The End (1978)

Slapstick black comedy about a man (Reynolds) who finds that he hasn't much longer to live and has bungled his attempts at suicide.

Director:

Burt Reynolds

Writer:

Jerry Belson

Stars:

Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Dom DeLuise

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Burt Reynolds	...	Wendell Sonny Lawson
Dom DeLuise	...	Marlon Borunki
Sally Field	...	Mary Ellen
Strother Martin	...	Dr. Waldo Kling
David Steinberg	...	Marty Lieberman
Joanne Woodward	...	Jessica Lawson
Norman Fell	...	Dr. Samuel Krugman
Myrna Loy	...	Maureen Lawson
Kristy McNichol	...	Julie Lawson
Pat O'Brien	...	Ben Lawson
Robby Benson	...	Father Dave Benson
Carl Reiner	...	Dr. James Maneet
Louise LeTourneau	...	Receptionist
Bill Ewing	...	Hearse Driver
Robert Rothwell	...	Limousine Driver

Storyline

Wendell Lawson has only 6 months to live. Not wanting to live his last few months of life waiting for the end, he decides to take his own life. He enlists the help of a humorously delusional mental patient, and the movie chronicles his many unsuccessful attempts to kill himself. Will he ever succeed...?

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Plot Keywords:

mistress | mental patient | attempted suicide | slapstick comedy | best friend | 

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Taglines:

A comedy for you and your next of kin.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

A vég

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$44,917,151, 31 December 1978

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gordon-Reynolds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robby Benson plays the supporting role of Father Dave Benson in this picture. Star Burt Reynolds would later star in Benson's movie Modern Love (1990).

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Goofs

During the landscape truck getaway Sonny and Marlon drive through a construction zone, up a trailer/ramp and perform a jump. Cut scenes during the jump alternately show Marlon in the truck bed holding-on a frame rail and no one in the truck bed.

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Quotes

Wendell Sonny Lawson: Fifty percent, Lord! I'm talking gross!

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Alternate Versions

Some shortened prints censor Burt Reynold's final monologue.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Burt Reynolds/Teresa Ganzel/Eddie Edwards (1988)

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Soundtracks

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
(uncredited)
Written by Vini Poncia and Leo Sayer
Portion sung by Harry Caesar

User Reviews

That's All there is

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.