Sorry, but I could not disagree more strongly.
I saw Being There in its first week in the theater, and there were no outtakes under the credits. People came out of the theater talking and arguing about what they had just seen, especially the ending.
I then saw it again later, after the studio added the outtakes, presumably because people weren’t leaving the theater laughing (“Hey, it’s a Peter Sellers movie! People are unhappy it’s not a yuckfest!”) The effect was completely different.
Yes, people laughed, but the outtakes also destroyed the lovely character that Peter Sellers had carefully and quietly created. It ripped back the curtain on the performance and said, “Look! It’s just an act! He’s breaking up the crew and swearing!”
Outtakes have their place, but stapling them to the end of that performance was a disservice to the actor and the film.
