Sunday, September 12, 2010

The End (1978)

Only in the 70's do you get a comedy about suicide and that's exactly what we have with The End. Burt Reynolds directs himself as a middle aged man with a toxic blood disease. His doctor tells him he only has about a year left to live. Reynold's doesn't feel like waiting and decides he's going to speed up the process and kill himself. He swallows a bottle of his parents sleeping pills and wakes up in a mental institution where he meets Marlon, a nutty psychopath played by Dom DeLuise who killed his father for being polish. The End has some decent jokes but doesn't really pick up until we meet Marlon. This is where the movie gets really crazy. DeLuise tries to assist Reynolds in various ways to commit suicide including, hanging, jumping from a tall tower (that isn't quite high enough), Crushing the skull in a hospital reclining bed, shooting, stabbing and drowning. Dom DeLuise performance as a schizo-loony is hilarious. I don't know if it is that I really like this movie or if I just find it a strange subject matter for a comedy. The End!

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