MovieChat Forums > The Gauntlet (1977) Discussion > Most Preposterous Ending Ever

Most Preposterous Ending Ever

posted 18 years ago by Beetle1
19 replies | jump to latest

Let's face it, the bus scene is silly and ridiculous (in a good way, don't get me wrong).
I love catching the ending of this movie on TV while watching with people who have never seen it before, just for their reaction.

Anyways, let's start another one of those tired, worn out lists.
Most preposterous movie endings ever. (Let's omit Rambo and Commando and choose for movies that are at least supposed to be semi-serious).

1. The Gauntlet
2. I honestly can't think of anything else right now that is on the same level of proposterousity (like my new word? Just made it up) as The Gauntlet.

[–] hydra9 18 years ago

I can't think of anything else for your list either!

Anyway, the ending of this movie was indeed, ridiculous. However, I love the moment when the cops finally stop shooting, the bus sinks down... Then Clint Eastwood kicks the door off and stumbles out.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] arnomation 18 years ago

I just caught this movie on SPIKE TV and for the most part it was decent but the ending was just so ridiculous!

First of all, as they are driving down the street (at two miles an hour, who knows why) toward City Hall there are cops lined up on either side of the street shooting at the bus! You never do that because you'd shoot the cops standing on the other side of the street!

Second, out of the three million rounds of ammunition they fire, not one of them thought to shoot out the tires...

Lastly, they keep shooting and shooting and shooting and then when he steps out of the bus..they stop. The first time they get a clear shot at him they let up...

Then there's the whole scene with the commissioner shooting Clint and then Sandra Locke shooting the commissioner while surrounded by cops and no one flinches...

Yikes...

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Respect_Norton 18 years ago

Sin Eater and Giglie. Ridiculous.

[–] dwises 18 years ago

Interestingly, it was Eastwood's idea to have the bus driving down the street "at two miles an hour", not the scriptwriters' (who had written that the bus roars down the street at top-speed).

In any scene with excess bullets, that was Eastwood's direction (rather than scripted ideas)--the house collapsing, et cetera.

[–] tdf5g 18 years ago

The tires on the bus remain inflated until it stops on the steps. Then they suddenly blow out. This is very unrealistic.

If they held air for that long, they would not just suddenly deflate for no reason.

Yes I know they've been shot up, but if you shoot a hole in a tire that is aired up the air will leak out right then, not a few minutes later and all at once as depicted in the movie.

[–] lumikangas 18 years ago

...ok the tires may be a little bit of a problem on this film...

Well, this film is made in 1977 and those days action films were quite realistic, nowadays nobody really cares because it´s these postmodern times.
I do think that Gauntlet was a major genre improvement and in 1977 it was like Die Hard-times-five. Think of any other bus-centered-film since, The Speed is much less action-packed and it´s been a while. And the genre isn´t about buses.

...on most films any car, bus, bicycle, horse-carriage whatsoever has exploded like nuclear-plant from just few bullets...

[–] parillamilt 18 years ago

A very over the top ending that even when I was a kid, was eye-rollingly bad. Thousands of bullets into a bus going 2 mph?! How about blowing out the tires, blocking the end of one of the streets with something big like a semi and disabling the motor? They would be stuck. Lets not get into the complete disregard for public safety and the police trying to explain their very heavy handed tactics to "defuse" this situation.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] rockmail 16 years ago

"but if you shoot a hole in a tire that is aired up the air will leak out right then, not a few minutes later and all at once as depicted in the movie"

Actually, no. Large tires like a bus or truck tire hold a lot of air, and are also quite large compared to a bullet hole, and have very thick sidewalls.

If you shoot a truck tire, it will lose air quite slowly, and gradually deflate. In fact, it won't lose it all in one 'puff" like in the movie - that effect, and the sequence where all the tires all blow at once, is the "unrealistic" part of the movie.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] maddog30-2 16 years ago

I agree, when the commissioner draws his pistol to shoot the Eastwood character, none of the 50 or so cops around him make an attempt to stop him. Even after he shoots Eastwood, none of the cops do anything to restrain him. Then Sondra Locke pulls a pistol out and again, no cops do or say anything, they just let her shoot the commissioner while the cops around and immediately behind him don't even move when Locke shoots two rounds. But then, you see this kind of thing often in western movies, new and old. Two men prepare for a fast draw against each other in a saloon, and the people behind them don't move out of the way, what the.................I'd be heading out the door.

[–] captain_narcolepsy 15 years ago

Not only that, but think about this for a second: Shockley and Gus show up at city hall in a hijacked bus that's shot to hell, Shockley takes the assistant D.A. hostage, Blakelock shoots both of them, Gus picks up Shockley's gun and shoots Blakelock ... then Gus helps Shockley up and just walk away? WHERE WERE THEY GOING?!?!?

[–] dkgambler 12 years ago

WHERE WERE THEY GOING? C'mon, man! They were going to Courtroom G!

[–] dkgambler 12 years ago

LOL you summarized my comments exactly. The only thing I could possibly add is the cop standing still while Blakelock reaches into his holster to grab his gun to shoot Shockley.

[–] Forgotten_Woodelf 18 years ago

dont forget that none less then two vechicles and one house gets shot up ..

how many times have you seen THAT in a movie..let alone three times? :)

I almost waited to see one more house/car get shot up by thousands of bullets..

[–] budikavlan 18 years ago

It's over the top in a different way, but the most outrageously overblown ending I remember is a movie called "Without a Trace." It's about a mother's reaction to her son's disappearance. Everyone else (including the boy's father) has basically given up, but she refuses to. Then a cop follows up on what sounds like a crackpot witness and it turns out to crack the case. The boy is alive and well, and he takes him back to his mother. Every police jurisdiction on the way back home wants to ride along, though, so there's a long sequence of dozens of police cars, sirens blaring, as they drive back into Manhattan. The sequence is silly enough, but the mother isn't at home, she's grocery shopping......but the cop seems to know this, and all of those police cars stop on the street so the mother can happen upon the giant crowds of people and police cars and see her son getting out of the car, and they can run and meet each other over a long distance with hundreds of people watching, with the music swelling. It's like a massive orgasm of relief and pathos.

[–] dkgambler 12 years ago

LOL, awesome! Someone else is willing to call out the overblown POS that is "Without a Trace". Overacting dildo Judd Hirsch at his overacting dildo best.