The Town; The Alternate Ending might’ve saved this film for me, had it been left in there:

(8 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This:

is the Alternate ending of Ben Affleck’s 2 year old movie, The Town. Imho, this is a much better ending than the ending in the theatrical version, where Doug magically escapes Charlestown for Florida and ends up in a little house overlooking a Florida bayou at sunset, hoping that lady Claire will come, after he’s left her tons of dirty money to do what she wants with, as well as a tangerine to hint to her where he is; Tangerine, FL.

Frankly, I think that had this ending been left in the movie, The Town might’ve been a much better film. In this ending, the Dominican men whose C-Town Housing Project apartment that Doug and Jem broke into, wearing hockey masks, beat up and permanently crippled for having thrown bottles at Claire when she’d been stupid enough to walk through a housing project by herself on the way to work, ultimately got their revenge on Doug, who was trying to escape from Boston to Florida. As Doug’s trying to get to his car, the two men who Doug and Jem had permanently crippled earlier in the film, are waiting for him. After afew words are exchanged, the Dominican man whose leg was permanently injured by Doug and Jem, unloads his pistol into Doug, killing him.

It’s pretty obvious, in this ending, to me, that Alex, the Dominican man who Doug permanently crippled for throwing bottles at Claire, and his buddies, had also been working for “Fergie” the Florist, and, in addition to seeing Jem’s face, not only knew how and where to track down Doug MacRay, but had two reasons for killing him:

A) Fergie didn’t like Doug’s response when Fergie asked him to participate in the Fenway Robbery, and set Doug up to be killed by the Dominican men that he and Jem beat up and permanently crippled earlier, and who were also working for Fergie.

B) Alex and the other two Dominican men who Doug and Jem beat up and injured earlier in The Town were only too happy to exact revenge on Doug for permanently crippling them. Like his buddies/accomplices in crime, Doug died playing his own game. Ever heard the quote “Those who live by the sword die by the sword”? That applies here, perfectly, imho.

Doug, like his buddies/accomplices in crime(s), got his comeuppance, and, hopefully, Claire won’t be so stupid in the future. I still don’t like the fact that Claire spent all that blood money on the restoration of the C-Town ice-hockey rink rather than anonymously turning over to the proper authorities with the help of FBI Agt. Adam Frawley and finding more honest ways to get funding for the hockey rink. Too bad that Claire got off scott-free and wasn’t also criminally prosecuted, or at least given a suspended sentence for obstructing justice (helping Doug escape being caught by the Feds and jailed, by a “sunny days” code tip-off to him), and for receiving stolen goods. (Doug’s dirty, stolen blood money)

I also think that the Alternate Ending to The Town provides a different message; that actions and behaviors have consequences, that people have to be held accountable for what they do, no matter what their walk of life or upbringing, and that escaping or attempting to escape a life of crime, as well as one’s birthplace, parental and environmental upbringing, are much, much easier said than done.

Having this alternate ending and spending less time on the Doug/Claire romances, imho, might’ve saved The Town for me.

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All of the above, however, still doesn’t mean that I think that The Town was a great, or even a good movie, but the Alternate Ending would’ve upgraded this film to mediocre, at best.  There’s still too much wrong with The Town, imho, to make it Academy Awards/Best Picture of the Year material.  The shoot-outs and car chases/crashes were way over the top and unrealistic, Ben Affleck too pretty-boy to be a credible Doug MacRay, the soundtrack rather tinny and bombastic-sounding, and the cast, overall, mediocre at best, with Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm the only believable actors in the whole thing.

I also might add that this doesn’t change the fact that I find the stereotypes in The Town rather sickening;  The rabid, slobbering Boston Red Sox fans,  and that every Charlestown Townie is a criminal/bank-robber, etc, not to mention the de-facto ring-leader with a heart of gold underneath his criminality and rough exterior and the princess-like bank manager, Claire, of unattainable beauty and pureness of heart who captivates the defacto ringleader of bank-robbing thugs and murderers.