I don't mind the theatrical ending. I just would like to see the film end with a subtlety that matches the rest of the picture.
My "own" ending, although corny, probably sappy, and not all that subtle:
= = = = =
[Fr. Morning has not died in the exorcism.]
Final scene:
Opens as does the current standard version - the university president pensively looking out a window, a gathering of Jesuits looking on, etc.
Kinderman is standing at Karras' graveside, Fr. Morning next to him in a wheelchair, face bandaged, arm in a sling. [In a scene deleted from the original cut, Kinderman in the coroner's office whispers, "Goodbye, Damien". This graveside scene restores it.]
Kinderman: Goodbye, Damien.
Pause...
Morning: Save Your servants [this time, plural]...
Kinderman: ...Amen.
Kinderman wheels Morning away from the graveside.
Final shot:
Kinderman and Morning in middle distance with Damien Karras' grave marker in foreground, as if looking on [as the shattered window looks on Kinderman and Dyer in the Friedkin "director's cut"]. Obviously, then, this scene resonates with the final lines of burgeoning friendship between Kinderman and Dyer at the end of the original novel and in the director's cut.
Fade to black as the faint tinkling of Tubular Bells is briefly heard, which then gives way to the choral music used in the film's end credits.
Roll end credits.
= = = = =
Of course, this ending doesn't fix the extreme elements of the exorcism, but at least it establishes that Morning lives, and that Kinderman will be gaining a new Jesuit friend now that he's lost Dyer. It links Kinderman and Morning as new friends, just as they had been allies in the "exorcism" of Damien Karras.
And of course it doesn't address the ... "realities" ... of the story, e.g., how do Kinderman and Morning explain to the authorities their involvement with Karras, especially Kinderman's "execution" of a helpless man in a straitjacket - etc. At least they could bolster each other's testimony - and there's always the possibility that prior to (re-)burial, an autopsy was done on Karras that would indeed confirm that he was indeed, incredibly, "Patient X" of Cell Eleven - which would help support Kinderman's and Morning's claims. But still, there are lots of loose ends dangling there...
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