The ending is ludicrous.
It's amazing to me that people think this is a great film.
shareIt's more amazing to me how ridiculous you are.
shareNo Doug is right, and you are a bit of a tw@ nscom.
share
MovieChat Forums > The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Discussion > The ending is ludicrous.
doug,
Well, with all due respect, it's just as amazing to me that some people think it is not.
It's a great movie but some of it really is ludicrous, I'm surprised not to see any posts about the young idiot Lt. Joyce.
What bugs me the most about this movie is Joyce at the ending, I guess it makes it suspenseful, but whatever. Lets be realistic, Joyce would have never been on any crack commando team, it makes no difference that he's young, obviously he's not cut out for it, not sure that he can kill? Okay then get the F out, who in their right mind is going to risk an operation with someone that green? You're not going to trust him to cover your back, duh, look what happened to Maj. Warden, it's just stupid and unrealistic.
Now he's going to wait there with the detonator plunger, and wait, and wait, and he see's they found the trip wire, so he waits, they're tracing the wire which could be cut in a second, but he waits, and he waits, then mortars go off and shooting, still he waits, the Colonel's are approaching he still waits, then instead of detonating the explosives, does he shoot Col. Saito with his rifle? No, of course not, he finally grows a pair of balls (are we to believe better late than never?) and decides to run out and stab Col. Saito, does he think Nicholson's just going to stand there? I know he's young and he's an idiot but we're supposed to believe that he's that stupid not to push the plunger? This is where in movies that suspense turns into idiocy.
Have to agree with you generally here ; that kid would never have got on any crack Commando team, not in a thousand years ; however, our senior officers did make mistakes all the same!
shareNot only that, but the kid is doubly responsible for Shears' demise. If he kills the Jap soldier earlier, Warden would have been able to man the waterline leaving Shears in the safer mortar diversion position up top. He would then not have been, of course, in any position to dive in and make the frantic but deadly swim. I loved their last lines to each other "YOU!".
shareWith regards to that, I liked it that Shears actually doubted Warden not Joyce, before they set out in the plane. It showed his judgement of men (the defining factor in a major) wasn't quite there and couldn't see past his view of the antiquated upper class Brit; given we know he was a regular soldier and reluctant combatant. In that way he is partly accountable for his own downfall, though obviously both brave and gallant. Could be argued he wasn't cold blooded enough for the job either.
Would have preferred Nicholson to have chosen to pull the plunger himself, as he seemed about to, as the way he fell was slightly comical, but having the Japanese soldiers miss enough for that to happen might also have been stretching things too far for a Hollywood ending. Liked the idea that his manner of death arguably had more lasting impact than his 28 years of service in total, as he had questioned on the bridge.
Gave the film a 10. Enjoyed the pace, cinematography and darkness of both the characters and ending, underneath all that stiff upper lip, hazy charm, whistling and what might have been a more stereotypical happy ending. Probably slots in as my second favourite World War II or Vietnam movie after the Deer Hunter.
"a great movie" allows one to suspend disbelief. This film doesn't so I'd class it as a mediocre disappointment.
shareQuite. Another ludicrous aspect of the ending is how long we hear train whistles for before the train actually reaches the bridge. Movie time is condensed, but even by that condensed measure almost 8 movie minutes elapse from the first whistle to the train beginning to cross the bridge. It would be somewhat different if the earlier whistles are much much quieter, but they are not.
This, and the ludicrous kid being in charge of the detonator, took me right out of the movie on today's re-watching.
-why not just blow up the bridge? why wait until the train is almost there?
-having colonel nicholson fall down to detonate it, like out of a cartoon.
'The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore helmets.'-Al McGuire ✈
He wanted to wait until the train came before blowing up the bridge. If he shot Saito the guards from the bridge would have run over before the train come. And how was he supposed to know that Nicholson would attack him? He did not know that Nicholson was obsessed with the bridge.
share"he waits, then mortars go off and shooting, still he waits, the Colonel's are approaching he still waits,"
You got the sequence wrong. It's dead quiet (except for the approaching train) when he kills Saito. No shots are fired until after Shears yells "Kill him!" and jumps into the water. So he wasn't sitting there waiting while bullets were flying and mortars were being fired. Joyce was dead before Warden shot off the first mortar round.
