All-Time Great Movie Endings

[RoadRunner6]

No, I'm not talking about the predictable and wonderfully inspirational climatic ending you could see coming after the first five minutes into the film.

What movies have you seen in which the ending shocked you, terrified you, thrilled you or surprised you the most? You did not see it coming until the very ending or even in the closing credits.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

The Grey Fox, 1983

This wonderful Canadian Western/Love Story staring Richard Farnsworth and Jackie Burroughs won seven Canadian Genies including Best Picture. Siskel and Ebert raved about this film and it received a very rare !00% rating from the Rotten Tomatoes film rating website.

The ending might be one we all hoped for but came as a surprise only after the film was finished and the closing music and credits were about to appear. A very classy and artistic touch in closing a simple but marvelous movie, a must see.

A Boy And His Dog, 1975

An offbeat, oddball, black comedy starring Jason Robards and Don Johnson. The movie is set in 2024 after a nuclear holocaust. This plot is so wierd but inventive I don't want to ruin it for you. No space ships and ray guns here. Just human nature with its inherent lust and a PITA organization that is torn apart deciding whether to condone our condemn this moive.

It might be relevant to note that this movie was during the height of the Women's Liberation Movement, which flourished during the 1970s. Simply one of the greatest endings of all-time. I actually watched this in an artsy/foreign flick type movie theater in Seattle. At the end all the guys were laughing and clapping wildly and all the gals were storming out with looks of disgust. (couldn't they take a joke?)

Any other movies with surprise endings?

RR6 :D

[3-LockBox]

Easy Rider - everyone knows this one

Electra Glide In Blue - A decent movie and a shocking ending....rent it ans see!!! cuz it ain't a surprise if you ain't seen it.

[canuckle]

Well, given your criteria, I'll go with The Usual Suspects. Wonderful writing, wonderful directing, and one of the best endings ever.

But really, for my all-time great movie ending (more generally construed), I'll go for The Karate Kid which made me so wonderfully gushy inside :)

[thekid]

I"ll second "Usual Suspects"-it was about one of the few moviews in recent memory where you did not see the ending coming.

I'll add "Pan's Labrynth" from more recent movies. No one expects the kid to do [I]that[I] at the end.

[emaidel]

The 1968 version of Planet of the Apes. Absolutely brilliant.

[Groundbeef]

I liked the ending to Terminator 3. I thought it was really good.

[Auricauricle]

I really liked Usual Suspects. The end shots of the film, where they focus on Spacey's hands and feet. Brilliant.

[bobsticks]

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[Auricauricle]

...make for great beginnings...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh-kCE0P15I

[nightflier]

I'm a sucker for Westerns, but I thought that the three-way shoot-out in the The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was fantastic, even if expected. Brilliantly acted too. Everyone has seen it, I'm sure, but imagine seeing it for the first time.

Pan's Labyrinth was also very well done and it still leaves you wondering how real Ofelia's netherworld was.

But the one that had me talking about it for days was the ending to Seven.

[audio amateur]

I'm a sucker for Westerns, but I thought that the three-way shoot-out in the The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was fantastic, even if expected. Brilliantly acted too. Everyone has seen it, I'm sure, but imagine seeing it for the first time.

Pan's Labyrinth was also very well done and it still leaves you wondering how real Ofelia's netherworld was.

But the one that had me talking about it for days was the ending to Seven.
I saw it the other day for the first time :D I wanted to know what all the fuss was about...
I've very rarely watched any type of western. I think I need to watch it again because I'm still not quite sure what all the fuss is about:smilewinkgrin:

[Auricauricle]

Seven was definitely cool....I just thought the lead up to the climax was just a tad too leading. Still, a cool show nevertheless!

[Brainstorm]

Hmm, most of the above from Seven Planet of the Apes Heat The Usual Suspects Terminator 3 and Pan's Labrynth.

Star Trek II I didn’t have clue what I was watching back in 1982 apart from it was dazzling fresh and claver and the ending was daring to bump of Mr. Spock that was kick in the stomach. The final ending moving over the new world with James Horner score all brassy and sweeping was tear jerker see the photon tube laying within the green life growing around it and the pull back to space with narration was priceless as it speeded up and whoosh let the end credits role.

KHANN! KHANN! KHANN!

The newer version on DVD It’s never looked so clear and sounds closer to what I heard in 70mm at the CIC/Empire Leicester Square 20 years ago in THX.

Planet of the Apes was one big surprise at the end. “You blew it up! God damn you all to hell” I saw this at double bill at the now long gone Continental cinema in Winton around late 1970’s and was so trilled in what was once the only small independently owned cinema in the UK that lasted 70 years before it was knocked down.

Heat is miraculous the ending with the night backdrop over the airfield lights twinkling and the complex Dolby mix very complex and neat with the score.

The Usual Suspects now that was like WTF! Now that is twist that I didn’t even see coming, be careful who you trust it says. Each one was played and bummed off! A brilliant piece of screen/writing and acting.

Seven now that was shocker of an ending I should have seen it coming but never expected it. What’s in the box?

You don’t want to know and that was the point that turned a good cop into an executioner at the end.

Pan's Labrynth weird Spanish film kinder scared me in places and the ending was kinder sad.

Terminator 3 I rather enjoyed it. The ending is the beginning of the end knowing the war is about to start between man and machine hope T4 turns out to be good conclusion as we know he’ll be sending back Kyle Reese to deal with the terminator and protect Sarah Connor it’s a real mind buzz this film as its dealing with time travel.

[Brainstorm]

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If you listen real hard at 2 minutes 42 seconds onwards or even from the start in Dolby digital with left/right/surrounds and LFE.1 muted its like a different listening experience.

You can hear Neil, winding down clearly over the competition of left/right fronts as the music mix drowns out the centre. I’ve been fascinated with this scene few years and I’ve made a few attempts with dynamic EQ to help reduce the excessive levels getting out of balance as I like to hear the whole soundtrack and nothing but the soundtrack.

HEAT is complex Dolby film mix and damn good one too, why it was overlooked at Oscar for sound, just staggers me.

[topspeed]

Sixth Sense;
The ending transformed a mediocre movie into a brilliant one.

The Usual Suspects;
Kaiser Soze!

Unforgiven;
Clint's transformation from mellowed farmer back into a cold blooded killer was facinating. Riding away into the blackness with rain pouring down was the complete antithesis of the normal "hero rides into the sunset" moment.

[audio amateur]

I'll have to add Fight Club! What made it for me was the Pixies soundtrack, 'Where is my mind'.
Amazing ending! (Well, amazing film throughout to be honest).

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YU5mPEjPHcQ/SamUWytYitI/AAAAAAAAFUY/QIN2TzvOllw/s320/Fight+Club+final+scene.jpg

Another stunning ending was Scarface. Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack fit in sublimely.