How do you get laughs from impending death, especially death from a painful blood disease? Not easy. But that’s what Burt Reynolds goes for in his 1978 black comedy The End, a somewhat uneven but ultimately good-natured entry that doesn’t really embrace the humanity as well as it could, leaving the laughs not particularly as funny or the drama as impactful.
It begins in a doctor’s office, with Sonny Lawson (Reynolds) getting the bad news. He’s got a year to live. Or three months. Or maybe twenty-four hours. It’s sort of hard for him to get grip on his fate. After a brief breakdown, he’s off to the church to seek but fails earning salvation, then to the hospital to realize he’s not gonna lay in a bed hooked up to tubes until he chokes. So, there’s no other choice. Suicide.
That’s supposed to be funny, and admittedly, despite the touchy subject, the film has a few chuckles. Sonny goes on a tour of family and friends to say goodbye, not telling them of his intentions, eventually getting him sent to a mental institution, and it’s here where the movie draws the line in the sand, tasking viewers to accept or not the introduction of Marlon Borunki (Dom DeLuise), who just happens to be an unbalanced murderer with a few quirky ideas.
Directed by Reynolds, The End is a strange endeavor, held loosely together by the proven chemistry of Reynolds and DeLuise, though there’s not a lot in-between that keeps it watchable. Written by Jerry Belson, who has credits on films like Steven Spielberg‘s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and won Emmys for The Tracey Ullman Show, the script here is far too superficial, even as it tries to plug into moments that might matter.
For instance, Sonny’s farewell to his daughter, played by Kristy McNichol in her film debut. She suspects something’s up and tries to figure her odd father out while he barely holds onto his secret. For a moment there, the film grabs your attention, the much-needed emotional conflicts behind his decision making a sturdy thump before the story goes full on silly.
That’s all DeLuise, who marks an immediate shift from the family successful melodramedy that came before, and while he is a very funny actor, it makes for an odd turn that, depending on your mood, might work in the story’s favor or leave you more than a little put off. Me? Somewhere in the middle.
DeLuise runs over the film, purposefully, clearly given license to do what he wants, playing the stereotypical looney talking to himself and squealing throughout, wrangling for laughs. Admittedly, it would be good stuff in a different movie, but here it sometimes derails the warmth Reynolds built in the first act. Relying on a series slapstick comedy routines, the story begins to slip in the smarminess Reynolds laid out in the beginning.
Feeling like a second showing in a drive-in double feature (which it probably was), The End struggles for laughs, and I mean struggles, Reynolds far better in the grips of sorrow than trying to earn giggles in the funny farm and beyond. It’s too bad, because the concept is interesting.
Sally Field plays Sonny’s girlfriend, but doesn’t have much to offer, even as charming and beautiful as she is. Her role breaks down to his disappointment in her not having an orgasm. Of course. But she does what she can. Then there’s a very brief appearance by Robby Benson as a newly-ordained priest, the joke being how hard it is for Sonny to call him ‘Father’ since he’s like eighteen. This drags on far too long, keeping Sonny in a confessional well beyond anything necessary.
That’s the problem throughout, the seesawing of it all a challenge, especially its finale, where the visuals seem to be tailored to earn tears while the VoiceOver strains for laughs. But that’s not to say it doesn’t have the potential. You can see what Reynolds is going for and if you can give into that, there are some good moments. I liked Carl Reiner and Norman Fell as doctors. I liked when Sonny is hanging from a tower ledge. I liked for a second when Sonny heads to sea while Frank Sinatra sings My Way. These are bits that work, even as they overstay their welcome, but they reveal the hardship Reynolds faced in trying to plug comedy into such a dark story. You have to sort of give him credit and appreciate the effort.
I appreciated the effort. All the way to … the end.