''The End'' is a 1978 American

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

directed by and starring

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

, written by

Jerry Belson Jerry Belson (July 8, 1938 – October 10, 2006) was an American writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films for over 40 years. Collaborating with figures like Steve Allen and Garry Marshall, Belson gained recognition for his work on various ...

, and with music composed by Paul Williams. The film also stars

Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, musician, chef, and author. Known primarily for comedy roles, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows. He is widely ...

along with

Sally Field Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has performed in movies, Broadway theater, television, and made records of popular music. Known for her extensive work on screen and stage, she has received many accola ...

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 ...

David Steinberg David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid-1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on ...

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American retired actress. She made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a characteristic nuance and depth of character. ...

Norman Fell Norman Fell (born Norman Noah Feld; March 24, 1924 – December 14, 1998) was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom '' Three's Company'' and its spin-off, '' The Ropers'', and his ...

Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style. Born in Helena, Monta ...

, Kristy McNichol, Pat O'Brien,

Robby Benson Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor, director, and musician. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the films ''Ode to Billy Joe (film), Ode to Billy Joe'' (1976), ''One on ...

and

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. He was the List of awards and nominations received by Carl Reiner, recipient of many awards and ...

. Reynolds was quoted saying he "loved" the film. "Nobody wanted to do it. They allowed me to do ''The End'' if I did ''

Hooper ''Hooper'' may refer to: Place names in the United States: * Hooper, Colorado, town in Alamosa County, Colorado * Hooper, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Hooper, Nebraska, town in Dodge County, Nebraska * Hooper, Utah, place in Weber Cou ...

'', which made a fortune for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

. But ''The End'' eventually made $40 million."

Plot

Wendell "Sonny" Lawson, an unscrupulous

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

real estate promoter, learns that he has a fatal blood disease and has between three months and a year to live. After visiting a hospital ICU, he decides to die by suicide rather than endure the slow, painful death his doctor describes. He takes the time to meet with several friends and family members for the last time, including his daughter Julie and ex-wife Jessica, hiding his prognosis and his intentions from most of them. However, he does reveal his plan to Marty, his best friend and lawyer. Sonny takes an overdose of sleeping pills but wakes up in a

mental institution A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with ...

, in which he has been committed by Marty and Jessica. He befriends fellow patient, Marlon Borunki, a

paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...

schizophrenic Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

with dissociative identity disorder who has been committed for murdering his father in a fit of rage. Marlon is sympathetic to Sonny's continuing desire to die, and so helps him in various unsuccessful attempts, including jumping from a tower, crushing his head in the hospital bed, and being hanged. Sonny meets Dr. Maneet, a psychiatrist with a fatal diagnosis himself, who briefly reawakens Sonny's desire to live and find meaning in the time he has left; unfortunately, immediately after this breakthrough, Dr. Maneet dies in Sonny's arms. Sonny and Marlon break out of the institution, and Sonny retrieves a gun from his girlfriend's house, intending to shoot himself. This too fails when the gun jams, so he drives to the coast and swims into the sea to

drown Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others presen ...

. He "hears" Jessica and Julie talking about him at his funeral and realises he doesn't want to die, and miraculously swims back to land, promising

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

a share of his future profits if he lives; first 50%, then 30%, and finally, when it is clear he will make it back to shore, 10%. Marlon, having found Sonny's gun, fires at him repeatedly, trying to fulfil his wish to die; he misses every time, and Sonny tries to convince him that he now wants to live. Marlon seems to understand, but then pulls a knife and chases Sonny down the beach, and Sonny renews his higher offer to God if he can escape.

Cast

as Wendell Sonny Lawson *

as Marlon Borunki *

as Mary Ellen *

as Dr. Waldo Kling *

as Marty Lieberman *

as Jessica Lawson *

as Dr. Samuel Krugman *

as Maureen Lawson * Kristy McNichol as Julie Lawson * Pat O'Brien as Ben Lawson *

as Father Dave Benson *

as Dr. James Maneet *Louise LeTourneau as Receptionist *

Bill Ewing William R. Ewing is an American director, producer, screenwriter, actor and president of Every Tribe Entertainment and Bearing Fruit Entertainment.

as Hearse Driver *Robert Rothwell as Limousine Driver * James Best as Pacemaker Patient * Frank McRae as Male Nurse * Harry Caesar as Hospital Orderly *

Queenie Smith Queenie Smith (September 8, 1898 – August 5, 1978) was an American stage, television, and film actress. In later life she became a talent agent. Today's audiences may know her best for her Southern-belle character roles in the W. C. Fie ...

as Old Lady in Car * Jock Mahoney as Old Man

Production

Belson wrote the script in 1971 and it was under development at

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

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 United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. 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 Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...

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'' (, "Pasqualino Sevenbeauties") is a 1975 historical black comedy drama Italian film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler. Written by Wertmüller, the film ...

''. '' 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 country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

Release and reception

''The End'' had its world premiere as the closing night film at Filmex in

on May 7, 1978, and was released in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Los Angeles on May 10. The mixture of comedy with the controversial topic of

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

was not what critics were expecting from a Burt Reynolds film, and was poorly received. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' critic

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was 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 2000. ...

gave the film a negative review, placing most of the blame on Burt Reynolds. He felt the film was disjointed, 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 review was highly critical towards the supporting cast, calling Dom DeLuise "absolutely dreadful," Sally Field "phoning in a kooky-pretty role," and Joanne Woodward, "poorly utilized." As of April 2025, ''The End'' held a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews. It was, however, well enough received by audiences and was a huge box office success. After two 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 six 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 1978 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 produced by Lawrence Gordon Films set in California United Artists films Films with screenplays by Jerry Belson 1970s American films Films set in psychiatric hospitals Films about schizophrenia English-language black comedy films English-language buddy comedy-drama films