Am I the only one who found the final shot of Hawk's body on the moon, accompanied by Frank Sinatra, to be so very, extremely disturbing? I mean, I get what the filmaker was trying to do, and I suppose its a fitting end. But I can't help thinking about him, stuck up there, slowly suffocating. The whole way it was put together just strikes me as morbid.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
Celebratory. I just spent 20 minutes looking for an illustration of a Heinlein cover that the final shot aped large! No luck. Thinking it was "The Man Who Sold the Moon." Same concept. Old man's dream becomes reality... (Me? I don't care how uncomfy the death may be... It's the frakking MOON!)
shareI believe that DrAsimov refers to "Requiem," Heinlein's 1940 short story and (although it was written before the larger work) MWSTM wrap-up. Citing R.L. Stevenson's auto-epitaph:
"Here he lies where he longed to be
Home is the sailor, home from the sea
And the hunter home from the hill."
Highly recommended and readily available. Given the importance and familiarity of this story, it seems nearly certain that someone involved in the scripts had it in mind.
Re all the "realistic or not" argument: it's only a movie. There are many technical implausibilities made from ignarance, FX and other practicalities, need to support the plot, etc. If SF movies had to be perfect - in the sense of containing nothing not known to be impossible - there wouldn't be many of them. And on a more abstract level, a lot of great science and engineering is achieved by setting aside perceived impossibilities, defining an objective, and then innovating around barriers. Cf. the "ultraviolet catastrophe" as an inspiration for statistical mechanics.
As to panting oneself to death, specifically, space aeration is not quite like a locked closet. Rather, as with underwater rebreathers, it separates resupply of oxygen from scrubbing of CO2. CO2 poisoning is NOT pleasant; it's high CO2 concentration that triggers panting, and symptoms prior to unconsciousness can be very uncomfortable. (Been there...) However, anoxia (low partial pressure of O2 in the absence of toxic gases) need not be unpleasant. Take a few deep breaths from a helium balloon - out like a light, no discomfort except hitting head on floor. It's one of the reasons that closed-compartment industrial work can be so dangerous, and is strictly governed by rules about multiple persons on watch, pull-out ropes etc. - too easy to climb into a nitrogen-purged tank and pass out before knowing there's a problem.
Personally, I agree with those who see final scene - with no FX for the long float and sudden stop as leadup - as a pleasant fantasy for both the survivors and Hawk himself as he sails off into the deep. And beautifully rendered, visually and musically. And possibly a reference to that prior classic with similar plot elements but a slightly darker ending, "We'll Meet Again" in Dr. Strangelove.
Beautiful!
share*beep* that I've seen too many people go through cancer chemo all that radiation it's pure horror I'd rather go the other way think of it you get to go to the moon not many will ever get to do that even if its for a short time,and it was his wish to go there plus he was gonna die in a few months anyway so I pose you the choice...
Die slow,painfully,sickly
Or
Die quick and fulfilling a lifelong wish which may have made his final minutes easier facing death
Ill take quick i always say if I'm gonna die like if the world is gonna end ill just sit in a coolout(lawnchair) with some beers,guitar and play on the rooftop of my apt building manhattan,NYC and take it all in
OP -
Yes, it is disturbing & sad, but a shocking ending is necessary, sometimes.
I like this film - makes a pleasant change to see old geezers.
I'm a middle-aged geezer(ette) myself
We're missing something here.
Even with the full thrust of the ICBMs it would still take a day or two to get to the moon. During that time TLJ would have pissed and defecated in his suit a couple times at least. It's likely he died of asphyxiation from the methane and other noxious fumes long before he reached the moon.
Also it was probably the worst smelling death in history.
MikeyLikesIt_357 -
Good to have a scientific answer.
I did laugh though - shame on me.
The issue is the landing. Unless Hawk had improvised some kind of retro-rockets from the satellite's RCS he would have hit the moon rather hard. I mean HARD. He and much of his craft would have been pulverized, and a nice plume of subsurface matter would have been thrown up, providing interesting scientific clues into the composition of the Moon.
shareWell, yea in reality that is what would've happened, but that would've made a terrible ending for this fictional movie.
Anywho,
I think the ending is the best part of the movie. It gives Hawk's character the ending he wanted and deserved and makes for a fantastic closing shot.
I thought that astronauts carried cyanide pills so that if they were caught in an untenable situation they could end their lives quickly. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Is it so?
shareyeah sure. They carry it in their back pockets. The only thing they have to do is take of the helmet, so that they can swallow it.
Really dude, who told you this BS?