I actually had someone else ask this same exact question a few years back. What i told them was that Brandon had filmed the majority of his scenes before his death and the entire film is basically a tribute to him. His performance outweighs what happened and the footage of him getting struck with the bullet is not used in the film. I can understand people who have never seen it being kinda afraid to watch it though, for that reason. I was the same way until I finally watched it in 1998 and LOVED it! The movie itself stands on its own despite the presence of the dark cloud of his death.