MovieChat Forums > Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) Discussion > Ending

Ending

posted 19 years ago by animalmother78
25 replies | jump to latest

This is absolutely one of my favorite '70s films; rebel-esk cause, poor dialogue, overacting, underacting, fast cars (actually the stars of most '70s flicks and TV), Peter Fonda being a *beep* the system" stoner, e.t.c; an ultimate classic.

But, catch me if I'm overlooking, what is it with '70s cinema presenting us these super cool, popular rebel people that we get kind of attached to in their groovy dreams and ambitions, only to shoot them down in catastrophic mayhem that proves to be quite meaningless? "Dirty Mary..." - Fonda & crew riding along, everything's cool and then BOOM - right into a moving train; "Vanishing Point" - the dude's riding along, set out on his cool stare & hair mission and BOOM - right into the road block. Was Hollywood trying to say "Yeah, these guys are cool, but don't be a stoner-rebel, 'cause look what happens"? If they were true to their buck the system teenage, early 20s audience couldn't they at least have had Fonda & Barry Newman ramming their vehicles into a capitalist dude's building or exploding into some "faschist pig's" cop car?

For instance, "Thelma & Louise", although I'm not a big fan of it, ended with its two protagonists flying off a cliff, but in front of Harvey Keitel and several cops who had worked their asses off to find them. Now that's a rebel ending.

Anyway, super cool cult movie that hangs in '70s Hall of Fame.

[–] lightninboy 19 years ago

It's been a long time since I saw Vanishing Point. Kowalski cashed it in because the roadblock symbolized to him that the Establishment wanted him dead anyway? We may become attached to the three Dirty Mary Crazy Larry characters, but, remember: these are bad guys, criminals, and crime does not pay. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry is a movie to be remembered by anyone who has ever sped down a two-lane blacktop through ranch country. P.S.: The 351 Cleveland was a FORD engine!

[–] todtomorow 16 years ago

bad guys,criminals,and crime does not pay? Crime definitely does pay as long as you don't get caught! Just ask anybody who's ever been president of a country or big corp.!

[–] phyrkrakr 16 years ago

Well, you could always watch "The Getaway", where McQueen actually makes it to Mexico. Of course, he wasn't driving some high-powered Mopar muscle, but he does make it.

Also, to some degree, those endings were probably insisted on by the studios in DMCL and Vanishing Point. Can't have the bad guys win, of course.

[–] jrcjohnny99 16 years ago

In both these movies, the ending makes the weight of what happens before that more important and adds depth to the events and characters;
watching both of those movies for a second or third time, knowing whats coming, makes for a much deeper experience rather than knowing they just get away...

[–] Davidp1979 16 years ago

When I seen this for the first time the ending floored me. I thought "Alwright, they made it", but then out of nowhere, "BAM" all killed instantly by a friggin' train the sheriff "made" them run into, so it was like a quick emotional reversal that grabs you by the balls.

I was disappointed in the ending, I wanted them to make it. Not for Fondas sake (his attitude was there for life and unchangeable) but for Mary and the mechanic (forget his name), it seemed that a little while before they had turned over a new leaf so-to-speak.

Good movie though, I loved it.

[–] tyanosko 16 years ago

Lets not forget the ending is foreshadowed. The opening sequence is the frieght train leaving.....

[–] katowest 16 years ago

Forshadowing. Exactly! you can also hear the train in the background when they are in the apple orchard.

katowest

[–] fhn15 16 years ago

Foreshadowing. Okay. But why didn't they hear the train coming? A locomotive's not exactly something that just appears out of nowhere. At least one of them should have noticed.

[–] katowest 16 years ago

It appeared out of nowhere in this film. It was a "movie" remember?

katowest

[–] pajamawolfie 9 years ago

I wanted them to get away too. I'm not sure why... I kind of liked Mary. There was something a bit off about her, and it was fun watching her and Larry argue like 7 year olds. And I've gotta say I was impressed that the guys pulled off that robbery with no guns and no deaths. Right before the crash, Mary said something about wanting to get out / leave the guys.

I believe they were the only ones who died in the movie. Lots of cop cars were wrecked, but the movie made sure to show us that the officers survived. And the guy in the farm truck lived. The only wreck I remember that didn't show positive proof of survivors is the big old station wagon that hit the telephone pole and knocked it over onto the police car. Since it knocked over the telephone pole and wasn't totaled, the passengers were probably okay.

There is no objective reality... and that's Sucker Punch

[–] another-one-1 16 years ago

Seems like the pretty much the same ending as the other two movies you mentioned

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Paul-308 15 years ago

You must be talking about the TV remake,because in VP 1971 the crash car was a derelict 1967 Camaro and it was towed....nobody in it.

