Iâve seen this movie a week ago and was so crushed by it, I couldnât even write anything. I became spoiled by all the happy endings in the old movies, but this one chooses to be realistic, and boy, it hurts.Â
Why did she let him go... He was so obviously convincing himself, not her, and they both knew that; all she had to do was to touch him, hug him, he would never be able to pull himself away from her body, her arms and lips, he would stay, for better or worse, and of course, their life would be tough, and maybe he was right, but it was so worth a try, my God...Â
Itâs Charlton Hestonâs favorite movie, and you can clearly see him relishing this character of an aging, illiterate cowhand. Heâs still strong and resilient and unbreakable in a way - itâs still Chuck Heston, for Godâs sake. (And I claim my fandom-given right to call him Chuck, âcause, honestly, itâs my only way of dealing with the sheer epicness of both his screen persona and his own personality.) But Will Penny is just a man, not a hero, and he doesnât think he could be one. And you canât tell whether itâs insecurity or good judgement, because all the other Hestonâs roles mess with your head, frankly, you just expect him to be yet another knight in shining armor, and thatâs why this ending is so crushing.Â
I couldnât stop thinking about it, I couldnât bring myself to accept it, it just cannot end this way. I thought - say, seven years will pass, he will be old (yeah, kids, fifty five was fucking old back then) and looking for another job, which will be an increasingly hard task for him, and one day some young farmer, almost a kid really, sent by his widowed mother who owns the farm, will be hiring help, and because he doesnât know any better (as everyone will think), heâll hire this old man, along with some others. And itâs not luck, of course, itâs just Cath never told Will her husbandâs last name, and that little boy who he was so fond of grew up rather unrecognizable in those seven years. You see where it leads? Yes, to me writing a perfectly corny and tearful happy ending that I was robbed of.Â