The Final Cut (1983 film)

The Final Cut is a 19-minute film by Pink Floyd and is based on their 1983 album of the same name.[1] The screenplay was by Roger Waters and was directed by Willie Christie who at the time was Waters' brother-in-law.[1] It was released on Betamax and VHS in July 1983.[2]

The Final Cut
Directed byWillie Christie
Produced byBarry Matthews
Screenplay byRoger Waters
Starring
Music byPink Floyd
Distributed byEMI Music Video
Release date
  • July 1983 (July 1983)
Running time
19 minutes
LanguageEnglish

Storyline

The story is seen through the eyes of a World War II veteran, played by Alex McAvoy, who appeared in Pink Floyd's 1982 movie The Wall as the teacher.[1] The film starts out with the introduction of the album, switching through various radio stations. However rather than "The Post War Dream" (as on the album), "The Gunner's Dream" fades in, skipping four tracks. This shows the veteran driving his Rover P4 down an empty motorway. As he passes under a bridge, he sees a war veteran standing on the bridge. He stops the car and runs back to look. The camera focuses on a piece of graffiti reading "Go on Maggie", a reference to the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Instead of a veteran, there is a woman standing smirking at him. The scene changes to a home scene where he watches television with his wife. He enters the kitchen and pulls out a pistol. The smirking woman is then seen walking past their house. The song changes and "The Final Cut" now plays. Footage of Waters singing the song, his face hidden by a shadow except for his mouth, to a psychiatrist is intercut with stock footage. The next song is "Not Now John". Footage of a young Japanese man walking around a factory is intercut with footage of other workers and geishas. At the end of the video the old war veteran runs to try to save the Japanese man from dying. The old man is seen back in his living room watching television. The video of "Not Now John" is seen on the television. He changes the channel and the next song begins. "The Fletcher Memorial Home" features dictators and politicians walking around in an asylum, filmed at Forty Hall in Enfield. These politicians include Thatcher, Leopoldo Galtieri, Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler, among others. The war veteran walks up to them, pulls out the gun seen earlier and shoots them. Just afterward, he walks over to the window of the asylum and sees them well and alive inside. The final scene shows war veteran sitting back in his living room reading a newspaper, he looks over and sees a picture of the war veteran that was on the bridge which was actually him when he was younger. The film then ends.

Track Listing

The film's four tracks are:[1]

  1. "The Gunner's Dream" (introduction)
  2. "The Final Cut"
  3. "Not Now John"
  4. "The Fletcher Memorial Home"

References
  1. Andy Mabbett (2010). Chris Charlesworth (ed.). Pink Floyd: The Music and the Mystery. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84938-370-7. OCLC 762731304. OL 25083671M. Wikidata Q25766745.
  2. Billboard July 16, 1983, page 36
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