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
Glad to see "The Searchers" and "Shane" made the list.
I'd at least give "Hotel Berlin" an honorable mention...a closure of swift justice.
Where is "The Kid" by Charlie Chaplin?
"Gone with The Wind?"
"It's a Wonderful Life?"
"Platoon?"
All of which are much more impressive than Mark Walburg pulling it out in "Boogie Nights"
Emperor of te North is a Great Movie!!!
I loved Gamara as a kid! I think I've seen them all
I have another one, the original Indiana Jones. Showing the end result of all of Indiana's heroics was to be placed non-chalantly in a back warehouse.
What about "The Godfather?"
I think they decided the ending first, then built a plot to get there. It was a classic Peter Fonda does a bunch of junk, then senselessly gets killed off at the end movie, ala Easy Rider.
Godfather, would probably be Number 1 in my book. A perfectly executed ending.
Hi, MotleyGirl!
Very nice and interesting post.
I'd offer for consideration, the final moments of Warren Beatty in 'The Parallax View'.
Or Linda Fiorentino's smiling destruction of the last piece of evidence that could connect her to a murder in 'The Last Seduction'.
Jon Panckow's final line in 'To Live And Die In L.A.' is very telling and memorable as well.
Just a few off the top of my head.
Jack.
Hi, finnman:
If you look really close at the earlier, low-budget 'It! The Terror From Beyond Space'. You'll begin to see that 'Alien' is nothing more than a Hugely Budgeted, darker, drearier, scarier remake of a classic B Sci-Fi film. Up to and including the Modus Operandi for disposing of the alien intruder.
The same can be said for 'Independence Day' and its predecessor, 'Earth vs The Flying Saucers'.
Along with John Carpenter's 'Thing' and the original 'Thing From Another World'.
Carpenter knew he could compete with the original in the dialog department. So he didn't even try. Making up for the loss by using exceptional, shocking and memorable Special Effects.
Jack.
The Ending of Murhphy's War, where the hatred kills EVERYBODY in the end.....
They create innocuous choirs, because everyone loves music, so how can these "DU Freepers" be so bad? They take on geneological research, imbedding the idea of themselves as being a helpful group. They even give up coffee so the health nuts will admire them.
A brave poster on the REAL Free Republic raises their voice, "NO! You are not FReepers! You need a spork weasel ZOT! Look up the FACTS in a good encyclopedia! Learn the differences between a Republican and a Democrat!"
But the poster is accused of being a child "molester" and Jew "basher"(see post 84).
And the shocking ending: The REAL FReeper thread continues, no one defending the verifiable facts the poster raised. They continue going on talking about movies, ignoring truth just like the DU would do.
A History of Violence? Just an awful movie on so many levels, especially the ending!
Possibly because the thread is about movies, dimwit. Now crawl back in your hole.
Have you seen the three new ones from the '90s?
Surprise Ending: IGNORING TRUTH JUST LIKE THE DU WOULD DO
No. I'll have to see if I can find them. Gamara was my favorite stay-up-on-Saturday-night sleep over movie on "Creature Feature"
Just like the Taliban's truth, there is a big difference between the actual truth and your narrow interpretation of it. Now, dimwit, realize this was a discussion about movie endings and not a place to discuss your bigotry, so YOU go to DU where you are obviously more knowledgeable and comfortable. Or crawl back under your rock.
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