Posted on 07/30/2006 1:02:24 PM PDT by MotleyGirl70
I've seen Chinatown a dozen times, and while it's a great movie, two specific things about it stick in my mind: Jack Nicholson's bandaged nose and the final line of dialogue. Acting, directing, a great script… these are essential to any film. But a classic ending, now that can really make a movie.
We spent literally months brainstorming and corralling the 50 films with the absolute best endings we've ever seen. We're not talking about the last half hour. We mean the last minute of movie. You know, the ending.
Needless to say you can consider this entire article one monster SPOILER ALERT. Most of the films here are classics that you've probably seen several times over. But if not, skip past the ones you haven't seen and put 'em in your rental queue, otherwise you're going to ruin a whole lot of good films. Check out the flicks and we promise you won't be disappointed when the credits roll. As always, apologies in advance for the ones we stupidly forgot (and we know you'll be writing to let us know -- yes, Jaws, The Sixth Sense, Seven, Carrie, we're sorry!).
- Christopher Null, Editor-in-Chief
Hey, love hurts, what can I say? ;>)
I'm pretty sure it's Alien.
Agree with you 100% re: the Caine Mutiny movie & book.
I personally think a majority of the Willie/May romance could have been left out of Wouk's novel entirely to give it even more force & pace but the 'Willie goes from dreamy mama's boy to rough-n-tumble naval officer who likes a tryst with a siren' was probably necessary for character development & background vis-a-vis the mutiny.
I hate to fall prey to the forces of PC but some of Wouk's references to 'burnt cork' (i.e., black galley stewards) had me cringing. I guess it can be defended as a product of the time portrayed and/or written (a la Huck Finn) but it's still a bit jarring when coming from the protagonist.
The casting in the movie version was fairly spot-on with the glaring example of Hickey/Wynn. After seeing his performance in Caine I always kept an eye out for Jose Ferrer in anything else. Love his speaking voice. I think the movie also left out any mention of Greenwald (Ferrer) being Jewish.
Robert Francis was a good choice for the presumably apple-cheeked, crew-cut Willie but is obviously out of his acting depth at times in the presence of masters such as MacMurray and Bogart. Francis perished a short time later in an air crash, I believe.
All in all the film was a very capable adaptation considering the year it was made and the silly Hollywood conventions that dominated that era. Of course, in this case the book wasn't just better, it was superlative.
PS - did you spot a young James Best (Dukes of Hazzard's Roscoe P. Coltrane) as one of the wardroom officers?
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was the best spaghetti western ever made. Another one they missed was "The Sting", although I'm no great fan of Redford or Newman. The more I look over the list, the more I think it's a wine drinkers metrosexual list. On some lists, you go, yeah, they missed this one, but what do you bump off to make room for it? On this list, probably a third of the movies could be dumped.
As far as Eastwood movies, High Plains Drifter had a good ending... "WHO ARE YOUUUUU!!!!"
Also, another older movie with an "interesting" ending (which I found in a $4.99 bin at the local Walmart, btw) was The Vanishing Point.
Which brings up another relatively obscure one with a surprise ending, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. (Susan George was a babe.)
One thing I found interesting about Wouk's background writing was that he was acutely aware of the religious/class distinctions in New England/New York during the time, and his work serves as one of the better sociological studies of the social mores of the time. As you noted in your post, some of those mores were very racist.
If you saw Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry without knowing the standard formula of a Peter Fonda movie, the train/car wreck at the end is pretty awesome.
Speaking of car/train wrecks ending a movie, how about the way Arnold knocks off James Caan and his buddies at the end of Eraser?
I'm probably the only person who hasn't seen any of the Alien movies.
I never saw Eraser so I might just have to pick it up soon. Speaking of car/train wrecks ending a movie, the other oldie that comes to mind along the lines of Easy Rider is Robert Blake in Electra Glide in Blue.
No votes for Soylent Green?
When Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda made millions off Easy Rider (with a production budget of $360,000) all the major studios rushed to rip it off. Of course, they didn't get the point of the show, so they ripped off the ending. Fonda, of course, made a career of ripping himself off.
Trivia note on Easy Rider. There were a couple of Captain America bikes. One was destroyed at the end of the movie. The other was wrecked, and the guy who bought it sold two different people "the original Captain America bike." One may be a complete fraud, but the speculation is he used the parts to build two similar bikes, and sold them both as the original.
Whoa, forgot all about Soylent Green. That was definitely a memorable movie ending.
Wonderful concept for a movie or book but the ending for this one was absolutely the worst, most pandering ending in search of drama I've ever seen. Perfectly good movie just ruined by the ending where a couple of bad boy 12 year olds stab the main character in the movie. So transparent.
That one gets my vote. I was just looking to see if anyone else mentioned it. Pacino's best performance ever. He may not have been acting! :^)
Oddly they mention Butch Cassidy ending in the Bonnie and Clyde, but don't think it rates.
PATTON (narration): For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes, his children, robed in white stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning...... that all glory.....is fleeting.
"In space, no one can hear you scream."
Another would be "Once upon a time in the West"
Pay It Forward "most pandering ending in search of drama I've ever seen."
I guess I meant the VERY end, with all the people showing up to pay respect, and the cars in the distance.
You're right, it could have ended on a more upbeat note. You have to wonder what other endings they tried.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.