I know this is a controversial thing to bring up...but watching the start with Morrow's character rambling on about his racist tripe made me wonder.
The guy just made some hateful comments out of frustration and possibly because he was a little drunk, and he was stressed out at the time. Did he REALLY deserve to live through some of the worst moments of racial intolerance just because of that? It wasn't like he was some hatemonger or something.
He was a very hateful man imo, the original cut would have been different but after the helicopter accident they obviously had to change it, this is what was supposed to happen
The Ending would have had Morrows character discover the children in a hut and then have a change of heart when the little girl gives him a broken barbie doll, fearing for all their lives as military helicopters approach the Vietnamese village he attempts to carry the kids to safety. He is then inexplicably transported back to the Deep South then Nazi Germany etc (confused and still worried about the children, he asks after them) he gets thrown into a freight car by the Nazis (this was used as the last scene in theatrical cut) he then is finally returned to the street outside the bar where he gets hit by a car, the black man he was insulting at the start of movie rushes out to help him, the end shot is of Morrows hand still clutching the broken barbie doll the young Vietnamese girl gave him.
It hints at redemption for Vic's character rather than just a bleak ending where he is killed for being a racist, the ending it has now makes the whole segment kinda pointless I think.
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But still, making a guy who made some angry statements out of pure frustration (honestly, it wasn't like he was hurting anyone) go through all of that seems a bit over-the-top.
He definitely deserved most of what he got. Getting a brief glimpse into the human misery brought on as a result of hateful people like him probably gave him some much need perspective. Hell, I'd say this country is full of people that could use a similar glimpse.
I'll admit the ending was a bit extreme. I'd much rather the guy live with knowing what kind of asshat he's been instead of dying.
The thing is the Holocaust shows the result of racism and xenophobia. That really happened to people for being different. Heck there still are neo-Nazis today. So the end of the statement drives the point home. The end result of bigotry.