Who here thinks the film would have been better if John committed suicide? I for one think so. It would also have fitted much better with the Christ figure motive running through the film.
- This comment is most likely authentic and fairly close to what I intended to say -
I thought it was one of the most anti-climactic endings ever. I mean, she says "I love you" and THEN faints? Talk about leaving a sister hangin'.. haha.
I was actually expecting/hoping he would go with something more like, "I'm not Mr. Doe, but I am a John Doe. My name is John Willoughby." or something like that. It would have been very appropriate as Ann already pointed out the fact that John Doe died but the movement has not. I was also hoping they'd give those politicians a good whacking like in John Willoughby's dream, yes? Oh well.
Very good movie, nonetheless.
Though I liked the ending of John Doe, the alternative suicide version would have been powerful. However would the people responsible for censorship have allowed such an ending?
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
I love the movie and the ending as it is, but I've always wanted to see the alternate endings.
shareThe villains that lose in meet John Doe have won in real life so many times...
The only way the ending works is if he jumps. He doesn't have to die, or even be seriously injured. Cooper could have survived it any number of ways, but he has to go over the rail, and have witnesses see that his intent was real.
I loved the film up until that point, then the ending stunk it all up. Capra could have been worked it out to satisfy the test group, even with a christian theme of sacrificing yourself for a greater cause, only to be reborn, but it copped out :P
Narratively the ending was badly crafted for the happy ending the audiences always want.
Good to know that some years later Capra evolved and could direct a movie where the happy ending is very well built and credible.
Nothing against happy endings. They just needs to be narratively coherent and not only a deux ex machina forced scene.
"If it's worth dying for it's worth living for."
Barbara Stanwyck's plea to John at the end of the film, specifically that line, sums up why the ending was perfect in my view.
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Ram this in your clambake, bitchcakes!
The Production Code wouldn't have allowed it. Suicide was not an acceptable solution to a person's problems. *
Then again, Capra might have gotten away with it. Old Man Potter should have been punished for (at least) his stealing the S&L's money, but that got overlooked.
Of course, the film tries to make a positive statement about what human beings can be. To have your hero kill himself -- without it carrying moral weight -- would send a very mixed message.
There's something to think about... What was in the letter Willoughby sent?
* In Stage Door, one of the characters commits suicide off-screen. This might have been allowed to pass as she wasn't a major character.