When I first saw this, I was reasonably sure that the film ended before the resolution .. without us knowing if Caan finds the habitat, which I thought was quite a shocking / thought-provoking ending. I saw it again recently with the real ending - where he finds the habitat. Was that alternate ending simply my memory playing tricks?
shareInteresting. In what format did you first see it? Was it cut for television by chance?
My VHS version ends with Caan finding the crashed capsule and the bodies of the Soviet crew, then heading to the safe habitat with minutes of oxygen to spare. It doesn't resolve whether he made it in time, but I suspect he did. Did the version you see end differently?
Yes, TV, and as I recall (which may be my faulty memory) he didn't find the capsule at the end.
shareI was sort of surprised by the ending. I fully expected him to NOT find habitat, or to literally run out of oxygen within sight of it.
shareI really dislike it when a film maker doesn't know how to end a film. This was a great case in point. Did he make it or not? But the real problem that I had was he saw the habitat and, knowing he was running out of air, simply sauntered toward it. Had Altman raised the tension level by showing time running out, and him hurrying toward the habitat, then cut to black...now that would have been an ending.
shareMy assumption is that he certainly made it; and I believe that is what we are supposed to think.
It was, however, a very poor way to end the movie. I prefer a complete ending. This was not.
I watch alotta TV...but that doesn't mean I don't have a job.
I agree. Pretty disappointing.
However, the book also ended that way -- he's reconciled to not finding it, then he accidentally finds the beacon, he checks his air and he has enough, so he heads off to the shelter.
This movie had a really terrible budget. But I don't know why they didn't take that shelter mockup that they used earlier in the film, and use it to show him getting into its door.
TO THE ORIGINAL POSTER:
The ending may have been too subtle for TV for two reasons. Perhaps the color (a soft red light) didn't come through well enough, and there also may have been static on the screen, AND perhaps you saw this on a black and white TV? Furthermore, I remember the flashing beacon as being at almost the extreme left of the screen, and who knows it may have been cut off from the TV's aspect ratio.
Because what you'd need to see is: (1) The astronaut consults his map or notes or something, and then notices the soft red light shining on it. So he turns to look. And (2) the last, important shots, are of the astronaut off in the distance, walking among the craters and such, and it is easy to miss the red flashing beacon off to the left, unlike the blacks and greys of the rest of the shot. But that is what the astronaut sees, perhaps more clearly than the viewer.
So, if that's what happened, then what you'd see is (1) He checks his notes, and (2) he keeps walking (although towards the camera). And you'd get the idea that the film ends with him searching until his air gives out.
Ok, based on my memory from about 40 years ago, here goes. Before he left his son gave him a small vinyl toy, a cartoon mouse or bear for good luck, which he took with him. Fast forward to him on the moon. He found the Russians dead. He waste time making a memorial with the USSR and USA's flags. He searches for the shelter. Can't find it. Time is running out. He takes the toy out of his pocket and looks at it. We think that he is probably thinking "Some good luck charm". Then we see that the toy is turning red, then grey, then red, then grey, etc. He realizes that it is a flashing red light, the shelter. He makes his way to it as his O2 is running out.
I always took it to mean that he did make it, just in time.
According to Robert Altman: The Oral Biography the original ending as shot by Altman had Caan placing the American flag under the Soviet flag (as they had gotten there first) and then, not able to see the capsule, he wanders in the opposite direction to his doom. Studio head Jack Warner fired him after seeing the ending, then had it re-shot with Caan placing the American flag above the Soviet flag and walking toward the capsule.
shareI thought it was obvious he made it as he smiled when he realized how much time and oxygen he had left as he saw the habitat.
share