Thursday, April 9, 2015

Happy Endings

Thursday - Point of View
Happy Endings
I watch movies for relaxation and entertainment, so I prefer happy endings. If I want reality, then I'll just look at life, since life, at times, has a way of kicking the snot out of happy endings. I don't need a movie to tell me that.

Sure, I watch films that don't turn out the way I'd like, but if it can't end happily can it at least have a hopeful ending? Hope that the characters will adjust, be resilient, become strong? (Old Yeller, 1957; Steel Magnolias, 1989)

A niece recommended Life is Beautiful (1997). Oh my goodness, I bawled so hard I literally used a dish towel to soak up the tears. I called my niece and chewed her out! The next day, glutton for punishment I guess, I watched it again and saw the beauty in the ending.

So far, I haven't had the nerve to watch Love Story (1970), The Champ (1979), or Beaches (1988) a second time.

Do you prefer movies with happy endings? Is there a tear-jerker you can't bear to see again?

10 comments:

  1. I like films that have happy endings and ones that finish the story solid, so you know your film is done... like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King... you know that is over.

    Jeremy [Retro]
    AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]

    There's no earthly way of knowing.
    Which direction we are going!

    HOLLYWOOD NUTS!
    Come Visit: You know you want to know if me or Hollywood... is Nuts?

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    1. "…finish the story solid." That's a great way to put it. I like that.

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  2. I do like a happy ending but I also like to be "moved" so when I've seen a movie it makes me think later on about it. I'm thinking of the not-happy endings in Seven and Leaving Las Vegas. Both are very dark films and both left me feeling very emotional and are movies I could never get out of my head. Steel Magnolias is among my top 10 faves!!! Oh, I do hope you'll do a list of YOUR Top 10!!!

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    1. A list of my top 10? Yikes… how would I choose? I have so many favorites! I'll have to put my mind to that.

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  3. I don't mind movies that do not have a happy ending. But I have to be in the mood to watch them. Schindler's List comes to mind. Sophie's Choice, Titanic. Speaking of Beaches, I watched it again last week. Still cried at the end, when Bette sings Wind Beneath My Wings.

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    1. Being in the right mood does help. I think I take it hardest when I don't expect a sad ending... when I watch a film without realizing it's a tear-jerker.

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  4. I watched " A Little Bit Of Heaven" or soemthing like that with Goldie Hawn's daughter. It had some things that shocked me a bit but the whole idea of her in the film dealing with serious illnes had me crying through the whole thing. :(

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    1. I haven't seen "A Little Bit of Heaven." Thanks for the warning! Crying at the end is bad enough, I don't want to cry through the whole movie. ;-)

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  5. I have a love hate relationship with happy endings. Of course it is great to see everyone happy and everything works out but that makes it a bit unrealistic. I can appreciate films (especially foreign) that may not have a happy ending but take a more realistic outlook on life and the world.

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    1. Foreign films do bring a different outlook. Someone recommended a Chinese film to me as a "comedy" and it was such a tear jerker! Everything went wrong for the person, and then in the end he was hit by a car and killed. I never did see where the "humor" was in the story.

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