MovieChat Forums > Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) Discussion > That Last 10 Minutes (HUGE SPOILER'S Dis...

That Last 10 Minutes (HUGE SPOILER'S Discussion)

posted a year ago by GenoWashingline (872)
26 replies | jump to latest

What did you think of that last 10 mins ?

The Radio Show was SO weird to me, and personally I don't think it worked. Imagine if Spielberg had done something similar at the end of Schindler's List...

I guess it is making some kind of point by having rich middle class (white) people "acting out" the end of the story in a somewhat disrespectful manner (and is relating to today's Crime Podcasts)...but then Martin turns up, and...hmmm 🤔...I just don't quite get that really.

Anyhow, interested in what others thought abou that.

[–] Creamofdacrop884 (1773) a year ago

I was about to come here and post this exact same thread! I've seen some people say how clever it was, but it just took me out of the movie and Marty reading the obituary was so self indulgent. Didn't work for me at all.

[–] orangeflava (1863) a year ago

I thought it was a clever ending and representative of the entertainment of the times. Instead of a standard text epilogue we get that theatrical performance and then a coda from scorsese himself explaining how these events were not even mentioned in obituaries.

As scorsese said tragedy becomes theater.

Thankfully with the book and now this film this tragedy will not be forgotten.

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

Interesting, thank you

[–] phony (226) a year ago

"shit, the movie is already 3h30 hours long and we still need to cover a lot of stuff, how do we end this quickly"

[–] ecarle (14979) a year ago

LOL

[–] Creamofdacrop884 (1773) a year ago

Honestly. that's what it felt like. Scorsese didn't know how to wrap up his own movie.

[–] roger1 (3692) a year ago

As it turns out, Scorsese has now given interviews explaining that that "radio show version of the Osage Murders and their outcome" is based on a REAL radio show, as part of a series REALLY created to promote the "new" FBI and that the "Osage Murder broadcast" was one of the first such shows broadcast.

So with that "real life proof" researched -- Scorsese and his co-writer(Eric Roth) had their ending AND a way to disguise that usual "epilogue writing about what happened" that most crime or political movies end with.

Still, it feels like too "goofy" an ending to too serious a story --and Scorsese inserting himself into it as the final word wa a bit offputting to me(Hitchcock always liked to put his later cameos up front so as not to interfere with the story.)

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

Thanks for the info,

I was wondering if that bit was based in a real life radio show, seems it was.

[–] roger1 (3692) a year ago

Evidently. And one of the first "true crime" broadcasts and, again, evidently set up to promote the FBI.

[–] mplo (2356) a year ago

It sounds as if the entire movie "Killers of the Flower Moon" was based on a true story.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8719) a year ago

. . .as part of a series REALLY created to promote the "new" FBI and that the "Osage Murder broadcast" was one of the first such shows broadcast.

Interestingly, I only recently watched a Jimmy Stewart film called The FBI Story and, despite being quite a solid film, it is very clearly a promotional piece for the FBI. There is even a message at the very end of the movie hailing its brave agents and thanking the agency for its assistance in the making of the film.

[–] Boromir (10024) a year ago

Thought the same thing.

I fail to comprehend those who assert that this ending is genius. Furthermore, I don't see the significance of whether the radio program actually occurred or not. Any movie in which the director delivers a speech and preaches the lesson of the story directly to the audience at the end, instead of letting the story unfold organically, is a flawed concept in my opinion.

It's already a sad story. If the audience hasn't understood by now the immorality of this particular crime then they never will. Quite narcissistic on the part of the director.

[–] untitled6 (291) a year ago

I also loved the small cameo of Jack White at the end. The dude is a legend. And then Marty was just a bonus.

Also Marty made an appearance somewhere in the middle of the movie, he was the photographer at the court.

In the book there is also mentioning of this radio show with the real photos of Ernest, Mollie and William Pale.

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

I have seen a Ytube review where they say that the film starts with Scorcese appearing on screen and saying thank you for coming to see my movie (or similar)

I am pretty sure this must have been a "press preview showing" , but the reviewer seems to think it was part of the general release ...I actually would have loved that.

[–] Moonglum9 (11280) a year ago

Who's Jack White? That guy from the White Stripes? Legend is stretching it a bit.

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

Good long article here about the ending, and about the real life radio show...

https://www.vox.com/culture/23924295/killers-flower-moon-ending-explain-scorsese

[–] SlackerInc (1101) a year ago

I thought it was great, and livened things up in a really nice way after the previous two hours plus were rather plodding and obvious.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) a year ago

I agree the radio show part was odd and it didn't work for me either.

[–] TurnOfTheScrew (9) a year ago

I had just seen Asteroid City a few days before and needed to do a double take when I saw this happen. Maybe Marty was just trying to channel his inner Anderson.

[–] MichaelJPollock (736) a year ago

"Imagine if Spielberg had done something similar at the end of Schindler's List..."
Well, he kinda did, didn't he? The films fades into present time, in colour, and the actors playing the characters all appear on screen as themselves...

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

There weren't any comical sound effects and funny voices at the end of Schlindlers List (as far as I remember)

[–] MichaelJPollock (736) a year ago

No, there indeed weren't.
Their respective tones were definitely different, but I felt both epilogues provided: 1) some form of relief from having just spent 3 hours + of seeing people getting murdered and families being destroyed, 2) some reframing signalling "although this may seem like distant history to you, yes, this happened in the real world to real people".

What I'm really curious about, is why Scorsese decided to locate the epilogue in the 50's, specifically.

[–] GenoWashingline (872) a year ago

Yeah, no probs I see what you mean,

The radio show was based on an actual broadcast in the 50s, which helped me understand more what Scorcese was doing (on first viewing I thought it was a really bad choice, but it does reflect well now)

https://www.vox.com/culture/23924295/killers-flower-moon-ending-explain-scorsese

[–] MichaelJPollock (736) a year ago

Makes sense. Thanks for the info !