I was watching this on TV and didn't manage to catch the end. I saw up to the point where Gene's fiancee comes to visit and then Gene goes up to tuck his father in and they reminisce about how they used to do callisthenics together and spar. I just want to know what the son chose to do, whether the father died etc. It was a very powerful movie and I'd really like to know how it ended.
Thanks!
"Gondor has no pants! Gondor needs no pants!"
This is a very late reply...:D
I haven't seen the movie, but I have read the play. If it ends the same way, Gene's sister tells Gene he needs to live his own life or he'll become as bitter as their father. Gene tells his father that he wants to go out to California and marry his fiance. They get into an arguement, and Gene tells his father how he feels about him and their relationship and how he's always wanted to love him and be a good son, but whatever he does is never good enough for his father. Gene goes to California and gets married. Later, the father has a stroke or something like that and has to come out and live near his son in a hospital in California. The father is unable to speak because of his stroke, so when Gene visits him, all he can do is look at his son, and Gene isn't sure exactly what emotion is in his father's eyes..sadness, anger, etc. The father dies shortly afterwards.
It's really sad, and that's about it.
This is powerful stuff for sure,you will be hard pressed to find any scene in any movie more intense then the ones between Hackman and his father!
shareThe only change is that Gene leaves the house and then a voice over states he never saw his father again and that his father died shortly thereafter. It's clear by the end that Gene has no peace about his father and that there relationship is an ongoing issue for him in his life.
Melvin Douglas was amazing in the film.
Thanks - I had to step away for a minute and the next thing I knew, the film was over.
Wow, the two endings (movie and book) listed here are VERY realistic. Very powerful stuff!
‘Six inches is perfectly adequate; more is vulgar!' (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Re: an open window).
>>a voice over states he never saw his father again and that his father died shortly thereafter.<<
Actually, it says that they did see one another, visiting in both directions, that the father became ill when visiting them in CA, ended up not being senile and non-verbal, and that they put him into the hospital.