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Sorry, this movie sucks

So much average

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Blistering performances.

I first saw THE END on the NBC network around 1980, and thought it was a very funny and yet very touching black comedy about dealing with the end of life. It became one of my favorites. But back in those days, movies were still being heavily edited for television, something I wasn't aware of.A couple of years after that, I got to see the original theatrical version on cable, and I was shocked! It seemed like a completely different film; the original film was filled with foul language, crude sexual jokes about orgasms and other functions, and other unnecessary excesses. I was very disappointed.This is the textbook example of just how much difference TV editing can make for a film. It is also an example of how editing can sometimes IMPROVE a movie. Unfortunately, since video, DVD and cable are king now, it is only the unedited theatrical release that is available to viewers. That is a shame, but I still have fond memories of the hilarious and touching comedy I saw on TV so many years ago.On an unrelated trivia note, when Burt Reynolds published his memoirs a few years ago, he contended that veteran character actor Sam Jaffe had a small role. Apparently this scene ended up on the cutting room floor. Too bad.

For a guy diagnosed with a terminal disease, Burt Reynolds sure pumped a lot of life into this film. This is the ultimate in black comedies, a man is told he's got a little over a year to live. We would all react in different ways. Burt Reynolds gets this cheerful bit of news and goes immediately berserk and starts acting all kinds of crazy. Of course everyone around him sees him differently. Wife Joanne Woodward, girl friend Sally Field, parents Pat O'Brien and Myrna Loy. Burt pushes all their buttons except O'Brien who seems oblivious to all.Reynolds always had a marvelous gift for comedy that in his prime period of the seventies was utilized rather well. His career seemed to go in the same path as Tom Selleck's, I think they could have played a lot of each other's parts.Of course it was nice to see two veterans of old Hollywood, Myrna Loy and Pat O'Brien in support. They never disappoint.My favorites though are Strother Martin as the officious head of a mental institution where Reynolds gets committed after some bizarrely unsuccessful suicide attempts and Dom DeLuise as another patient there.DeLuise when he gets going approaches Robin Williams kind of zaniness and he was working on all cylinders in this film. He's ready to offer all kinds of help to Burt to fulfill his mission.

Up there with Groundhog Day for philoso-comedy. Carl Reiner makes every second count. Dom is desperately lovable. Sally shows she can act. And Burt is at his understated best. Unfortunately for Burt, he was 25 years too early with this now timely reflection on death and dying -- boomers did not want to be worried about death in 1978. Now that we are beginning to realize that we too are mortal, this movie should get the appreciation it deserves. Those of you who are turned off by movies dealing with ethical and personal dilemmas won't like this movie. You would think that with all the attention paid to the ethics of extending life and assisted suicide that this movie would be required viewing for the right AND left. I am convinced the Burt will be remembered because of this movie. Death be not proud.

Divorced dad finds out he has an incurable disease; he decides to kill himself before his illness lands him in a hospital ward. What with girlfriend Sally Field acting like a ditz, Father Robby Benson annoyingly clicking his priest's collar against his teeth, mental patient Dom DeLuise overacting like crazy and normally-sane Joanne Woodard playing a nagging harpy, it's no wonder Burt Reynolds wants to die. Trouble is, he directed this sloppy black comedy, which veers wildly from morbid jokes and slapstick to curious seriousness. Kristy McNichol emerges unscathed playing Burt's trusting daughter, though the rest get stuck portraying caricatures, and the handling makes them ugly and pushy. "The End" is tiresomely ego-driven and incompetent. It made me itch. ** from ****