MovieChat Forums > Miracle Mile (1989) Discussion > is it all a dream (spoilers)

is it all a dream (spoilers)


Anyone given any thought that the entire movie... or at least the portion after Harry oversleeps... is actually just a nightmare of Harry's? I understand that the moments leading up to a nuclear strike would be chaotic and random, but the movie is filled with so many odd coincidences and bizarre actions that one has to consider the possibility that we're really seeing a nightmare, which, although seemingly real, could also be quite illogical.

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I always though that it should have been a dream. Taken as a dream, it's not a bad movie, but if you assume it's actually happening the whole thing is pretty ridiculous.

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Actually it makes a heck of a lot more sense to me when seen as a dream.

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It isn't. The movie was at one point touted as the Twilight Zone movie, but it would've included the lame "it's all a dream" twist. Steve de Jarnatt disagreed. So basically, it is real.

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Wow Just saw this movie for the First time today what a strange Movie. But if you take it as a Dream it makes Compleat Sence. To tell the Truth Didn't even know what I was watching when I came home from work Turned on the TV and thought I was watching a Twilight Zone and kept waiting for the Punch Line. Maybe they cut out where everyone wakes up and everything is Peachy King.

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thought I was watching a Twilight Zone and kept waiting for the Punch Line.
Funny you should say that, this story was going to be the Twilight Zone movie. It's mentioned in the trivia for this movie.

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it wasn't a dream. you can't assume it was a dream just because some of the events are 'bizarre'. you could say that about ANY movie in that case, which is illogical unless somewhere in the movie they reveal or hint at it actually was a dream, ala Total Recall or Delirious. however in this case, where the concept is never brought up, it is not a possibility.

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I've seen this syndrome before, it's called "denial."

The ending of MM is just too hard for these lads to take, they want to pretend that Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham (and all their pets and relatives, and, oh yes, you and me and them) are not dead.

Face the facts, we all died.

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agreed, aka-ed.

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indeed. this is one of my favorite movies. i'm a sucker for a good tragedy, and this one did not disappoint.


my body is nobody's body but mine; you run your own body, let me run mine

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Tragedy? Yes.

Good? Not to me.

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You are correctamundo on these points you brought up about the close attention to detail throughout the film. If you live in LA (I was living there at the time the movie premiered) it confirms the common things one sees in the West LA area. Many of the everyday characters in the film confirm LA to the hilt!

The scene of the sun rising early in the morning as the music (Tangerine Dream) plays on is mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time. I understand (unfortunately) that much of that area has had major renovations. I would be surprised if the May Co dept store is still there. The Big Boy restarant I think has been gone for a long time.

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The Big Boy restarant I think has been gone for a long time.

It's not a Big Boy. It's Johnnie's, just as the name says. It closed many years ago and was used exclusively as a film set thereafter. MANY movies have been filmed there. Look out the windows in a lot of movies with scenes set in Los Angeles coffee shops and you can see the bright reflection of the filming lights in the gold tiles on the corner of the May Company at Wilshire & Fairfax. A lot of movies which aren't set in L.A. use the same set-up and it's possible to see the reflection off of May Company's tiles no matter where it's supposed to be set.

Trivia: all interior film shoots there are done at night, even "day" scenes.





"In a democracy, the midnight knock on the door can be friendly." -- Gerardo Escobar

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It's not a Big Boy. It's Johnnie's, just as the name says. It closed many years ago and was used exclusively as a film set thereafter. MANY movies have been filmed there. Look out the windows in a lot of movies with scenes set in Los Angeles coffee shops and you can see the bright reflection of the filming lights in the gold tiles on the corner of the May Company at Wilshire & Fairfax. A lot of movies which aren't set in L.A. use the same set-up and it's possible to see the reflection off of May Company's tiles no matter where it's supposed to be set.

You know any titles of any of the other movies filmed there off the top of your head?

You've made me curious...

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There have been quite a few movies shot at Johnnies; two that come to mind are "The Big Lebowski", the scene where Walter and Dude are having coffee in the diner and the waitress asks Walter to lower his voice. Also, there's Reservoir Dogs", the diner scene where Tim Roth's character is telling his black Detective partner about meeting with Big Joe.

It is at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire Boulevard, in the heart of the "Miracle Mile". In addition to being able to see the gold tiles of the old May Company building (now part of the L.A. County Museum), you can sometimes look out the window and see the monster 4X4 mounted to a pole about 10 feet above the ground. The 4X4 is part of the Peterson Automotive Museum, kitty-cornered from Johnnies diner.

