MovieChat Forums > Tattoo (1981) Discussion > good but weird ending

good but weird ending

posted 19 years ago by bad_habitt
8 replies | jump to latest

she's probably now going to go to prison cause she murdered him.

"how about... a royal flush!" *loren avedon kicks a cauldron of boiling water into the bad guys*

[–] PostmortemG 16 years ago

This film was a pleasant surprise; it works on so many weird levels. I'm an avid hater of '80s cinema, but Tattoo '81 is definitely one of the best the decade has to offer! As for the *SPOILERS* model going to jail for murdering her captor, i don't think so. Remember - she was kidnapped, drugged, physically/sexually assaulted, etc. by the tattoo artist, so i don't think many people would oppose to her killing the guy in order to escape. What made the ending especially memorable for me is that she attains a certain oneness with her enemy, even after killing him; the way she embraces his lifeless body in the final shot is a tender moment.

To me, this movie is a late-comer in the 'Vets gone wild' films of the '70s [ Joe, Death Wish, Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder, etc. ], and should be seen by fans of those films. In short: great stuff!!! =D

"Cain and Abel will go to Heaven... if they can make it through Hell!"
-Los Hijos Del Topo

[–] WarpedRecord 15 years ago

Care to expound on why you hate '80s cinema -- avidly, no less? I mean, certainly the '70s were better than that decade (or any decade), but the '80s brought us such wonderful, weird films as "Blue Velvet," "This Is Spinal Tap" and "The King of Comedy."

But back to the subject at hand, I actually saw this in the theater when it was released, but I remember little about it, so I guess the ending is spoiled for me again. Fortunately, I just found a VHS copy for $1.50, so life is good ... "Tattoo"-wise, at least.

[–] WarpedRecord 15 years ago

Will she go to prison? Probably. Will she be a star there? Definitely!

I found the ending a bit puzzling and, well, anti-climactic. She appeared to be enjoying what she became, especially because she could hardly go back to modeling again afterward (except for Easy Rider magazine, perhaps). But maybe she had it planned all along.

The fascinating thing about the final scene is you didn't know where he ended and she began ... and vice versa.

[–] zaur-2 14 years ago

He came and went.... I always imagined she's preggo with Tattoo Jr.

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Woah yeah! That kid's gonna have some serious issues.

[–] Washingtonnative (2613) 5 years ago

Yeah, definitely major psychological issues!

[–] TheMan18 (12480) 3 years ago

But then since she was kidnapped and held against her will, wouldn't her killing him be considered self-defense?

Heck, in the recent (in the last 7 years at least) David Fincher movie "Gone Girl" (2014), the lead character Amy Dunn, although makes it LOOK like she killed him because he kidnapped her and she wanted of course to run away, killed that man but then falsely made the police believe that she was kidnapped by him, and they BELIEVED her and OF COURSE let her go.

[–] TheMan18 (12480) a year ago

And yet in the 2014 film, very popular also film (this one here is a cult and is scarcely available), SPOILERS, "Gone Girl", the lead female character Amy Dunne ACTUALLY murders a guy but in that film, she FAKED her own kidnapping. But what happens in this film is self defence and an actual kidnapping and victimisation on the victim's part.