I love this movie and first saw it on cable back in the early 80's. Every since I saw it, I cannot figure out how Gloria and the kid meet up at a cemetary in Pittsburgh, especially when she had told him if she didn't return after 3 1/2 hours meet her at the train station in Pittsburgh. If anyone has a clue please respond.
Gina
If I remember correctly, there's a scene at a graveyard earlier in the film where Gloria tells the kid to "say goodbye" to his parents at any grave (her point being, I think, that it is the gesture that is important, regardless of whether it is the right grave). As you pointed out, Gloria does not meet him at the train station, so he assumes that she is dead. So, he goes to the closest graveyard to say goodbye to her (and I assume that she remembers what she said to him).
shareOkay, thanks for your answer. That's what I kinda figured too. I still love the movie in spite of the many holes in the plot.
shareMajor Spoiler Alert!
I like the answer given above. It’s straight and simple. It makes perfect sense and actually I’d like to think that Gloria and Phil happily re-unite at the cemetery but perhaps there’s another possible interpretation of the ending:
In the version we saw the image turned to black-and-white at the very end. There was something surreal to that. Cassavetes had played it very straight up to that point. An artist of this range probably had something in mind when he decided to change colors.
Even if Gloria assumed that Phil would go to a cemetery to pray for her, how did she know to which cemetery he would go? The cab driver knew it and strangely enough he drove off before getting paid and exactly when the black limousine pulled up. Phil had shown him the stack of money hidden in his shoe/sock. Did the cabbie perhaps inform the mob? The moment Phil finishes his prayer he sees the black car and the images turn to black-and-white. Is it perhaps the arrival of the killers? Is this his death? The mob boss had said before that they absolutely must get the kid no matter what.
Okay, this seems far-fetched, but picture this: What if Gloria is dead, what if she was killed? Remember they shot with a Magnum into the elevator. Gloria was going down.
So perhaps what we see at the very end is Gloria’s ghost coming to take Phil to the other side to re-unite him with his dead family. She is dressed all in black like a mourning grandmother complete with a wig and a black hat.
There is also the strange phone call Phil receives while still in the hotel room and the mean look on the receptionist’s face when he changes the $100 bill. Could he also have spread the word? Gloria had already been seen pulling a gun at the hotel. Perhaps the mob was at Phil’s heels from that point on.
As I said the first explanation given above is a lot nicer and is an upbeat one. This one here is pretty sad but I was not the only one who thought of it. I guess it was the black-and-white imagery that triggered it.
Either way Gloria is a powerful film made by a master filmmaker and I like that here is an ending that makes us think. Thank you for that Mr. Cassavetes!
The version you saw? I remember reading something about Cassavetes originally shooting the ending in B&W, though my version (the Columbia DVD) is in color. Where did you see this version???
Admittedly, this is my least favorite of Cassavetes films...truth be told, films such as Faces and The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie are easily amongst my all-time favorite films, and Gloria was a bit of a letdown for me. Actually, I'll go a bit farther and say that EVERY Cassavetes film that I have seen (except for Gloria) ranks amongst my all-time favorites. I just didn't really like Gloria very much. It felt a bit contrived, and I've never gotten that feeling from any of his other films (though I still have yet to see Big Trouble). So, after buying the DVD, I only watched it once before shelving it (I had to dig it back out to double-check the ending, actually, but since I have it out again, I might watch it sometime soon).
That is an interesting take, but I always assumed that it was just a disguise being worn by Gloria. After all, if you had all of that money and you had just killed a slew of mobsters, you might dress in black with a wig as well :-)
Admittedly, the ending is far-fetched, unless perhaps Gloria trailed the kid from the train station. When I watched the ending again, I played it from the shootout onward. There is a curiosity, though: as the kid gets off the train, he is talking to a man who tells him the name of the cemetary, and tells the kid that it is "pretty far away"...it is odd, to say the least, but Cassavetes himself gave the final answer in an interview he did with Ray Carney:
*The end sequence, when the Phil is praying beside the tombstone and Gloria gets out of the limo, was originally in black-and-white.*
"I would say that fifty per cent of the people like it in black-and-white and fifty per cent of the people like the color. And a lot of people don't like the ending no matter what happens! In honesty, I think the ending is not as good as it could be. [I just did it that way] because I really didn't want the kid to suffer. What kind of picture would it be if at the end the kid went to pieces? I just didn't want to kill off the person who had protected that boy."
