Best Movie Ending of All-Time?

It was decent, but you have to talk yourself into it being a great film.

It was like Picasso painting a pile of shit. Sure, it was a magnificent rendering of a pile of shit. The brushstrokes were fantastic and the color choices amazing, but when you step away it is still a painting of a pile of shit.

I was not crazy about it either, but the crafting of the scenes was fantastic.

 

my bad for leaving out "the sting," an all-time personal fave. certainly the greatest immediate turnaround twist ever, imho.

for that matter, not because of any dramatic twist, i think the final frozen frames of "butch and sundance" as well as "thelma and louise" were marvelous. perhaps the greatest male and female buddy flicks of all time. 8) 8) 8)

 

For those that have not seen Fight Club and want to see it, please skip my post.



I'll have to go with Fight Club. Jack battling with his "alter ego" and shooting himself in the face, only to come to the realization that there is no way things are going to change and he takes Marla's hand and embraces the end of the world as we know it.

However, the end of the book by the same name is exponentially better.

 

What you forget about The Sting and Shawshank is that you are not sure exactly what Andy did that last night and if Redford was still in on the sting when you first saw the movies.

Shawshank's ending is about 20 minutes as well. Amazing movie.

 

The first "Halloween" was great. Seeing the faint, ghostly outline of Michael Myers' body in the dirt, combined with the breathing over the theme music, Dr. Loomis' nervous but knowing scanning of the area, and Laurie Strode's crying as she slowly realizes what has happened and that something is still not right, just leaves a creepy taste in your brain.

Also loved the ending of "Terminator 3". One of the few movies where I never saw the ending coming.

(Spoilers)...


The whole time you're thinking they've stopped the war, blown up the evil cyborg again and saved the day, then WHAM! Nuclear holocaust, the world is still fucked, and it was pretty much inevitable the whole time. And not only was it inevitable, every little action by the Connors from day one was a piece of the puzzle that led to it. Great way to wrap everything up, even if the nuances hit you later after you've thought about it.

 

The Sting would be my choice and it also featured my fave ending lines:

"Aren't ya gonna stick around for your share?''

"Nah. I'd only blow it."

 

My favs have already been mentioned: Seven and The Shawshank Redemption.

Both are simply brilliant.

 

Shawshank was, by far, the absolute greatest ending to a movie of all-time. In my mind, there is no equal.

 

Some good ones on here -- Seven, Fight Club, Shawshank, The Usual Suspects, even Saw (note further down).

One I think is underrated is Return of the King. I'm know I'm a Tolkien dork and people hate how long it is, but I love the entire trilogy. The emotional part from when Aragon says, "For Frodo," to when they all bow to the hobbits, that is just awesome. It does run long after that.

How about The Matrix? His call to Agent Smith followed by his flying off, and then Rage Against the Machine blaring, that's pretty f'n cool.

American History X has a depressing ending, but it's realistic. The damage had already been done. I like that there's no pretty little bow there.

As for Saw, one thing I like about it is it really isn't as gory as you think. I watched it one Spike one time and was amazed how little they had to cut (if any) for cable television. The acting is bad, but the premise is fantastic and the ending is great. It's just a shame it went the way it did with 2, 3 and 4. Like The Matrix, I refuse to downgrade the original because the sequels suck.

No Country has a disappointing ending. I get it, but I still didn't enjoy it.

 

Robocop.

And any discussion of great movie endings needs to mention the original Planet of the Apes.

 

I still love the end of Field of Dreams. Just a guy and his dad having a catch, while streams of headlights snake through the Iowa cornfields. Ease his pain, indeed.

It's dusty in here.

 

The Third Man. If you've seen it, you know it. If you haven't, you should.