De miedo también se muere

This was, without a doubt, the most hilariously comic performance that the brilliant Dom DeLuise had on film. When, in the midst of a depressed "woe is me" rant, he looks up and asks "Do you think we'll ever switch to the metric system?", well, it just don't get no funnier than that. His botched suicide attempts, as well as his eagerly wanting to help Burt with HIS suicide, oh heck, just go rent it yourself! You'll love it.

Burt was brilliant too. He holds a thin line between wanting to die and wanting to live that is believable. It's a real shame that this movie often gets me blank stares when I tell others about it. More people know about Four Weddings and a Funeral (a movie so horrid that I still refuse to watch another Andie McDowell flick) than this quiet classic. (sigh)

Burt Reynolds throws himself in front of and behind the camera in this 1978 gem of a comedy. Not the best comedy that year, but far from the worse. Reynolds may have bit off more than he could chew by directing and acting all in one, but the final product was funny enough for cinemas. Still, without Dom DeLuise, this movie would be far from watchable. It is DeLuise that saves this movie. At sometimes dark, The End mixes mild comedy which delivers this Woody Allen (who wrote the original script) type story. DeLuise is nothing but brilliant as the lovable, yet crazy friend of Reynolds. This movie is nothing but fun. Not the best movie, but a nice story with an interesting cast of characters. However, if this movie was re-edited the movie would have been better told. The movie changes once Dom DeLuise is introduced. The first half of the movie has its funny moments, but it is not until the second half do we start to truly laugh. A better Editor could have saved this movie by cutting the timeline up to have most of the first half as a flash back. For starters, I would have started the movie at the half way point where we find Reynolds waking up from attempted suicide. Then have his character going back in time to reflect on what occurred following up to his arrival in the nut house. That way, we could welcome Deluise earlier to the movie and give the Reynolds character more of an appreciated back story before we arrive at the central transition. Before Reynolds arrives to the beach, i would have his final flashback be of his daughter where we get to the climax of his final decision. All in all, a good movie worth watching.

Everyone remembers this one, esp the scene at the loony bin window where Dom Delouise is hellbent of finishing Burt off, Burt has second thoughts about plummetting to his death, and so on. That alone is great. Kirsty McNichols was also very good too. (I was too young when I saw it to appreciate the presence of Myrna Loy and Joanne Woodward, and so I do look forwards to seeing it again in fact)

I also can remember seeing David Steinberg doing his whacked out shrink routine-'Get off of me!', etc. too. He is kinda forgotten now but a funny guy nonetheless.

So yeah, I do recommend this to anyone who wants to see an underrated Reynolds flick, it really is pretty good.

***

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.

Thanks to my taping this on VHS 20 years ago (from network prime time, with the hard language dubbed over), our whole family was able to see it over the years. Even the kids loved it. We still do. While Burt Reynolds is well-known for macho action, this offbeat black comedy gives us one of his best characters: the fatally-ill Sonny is a selfish, shady man-child who can't maintain a relationship, but thanks to a clever script by Jerry Belson, Reynolds is able to make him funny, and at times, even poignant. He's surrounded by talented cast of veterans including Joanne Woodward, Pat O'Brien, Myrna Loy, Carl Reiner, Sally Field, and an unforgettable Dom DeLuise as the most lovable psychotic you'll ever see. Do not miss Sonny's early scene in the confessional with the wide-eyed, newbie-priest Robby Benson, where Reynolds delivers one of the unsung 'great movie quotes': "Bless me, Dave, for I have sinned." This is one of Burt's best comedies.