http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/cassoncass/gloria.shtml
To answer his question...well, it would have been a Cassavetes picture if the kid had went to pieces. (I couldn't resist that one)
To get back to your theory, though...I do like it more than the "stock" ending that I perceived. I didn't think that the phone call in the hotel room (I assume you're referring to the one where the desk clerk calls the room to see if he will be staying any longer) was very odd, or that the clerk who gives the kid change was particularly mean...but who knows about the cabbie...maybe Gloria paid him off!
I really will have to give this film another viewing sometime.
Thanks for that weblink to the interview with Ray Carney. It gives me some insight into what Cassavetes really thought about the pic and the ending. It's interesting that he calls it an adult fairy tale which could be linked to that more "spiritual" theory. But Cassavetes clearly says he didn't want to kill Gloria.
I agree with you that if the kid had went to pieces it would have been a clearer, tougher ending.
By the way I am referring to the European TV version, which is the only one I know. I guess that theory of mine would have never entered my head if I had seen the full color version. It was exactly because he went to black-and-white that the film stayed with me and made me think. Without that I suppose I would have remembered Gloria mostly for Gena Rowlands performance.
No problem regarding the Ray Carney interview link. Though I don't agree with a lot of his opinions and his tactics, there's a lot of good information to be found in that site, and I'm sure there's some great information in "Cassavetes on Cassavetes", the tome that he edited from interviews with Cassavetes prior to his death. There's also a considerable amount of time spent with Shadows (more specifically, the first version of Shadows) and his issues with Rowlands...but that's another story.
I must say that I also think that, if the kid had broken down at the end, it would have gone a lot further to explain his stoicism to the more befuddled viewers. After all, since his whole family was killed and he didn't go out with rounds of ammunition strapped to his chest to single-handedly take on the mob, there must be something wrong with him, right? Or, since he didn't break down as soon as it happened, or since he didn't behave following the Hollywood child cliches, he wasn't a very good actor, right? But I think that, if he had broken down, it would have put what I consider to be a very good (especially from a young kid) film performance over the top, as it would have showed just how much he was covering up his vulnerability in the face of adversity. But perhaps this branch is too thin for walking :-)
As for the European TV version of Gloria...I don't suppose you'd have a copy of this on DVD-R, would you :-) I doubt that the black-and-white ending would greatly alter my opinion of the film, but it is always interesting to see different versions of his films (especially when considering that the Columbia DVD didn't even bother to include a trailer for the film, but managed to include trailers for several other films).
I still haven't given it a second viewing (though I might do so after I finish this message), but the things that really stuck with me are the things that most other people don't like. I really liked that Cassavetes went out of his way to show New York as it (mostly) is, in contrast to the highly superficial and romanticized way that it is almost always shown in films. I also liked the kid's performance, though I know that a lot of people do not. As for Rowlands, while I felt that most of her performance was good, I thought that some of her dialogue was a bit ham-fisted. That bothers me a bit, since (unlike many directors) Cassavetes was an incredible writer, and Cassavetes did say that Gena always stuck to the script, no matter how much the actors around her were improvising.
I'm hoping that my opinion will change somewhat towards the film, even if I still feel that Cassavetes had already covered much of this ground with "The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie" (which is, consequently, one of my favorite films).
