Are there two endings of this movie? Am I out of my mind, or did I see Armand what's his name join with Moira on the point as she watched the submarine head out to sea? (I.e., he left the boat and decided to end his life with her?) Yet in the Netflix version, he doesn't appear. But when I saw it on TV he did because I remember so well that the wind almost blew them both over as they embraced! He was staggering all over the place!
shareIn the only version I saw, Dwight (Assante) came back to be with Moira at the end. However it was not really clear if this actually happened, or if Moira was just imagining it in her final moments. There were some clues in the final scene (Dwight apparently strong and in good health; he had already shown signs of radiation sickness) that indicated she might be imagining it.
In the original Gregory Peck/Ava Gardner version in 1959, as well as the original novel, Dwight did NOT return to be with Moira -- he went with the submarine.
I suppose they might have recut another ending for this adaptation which would have been more in keeping with the 1959 classic.
"There were some clues in the final scene (Dwight apparently strong and in good health; he had already shown signs of radiation sickness) that indicated she might be imagining it. "
I have just watched it tonight for the first time. Yes he had been sick in his office on the sub but then walked out standing proud, flew a helicopter to Moira and back to the sub, and addressed his men. He was not falling apart. More importantly, he thanks his men for allowing him to go the way he wants, implying that they are not obligating him to captain them out to sea...i.e. in a non-existent scene he has requested that he return to Moira, probably leaving Garcia in charge of the sub, and the men vote to allow him to do so. I don't think we are meant to think that Moira is imagining him.
Although the way it's shot is a bit "dreamlike"...and another thread on here "The End" convinced me that Mulcahy was going for an ambiguous ending but didn't quite pull it off well enough.
I agree with Kenny.
I enjoyed the remake. I remember reading the book as a teenager, seeing the original version a few decades ago. Now as a 50 year old the story has even more impact. How would I react to the knowledge that my family would be suffering with radiation sickness and our only human choice left is when to die?
Also recently saw the remake of Failsafe. Great.
As in the the movie War Games, I think I am ready for a nice game of chess.
Peace.
I started this topic two years ago, and I've had the DVD all that time. In rewatching it today, I see that Arman Assante DID unite with Rachel Ward in the final scene (where they were almost blown off the bluff by the wind while embracing). I must have missed it the first time I played it. I also missed the clue Assante gave when he said thanked his crew for giving him the "freedom to go where he wanted to be." So maybe there is only one ending after all.
I think it's the greater of the two movies. Of course in 40 years all remakes of old movies are geneerally more highly refined and sophisticated. I am one who saw it when it first came out in 1959 and then the other version in 2000. They both had the same intensity for me.
Interesting (for me) to have you post at this time. I saw it years ago, thought I remembered it clearly, but then rewatched the whole thing on youtube a few days ago.
I remember them reuniting as the ending. However, the time I saw it years ago, I could have sworn he made a comment, at the sub, about how he had a responsibility to an Australian girl, and then that he gave command of the sub to someone (promoting them, I think) and let them take the sub on its last mission.
I saw the 1959 version again last summer as well (first time I saw it was in the early sixties). They are two separate movies, for me, but yes, they both have that big intensity. Terribly moving, though, when the Captain's prayer before departure turned out to be a request, to God, that out of all of human existence (now coming to an end) that there please be some meaning to it all.
I didn't see that, in any version, about the Australian girl, but then this is the only version I've determined I've ever seen. There may not even be another. One misses a lot when one only watches a deep movie once. My son asks me why I would want to watch such a depressing movie. He won't watch either version, just because of the trailers.
shareI thought the ending was tripe. Dwight literally abandons ship to spend a few mutually-suicidal final moments with Moira - Moira who already has her lethal pills ready. Apparently Dwight shows up just in the nick of time - especially since he hasn't called ahead to let Moira of his change of plans, that he's coming back to her. Neither one seems too awfully affected by radiation sickness, and Moira is swilling champaign as if her stomach feels just fine. The novel portrayed their relationship in a doomed world tenderly and sensitively, without pandering to the remake's ditzy fake romanticism.
shareThe film actually, and really and truly, was shooting for a happy ending. (So I think.)
Whether it actually achieved it or not, that kind of floored me.
But as for abandoning ship, why not let his first mate be captain for a few days? He certainly didn't want Moira to spend that time cussing him out, when he could be snuggling with her as they both die.
OK, I just watched "On The Beach(2000), Part 20," on YouTube, and:
Moira packs a picnic lunch before going out on the ocean bluff to watch the submarine sail off -- and commit suicide.
The camera pans over the picnic basket: it clearly shows she has a bowl of strawberrries, a bottle of champagne, and one of the suicide kits.
She opens the champagne, looks out at the sub, and toasts, "To Commander Towers, the bastard who abandoned me just when I needed him most."
The camera pans out to the sub for about 10 seconds -- certainly long enough for her to pop the suicide pill.
The camera pans back to her face. She takes a deep drink of the champagne.
She looks up at the sky. Her eyes widen and become blank.
Suddenly a beaming and healthy Dwight Towers in a bright clean uniform is climbing up the ocean bluff. They have their dramatic reunion.
I think it is quite clear it is supposed to be at least equally likely she is imagining the reunion in the final seconds before she blacks out from the pill.
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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.
But according to the dramatic flow, it shouldn't be her final fantasy, because we have already been shown Dwight saying goodbye to his crew for the very reason that he's staying ashore to be with Moira. The story demands that the real Dwight show up to see the real Moira.
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