There's an interesting article in the current Oprah magazine (hey, I read widely), actually an excerpt from Ellen Burstyn's book, "Lessons in Becoming Myself." It's about the movie, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," in which she and director Martin Scorsese wanted one ending and the head of Warner's (who was providing the money) insisted on another.
Quick summary of the plot: When Alice's husband dies, she decides to head West and rekindle her dream of being a singer. She takes their son and starts a road trip across America. She has an affair with a man who turns out to be married and violent, and then falls in love with a nice rancher played by Kris Kristofferson. Since the whole film was about a woman having the courage to pursue her dreams, Burstyn and Scorsese wanted the film to end with Alice choosing to move on to pursue her dream, but the studio wanted her to stay with the rancher.
If you've never seen the film or, like me, have forgotten how it ended, how would you have handled this problem?
It was Kris Kristofferson who came up with the solution. "Come on," he said in character, "I'll take you to Monterey." The rancher is willing to give up the ranch in order to let the women he loves pursue her dream. Happy ending all the way around.
The story illustrates how easy it is to get stuck in black-or-white/ A or B type thinking, when often the better solution is a third way. Hmm, probably that's true in life as well as in screenplays and novels...
