SPOILERS Anyone else yelling at the tv by the end?
I liked the film, and liked the ending. But the entire last minute or so I was yelling at Mario's sheer stupidity. anyone agree?
shareYes, typically stupid ending.
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MovieChat Forums > Le salaire de la peur (1955) Discussion > SPOILERS Anyone else yelling at the tv b...
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Maybe, but don't you think an obligatory sad ending, in which all four men die, is almost as childish as an obligatory happy ending? It's as though Clouzot was under contract to deliver a film in which all the protagonists die. It felt predictable and tiresome to me.
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I guess I didn't like the ending so much just because of the way it was handled. I don't have a problem with all four men dying, per se.
I thought the death scene of Luigi and Bimba was handled brilliantly, on the other hand. Bimba is shaving, everything seems to be going fine ... cut to the other truck ... the loose tobacco in Jo's cigarette is blown out of the paper, he and Mario look down the road, and they realize that the other truck has blown up ahead of them. It was one of the best representations of life's ephemerality that I've seen in the cinema, at least in my opinion.
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To me, the ending simply wasn't logical, anyone who's been in a tense, dangerous situation before knows that the reaction afterwords is to be overly cautious (the first relevant scene from movies that pops to mind is the driving-home-the-car scene from Risky Business).
sharethe point is that there is no justice - no guarantees in life. it doesn't have to be logical. it's france - it's an existential thing! life/death takes no prisoners - and in this film it's ultra ironic that mario goes through this hell only to get into an accident.
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I think this was one of the greatest movies I have ever scene and the ending was prolific and uncompromising. When people go through extreme near-death situations, they tend to take undue risks in the most simple situations (post traumatic stress syndrome). Why do you think so many soldiers commit suicide when they come home or commit murders and abuse people? It is very difficult to expect someone who has gone through the experience of almost death to react rationally. Besides, the who contention of the movie was the trade of desperation, poverty for death. A happy ending would have destroyed the movie.
shareAgree entirely - having just watched him negotiate no end of hazhards that would have stumped most people and with a deadly load, the guy was supposed to be an accomplished, savvy truck driver, he was on a dangerous mountain road with hairpin bends, had a fortune in his pocket and he was driving like a clown! (Not to mention the steering is heavy and very hard work on those old trucks - I've driven some!)
If he had to be killed off (I got no problem with that), I think it would have been totally wry to see him swerve to miss some kids/nuns/animals or summat and then go over the edge...???
I got to agree with "keith g" partrially on this one. I say partially because what Mario was doing at the end isn't totally unplausible. Overconfidence, exuberence and ABANDON + hairpin turns + third world quality roads is just begging for trouble. He drove like a fool because of the release and freedom of the previous danger, the nitro-glycerine. The caution he needed to transport it safely negated the natural hazards of the road in his previous journey, and he hadn't "equalized" fully before driving back so he took advantage of all the things he could do with the truck that he couldn't when his cargo was aboard.
However, I still was totally pissed watching the ending and yes, I was screaming at him because I wanted him to make it. I would have rather seen him swerve because of some type of avoidance but alas, it wasn't to be. As to the person who said you have to realize this was a French film so the ending is etc., etc., etc., I know exactly what they mean. A good friend of mine who is an accomplished film viewer and I actually reconize this phenomenom and we call it a "French Finish". It doesn't always happen in the same fashion, and the style of "French Finish" changes with with era the movie was made, but I understand where that person was coming from.
All that being said, as pissed of as I was at the time of the ending, I was still feeling like I had seen one of the best movies ever made.
"Inside the dusters there were 3 men"..."So?"....."Inside the men there were 3 bullets" - d{^_^}b
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It felt predictable and tiresome to me.
it would have been tiresome for me if it was an obligatory happy ending.
i was happy when mario died in the end since he deserved it for what he did to luigi, the girl and Jo. i would have felt bad if mario survived. infact i was just waiting to see where clouzot was gonna kill him. i felt the truck might explode after it reaches SOC, or mario might drive it into the fire or even run into the fire when he was walking towards it kinda like a self-realization about the pointlessness of life.
I just saw the film on DVD and I'm glad I'm not the only one thinks the ending was stupid. Perhaps it was surprising back when the film was made, but nowadays, we all know that if there's an announcement that so-and-so is going to show up in an hour, he/she for sure isn't going to make it. The intercutting to a festive scene was also a dead give-away that something bad was going to happen.
In my opinion events in movies should always evolve to their logical conclusion. Sometimes they end tragically. Sometimes they end well for the protagonists. All this survivor's guilt analysis is silly romanism. Deaths in accidents happen. We might want to think it has some sort of lasting emotion impact. The uncomfortable truth is that people forget and move on.
what's to say the ending was obligatory?
They'll hang you as sure as 10 dimes will buy a dollar
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I would hardly call Mario a hero, just the main character. I read somewhere that the directors camera might as well have been the eye of a lizard for all of the emotion it showed for the various characters. Mario was far from a hero, he rab over his friends leg becase he wouldn't move, he wasn't nice to the girl and all he cared about was himself. I didn't care to much for any of the characters except maybe the blonde guy who shaved before dying. (I can never remember any characters names)
shareI disagree. I think Mario was probably a kind-hearted, conciterate person underneath, but on the outside, he was somebody who was a jerk, for a lack of a better word, but it seemed as f all the other men in this film are. I am in no way trying to be sexist, but it seemed as if Mario chose to be that way instead of a kind-hearted person because maybe he would be looked down upon.
shareI always thought Mario wasn't happy with having survived. He doesn't seem to be too happy getting the cash for two drivers. In the ending he was kind of seeking death.
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I think - YES - Mario's sheer stupidity and totally agree with you BUT nonetheless I loved the ending!!
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