MovieChat Forums > The End (1978) Discussion > personally i liked the hour before dom t...

personally i liked the hour before dom the best


oh God my father would shoot me if he knew i preferred the subtle black humor of the first hour of the film because he loves the dom deluise parts and only used to talk about the parts with dom; sorry dad, but i prefer the stuff like burt looking into the fish tank (tripping out on one fish in particular); visiting a very young priest; visting his wife; his parents; his daughter; all the stuff before he goes to the nuthouse i prefer more than the last half hour. then it gets too zany. dom is a funny guy but is a bit much in this.

if you're the salt of the earth, then the earth is a slug

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I couldn't agree more. The first hour is so deftly written, acted and directed, with all signs pointing toward Sonny learning a meaningful lesson about appreciating life and those he loves. But instead, the entire thrust of the story simply collapses into a slapstick Burt Reynolds/Dom DeLuise buddy comedy (complete with obligatory '70s slow-motion car jump - wtf?!). I almost wonder if the studio intervened, threw out the second half of the film and demanded another "Smokey and the Bandit." A terrible waste.

(I actually think DeLuise's first scene is classic, it's everything after that that goes downhill – starting with Carl Reiner's mugging.)

Just sayin'.

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Carl Reiner was tolerable in this one. It's when he does stupid sh!t like the cross-eyed bit in The Jerk. Remember seeing that as a kid.. Totally unfunny

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