I devoured the Harry Potter series of books. I preordered the final installment and read it in between sessions of a summer class that I was taking. I had followed the story from its remarkable beginning and I worried that J.K. Rowling might ruin the adventure for me with a bad ending. To my utter delight the conclusion was as satisfying to me as the entire journey had been. I marveled at Ms. Rowling’s genius because I had been disappointed by the final chapters of so many volumes in the past. It would not have surprised me if she had somehow managed to ruin the spirit of the story. 

As a writer I know all too well that it’s rather easy to spew words onto a page. The trick is to keep the story tight, eliminate excess baggage, and ultimately find a way to tie up all of the loose ends in a conclusion that makes sense. Many an author starts down the path quite well but then runs out of steam along the way. It’s the nature of the craft and one of the most frustrating aspects of the writing process.

I have enjoyed the Game of Thrones epics from George R.R. Martin but I suspect that he is hard pressed to find an ultimate resolution to his story. He excuses the fact that his tale continues on and on and on by pointing out that the true nature of life is never ending. My guess is that in reality he is simply not quite sure who should live, who should die, and who should end up on the Iron Throne. To make his task even more difficult there are hoards of readers who continually make suggestions as to the kind of resolution that they would love to see. Mr. Martin may be trapped in a death spiral of his own making. I sometimes wonder if he will ever provide his public with the long promised final volumes.

I’ve always said that Stephen King is a gifted author. He creates amazing characters with whom I am able to sympathize. His stories are imaginative. Unfortunately all too often the plots slowly begin to unravel. Somewhere near the end of the story I get the feeling that Mr. King is hard pressed to craft a believable conclusion and so all too often he fixes the problem with a burst of blood, gore, and fantasy. It is his stock ending over and over again. The one time I was totally satisfied with one of his conclusions, Mr. King acknowledged his son for coming up with the idea. 

Movies are not much better when it comes to delivering a feeling of satisfaction as the credits roll. Sometimes we find ourselves scratching our heads in confusion. Other times we are simply dismayed. Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments for me came in the film, Pretty In Pink. It was one of those John Hughes films from the nineteen eighties that were all the rage. Molly Ringwald played Andy, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with ambitions to rise above her appointed economic status. 

Andy has a flair for fashion and creates stunning eighties style clothing with her imagination and skills. She works in a record store where she encounters a group of wealthy kids from her high school. One of them is Blaine, a quiet and good looking young man played by actor Andrew McCarthy who shows an interest in her in spite of insults from his preppy friends. 

Andy is almost immediately smitten with Blaine but also nervous that she doesn’t really fit into his crowd. She bares her soul to an assortment of quirky friends including a guy that she calls “Ducky” played by Jon Cryer. The movie is classic John Hughes in capturing the angst of teenage years along with the social and economic barriers that so often separate people. Duckie is the ever faithful friend who quite obviously is totally in love with Andy. He is determined to stand by her side even when she only wants to talk and dream about Blaine. 

Blaine asks Andy to go on a date with him and she is as excited as Cinderella meeting the prince. They have a nice evening and even a kind of connection until Blaine suggests that they meet up with his friends who are having a party. At that point the night turns into a disaster for both of them. Blaine’s snobbish buddies are openly insulting and hostile to Andy and question Blaine’s reasons for bringing someone as ill suited as Andy into their midst. Blaine is torn between the comfort of being with his longtime friends and his new attraction to Andy whom he has found to be an interesting and sweet girl.

Along the way Blaine invites Andy to go to the prom with him. She is of course thrilled but also concerned because she has nothing to wear. Her incredibly loving father purchases a cheap looking ball gown for her and she is appreciative but devastated at the thought of having to wear such a thing. After a bit of thought and the help of a friend she gets to work on improving the formal even as she realizes that Blaine is avoiding her. 

She opens her heart to Duckie seemingly without noticing just how much he cares for her and how often she hurts him. She realizes that Blaine has fallen under the snotty spell of his friends once again and that he has no intention of actually escorting her to the prom. She bravely decides to don her now fashionable dress and attend the dance alone. As she enters looking like a fairytale vision, Duckie appears looking quite handsome and dashing with a big grin on his face. It seems as though Andy is really seeing Duckie for the first time as the splendid soul that he is. They enter the dance arm in arm and all seems right with the world. Only it isn’t.

Just as Andy and Duckie are about to enjoy the evening together Blaine shows up looking around the room for Andy. Duckie sees an expression of longing in Andy’s face and gallantly tells her to go meet Blaine. The music rises, Blane and Andy smile at each other, and a cute blonde girl flirts with the now abandoned Duckie. The credits roll and all is right with the world, except that it wasn’t right for me. My one thought was, “You have got to be kidding!” I’ve hated that movie ever since and often wished that it had been one of those kitschy create your own adventure kind of things where I would have been able to make Andy shoot the proverbial bird at Blaine and then dance away with Duckie. That’s how it was supposed to end in my mind.

Imagine my frustration when I recently learned that I had been right all along. The movie did in fact originally conclude with Andy realizing that the man of her dreams had been standing next to her all along. She and Duckie became the pair and she ignored Blaine who so belatedly waltzed in thinking that he might win her back. The producers of the movie had wrapped up filming and the stars had become involved with other projects when a test screening revealed that the majority of the audience members hated an ending that put Andy and Duckie together. They wanted Andy to end up with Blaine. 

In a highly unusual move the filmmakers decided to shoot the alternate ending that the viewers requested. Andrew McCarthy had shaved his head for a role as a soldier and had to wear a wig for the retake. The screen writers quickly created new dialogue and even the final song was changed. Duckie was supposed to be the ultimate hero of the movie but the producers caved and gave that honor to Blaine. 

I suppose that I feel somehow vindicated but it still annoys me that a really good movie with great characters fell so badly off of the track. There are no doubt those in love with the old Prince Charming concept who prefer the idea of having Andy choose the handsome and rich Blaine over the plain old Duckie. It might even be argued that Duckie was too good for Andy who was obviously superficial to the end. Still, it would have been nice for the good guy to win and for Andy to realize the error of her ways. Even Blaine might have grown from the experience. 

Sure it’s just a story but we really do want to feel good when we finish a tale that has been so satisfactory all along. To destroy it so badly just doesn’t feel right. I suppose that now that I know the truth I am free to imagine the ending of Pretty in Pink that I prefer. 

As a side note, Duckie, or rather the character who played him eventually got his due. Andrew McCarthy is living a quiet life in Ireland. Molly Ringwald was dethroned as the “It” girl. Jon Cryer, the incarnation of Duckie, just finished a long and profitable run on the sitcom, Three and a Half Men.Maybe he isn’t the best looking guy on the planet but there is something intriguing about him and the way he has always been able to laugh at himself. Perhaps that is the best ending of all.