago

I think the ending is great! I especially like the barmaid fainting (not dying) at the same time that he is about to die - what fabulous symetry. And the music being playing works beautifully. I am surprised that no one has mentioned that a similar ending exists in the original Italian Job - I guess that movie copied it off this movie. In Italian Job after their gold robbery is successful, the driver of the big van they are all in goes much too fast along the curving mountain roads of northern Italy because he and the others are in a celebratory mood. Very excited music is played at the same time - and then, a moment similar to the end of the Wages of Fear occurs, although not exactly the same (I won't spoil it for those who have not seen it - but I highly recommend that movie).

[–] d_ice_heart 14 years ago

i belive could be a better ending if mario hit the can of nitroglicerine(the one that he forgot to put back in the truck when they blow the stone)and explode all over the place...cpould be a ending like...was the destiny ...or something not just having mario all crazy and chilidish die like that...just my opinion

[–] finn-troll 13 years ago

That canister of nitroglycerine was not the most important thing he lost on the journey. He first lost Luigi, then Jo, both good friends of him. He experienced the death of three, all very cautious while he himself was not. All this for some money, relative fame, respect. He lost his human soul (remember his reaction to the other truck's explosion), "died" the same day as the others (nicely worded in Revelation 3:1), and the next morning he felt like some semi-god with his conscience disabled. His physical death was just a little delayed.

[–] sametic 13 years ago

This movie is brimming with nihilism from the first frame to the last, it couldn't have ended any other way, all of them were doomed the moment they took the job.

[–] rgcustomer 12 years ago

I was expecting Mario to drive off the edge, where he had previously destroyed the wooden platform. As soon as he headed back to town, you knew there was no way he could make it, because of that.

[–] DrProfessor 13 years ago

The ending is just pure French nihilism. It's equivalent to 200 kill Rambo movies and is just as stupid and completely narcissistic. Though it is forgivable.

[–] r-taylor13-848-416837 12 years ago

I agree with what you're saying, the only thing I'm wondering is didn't Jo say Mario's balls will hang from the trees like cherries, not his guts strewn from tress like leaves? LOL, I liked that line.

[–] sinan-chevik 12 years ago

Your absolutely right.
Here is a man that acts first before he thinks.
He runs over Jo's foot as well as pushing him off the boardwalk. He's also excessively pushing the limits without paying an attention to other people, like jo's leg.

I believe a man this reckless would actually behave as he did in the end. To me it was believable. Thus a masterpiece.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 12 years ago

I can't think of a movie with a dumber ending.

Okay, here they come:

1. I should go back and watch Transformers.
2. I should come back when I turn 15.
3. I should get a job, go on a diet and get out of my mom's basement.

Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!

[–] coolbrett 12 years ago

I was thinking they should have made his truck explode right at the end cos they forgot a little bit of the nitroglycirin. After all that stress and hard work, it explodes anyway, at a time when he leasts expects it. I thought the ending was a bit stupid. Why on earth would he drive like that around such a dangerous bend? He was stupid but I didnt think that stupid.

Btw, after that huge crash, his body still remained that in tact and in good shape apart from a bit of blood on his forehead? The ending brought this movie down a bit. Otherwise it was pretty good

No expectations, no disappointments.

[–] aldiboronti 12 years ago

The ending felt false, more so because the rest of the movie felt so real. I don't believe Mario would have acted in such a stupid way. This has far more to do with Clouzot's obsessive need to put a twist in the tail of his movies, even at the cost of marring the whole work. He did it with Diaboliques and with Le Corbeau. I love this director's films but I just hate the artificiality of some of his endings.

[–] 12 years ago

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