I just watched this for the first time on basic cable.
It was a great movie, but a very sad ending.
The fact that Del has no home and his wife died 8 years prior. I did not see that coming at all.
Why would they write it that way? Especially in a holiday movie?

I think both, it's heartwarming that Neal's family welcome him into their home, no questions asked and enjoy Thanksgiving with him and his family. But, heartbreaking and sad for Del to realize what he lost and what he was missing in his own life. I always hoped they would a sequel where Del made regular visits to Neal's home, Neal's children called him Uncle Del. But, John Candy past away, I knew it would never happen. Boy, I miss him so much. It was 100% you would laugh a lot even if it was a silly movie like Who's Harry Crumb? The Great Outdoors and Armed and Dangerous.

Been watching this movie for years. I'm always sad at the end because its Candy and he would be legendary right now, I'm not really sad because of Del. But I could totally see people thinking oh he must have died shortly after this. He didn't of course, but the way the movie ends and that still shot of him smiling, it just gets me every time. The Uncle Buck ending does the same thing to me which also ends in a still shot of him smiling.

You don't mean the scene with the guy buying the cosmetics stuck in the office by himself still looking at the material? Lol

Both! Bittersweet and perfect!

IMDBing since Tues, Apr 25 2000.

Both! I always feel like there's a profound sadness as well as happiness in the same scene at the same time, both thanks to Del and the fact that he can't have that family he always strived for, yet participates in Neal's Thanksgiving which can be both a privilege and a curse since it shows him what he doesn't have while also including him in a very social event with at least the new friend he enjoyed so much over the course of the movie.

I would say that its a bit of both, but swinging a bit more to the heartwarming side.

If I can just interrupt for a moment and say this one of the few good threads I have seen about any movie/show at IMDB. If the replies were all as well thought out, considerate and sincere I might actually stop by IMDB more often. PT&A was such a great movie, another tragedy besides the death of John Candy is the death of John Hughes, who became a recluse, I really wish he were alive too just to see that people still really care about this movie and hold it in high regard.
Life is always intense for a repo man.

Without a doubt. I just watched this on Netflix with my fiance (her first time seeing it, my umpteenth time) and I just bawl like a baby everytime I see the end.
Of course, her reaction was "What the hell is wrong with you?" Maybe its my love of John Candy, and they fact thatno matter how annoying and mooching Del was, he was a very loveable, sad guy.
"You ever try going mad without power? It's boring, no one listens to you."

A bit of both, absolutely. Has me in tears every time.
"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

A bit of both with cheesy thrown in too. I love the movie though.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

Therapeutic for both men.

Absolutely Heartwarming!!!

Absolutely both heart-warming, sad. Bittersweet.

I'd say heartwarming for sure, because I think it shows that Del is happy for Neal. Del wants a family too, and I'm sure he'd like to meet someone new that he could love even a little bit as much as Marie. After you lose a loved one, it feels like it's never going to be the same. But eventually you're able to move on and find happiness even while retaining all the good times you once had with the person you loved.

ok. untildel eats all their food & tries to hookup with neal's wife after he's consumed a bottle of wine.

I watched it again and thought it was a nice ending, not sad. Del was not sad to go to the house and see the family, he was happy he made a friend and got to spend a nice Thanksgiving with a nice family and did not have to spend Thanksgiving at some train station or Denny's lonely and depressed. Steve Martin's character was more thankful for what he had after meeting Del and likely less anti social and shallow. The ending was supposed to show both became better people for meeting each other and going through that experience and likely Del will try to stop living in the past with his deceased wife and will find someone new and settle down. I saw the ending as showing Steve Martin's character was going to take Del in for a little while until Del finds a stable life, likely Martin's character hooks Del up with a good stable job as they are both in sales/marketing and things work out for each other.

I say both, but I also think it's a hopeful ending.
Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

Good Post, I said the same thing above, the guy was flying on planes, had $270 in cash in his wallet (pretty good for 1980's), he just couldn't sit still or he'd go nuts thinking about his loss.

I always personally thought that Del chose not to live anywhere, despite possibly having the funds to. When you've lost a loved one, the last thing you want to do is move on without them. So, my take is that Del just kept bouncing from city to city, choosing to never settle down and start anew.
Disregarding that theory, I always thought Neil would help him find a new place to live, if he was actually homeless and broke.
"That's the karma again, I didn't help Kenny so she beat me up with a telephone"

Both.
Ant @ The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx) and Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net).

I took that scene as Del feeling so blessed that Neil had let him be a part of his family for their holiday and will probably stay close after that

Yep. I just pictured him continuing on traveling, stopping in here and there to visit Neil and the family.

My thoughts as well. I mean, Del apparently has a steady job and customers that consistently buy from him. I never felt like he was incapable of providing for himself. He just stayed on the road because he had nothing else and that was where the action was.