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.
shareIn reality, he was dead before he got there.
shareThere's hardly any way he was alive there in the end, considering the impact forces would not be surviveable (it's a wonder he's in one piece).
The ending's similar to Altman's 1967 Countdown though, with James Caan alone loitering around on Moon... and even though it's left ambiguous whether or not he makes it to the rescuing shelter, his slow trek amidst the sinister, shadowy moonscape somehow feels extremely eerie - much moreso than the final shots here.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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He does not die slowly and painfully, he just uses all oxygen in his tanks and continues to breath on nitrogen. No suffocating. You continue to breath normally and fall asleep within a few minutes without feeling anything.
Nowadays some people in the USA consider this as a new method of execution for the death penalty.
By the way, why do you assume, he reached the moon alive?
Flying to the moon from a close earth orbit will take days. A space suit will run out of oxygen much quicker. I have not seen the movie in quite a while but I do not remember having seen him moving on the moon. I always assumed, that he was long dead when he crashed on the moon
Having seen the video for David Bowie's Blackstar I wonder if this scene with Hawk was partly the inspiration for some of the content. Given Bowie's illness and his artistic output it seemed a likely reference point.
As soon as I saw the scene I was immediately drawn to Hawk's story and demise.
It wasn't "real", it was Frank's visualization of Hawk on the moon at eternal rest.
shareI just read all the replies. Heck, I don't even remember now why I came to this particular movie in the first place, although it is one of my favorites.
But anyway, after reading all the comments on Hawk and the agony he must have gone through, or didn't go through, I had an epiphany.
I sure am missing out. When I watch a movie, I either like it or I don't. I never ask these types of questions because I guess I'm just a superficial kind of person when it comes to movies. If someone begins an explanation why I should like a movie, or not like it, I kind of tune them out because like I said.....
I watch a movie and I like it or I don't.
Man, I sure am missing out on not being cultureficated enough.
My mom died of lung cancer. Her last couple of days were spent suffocating. They had her on morphine, but she was in agony, and they wouldn't give her more. They said it might be fatal, but they knew she was going to die within forty-eight hours anyway. Pure stupidity. When my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer and given a few months to live, he got his affairs in order, then one night he popped himself in the temple with a .32 magnum revolver. Instant checkout, as opposed to weeks or months of pain and helplessness. If I were that dude on the moon, I'd have a nice long look at the earth and stars, then when the oxygen level began to get uncomfortably low I'd shoot myself in the head with a revolver (yes, guns work in space), or with whatever astronauts have--ray guns or something.
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