Exclusive: the co-writer and producer of Turner & Hooch explains how it got its infamous ending.
Once youre past the picture, we start talking about the ending of the film…
Arriving a couple of months afterK-9at the US box office was the Tom Hanks-headlinedTurner & Hooch.
You know the one: Hanks gets paired, reluctantly, with a slobbering dog.
In whats ostensibly a Disney family comedy.
So then: what happened?
That is, the filmmakers wanted that ending.
But still, that didnt mean they didnt hedge their bets.
We did a test, he recalled.
Although we felt that the ending thats there is the more emotionally satisfying one, were not completely irresponsible.
We had a version where that didnt happen, and one where there was a miraculous recovery.
We tested the films back to back.
Two houses of identical size, in a multiplex, starting half an hour apart.
Turns out, too, it was something of a dead heat.
The difference between the two scorings?
There was no statistical difference in the scores.
There wasnt much different in the focus groups.
The group with the ending that we had was more passionate.
It provoked this passionate response.
It was all positive, but muted, he recalled.
The ultimate call though came from Disney production chief at the time, Jeffrey Katzenberg.
He had to make the ultimate decision as to which version to go with.
He said, well, we have basically an identical result.
One further aside: the filmmakers did have a vote as to whether Hooch should live or die too.
Every one of them voted for the dog to get it…
