its happy and sad. how gardner loved debbie but couldnt be with her. but it was happy all the way through the movie. man, its just an amazing movie. but what do you think gardner did? do you think he did go to mexico and avoid the draft, or do you think he ended up accepting the draft?
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"Fear... Fear... Utter fear. Clowns! Clowns scare me." -Johnny Depp
POTC
I've seen that movie countless times, and I still ponder what happended to Gardner. I think this is Kevin Costners' best film. When you mentioned his love for Debbie, and then you watch those scenes where he sees the bride and groom dance together...uh....great drama. Subtle happiness mixed with a sour sense of melcholy. Great stuff. Fantastic movie! One of my top ten. As far as Gardner? WE ( the fans ) know the spirit of Gardner is probably out there still on the roads. Still on a journey. Still searching and trying to escape his own destiny. Im in my 20s but I meet "Gardners" every day. I love the last scene where they say a final goodbye. The film cuts to Gardner toasting on the ridge, as the sun sets we hear a Jedd say-- "He didn't say goodbye." But "those" days will always be with them all. The end of one time and the beginning of another. Gardner toasts both, and maybe, in sillohoutte, as we see him, he just falls into each. Uh. so poetic. Thanks for being a fan with me!!
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The ending of Reynolds' cut was a little different. To me it eludes to a possible suicide by Gardner. Extremely sad stuff in this movie, but it's all part of growing up I suppose. One of the best films ever made.
Suicide? I don't see how Gardner Barnes could ever be suicidal. When I saw that shot of him heading down the hill towards the Rio Grande, I imagined him partying and being the same old guy in Mexico, at least until he thought he could come back.
shareNot at all man. For Barnes, he knew his childhood was over. To me, that ending shot looked like he was walking back to the place where they dug up Dom, and why would he do that? Goodbye is goodbye in this movie. It's not like he's gonna' come back and it's going to be okay. At the end of this film, those five guys aren't friends any more. Gardner is a completely differnet person from beginning to end.
There's a director's cut!? More info, please.
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No way. I don't see that happening.
Gardner loved life, and even tried his hardest to get Waggoner to go with him.
He wasn't depressed at all. Even when things looked bad (out of gas, no money, etc.), he was always looking on the bright side.
One thing for sure, he didn't go to Vietnam. He's one of the those characters that will forever be searching for himself. Maybe he went to Canada instead of Mexico, who knows. I just don't see him killing himself.
"Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another."
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It was very easy to avoid the draft back then. Very few cops pulling people over checking ID's, no checkpoints. And, you could always use someone else's draft card if checked since there was no picture on it. I was never asked for my card.
So I see Gardner continuing his partying ways like a lot of us did, maybe back in Austin, San Antone, or Dallas. The draft ended shortly after the setting of the movie...maybe '73-4. No way suicide over being drafted.
yeah. drinking that good champagne warm? tragic.
"It's for the pain. Rarely touch the stuff...Can I have another?"
I answered this in another thread, and I too see him searching for himself until at some age, he looks around and says, time for me to live, have a life, with me in it, not just passing through as the "who was that" person?
shareIn my version, he has some adventures south of the border, meets a pretty senorita, and starts a small salvage / treasure hunting operation in the Caribbean. It's a good life.
shareYou're kidding, right?
Dude avoided the draft like the plague.
The ending of Reynolds' cut was a little different. To me it eludes to a possible suicide by Gardner
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Which would have made two movies in two years in which Kevin Costner commits suicide.
He'd already done it in The Big Chill (as a unknown young actor whose only flashback scene was cut.)
Famously, Lawrence Kasdan apologized for cutting Costner out of the Big Chill (save some shots of his hairline as a corpse in the funeral parlor) by giving him a role in Silverado(the same year as Fandango) and recommending him to friends like Spielberg(for an Amazing Stories episode) and DePalma (for The Untouchables.)
That was one career-boosting suicide!