Why Did David Burn Down Jade's House? - Endless Love (1981) Discussion

[–] Jakuja 13 years ago

He thought he could then come and "save" them, pretending he was just passing by and saw the fire. Then they would want him in their lives again. (He wasn't thinking too clearly.)

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[–] Witchblade06 13 years ago

Actually I just saw the movie again last night and I now know why he did it cuz he felt he would be a "hero" by setting the house on fire and saving Jade's family. Was going to post right now by saying never mind. I saw the movie again and figured it out. Wow that was a really really not so smart idea for David to do

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[–] LadyDi4476 13 years ago

Yeah he gets the idea from Tom Cruise's character in the movie. In the book, he's just so completely distraught by that point in the story. He can't take being banished from the family and especially Jade. He's not thinking rationally and he thinks by "saving" the family he will be seen as a hero and they will have to let him back in. He never realized he could kill them all. David is clearly suffering from a mental illness.

-Di

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[–] Witchblade06 13 years ago

True and not too mention that the acting was pretty bad in the film

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[–] Lokisgodhi 10 years ago

Lesson Learned: Never take anything Tom Cruise says seriously.

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[–] bigscren 10 years ago

This was one of the many things I found incredibly stupid about this movie- why the hell did he confess to starting the fire? If he had just stuck to saying he was passing by and saw the fire, it might've worked out better. This movie was just unbelievably bad.

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[–] jayhn1111 9 years ago



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[–] fairy-3 8 years ago

I got that, what I didn't get is how did they know that he started the fire? The movie goes straight from the fire to the courtroom and him being convicted.

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[–] SarahKatherine247 8 years ago

He admitted it.

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[–] BoSoxRule 13 years ago

Mystique, did you watch the movie? It's very clearly explained.

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[–] Samclyde2 13 years ago

The movie never actually covered what made them convinced that David set the fire, though it must've looked pretty suspicious anyway -- like right, David just happened to be strolling past Jade's house at like 1:00 in the morning and spotted the fire on the porch.

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[–] Sofistali 11 years ago

In the book, he confesses in the hospital the next day.

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[–] SuperCatMonkey 11 years ago

In the next scene he's at his sentencing hearing and the judge states that he confessed.

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[–] seanwhelan2310 (568) 9 months ago

This a scene that was shown in a trailer, but was not in the movie where he admits it at the 1:45 mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlnoOdbZFdg

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[–] rgmunizlxv 12 years ago

We're you paying attention to the movie? David burned the house down because he thought he could be a hero by passing by the house and seeing the fire put it out, save the day. It didn't work out that way. Instead the fire got out of hand.

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[–] MissMillie420 11 years ago

Actually, he didn't mean to set it on fire...

He overheard a conversation between a couple of other students at school about how if you try to light wet newspapers, they smoke like hell but don't catch fire. Before he lit them, they show him dumping water on them but it didn't work, and the fire broke out.

Here's to those who wish me well...

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[–] Witchblade06 11 years ago

I just saw the movie again and your mostly right but when David heard the student (played by Tom Cruise) saying something about "playing hero", David got the idea if Jade's house was on fire and he went in and saved her whole family, he thought Jade's family will accept him. But it didn't work that way obviously.

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