Deceptively dark movie endings

This isn’t really the same thing, but I always thought A.I. should’ve ended with Haley Joel Osment stuck underwater and running out of power while praying to the Blue Fairy, instead of the 20-minute time-jump debacle that followed it.

 

I’m not remembering the bit where she cheated on him.

 

Small tangent here.

I had a middle school PE teacher who has a link to two basketball movies. He was a reserve on the actual Kentucky team that faced Texas Western as went on to be "Glory Road." Then, after he left the Atlanta area near the end of his teaching career, he worked at Milan High, the "Hoosiers" Hickory.

 

I've always found the ending really sad. The two of them in the back of the bus with no idea what happens next.

 

When she’s telling Danny she might be pregnant and he offers to marry her, Maggie says it might not be his.

 

Sykes is part of the criminal conspiracy. He committed murder-for-hire. No one’s throwing him a deal, ex-cop or no, unless it’s against a Devlin McGregor exec or two.

 

Pacino's character as written was a cocaine addict, but they edited out any use or explicit mentions.

BTW, Michael Mann has written a novel, "Heat 2," which is an origin story and is coming out in August, with a feature film to follow. Can't wait.

 

Hmm, I always thought she said that because she was jealous of the way he was looking at Lacey. (I don’t remember if she found out Danny hooked up with her.)

 

IIRC, there was also a TV movie from a few years earlier (I think it was called "L.A. Takedown") that was kind of a rough draft of "Heat," with a lower budget and lesser actors.

If they make a prequel, I just hope they're able to stock the cast like they did with the original. Pacino and DeNiro were great in it (maybe their last great dramatic roles), but the thing that made it such a great movie overall was the supporting cast. The IMDB page goes 15 or 20 deep with quality character actors in the second- and third-tier roles.

 

Jeremy Piven as the concierge doctor. Hank Azaria. Henry Rollins lol. On and on. Absolutely amazing cast.

 

Prosecutors would much rather nail the person who hired the murderer than the murderer themselves, wouldn't they? It's why they get the middle management guys to flip on the mob bosses.
Plus, Sykes could probably implicate Nichols or others in the murder of Dr. Lentz. Sykes isn't getting a walk — he might be doing well to avoid the death penalty himself — but he has a lot to offer the DA if he wants to.