Which interpretation of the ending do you like best? *Spoilers*

{My problem with the first explanation is that it doesn't explain several of Walker's strange actions throughout the movie.}

Probably if you wanted to explain it in real terms, he knew there were people around that could probably kill him, he had no trust for them as he had already seen how easy they would kill their own people to cover up their own mistakes or to get rid of people they no longer felt comfortable with crime wise. Of course nothing is ever easy in crime.

{My problem with the second is that if this is a revenge fantasy, why go about it in such a half-hearted way? Walker doesn't kill anyone throughout the course of the movie: if I was planning my perfect revenge plan, I would want to personally take care of everyone involved.}

In death, maybe you don't actually take that sort of revenge yourself. Maybe you are kept from it in order to ascend or get to that place where we all go. Therefore he would NOT be able to actually kill people and still get there. So, he was a catalyst for other people's demise.

{And my problem with the final one is, if Walker is a ghost, why would he simply vanish without checking to see if he "got his money?" If that's thing that was driving your revenge (remember, thoughout the movie Walker says he wants his money back, he never suggests he is motivated *purely* by revenge) then what was the point of his return from the grave? }

His money motive is the only thing that people in the so called real world would understand. His motives would not be understandable if he said; Look, I was dead and now I am back from the dead to get my revenge. It was the early 70's and this wasn't the norm back then for story telling, not only that, it is possible that the book was written even earlier. Only today do those types of issues such as the one Clint Eastwood played give us a deeper meaning and or understanding of revenge and death. My thinking is that it was a combination of both part 2 and part 3 of your ideas. Part 1 wouldn't explain such a finely done movie for most of us who look for deeper meanings in such fare, however for those who wish to see it as a standard crime movie with a twist, they leave that option in the movie, so those who don't understand or refuse to look at its deeper meanings will still have something good they can take away once they finish the movie.


Great post and explanation Filmbuff

Well I can buy 1 and 2, #3 seems a little far fetched and also doesn't feel right for a 1967 movie to me. Personally I’m kinda in the #1 camp, but I think towards end he realizes, or maybe he knew it all along, that it wasn’t about the money. It was strictly revenge. Revenge against his war buddy (I assume from the reunion scene) who so easily betrayed him. Then revenge against an organization that he saw as a collaborator in the death of his wife, who I think he still had deep feelings for. Then at the end he finds out he was a pawn in a power struggle within the organization, and fades out. This is why he didn’t kill Yost. The way the director uses the flashbacks and the incongruity of them was the basis for my interpretation. I think the pullback at the end was a device used by the director to bring everything full circle. I’m really want to read the book now for the authors vision.
I liked Payback, and I saw that movie first, but I think this was a far better movie. 99% of the time the originals are better, the Maltese Falcon is one of the exceptions that come to mind.

Once bitten, twice shy - doesn't that sum up this beautiful movie?

Right before the credits roll at the beginning of the movie, Walker is seemingly thinking of the events that led up to his lying in a jail cell with bullets in his body. He seems to gasp (a dying breath?), then the narrative is "Did it happen? A dream? A dream?".


Maybe I read into that too much, but I took that as his being either in a dying dream or a beginning for his ghost getting ready to put the hurt on some people. Maybe the entire dream had happened in the two seconds before he died.

I'm going to watch it again now. Too many possibilities!

:)

I tend to go with the second one, there is definitely a very dreamy quality that moves forward the plot, and the way the psychological aspects become mixed up with the supposed reality, its very clear, the film is happening at a subconscious level

But I think I got to see it at least 4 or 5 times more, before giving a proper opinion

I just watched this incredible movie for the first time last night, and well before it was over, I was already convinced that it would all turn out to be just Walker's dying dream while lying in that Alcatraz cell. There's just so many hints and suggestions at that conclusion.

-Right from the beginning, there's a certain dream-like quality to the movie - i.e.: frequent dream/flashback sequences, juxtapositioning scenes like Marvin stomping down an endless hallway while showing him stalk his ex-wife, etc.

-There's never any explanation as to how Walker was able to survive his wounds or even escape from the island - even when asked, "How did you escape?," he doesn't answer (reminds me of "Inception," where characters realize that they're in a dream if they can't remember how they got where they are).

-The dream/flashback sequences become more frequent and fragmented as the movie progresses, and the line between them and "reality" becomes increasingly blurred.

-The movie becomes downright bizarre beginning in the scene inside of Carrol O'Connor's house - Walker running around trying to turn off appliances, Angie's voice coming over a loudspeaker and telling him to "just lie down and die" - probably the biggest hint of all that he's really in the process of dying as these scenes are unfolding - Angie playing pool and then attacking Walker with a pool stick, and then Walker ultimately waking up in bed with Angie.

-Walker doesn't know Angie's first name - did her character even exist in real life?

-Carrol O'Conner makes several references to the fact that "Fairfax is dead but doesn't know it yet," or "he'll be dead soon" - which is really alluding to the state of Walker's character IMO.

-Angie's character tells Walker, "You died on Alcatraz" - at first this may seem to be a figurative statement, but in the context of everything else, may simply be a literal one as well.

-At one point, a voiceover from Walker asks himself, "What would you have done with the money anyway? It wasn't yours to keep" (or something along those lines) - the use of "would"/"would've" rather than "will do" is very noteworthy IMO, since it's spoken as if he knows he's not going to get the money, and is more befitting of a dying man's last thoughts than someone looking ahead to the future.