Ever wonder about the ending of My Own Private Idaho? The movie famously includes Henry IV intertextuality, and lots of asides about roads. The ending includes the observation that “this road” looks like a messed up smiley face. During the time of Shakespeare a “road” was a whore. The characters of Idaho are of course male prostitutes, and when Scott says this road looks like a fucked up smiley face, I now can interpret that to mean his experiences as a whore. Took me 23 years to make the connection now that I’m reading Henry IV part 2.
















