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''The End'' is a 1978 American
black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...
directed by and starring
Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as '' ...
, written by
Jerry Belson Jerry Belson (July 8, 1938 – October 10, 2006) was a writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films for over 40 years. Career Belson's writing credits include the Steven Spielberg films ''Always'' and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ...
, and with music composed by Paul Williams. The film also stars Dom DeLuise along with Sally Field,
Strother Martin Strother Douglas Martin Jr. (March 26, 1919 – August 1, 1980) was an American character actor who often appeared in support of John Wayne and Paul Newman and in Western films directed by John Ford and Sam Peckinpah. Among Martin's memorable p ...
, David Steinberg, Joanne Woodward, Norman Fell, Myrna Loy,
Kristy McNichol Christina Ann McNichol (born September 11, 1962) is an American former actress. She is known for such film roles as Angel in ''Little Darlings'', Polly in '' Only When I Laugh'', and Barbara Weston in the TV sitcom ''Empty Nest''. She won two Emmy ...
, Pat O'Brien,
Robby Benson Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films '' One on One'' (1977) and ''Ice Castles'' (1978). He subsequently ...
and
Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...
. Reynolds later said he "loved" the film. "Nobody wanted to do it. They allowed me to do ''The End'' if I did '' Hooper'', which made a fortune for Warner Brothers. But ''The End'' eventually made $40 million."


Plot

Wendell "Sonny" Lawson, an unscrupulous real-estate promoter, learns that he has a fatal blood disease and decides to kill himself rather than enduring a slow, painful death. He takes the time to meet with several friends and family members for the last time, while hiding the fact about his suicide attempt. Sonny ends up in a mental institution, where he befriends a fellow patient, Marlon Borunki, a deranged schizophrenic murderer.


Cast

*
Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as '' ...
as Wendell Sonny Lawson * Dom DeLuise as Marlon Borunki * Sally Field as Mary Ellen *
Strother Martin Strother Douglas Martin Jr. (March 26, 1919 – August 1, 1980) was an American character actor who often appeared in support of John Wayne and Paul Newman and in Western films directed by John Ford and Sam Peckinpah. Among Martin's memorable p ...
as Dr. Waldo Kling * David Steinberg as Marty Lieberman * Joanne Woodward as Jessica Lawson * Norman Fell as Dr. Samuel Krugman * Myrna Loy as Maureen Lawson *
Kristy McNichol Christina Ann McNichol (born September 11, 1962) is an American former actress. She is known for such film roles as Angel in ''Little Darlings'', Polly in '' Only When I Laugh'', and Barbara Weston in the TV sitcom ''Empty Nest''. She won two Emmy ...
as Julie Lawson * Pat O'Brien as Ben Lawson *
Robby Benson Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films '' One on One'' (1977) and ''Ice Castles'' (1978). He subsequently ...
as Father Dave Benson *
Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...
as Dr. James Maneet *Louise LeTourneau as Receptionist *
Bill Ewing William R. Ewing is an American director, producer, screenwriter and president of Every Tribe Entertainment and Bearing Fruit Entertainment.James Best as Pacemaker Patient *
Frank McRae Frank McRae (March 18, 1941 – April 29, 2021) was an American film and television actor, and a professional football player. Early life McRae was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He graduated from Tennessee State University with a double majo ...
as Male Nurse *
Jock Mahoney Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney (February 7, 1919 – December 14, 1989), known professionally as Jock Mahoney, was an American actor and stuntman. He starred in two Action/Adventure television series, '' The Range Rider'' and ''Yancy Derringer''. H ...
as Old Man


Production

Belson wrote the script in 1971 and it was under development at
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mult ...
before producer Lawrence Gordon took it on. He sat on the script for five years until Burt Reynolds became attached and the film went into development at United Artists. Reynolds said he wanted to do the film because "I'd read an awful lot of comedies and none struck me as especially funny, according to my strange sense of comedy. There are a lot of minefields in this topic, death, and that's why everybody turned it down over the last five years." He elaborated: "You can deal with death on a totally
Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...
level, but when you try to make a film with parts that are really real amidst the comedy, that's a big risk. What's really funny is what's real. When I was very sick, if I told you what I did, it was funny."McBride, Joseph; Riley, Brooks (May/June 1978). Film Comment: "'The End' is just the beginning". ''New York'' Vol. 14, Issue 3. pp 16–21. The studio was reluctant to finance ''The End''. They were unhappy with Reynolds wearing a beard and wanted his profession to be a stock car racer. But Reynolds insisted. Reynolds said "Some people think the guy in ''The End'' is as far away from me as anybody could be, but people who really know me realize that it's very close to what I am. The guy crying in the doctor's office, that's me. This guy is totally nude." The original ending had Marlon kill Sonny. Reynolds said he changed it "because I thought it had to have some hope." Reynolds said, "If I do anything similar to other directors, it's very much like European directors in the sense that in ''The End'' I crowd the actors with the camera. I do that because he's suffocating, so I used an inordinate number of close-ups, using close-ups the way others would use masters. Wertmüller did it a lot in ''
Seven Beauties ''Seven Beauties'' ( it, Pasqualino Settebellezze, "Pasqualino Sevenbeauties") is a 1975 Italian language film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler. Written by Wertmüller, the ...
''. Mr. Klein had a lot of tight close-ups."


Songs

* "Another Fine Mess" ** Music and lyrics by Paul Williams ** Sung by
Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting '' The Glen Campbell Good ...


Release and reception

''The End'' had its world premiere as the closing night film at
Filmex The Los Angeles International Film Exposition, also called Filmex, was an annual Los Angeles film festival held in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was the predecessor of the American Film Institute's Los Angeles International Film Festival. After the ...
in Los Angeles on May 7, 1978, and was released in New York City and Los Angeles on May 10. The mixture of comedy with the dark subject of suicide was not what critics were expecting from a Burt Reynolds film, and was not well-received. '' New York Times'' critic
Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
gave the film a negative review, placing most of the blame on the shoulders of Burt Reynolds, the director. He felt the film was uneven, writing, "this is half-heartedly satiric material that's been directed by Mr. Reynolds as if it were broad, knock-about comedy sometimes and, at other times, as if it were meant to evoke pathos, which it never does." Art Murphy at '' Variety'' magazine was even more critical of the film, calling it "a tasteless and overripe comedy that disintegrates very early into hysterical, undisciplined hamming." The magazine's terse review was particularly harsh when it came to the supporting cast, calling Dom DeLuise "absolutely dreadful," Sally Field "phoning in a kooky-pretty role," and Joanne Woodward, "poorly utilized." As of April 2020, ''The End'' held a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on fifteen reviews. It was, however, well enough received by audiences and was a moderate box office success. After 2 weeks in New York and L.A., it expanded to 466 theaters in the U.S. and Canada and grossed $4,571,980 in its first 6 days of nationwide release and went on to make nearly $45,000,000 in the U.S. and Canada alone.


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:End (1978 film), The 1978 films 1970s black comedy films 1970s buddy comedy-drama films American black comedy films American buddy comedy-drama films 1970s English-language films Films about suicide Films directed by Burt Reynolds Films set in California United Artists films Films with screenplays by Jerry Belson 1978 comedy films 1970s American films