The Ending
The ending left me a bit confused... Can anyone explain what happened or was going to happen?
-PCyst
I thought the ending was pretty clear: Wille saw the Illustrated Man killing him in one of the tattoos. Willie then tried to kill him and flee
shareI will have to go back and watch the ending. Thanks.
-PCyst
It's been a while since you posted the question, but just in case you check back here, let me see if I can help.
Willie looked at the blank spot on Carl's back and asked "What's that?"
Carl answered "Don't look at that spot boy! You look at that spot and you'll see your own future." (I love the way Steiger says few...churrr...)
Willie looked at the spot when Carl was asleep, and saw Carl killing him, so he killed Carl first.
Turned out that Carl wasn't dead, though, and when he woke up, he took off after Willie.
What happened after that, though the movie doesn't show it, is what happened in the vision that Willie saw - that is, Carl caught up with Willie and killed him.
I thought the director used a great technique there, letting the viewer fill in the blank for himself, instead of showing what happened.
Thanks for posting that. The movie tends to be a bit discombobulated at times and can be hard to understand. Great movie though. Thanks.
Been a long time since I have seen this. But I am having trouble remembering the last story. In the Last Night of the World, did the couple poison their children and then wake up the next day to find out the world had not ended?
shareI believe that was how the story went. It's funny, I just watched this movie about 6 months ago and I can't fully remember. But I do believe that is the way that story ended.
*SPOILER*
The wife wakes up the next morning, relieved to find the world didn't end after all, only to discover that her husband did kill their children.
Long live the New Flesh!
The ending in Bradbury's story is different.
...
The couple just goes to bed and the world ends. That's it.
It's a brief, four-page story with no real SF element; just an atmospheric piece that depicts people going on with their lives as if nothing's going to happen. A uniquely Bradbury kind of piece.
"You need a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere." --- William Burroughs
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That's correct. And the Illustrated Man will catch up to Willie and kill him. It's one of the oldest devices in story telling. In trying to PREVENT a prophecy from coming true, the protagonist CAUSES it to come true.
It goes all the way back to Oedipus. When the King is told that his infant son Oedipus will kill him and marry his wife, he orders the baby to be killed. Oedipus is not killed, but is instead sent away. Later Oedipus does kill him and marry his wife. In trying to prevent the prophecy, the Kind causes it to happen.
Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, or doesn't.
The King that is.
Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, or doesn't.