The End (1978 film)

Plot

Wendell "Sonny" Lawson (Reynolds), an unscrupulous real-estate promoter, learns that he has a fatal blood disease and decides to commit suicide rather than endure a slow, painful death. He then takes the time to meet with several friends and family members for one last time, while hiding the fact that he plans to end his own life.

After a failed suicide attempt, Sonny ends up in a mental institution, where he enlists fellow patient, Marlon Borunki (DeLuise), a deranged schizophrenic murderer, to help him die.

Cast

Songs

Reception

When The End was released in the spring of 1978, the mixture of comedy with the dark subject of suicide wasn't what audiences and critics were expecting from a Burt Reynolds film, and ended up not being well-received. New York Times critic Vincent Canby gave the film a negative review, placing most of the blame on the shoulders of Burt Reynolds, the director. He felt the film was uneven, writing, "this is half-heartedly satiric material that's been directed by Mr. Reynolds as if it were broad, knock-about comedy sometimes and, at other times, as if it were meant to evoke pathos, which it never does."

The staff at Variety magazine was even more critical of the film, calling it "a tasteless and overripe comedy that disintegrates very early into hysterical, undisciplined hamming." The magazine's terse review was particularly harsh when it came to the supporting cast, calling Dom DeLuise "absolutely dreadful," Sally Field "phoning in a kooky-pretty role," and Joanne Woodward, "poorly utilized."