I don't know if I would give it the nod over the regular ending--I think that one has a slightly more enigmatic/mysterious conclusion and it works on its own merits, but this was excellent.
Thanks so much for posting this, John! Phase IV has been one of my quirky favorites since it was first released. I can understand why this ending was "lost." There's some wonderful imagery in there, just the kind of stuff Bass loved to do, but it's like loading an omelet with too many ingredients. It gets bloated and it's ruined. I'm sorry Bass didn't find a way to keep the best parts of this ending, and use them.
For a moment in there, I thought V'ger was gonna show up!
Thank you, that made my day!!!! Beautiful, why wasn't it used? When will this film & terrific score get its proper due? ? C'mon MV, chop chop dude! ;-)
Thank you, that made my day!!!! Beautiful, why wasn't it used? When will this film & terrific score get its proper due? ? C'mon MV, chop chop dude! ;-)
-Sean
It wasn't used because preview audiences found it confusing. A second version was tested in which voice over from Michael Murphy "explained" the ending to audiences, but that didn't test well either, so the whole things was dropped. Curiously, Saul Bass didn't seem to fight to keep it in the film; he seemed willing to make whatever changes were needed to give the film a chance at the box office. (He seemed more angered by the film's ad campaign.) The current issue of the AMIA journal "The Moving Image" has a good article on the film and the ending.
Thanks for the intel Jameson - I know of the vinyl release, and there was scuttlebutt about LLL releasing a CD paired with Johnny Douglas A CRACK IN THE WORLD. Funny that audiences would find THAT confusing after the 80-odd minutes that came before! Its a real shame, I love this film to death. Hey, how about a remake, that's a good idea! :-/
Not too sure about the music though, TBH. The sequence might work better if you lay in Jerry Fielding's end track from Demon Seed. In fact, the whole movie is a lost Fielding oportunity!
