MovieChat Forums > The Majestic (2001) Discussion > Anybody else upset with the ending?

Anybody else upset with the ending?


I loved the movie. It was wonderfully filmed. Just a great story, fantastic writing. BUT I felt uncomfortable with the ending. He basically resolves his problem by taking over a life of someone that he was mistaken for. I felt it was a little unsettling that the whole town was so happy for him to return. HE IS NOT LUKE. And then there are pictures of him with Lukes dad. He takes over for the theatre. It is just weird. I did not think it was morally correct. What does everybody else think. Can you please clear this up?

Who watches the Watchmen?

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Yeah, that bugged me a little too. The emotional connection most of the town had with him (such as the red-headed clarinet player) still seemed to be centered around their experiences with Luke and with him when they thought he was Luke.

He took Luke's place in the hearts of his friends, family, and fiancee. He somehow had control over the Majestic after Luke's father died, even though the whole town knew he wasn't Luke by that point. He gave controlling interest (again, somehow) to the usher...only to apparently take it back again once he nailed Luke's fiancee.


I am Jack's IMDb post.

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I ended up feeling bad for Luke in the end. He ended dying in a war and then having virtually his entire life taken over. All of his great emotional relationships came from the fact that everybody thought he was Luke. It was just messed up.

Who watches the Watchmen?

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He somehow had control over the Majestic after Luke's father died, even though the whole town knew he wasn't Luke by that point

No he didn't. Since he was not related to Harry when he died, he wouldn't have any claim on the theater, unless Harry wrote his will that way. But even then he would've left it to his son Luke, and Pete Appleton was obviously NOT Luke.

It probably went to Emmett and Irene, the usher and the old lady, and he hired Pete on when he came back.

what's with this "up to 100 characters" limit on sigs? I've a mind to complain strongly to

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I actually thought it to be more like Peter was living for Luke.

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Well, even if he's not Luke, he is the guy who pushed for the Majestic to get up and running again and in doing so, he united a town that had been stuck in the past. Plus, he also showed a lot of respect for the town in his speech and its fallen heroes in his speech to HUAC. So yes, it probably is a little too perfect of a pretty picture to end the movie but so what? So you have to suspend a little disbelief. At least it's not the same over-produced rapper-stars-in-violence-and-sex-filled piece of junk piece that usually comes out of Hollywood.

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Minstrel1184 - well answered.

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He may not have been Luke but he was a good man who that had fallen in love with this community and vice versa. He's not replacing anyone. The town now knows the truth and can move on and now accept this man who's come into their lives.

"With friends like these who needs friends?"

-Gossip Girl (CW)

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Well of course he's not Luke. I don't think anyone in the town of Lawson was confused about his identity in the end. But he found something in that town. Having been thoroughly repulsed by the superficiality of Hollywood he wanted something a bit more.. well, real. He didn't take over Luke's life. Luke was dead. But he learned something about Luke from his letter home and learned a lesson about the morality of standing against those that would pervert the idea of what America is. And he learned something about himself in the process.

As for the photos, Luke's father believed him to be Luke, and before Appleton realized his own true identity, he grew fond of him as well. Why wouldn't he have saved those photos?

As for the town they realized Appleton did some good for the town and delivered respect for its fallen sons. I can't say I understand your moral objection to this scenario.

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I got a "what if" After Peter finds out who he really is, the only person he lied to was Luke's dad.
He couldn't stand to break his heart by telling him the truth on his death bed.

He read the letter, told to HUAC to stick it, quit his job in Hollywood and came back to Lawson in hopes of a new life. Or least give the medal back to Adele.

Although the ending may be sacchrine, it wouldn't be the first happy ending for a film.

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he didnt steal lukes life at the end, he honoured his memory by showing that he (and the others) didnt die in vain, hence the townspeople were prepared to accept him as a new son.

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The town saved him...and he saved the town. And honored the dead in doing so. And he gave the town something to aspire too...something we all could use nowadays.

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They should make a sequel with Luke turning up.

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Just watched this for the first time.

I thought the ending was an intentionally sentimental joke, a silly "what if" ending by Darabont.

Surprised no one else seems to see it this way, maybe I'm wrong. If so it's a bloody awful climax.

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I thought the ending could have been interpreted as "what if" and Darabont himself (metaphor) "creates" his own ending as opposed to "just agreeing" with Hollywood Powers-to-be (Carl Reiner, Garry Marshall, Sydney Pollack). The whole thing seems to be a statement about a how lucky we are to have movies as the last escape in an increasingly regimented, calculated and increasingly corporate "national identity". Very relevant film to today's times. Simply substitute HUAC with Dept. of Homeland Security. I think the film was also saying that film characters are "who we want them to be" and that isnt necessarily true, but they are obligated to become that person for the audience - i.e. Stars line up for photo shoots and will sign autographs - not for the person, but for the star they are.

The ending was a happy one, in that "the good guys should win" yet it was balanced within the realism of the Government supposedly being the good guys. You can stand up to the powers that be (at great risk to your own career) and still "go home again".

Was it unrealistic? In a sense, yes, but the magic of movies, is that the audience can cheer for "heroism" in the slightest sense.

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There's nothing wrong with the ending. Like every other movie you younger people just missed the point.

You want to play the game, you'd better know the rules, love.
-Harry Callahan

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The ending reminded me of "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" and not in a good way.



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