[–] jmac-20 15 years ago

maybe rather than either being a metaphor for 'crime doesn't pay' - maybe the ending in itself is another middle finger to conformity - the happy ending mainstream films almost 'have' to have.

Or one could look at it from _yet_ another viewpoint - better to die on your own terms, than live on someone elses - i.e. 'better to die on your feet than live on your knees' - for some people living a conformist unquestioning life is no life at all, and they'd rather have 1/10th the time on earth living it to the full than 10 times as long as some sort of slave.

Or maybe they just ran out of ideas.

That's my take on DMCL. On Vanishing Point, the original (the only one worth a look imho) the ending is a metaphor for the title - you never 'reach' the vanishing point of the end of hte visible road, you just keep heading towards it, just like you can never 'reach' the horizon - it's the journey not the destination.

One might perhaps look at Evel Knievel. He had no shortage of fans. Unfortunately (and this probably goes with the territory) he was plagued by health complications in his later years, some from the cumulative injuries of all the feats he performed (or crashed), and some others self inflicted in a way. Is that the way we want to see someone living so daringly go out? Of course we don't want to see stuntmen committing seppuku when they hit 40 or something, but in a movie, there is the freedom to explore different things without a real life being lost.

[–] malachai_malachai 15 years ago

I'm glad I had already seen the films you're talking about cos you would have f ucked up the endings for me otherwise, would it kill you to write spoiler in there somewhere? maybe near the start?

[–] srennie 15 years ago

I find it odd that nobody sees the parallels with Fonda's other big counter-culture hit, Easy Rider, which also ends with another example of Freedom ultimately crushed - randomly, it might be noted - by the machinery of the Establishment. It was indicative of the post-Woodstock (or more to the point, post - Altamont), Nixon era fatalism that defined the pre-Disco attitudes of the youth and young adults of the'70's....Same thing with Vanishing Point, Sugarland Express, and, I think, Aloha Bobby and Rose, which as I recall was kind of like the song, "Take the Money and Run" by Steve Miller, but with a less "positive" outcome.... Speaking of which, I'm going to make a thread about how our view of the counter culture protagonist may change as we age. For instance, the aforementioned S. Miller tune, while always a favorite of mine, connects with me a little differently now that I'm 45. When I was 13-14, it was kind of a cool, anti-establishment anthem, but now I think, "Hey, those kids are burglars, murderers and armed fugitives! What about extradition treaties with Mexico? Are my doors locked? Have I skipped my parents and turned directly into my grandmother? Why am I standing in the basement......?"

[–] dtc-6 8 years ago

Why am I standing in the basement......?"

Thanks for the laugh. Really funny. 7 years after you wrote it and still funny. Like the song at the opening of DMCL about time slipping away. It surely does.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[–] pinbackwiggly 15 years ago

At the very end, Mary says "You know what, I think I'm ready to unload." What do you make of her saying she was ready to go her own way now that the police chase was over but right before the train collision?

[–] lorutmc 10 years ago

Eerie, eh?

[–] randhick 9 years ago

Actually AM78, according to many Kowalski's crash into the road graders at the end was an accident.. Kowalski only seen the sun shining off the machine's front blades and mistook it for the Pacific Ocean, believing he'd made it to Frisco.. Unfortunately due to his being hopped up on amphetamines, he was oblivious to the road block..

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] salvador_1980 7 years ago

It was also very satisfying and poetic.. Also one of the unintentionally funniest endings I've ever... Laughed my butt off.

[–] BartlebyScrivner 7 years ago

This is an interesting thread to me because I've never seen this movie with a modern audience that actually liked Mary or Larry (though most people I've seen it with developed an affinity for Deke). Matter of fact, a lot of people I've watched it with were satisfied by their death at the end. Is it a generational thing (I'm on the bridge between Gen X/Millennial)?

[–] Caulk_Rocket 7 years ago

Reminds me of the ending to many Bronson flicks, too.

[–] strntz (10787) 3 years ago

The magic of movies is that we get to root for the bad guys without suffering guilt or sacrificing our own morality, which all happens because we are privy to the bad guy's story. In the Clint Eastowood film Unforgiven, we're rooting for a guy who killed women and children and was shooting up the marshal's posse.

But I think the 70s movie ending gets us off the hook just a little bit by giving the bad guys the ending they really should have. In this story, we have two guys who kidnapped a woman and her child and threatened to kill or rape the child. They also committed a robbery. Probably the most innocent of the group was Mary. Lesson there was don't hang around guys who are criminals.

If they got away with the robbery and we left the theater cheering for them, then we're bad guys too.