Great Movie Endings

[Satanist]

I'd have to say Brazil


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Mans life is ruined and while being tortured he escapes into insanity.It's up there with Its a Wonderful Life

[paulvonscott]

Not Carpenters best movie by any means, but the end from Escape from LA, where Pliscan punches in the code '666' into a communicator and the military satellites that orbit the Earth unfurl and send an electromagnetic pulse that destroys all electronics on the planet, casting mankind back to the stone age.

Pliscan does this in front of the military via a hologram, and they are begging him not to do it.  Ha-ha...

The musics great and it beats the end of the first one for me.

No justification for the rest of the movie offered.

[Art]

I still maintain that movie is a bad dream I had or something, and doesn't actual exist.

I was going to sing the praises of Brazil, but someone beat me to it, so I'll say Repo Man instead*

*With the reservation that the special effects of the car flying are slightly ropey. Other than that it's gold.

[rc]

Away from big cinema movie endings:-

THE BEYOND as the two survivors find themselves trapped in the nightmarish landscape of the painting

HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK in a sublimely ridiculous plot-twist it turns out the murdering psychopaths had been 'lured' to the house deliberately

DEAD OR ALIVE (Takashi Miike) has surely one of the most unpredictable endings ever/ah - after 100 minutes of gangsters and guns, the final showdown involving rocket launchers and (alien?) orbs of total destruction is a knockout!

[rc]

Yes, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT -

Magnificent concept, execution and ending.

I couldn't get up to turn off the video for about 10 minutes!

[Krustabi]

The scariest ending ever is Straw Dogs. Dustin Hoffman has finished massacaring a load of country bumpkins and drives the mentally disabled he was protecting back to the village. He looks very calm until the very end:
Dustin's mild mannered academic guy: "Do you know where you're going to?"
Mental guy:"No"
Dustin:(Demonically)"Well,.. neither do I!"

Bbbrrr. Scariest. Film. Ever...

[Tiplodocus]

This been a great endings thread, I'm guessing everyone knows there are spoilers ahead...

These films don't necessarily have a great twist at the end - IMHO a twist doesn't always mean a great ending.

Apologies if my memory of some of these is a little hazy but they all made me think "That's just perfect..."

MONSTERS, INC. - everything fits beautifully into place with the last scene of Sully and Boo

TOY STORY 2 - "You're stuck with me, to infinity and beyond...."

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID: OK so probably not an entirely true version of events but if you didn't know the story, entirely logical, yet surprising "My god, they died"! .  

SIXTH SENSE - The discovery that the main character is actually a ghost is uplifting.  How did he do that?

THE RIGHT STUFF - after the marvellous "Who's the greatest pilot?" scene in the Texan BBQ, it's so utterly correct that they focus on Chuck walking from the wrecked test plane. Right stuff, indeed.

UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING - More Kaufman - that dissolve from Daniel Day Lewis and Juliet Binoche laughing as they drive makes me cry. Every time.

OUTLAW JOSEY WALES - Don't you just love Clint's speech about "killing words".  And in all his films, he never shot a native American, apparently.

SUPERMAN: Christopher Reeve flies above the earth, ignoring us and at the very last minute, smiles at the audience before banking away.


Some crap endings...
LONG KISS GOODNIGHT - look, it's so obvious that Samuel L Jackson's character died so why edit him in for an "audience pleasing" last scene?

JUDGE DREDD - among it's many other crimes, it does the same as the above but with the annoying Fergie character.

BLADE RUNNER - after all of that - he walks off with Rachel to a happy life together?  (NB: This still applies to the director's cut - just because there aren't shots of lovely scenery doesn't make the revised ending any better)

[The Monarch]

The wicker man....i was still surprised by the fact that the main chaarcter died you just waited for a last minute rescue but none came....

[rc]

Yes, isn't it great when the redeption/deliverance so expected by the audience does not arrive?

You can't whack a good downbeat ending.

[The Amstor Computer]

I can't believe no-one's mentioned the ending of "Night of the Living Dead" - a brutal hammer-blow, timed to perfection.

I've also got a real soft spot for the ending of "Don't Look Now" - look out, Donald! It's a fucking dwarf with a knife!http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/directors/02/dont.jpg">

[Quirkafleeg]

Although the films not perfect I always liked the ending of Angel Heart... going down!

A couple of classics: THe greatest ending of all time: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
And of course: "Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

[Mr D]

gree with NOTLD there... but seriously, what's the deal with Don't Look Now? I looked forward to it for ages, then when I saw it....

It built up an ok atmosphere, but I wasn't shocked by the dwarf... It actually made me laugh!

What was I 'supposed' to expect/be thinking? Talk me through it!!

[Richmond Clements]

French Connection II has a great ending.

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He shoots the baddie, and it just ends! Brilliant.

[rc]

Yes, NOTLD's ending is brilliantly downbeat too - the inferior but still highly watchable remake had a similar ending, but I remain confused as to how Tony Todd was turned into a zombie at the end. When was he bitten? Perhaps I need to see it again!

DON'T LOOK NOW... I also was rather underwhelmed by the experience - it is a rather arty film - but found the horrible dwarf very creepy indeed.

[Bart Oliver]

++ BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID: OK so probably not an entirely true version of events but if you didn't know the story, entirely logical, yet surprising "My god, they died"! . ++

Hail of gunfire, freeze frame, fade to sepia, Bacharach soundtrack kicks in. Brutal.

B.