Thank you for your thoughts on the ending. I think the "far fetched" one is what happened. Gloria realized that in order to save Phil, she had to meet with the mob boss and give him the book. She knew she may not leave there alive, but it was the thing to do to possibly save the boy's life. Gloria said she was always a broad and never a mother. But, for once in her life, she put someone before herself. There is no chance Gloria would known where Phil went after leaving the hotel room... and of all places.... a random cemetery. I thought at first, Gloria stole one of the mob's black Cadillacs parked out front of their building, but, the way she was dressed at the cemetery implies she had passed and was there to guide Phil to his late parents as he was probably killed after he left the hotel.
share[deleted]
Pretty much agree with you there I think the ending is basically a confession that "movie style happy endings are just the stuff of pipe dreams", taken from Timeout alas the critic was not cited but I think that line sums up the ending pretty nicely for me.
Though I do have to question why some people think that it would've been more "Cassavetes" if the kid had broken down in the end? I'm basing off what I know from the 5 films in the criterion set but I'd say that none of the endings on those 5 films are actually that of defeat. If anything I found that his films were positive endings in a way, basically after all the things that happen the characters of his films just take it all as just another day and move on, as they show the strength of the characters in just going on with life despite how tough it is. Though obviously the extra shot would possibly be a stereotypical "happy endings" but I think that shot is pretty pipe dream to me.
Hey folks, this is what happens when you forget you're watching a work of fiction which requires you to suspend belief and just enjoy the ride. After all, how likely is it that Gloria would have succussfully outsmarted the mafia, and escaped from her former lover's apartment alive?
sharebutler, the point is Cassavetes is deliberately playing against the expectations of his audience, making us aware of what we're looking for (Michael Haneke does the same in a more shocking way in e.g. Funny Games, the remote control scene most of all) - he doesn't just say "yeah, have a good time, guys".
I certainly thought after the elevator scene that Gloria had been killed; even if she wasn't done in at once by one of those shots she would have been taken out, maybe hit in the chest or legs, and reduced to a heap which could be executed by one of the mobsters when he got down to ground level. So the Gloria who meets the kid in the cemetery is Gloria's ghost, or it just might be the living woman (ebab brings this out) but then you as a spectator have to admit that you're leaving the realistic frame where the story has played out so far. Don't know if you've heard of Brechtian "verfremdung", but the ending is a subtle kind of that "alienizing".
After the revolution everything will be different. Your password is 'Giliap'!
(SPOILERS) To me the clue to the whole thing is Gloria's too fancy out-of-character clothes at the cemetary. Here's what I think: Gloria is dead. She never told the kid to go to the cemetary, she told him to wait, then to go to the train station. Obviously she failed to come. The kid goes to the cemetary and what he meets is in fact a fairy-grandmother of his imagination.
Clearly, Cassavetes didn't want to give us an easy ending, he's playing with us - as well as with the producers - and gives us at the same time an ending worth thinking about.
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I think she lives.
When they were shooting down the elevator shaft they were shooting blind down through a small window, so she could have survived. When she calls herself Grandma remember she had decided early on they were now family and what was their relationship going to be. They discuss if she could be his mother, he, as a child, thought maybe girlfriend, so now, in disguise, she looks like Grandma.
I thought early on why not just rent a car. She says they have the trains and planes covered. Then I realized she may be native New Yorker and cannot drive, so the renting of the car and driver (and buying a disguise) may account for the delay and missing him. Even if she could leave the elevator and building they would have followed her back to the hotel.
It looked like the kid gave the cabbie the entire wad of cash, so maybe he just drove off to keep it, and Phil didn't know or care about the value of the cash.
I think Gloria and Phil thought alike and that's how they met at the cemetery. Throughout the movie they had seemingly improbable, chance meetings with various people so I suppose it's consistent.
I think she's alive at the end, too. It's taken her a long time to come to the realization that she has to disguise herself and become a different person if she is going to survive.
The reason, I'm guessing here, that she didn't have that realization before, is that she felt she knew these guys and she could come to some simple understanding with them. After all, what they really needed was the book, not the kid. But the deeper into it she got, the more they were going to want that kid because he had seen them - a lot.
When she says, 'There have to be gangsters in Pittsburg', she was still unable to think about the situation clearly and long-term. Now that she had played her final hand (meeting her former lover), she was finally forced to think 'outside the box'.