If you see just about any film shot in L.A. where the location is an old 50's style diner, chances are, it's Johnnies. When I first moved to Hollywood in 1988 it was still open and had a great old-fashioned chicken dinner for only $4.00! Sadly, they are closed now but do open for film and TV shoots, and they only turn on ALL THOSE GREAT FLASHING LIGHTS when something's shooting there. I'm just glad they haven't torn it down, like they did the great old bowling alley in "The Big Lebowski".

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it wasnt a dream! he shot the gun to see if he was dreaming, remember?

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mr_x350 said: "it wasnt a dream! he shot the gun to see if he was dreaming, remember?".
He could still shoot a gun in his dream and think it was real.
If you want evidence for the 'whole film is a nightmare' theory, then the voiceover at the beginning would seem to be evidence of this. He says something to the audience like (haven't watched it for a while) "That's me, I'm Harry", while we watch him at the museum following the girl around. So, if Harry starts narrating his own story at the beginning of the film, in order for him to narrate it, doesn't it mean that he's alive after it?

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"If you want evidence for the 'whole film is a nightmare' theory, then the voiceover at the beginning would seem to be evidence of this. He says something to the audience like (haven't watched it for a while) "That's me, I'm Harry", while we watch him at the museum following the girl around. So, if Harry starts narrating his own story at the beginning of the film, in order for him to narrate it, doesn't it mean that he's alive after it?"

yeah, it means he's still alive, but it wasnt a dream. he didnt even die in the end of the movie

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The idea ran through my mind, but it wasn't a dream. The whole "dream" plot is a tool used by bad writers. If you have any respect for the film, you couldn't think its a dream. He overslept because it was coincidence causing him to hear the phone call. He's takign some cues from Thomas Pynchon, thus why the business lady was reading Gravity's Rainbow.

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Gone With the Wind might have been a dream of Scarlet's while she was having her afternoon nap.

The action in Miracle Mile is presumed to be real. The story ends a few feet below where it began.




"In a democracy, the midnight knock on the door can be friendly." -- Gerardo Escobar

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To make a movie a dream is just the easy way of gettin out of a horrible movie, and I liked the movie, well except the end they should have made them get out of that city and to the south pole, that was where they were goin to go right? Anyway, if Harry would have just woken up and was like "oh well that was a horrible dream...I think I'l eat some pancakes" then credits, the movie would end up being soooo unbearable that I don't think they would even play it on sci-fi lol...but that's just my take on the dream scene

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I'm happy that you pointed this out. This very subtle point is what makes the plot one of the most intelligent I've ever seen.

I think the movie is intentionally, though not overtly, surreal. (If you're in doubt about it being intentional, take a look at the shopping cart sequence. Also notice the soundtrack's dreamy effect). If you see the (on reflection, to me very apparent) link between this movie and dream content, will of course depend on if you've actually dreamt stuff like this - such as being in a hurry and not getting anywhere. Though it's difficult to justify why, it *feels* like a dream. What's nice about this, is that it explains the lead character's (if seen as a standard action movie, rather illogical and silly) idling when he should be dashing towards the chopper. It seems that many people find the plot bad and inconsistent and the movie to be a bad b-movie because of this. The nightmare theory, however, actually makes the plot flawless, and makes this already incredibly excellent movie even better.

Ironically, the movie *at the same time* feels very sincere, realistic and important (as dreams often do).

The effective "You've probably just gone crazy, everything is fine anyway" twist that occurs in the department store is also found in Twelve Monkeys. One may wonder if Terry Gilliam got that idea from this movie.

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If I trust the sources of the backstory to the making of this film, it's that Steve DeJarnatt had a deal a few years before to get the film made with a big Hollywood company (Warner Bros maybe?) and they would give him a big budget. However, the studios thought the ending was too depressing and actually wanted DeJarnatt to write an "it was all a dream" ending, since the film obviously sets itself up for it. The director refused to give the film that crappy ending and took his film elsewhere. I think it even made the list of the best unproduced screenplays at one point. Eventually the film was made for a much smaller budget than anticipated (maybe 3mil I think).

So, although visually it does have a dreamlike quality to it, I don't think there was ever any intention to make the whole film a dream. But hey, I could be completely wrong. That's just what I've read.

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Granted, it's all only hinted at, and I guess everything that's uncertain in this movie contributes to making it so totally brilliant.

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Indeed - it is not a dream

Even a man,who is pure of heart,and says his prayers by night...

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Indeed. The big budget deal would've made this movie the Twilight Zone movie. But they wanted the "all a dream" ending and De Jarnatt refused to do it.

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