The tragedy
Johnny died preventing a nuclear holocaust, and nobody will ever know.
shareGood point. I never thought of that.
MovieChat Forums > The Dead Zone (1983) Discussion > The tragedy
He gave his life for something meaningful.
Can't stop the signal.
Certainly a tragedy. But he was able to pull it off and save countless. And he knew he wasn't gonna walk away and that nobody would directly understand.
shareHe wrote a letter to Sarah before the assassination attempt. Maybe he explains his reasons for doing so.
Do not taunt happy fun ball.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Fun_Ball share
In the book he writes letters to several people, including his father and Sarah. In the book it is made clear that he explains why he is doing it (that Stillson will cause a nuclear war). But this only comes in the letters, which are at the end, after the shooting. Before that all you really know is that he is getting bad vibes from Stillson but the book doesn't have a definitive cohesive moment like in the movie (when he sees the whole nuke thing going down). He just sort of has visions of smoke and fire and everything being gone etc. and so you don't know yourself that he's seen a Nuclear War until you read the letters he wrote and again, that doesn't happen 'til the very end of the book.
I actually like how the movie does it. It is very clear cut. You could argue simplified but I prefer it. Also the ending in the movie is better as it is also very concise (showing the suicide). In the book, when he grips Stillson at the end, he says something like how there's nothing there, almost like an empty bookcase, and he knows all is well. Very ambiguous in a way although it's made clear any threat is now gone. But the whole Newsweek magazine with suicide at the end of the movie is more concise and again I prefer that myself.
I disagree.. the movie dumbed it down. The whole vision where Stillson goes nuts and threaten the other guy he is going to hack his hand off if he has to to fire the missiles because its his destiny and then goes out, and a bunch of people are running toward him like "no, dont fire the missiles, there is a diplomatic solution and he is grinning like "too late guyz" was laughable.. no subtlety whatsoever. its like beating the message "this guy is insane and are going to kill masses" with a hammer to the audiences head.
would have preferred if in his vision we only get to see a mushroom cloud, fire and shít, that would have been enough to put the picture together.
Stillson committing suicide was theatrical and not necessary, again too clean cut, plus it was the repetition of what happened with Dodd. him not having the future as the president was enough and the point - he didnt get to kill the person, just creating a scenario his true nature becomes visible is enough. not knowing what happened with stillson after drove the point home - because it was irrelevant. with how the movie did it it was more like "so the bad man got what was coming for him as well" - too idealistic and cliche.
no it wasn't
shareThe ice! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, is gonna break!
Geez the most hammed up overacted line he every gave
Just can’t think of this movie without that scene popping up in my head