Why Kubrick Changed the Ending to THE SHINING

originally posted by: HeathenJessie
a reply to: Willtell

Yeah, they're really quite different.

I still think it's a great movie, I don't think Kubrick intended to make a faithful adaptation of the book. Changes he made were usually pretty deliberate and have some kind of meaning or purpose. Or maybe he was more careless than people think and prone to making very obvious mistakes. I want to believe the former as opposed to the latter but it's really just personal opinion.

When you think about it, the book works well as it is but would a truly failthful adaptation to film be good? It's a reasonably meaty volume...

I tend to look at Kubrick adaptations to be more a vehicle for something Stanley wants to convey as opposed to trying to convey the message of the author. I suppose we'll never really know, but as film I reckon it works really well and there's enough to make it watchable multiple times.

And if that doesn't quite float your boat...there's always the performance of Nicholson to sweeten the deal, he was awesome in that film.

My only real criticism is the performance of Shelley Duval, I never really liked her very much...to me she'll always be Popeye's goofy girlfriend. Her hysterical flailing and whining towards the end of the film got quite irritating at times.

The thing is that the book had many interesting nuances that Kubrick’s style, imo, would not have been able to handle well.

I like Kubrick but he seems unable to adapt well to nuance.

He is a direct one-dimensional guy.


I agree with you though Duvall was weak, but its all a matter of taste.

a reply to: Willtell

Sure, it's all good.

Out of interest, what is your favourite Kubrick movie?

a reply to: ColdWisdom

the more i look at the clark the more i think he isnt a normal human being

originally posted by: HeathenJessie
a reply to: Willtell

Sure, it's all good.

Out of interest, what is your favourite Kubrick movie?

This is a no brainer
EYES WIDE SHUT!

I love that movie. I've watched it over 20 times. I've analyzed it for secret messages and meanings and all of that. I think its a classic.

Then Full Metal Jacket is one of the best war movies I've seen not as good as Platoon but close.

And of course the great 20001, Spartacus, the Killing, and Paths of Glory. Kubrick is one of the greatest, imo.

The number 237 also comes up in the movie Scanners.

"Darryl Revok is the rogue leader of the world's 237 Scanners--who are capable of reading minds and inflicting incredible psychic torment--except one, who has been captured by a corporate entity bent on destroying the movement."

a reply to: ColdWisdom>>>> I loved The Shining. Even the remake had a few good parts. The intriguing thing about The Shining was the hidden messages Kubrick put in pointing to the Apollo Moon Landing. Watch that on Youtube. I think I'm in agreement where they say that the film footage of the actual landing was lost and the government had Kubrick stage a re enactment. I always thought they could have done a sequel of the story based on Kubrick's movie. Have Danny as an adult go back to challenge The Overlook to free his dad and the others. King could certainly do it instead of wasting his time with those lame stories he keeps churning out.

originally posted by: Dutchowl
King could certainly do it instead of wasting his time with those lame stories he keeps churning out.

King did a sequel to The Shinning called Doctor Sleep.

And how would he free his dad? He dies in a boiler explosion.

no mention of the faked moon landing, and Moon Room 237?

How the moon is 237,000 miles form earth?

How the July 4 date in 1921 relates to the US Federal reserve, and Woodrow Wilson, and the gold room theme.

not to mention the note in Jack's hand, and the couple behind him that look just like WW and his wife Edith.

Did I miss something?

a reply to: Revolution9
.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Dutchowl
King could certainly do it instead of wasting his time with those lame stories he keeps churning out.

King did a sequel to The Shinning called Doctor Sleep.

And how would he free his dad? He dies in a boiler explosion.

I read it, as I have read most of King's other work. I thought it was good...not great as some of King's others works are, but not as bad as some written during his "tired" phase. That's my term...

a reply to: Riffrafter

I tend to agree. It was good but predictable.

a reply to: Dutchowl

The intriguing thing about The Shining was the hidden messages Kubrick put in pointing to the Apollo Moon Landing.

Yea, I'm not so sure about that. I would refer you to the thread I made (linked in my post on the other page) where Kubrick's daughter talks about the moon landing theories.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

And how would he free his dad? He dies in a boiler explosion.

Somebody didn't read the interview.

Kubrick did away with the boiler explosion in the film. Jack still dies, so we presume, but that was a strong deviation from the book (as you've pointed out).

But a sequel would be awful IMO. Kubrick didn't do sequels for a reason (somebody else directed the 2001 sequel), plus King would probably have had a heart attack if Kubrick tried to continue The Shining.

originally posted by: ColdWisdom
Kubrick did away with the boiler explosion in the film. Jack still dies, so we presume, but that was a strong deviation from the book (as you've pointed out).

I was pretty sure he was asking why King didn't do a sequel but frankly I don't think he ever read the book to know the Kubrick film is no where near the same.

theres also that bizzare HAL IBM thing

I'll probably make a thread unto itself for this but I'll put it here for now.

An 11 minute audio interview with Kubrick by Ciment (the french interviewer is spliced out, all we hear are Kubrick's responses):



It appears that Kubrick was semi-obsessed with ESP, telepathy, and things of the PSI nature. It also appears, that despite Stephen King's own personal interpretation of his novel, Kubrick went into reading it (and filming it) with the idea in mind that The Shining was, at its core, an exploration of the paranormal, specifically the transmission of thought from one conscious mind to another with no physical medium used as a transmitter.

Skip to about 4-5 minutes to hear Kubrick elaborate on his own ESP experiences.

a reply to: ColdWisdom

He killed off Hollaran. Who saved Danny and Wendy by driving them away before the place blew up.
The whole boiler "it creeps ya gotta what her" line of the story was changed and in changing that the whole outcome was changed...Overlook won again. In the book the child defeated the demons of the place. In Kubricks movie the hotel won.
I am a hugh fan. Most of Kings novels I read when they were published back in the seventies and eighties.
I never felt like any movie did his work justice.
Steven has a way of making you trust him in his stories. Then he leads you,always present always right there, into the darker recesses of his mind until he gets you to that place...and you turn around and find he's left you alone in the dark with your fears.

You don't get that psychological connect with a movie.

The mini series was closer to the story as written. Steven Weber and Rebecca DeMornay as Jack And Wendy Torrance. Definitely a less whiney less chicken# Wendy who in the book was very strong a very protective mother, not the sniveling Wendy that Shelly Duvall brought us.
Anyway I'm way too critical because after finishing that book and turning off the lights I immediately had to turn them back on again and the only movie to ever do that to me was The Exorsist.

a reply to: Sillyolme

Anyway I'm way too critical because after finishing that book and turning off the lights I immediately had to turn them back on again and the only movie to ever do that to me was The Exorsist.

I was reading the book while travelling during daytime. The shining is the only book I have ever had to put down while reading in broad daylight in an airport. It is that creepy.
King is very underappreciated.

a reply to: shooterbrody

Look ! Common ground. I knew we'd find it somewhere!

originally posted by: Sillyolme
I never felt like any movie did his work justice.

The Shawshank Redemption was one of the best films ever made and very true to the source material.

I would also include both The Mist and Stand by Me.

He changed the end of eyes wide shut to appease the illuminati but they killed him anyways.