The whole cheating/affair just threw this story off…..
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CortneyAkana — 14 years ago(December 18, 2011 06:39 PM)
I really didn't think of it like that, maybe cause I felt King spent way too much time talking about it in the book so I too kinda felt the movie could've done without it.
Something tells me the people of Earth are gonna need me. -
joeycacciatore — 14 years ago(March 28, 2012 04:07 PM)
The cheating affair is important because the husband thinked immediately that she ran away with her lover. As you can see he's nervous but he's quite calm 'till he discovered that the policeman didn't come back from the mechanic
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shayneferry — 12 years ago(May 26, 2013 03:58 AM)
What I found off about it in the movie is her hubby is an absolute DREAM BOAT! The handy-man dude is a scruffy looking loser! Why would she cheat with him!?
Of course it's different in the book and it's explained, although Donna's excuse is pretty flimsy IMO! Kemp is also such an effing bastard in the book, I hoped he would go look for them at Camber's to yell at Donna or something and then get mauled by Cujo, he was such scum! -
GuiltyPleasures — 9 years ago(September 12, 2016 06:25 PM)
What I found off about it in the movie is her hubby is an absolute DREAM BOAT!
I know, right?! That just seemed so wrong to me.
Ever watch him in that 80's tv action drama,
Hardcastle & McCormick
? Awesome tv show. Too bad it only had three seasons.
I looked at Daniel Hugh Kelly's movie profile here. He was in LOT of stuff.
Here are some Daniel Hugh Kelly pics at my Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/christinhllwy/daniel-hugh-kellyhardcastle-mccormick/ -
Godzilla1981 — 9 years ago(January 26, 2017 05:27 AM)
Precisely. I don't understand how some people on here can actually make out that the husband is the heel in this story. He was not shown doing anything wrong to her, and he was a great father to his kid, even taking the time to keep his promise to write down the "Monster Words" so mom would know them before he left, even though he was in a very bad emotional/mental place (possibly losing his account, his wife cheating on him, etc.)
He seemed like a pretty alright guy. She even tells scruffy that she has a great husband and a great kid, and here she is beep around with him. She basically admits she's being an idiot, and is totally in the wrong. -
LC03 — 12 years ago(August 31, 2013 10:10 AM)
I know the original post has been here for a while, so I don't know if I'll get an answer to my question. But I was curious about what was behind the objection to the cheating plot element. For example, was this poster thinking that including the affair took too much time away from focusing on the more dramatic final scenes (thus, making the movie's pace too slow), or perhaps that portraying Donna as cheating on her husband makes it harder for viewers to care about her survival later on in the scenes with Cujo. Or was it something else entirely?
I recently saw this movie again with the director's commentary and thought he shared a couple of interesting points related to the character development prior to Donna and Tad becoming trapped in the car.
First, one cut of the movie apparently included a more explicit sex scene between Donna and Kemp, which test audiences didn't seem to like. The explanation was that the movie had begun by showing the Trentons in a certain way and the scene was just too far outside of what the viewers had come to expect from Donna. So, the film crew ended up keeping the affair storyline but changed how it was shown on-screen.
Second, when test audiences initially viewed the movie, their feedback revealed a pattern of being highly interested in the characters during the first third of the movie, a bit bored during the second third, and of course most interested/excited during the final third. So, the film crew edited out some of the character development scenes and showed it again. But this time the audience's interest level was similar to the previous screening during the early scenes and noticeably lower than before during the later scenes. As a result, they ended up putting back some of the cut character development scenes, concluding that even though they slowed down the pace of the movie a bit, they were necessary to help the viewers understand and care about the characters enough to later feel invested in their survival during the scenes with Cujo.
Of course, all of this is not intended to dispute the original poster's opinion. Everybody has a right to their own opinion and knows best what they would personally prefer to see in a movie. I just thought the director's comments on the subject were interesting and worth sharing, as it seems that during the creative process, he wrestled quite a bit with how much of the book's plotlines to try to include in the movie. -
Falconeer — 12 years ago(October 25, 2013 12:35 PM)
I totally disagree with that. The cheating subplot gave the movie an extra level. It almost seemed as if she was being punished for sleeping with that scumbag while being married to a good guy and having a child. I think it gives the viewer a subconconcious feeling of satisfaction to see her terrorized like that. Religious people will even view it as some kind of punishment from God. It was brilliant. The film would have been flat without that character development.
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics' -
april_l — 12 years ago(November 03, 2013 10:29 PM)
It almost seemed as if she was being punished for sleeping with that scumbag while being married to a good guy and having a child.
In the novel, Donna actually wonders that when they are trapped in the car. -
Falconeer — 12 years ago(November 07, 2013 09:06 AM)
I'm not surprised she wondered that; guilt will do that, and it is normal to think this way. i really don't understand how someone could think this film would be nearly as effective without that the whole affair subplot..
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics' -
Falconeer — 12 years ago(November 14, 2013 01:36 PM)
Cutting out major plot points is what they always do when making a film based on a book. And it's usually what ruins the film, and what pisses people off.
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics'