MovieChat Forums > Coma (1978) Discussion > Was Widmark arrested at the end?

Was Widmark arrested at the end?


Sorry if I'm a little slow, but I was never sure what the ending implied there.

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Yes. Dr. Mark saved Susan, and the cops were waiting for Dr. Harris (Widmark) outside the OR.

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Thanks. It was just kinda a cryptic way they handled that scene.

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They appear … magically.

In the movies, all it takes for a swarm of cops to show up with guns drawn is one phone call: “MURDEROUS SURGEON ON THE LOOSE AT BOSTON MEMORIAL! COME QUICK!” In this case they appear in minutes, or maybe seconds — just long enough for Michael Douglass to climb down that long ladder, bound upstairs, find a phone, and burst in on Susan just as she wakes up. Magical.

Susan herself shows how it works in Movieland when she asks her boss, “Why don’t you just arrest Dr. George?”, apparently unaware that hospital administrators don’t have police powers.

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He sure was arrested. The cops were waiting for him after he failed to kill Dr. Wheeler, he realized she woke up from the operation, thanx to Micheal Douglas Character, he was like "oh sh_t" and you can see the cops ready to take him away!

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[deleted]

Actually, he didn't kill anyone. They were in medically induced comas.

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namaGemo 9 months ago
Actually, he didn't kill anyone. They were in medically induced comas.

Um, yes he did, and no they weren't.

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It's nice how Harris' fate wasn't spelled out. Murdering people for organs, unnecessary surgery on Susan...it's pretty obvious he was done as a doctor.

------Jesus loves you, but only as a friend.------

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"If" he had enough money he walked away laughing, like John Edwards.

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As evil as this sounds I hope he wound up in some horrible prison and I would have loved for him to get a life sentence with no chance of parole. I also would have loved to watch him get horribly mistreated including some gang rapes by the other inmates.

To me the guy was worse than a child molester (and legally he was too since under the law murderers are worse than child molesters).

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In the script, there is a description of the door swinging open and shut, with cops amassing on the other side. The doctor turns off the lights, so he is lit only by the panels holding Susan's X-rays. Then he picks up a scalpel and it cuts to black. The implication is that he will slit his wrist or throat with the scalpel rather than be arrested, and being a doctor it will be effective. The finished film is more ambiguous.

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Reminds me of the corrupt warden killing himself in Shawshank Redemption. I really wanted him arrested and put on trial and sent to prison, I hate it when such horrible villains get the easy way out.

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I can't believe this question has been asked.

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