Here's a link to the scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkwyt0ytVJI
As I've posted elsewhere, they were "ordered" to wait for the train. Joyce has no idea that Nicholson will try to prevent him from blowing the bridge, that is until Nicholson grabs his legs and starts yelling for help. Joyce gets shot shortly after.
"Push the button, Max!"
Well, whatever, doesn't matter, Joyce is still a moron idiot, he should know in any second the line will be cut by either Saito or Nicholson, he needs to weigh the odds, is it better to blow up the bridge before the train comes, or not at all, which was very, very likely considering. The idiot Joyce failed in his mission due to his stupidity.
shareIs this hitting too close to home or something for you? What, did someone once wait too long for something you wanted? You're really obsessed with Joyce.
The setup is there. He's young but eager. They give him what's essentially the job that requires the least expertise and (until Nicholson starts following the line) out of the way. Things change quickly.
Plus it's clear there are two factors here: 1) The orders are expressly to blow up the train along with the bridge--my guess is the train is carrying something important, and 2) He assumes Nicholson is going to take care of Saito himself and be ecstatic about being liberated. If you saw an officer from your own armed forces with an enemy officer anyone would logically assume he's there under duress.
It all makes sense completely. We know more because we're a third-person viewer, but if you were in his place you'd do the same thing. Wait for the train per SPECIFIC orders, and assume your own officer hasn't completely gone insane.
The idiot Joyce failed in his mission due to his stupidity.
And yet, he didn't. The mission was accomplished completely. The train is destroyed, the bridge is down.
The End.
My ignore list is much too long for a sig line. Do not assume you are not on it. share
Joyce was following orders, he would not have been able to know that Warden wanted him to do it then, junior officers would have to follow senior officers orders to the letter. He doesn't shoot Saito because it would have alerted the guards on the bridge (obvious innit) and he expected Nicholson to realise what was going on and help him, which is why he kept repeating that he was working for the allies to Nicholson. Really your argument does not hold up at all. It's like the so called goof that Joyce moves after being shot, he wasn't killed instantly because he was shot in the abdomen and would have taken time to bleed internally to death, which is why he is correctly still bleeding and moves after being shot. Gawd blimey.
share[deleted]
I agree that Joyce being on the team is not realistic, but neither is forcing Shears to go along. While he had a general idea of the route he followed to get out, he's not a commando nor a paratrooper. He's just as much of a potential liability to the mission as Joyce. Since they already had the local Siamese bearers lined up, they really didn't need Shears as a guide since they obviously knew how to get there no matter which direction they took.
So, all artistic license aside, you are mistaken in your criticism of Joyce at the end. There are no mortars or gunfire going off as Nicholson and Saito are tracing the wire back to Joyce. In fact, no one but Nicholson and Saito are aware of any problem. This is why Joyce uses his knife to kill Saito quietly rather than shooting him and alerting the Japanese.
Joyce was under orders to blow the bridge when the train was on it, which is why he's waiting. It's only when Nicholson starts yelling for help after Saito is killed and blows their cover that Joyce is forced to act earlier. If Nicholson had just kept his mouth shut and let Joyce do his job, he could have waited for the train as ordered.
You shouldn't worry. Movies like this will be pushed off the Top 250 after 50 more years of Nolan and Jackson films. Just keep voting 10/10 and you'll be able to make a fairly solid (by your standards) argument.
tinyurl.com/primanocta
The ending was the best part. The movie was mostly boring but the ending saved it.
6/10.. watchable but shouldn't be considered an all-time great
Great ending. Movie history.
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The ending wasn't ludicous, it was Madness....Madness....
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
I like your signature, it makes you wonder if they actually saw the movie or even know anything about films.
shareThank you. It does make me wonder the same question as well. Seems that most people want others to do all the work for them. A little bit of effort on their part would answer just about all the questions they have. It's as if most people's DIY skills have deteriorated to nothing.
"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"
The movie is definitely a fiction is not real to life. I think you just got to take it for face value as just pure hollywood entertainment.
shareMost of the film is ludicrous, not just the end. There is however some very good acting that makes this movie watchable despite the execrable story and script.
All of the above criticisms are valid imo. If you love this movie, then good for you, but don't tell people that silly things make sense when they don't.