As for the elevator, I am guessing ANYone would press themselves to the wall of the elevator right away. Bullets she would expect. She did have a chance - it wasn't a death trap. Remember that this is an elevator, too - not made of cardboard and there was some protection, even as it retreated and got farther and farther away from the gangsters.
I agree. I also believed she survived.
Listen guys, the mobsters shot bullets down the shaft.
They didn't throw grenades or launched a bazooka into the shaft.
She survived; it could happen.
There's no second guessing the ending. The ending wasn't ambiguous at all.
BTW, I love the ending.
The guardian and her charge survived for another day.
I really like that.
Based on what I read, there was suppose to be a Gloria 2 movie before it was shelved.
Gena is still alive.
Maybe it's time to film the sequel now.
Gloria gets to Pittsburg & the kid is not there. After she took out that car load of goons with a pea shooter you kind of know she is resourceful. It's not hard to believe she called the Cab Co and asks if any cab has a kid trying to change $100 bills. Meanwhile the cabbie would have called in to say he is on 'wait' and has a $100 note so may be off air for a while. Et voila she has him.
This explains the cabbie dring off SLOWLY as Gloria pulls up. He may have been asked to wait for her to arrive.
The B&W ending could be Cassavetes way of indicating that the pair were becoming obscure and hard for the mob to track.
The elevator? When the magnum was used, the elevator appeared to have stopped. Gloria may have gotten out.
An etherial end may be possible but Cassavetes was preccupied with SURVIVAL and it would be defeatist if he portrayed his survivor as a loser.
Wow! I never thought of this before! You could indeed call the cab company and ask if some small boy had hailed a taxi to a cemetary.
I have to give you credit for thinking of this and sharing it. It's actually plausible.
This really makes a lot of sense. I am also of the opinion that Gloria lives at the end. It's an interesting notion to think that Gloria is dead and what the kid sees is her ghost or something, but I don't think this type of imagery is what interested Cassavetes. He dealt with it a little bit in Opening Night, but Gloria is a more realistic, albeit conventional, story. He has stated in interviews that the only reason he didn't kill Gloria off is he didn't want the kid to suffer, so clearly he wasn't working at some deeper meaning with the ending.
He's also said that the original black and white ending was purely an accident. The footage came back that way from the lab and he liked the way it looked. Columbia refused to release it that way in the U.S., so I believe it was only used in European prints.
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It’s clichéd. I’d have preferred it if there was no closure. The kid goes to the cemetery, has a walk around, and the credits roll. We never find out what happened to Gloria.
shareThis is actually a good idea also.
I've read some interesting feedback on the ending here and this is something I'd never thought of either.
I love this film, especially the enigmatic ending ( we subconsciously know that in "real life" she would not be alive).
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Gloria was not dead. John stated he did not want to kill Gloria; she was alive for Phil.
Phil made it to the train station in Pittsburg. Gloria was not there. Phil must have thought Gloria died. He remembered going to a cemetery to say good bye to his Mom/family earlier in the film. So Phil asked the man where a cemetery was. Took a taxi there. The taxi driver waited after asking Phil if there was enough money. Phil showed the driver the money. So, the taxi driver was waiting for Phil, then drives off. Next, we see a black car pull up with an "old" woman. It was Gloria in disguise. She had a driver open the door for her. They paid the taxi driver so he could leave. The two of them thought alike and when Gloria was not able to meet Phil at the station she "just knew" where he would be, saying good bye to her.
He loved her and she loved him.
We are pretty much assured, or at least, lead to believe, Gloria lived and was able to raise Phil.
I have a different theory than the many that have already been offered here.
When Gloria didn't come back the kid went to Pittsburgh. He figured Gloria was dead so he should say goodbye at the cemetery, as she had taught him. But which cemetery? He talked to the fellow passenger who gave him the name of presumably the most prominent one in town. So he told the cabbie to take him there.
When Gloria arrived in town a little later, she figured out the same thing. The kid would go to the cemetery and she asked around to find out which was the most prominent one in town, so she went there.