“If you want a happy ending that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
We’re probably all familiar with that observation by Orson Welles and in most cases, it holds true. Stop One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest after R. P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) has brought much needed relief in the form of a wild private party, shall we say, to the ward and cured Billy Bibbet’s stutter, and you’ve got a happy ending. Keep the movie going a few more minutes and, well, not so much. Going those extra few minutes leads to a couple of character deaths and none of it is exhilarating or feel-good in any way. Surprisingly, that’s not always the case. Even when we like the characters, their death may be the only satisfactory way out and one in which the audience anticipates and expects it to happen.
Tonight on TCM is one prime example, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. (Oh, did I forget to say SPOILER ALERT? I guess I should. Pretty much every movie discussed in this post involves an important character dying so if you don’t want to take any chances of seeing a movie listed you’re unfamiliar with, don’t read the post. But you know you want to because life is all about taking chances!) Now, when Butch and Sundance perish in the end, in a cloud of dust and gunfire, we don’t actually see it, we just see them heading out to their guaranteed demise before the movie freeze frames the scene. And, to be sure, we’re not thrilled that they’re dead (unless we really hate them but the movie works very hard to make you really like them) but there’s a kind of exhilaration in their death that arises from its inevitability. A part of the trade-off of living the life they chose to live is that the end could come at any moment and dying of old age is probably a one in a million shot. So when they die, you not only saw it coming in the first reel, especially if you know your history, you feel like this is the apt way for them to go out. Maybe even the way they’d want to go out. No one leaves Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid depressed, thinking, “I can’t believe they’re dead. I can’t stop crying!” No, it’s an exciting ending and one in which the deaths of the main characters does nothing to dampen the spirits.
Following Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid tonight on TCM is the 1968 sci-fi classic, Planet of the Apes. It’s another case where the lead character dying not only doesn’t detract but is half-expected/encouraged. Now, I’m not talking about events that happen in the first movie but the second, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, in which the lead character of Taylor (Charlton Heston) dies while setting off the doomsday bomb and wiping out the apes and the mutants all in one fell swoop. It’s a heroic death, the kind the audience cheers and walks away feeling good about. A little like Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) falling on the plunger that sets off the explosives in The Bridge on the River Kwai. It’s not that it’s a little sad that this deluded man quite blatantly worked with the enemy to satisfy his personal sense of achievement, it is. But, hey, as long as you’ve been hit with shrapnel from a nearby explosion and are stumbling about, ready to die, might as well fall on that plunger and correct at least a little of what you did wrong.
Speaking of heroic deaths, horror seems to do them more often, and better, than most action or war movies where you’d expect it more. Think of Father Karras in The Exorcist, taking a header down the stairs to save a little girl. It’s a little more serious and sadder than other deaths on this list but, still, because it’s for a selfless result, it feels good, for lack of a better phrase. Or how about Roney (James Donald) in the 1967 film version of Qatermass and the Pit, taking himself out, and the threat of alien control, with one rather badass death-ride on a crane? Or maybe the most famous, the monster of The Bride of Frankenstein letting his creator and bride escape before taking himself out, along with his hissing would-be companion and the other doctor he doesn’t care too much about, with a simple, “We belong dead.”
By the reverse token, keeping a character alive, in certain circumstances, is a fate much worse than death. Also airing today on TCM is I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and while no one watching the movie would ever wish James Allen (Paul Muni) ill, having him killed in a prison escape might have actually made for a more merciful ending. Keeping him alive to suffer the fate of despair is much worse. In Cool Hand Luke, airing today as well, the character death is anything but welcome, or is it? Maybe, like James Allen, we’d rather see Luke die than suffer a life of despair. It’s a tougher call than some of these other titles.
As always, this isn’t intended to be an all-inclusive list, just a starter list to think about when a lead character’s death can not only be expected but welcomed. In some cases, like Colonel Nicholson, he may simply not be very likable and so his death doesn’t really sadden us. In other cases, despite being likable, some characters’ deaths are so fitting, like Butch and Sundance, it would feel wrong to want them to live. And it just goes to show that having a happy ending isn’t just where you choose to end it but how. Sometimes, letting a character live can mean the death of a happy ending.