My Thirty-three Favorite Film Finales
by Tin_ear | created - 25 Jan 2013 | updated - 13 May 2014 | PublicI named the worst endings, now let me list some of the climaxes that I feel are the best in cinema. I'll try not to give too much away. A terrible ending can destroy a film, so too a great one can elevate or even make a movie.
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1. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
Votes: 822,298 | Gross: $32.87M
Depending on which of the forty-three versions you watch, it's a beautifully shot and scripted last ten minutes. Despite the overpraise for writer Philip K. Dick (he himself cited that editors did not rein in his impulses and this novel was not one of his best), the end was altered greatly from his novel by Blade Runner's screenwriters. But it turned out to have been a wise choice. The cryptic final scenes and quick jump to the Vangelis-scored closing credits is one of the most electric climaxes I've ever seen; even that choice of adjective seems hackneyed and cheap in describing the effectiveness of the last ten minutes, but so be it. The most memorable line was ad-libbed by Rutger Hauer; Ridley Scott was smart enough to leave it in the film. But don't ask me which version it is, I've seen them all and still can't even keep them straight.
2. La Jetée (1962)
Not Rated | 28 min | Short, Drama, Romance
The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
Director: Chris Marker | Stars: Étienne Becker, Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich
Votes: 37,025
If there ever was a film dependent on its ending, it is this. Luckily enough, Chris Marker found a way to visually express his story in a unique way as to accentuate the cyclical theme without distracting from the base emotional power of that ending. As for the Gilliamized remake, don't waste your time.
3. 12 Angry Men (1957)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama
The jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler
Votes: 863,741 | Gross: $4.36M
The film is not done after the verdict is rendered, nevermind the not so subtle role of the seating arrangements and weather throughout the film. The final exchange between the two jurors highlights that division between the legal realm and the real world. It's easy to forget in the end amongst all the judicial babbling, heated discussions, contrived recreations, etc, that these people still have a life to lead in reality. The film may take place in a somewhat abstract, overly theatrical situation most people will never find themselves in but the end reminds us it could just as easily be us burdened with this responsibility.
4. The Godfather Part II (1974)
R | 202 min | Crime, Drama
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Votes: 1,362,636 | Gross: $57.30M
Shock endings usually ruin great movies or at least sensationalize them beyond the point of belief, but in this case it is the only ending that really makes any sense and should have concluded the series. Surpassing the original in many way, The Godfather no slouch itself when it comes to memorable finales, it is unforseeable and utterly devastating. The vignette added by Coppola from the cutting-room floor from Godfather 1 should have, by logic, amounted to little else than a spoiled director refusing to 'kill his darlings.' Instead the disjointed segment paints a subtle picture of the debasement of the Corleone family in the name of business. So effective partly because we were legitimately nostalgic for the characters and story that was now (assumedly) wrapping up.
5. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,494
The ultimate Noir. The ultimate Noir ending. Chinatown defines and transcends the genre at the same time.
6. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,706 | Gross: $0.45M
The hospital scene, sewer scene, and final long shot are incredible; I'd try and explain it better but I can't really do it the justice it deserves. Years later I've come the shamefully obvious, symbolic conclusion that Graham Greene is essentially comparing his deceptively charming antagonist (Orson Welles) to piece of excrement, a disagreeable dinner, being flushed not just out of the 'body' of the city but the lives of everyone he is close to.
7. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 127,978
Never has a closing scene captured the exhilaration and panic that is childhood. Freedom is sometimes more frightening when you're on the outside of the fence. If childhood is anything, it's the freedom to make mistakes.
8. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
PG | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel
Votes: 44,859 | Gross: $16.06M
(Spoiler) One assassin's mission to rewrite history, and pull off the greatest murder of all time. You can guess there are necessary complications.
9. Diabolique (1955)
Not Rated | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel
Votes: 69,322 | Gross: $1.09M
Creepiest climax I've ever seen. It was pretty much downhill for horror movies from here on out.
10. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,378,289 | Gross: $290.48M
Easily the greatest moment of the franchise.
11. Paths of Glory (1957)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, War
After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready
Votes: 212,056
Many people have stereotyped Kubrick a cold-hearted, overtly intellectual pessimist, perhaps even a nihilist. The last couple of minutes of this film might make one reconsider that pronouncement.
12. The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
PG | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In 1880s India, two former British soldiers decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saeed Jaffrey
Votes: 51,990
Written by Kipling, directed by John Huston, and starring the two greatest British actors of their generation, somehow the film is more than the sum of its parts.
13. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
R | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz
Votes: 75,077 | Gross: $34.70M
Glenn Close manages to instill a spark of humanity in what is one of the least likeable characters imaginable.
14. Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, History
When King Henry IV ascends to the throne, his heir, the Prince of Wales, is befriended by Sir John Falstaff, an old, overweight, fun-loving habitual liar. Through Falstaff's eyes we see the reign of King Henry IV and the rise of Henry V.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford, John Gielgud
Votes: 10,138 | Gross: $0.12M
Welles' last great film as director, and the last role he could really sink his teeth into. That's not a weight joke, I swear.
15. The Wrong Man (1956)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Film-Noir
In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle, Harold J. Stone
Votes: 31,334
The type of powerful, stinging finish that was so often lacking from Hitchcock's body of work. In my view, he seemed to excel at either end of the spectrum, black comedies that didn't take themselves seriously (like The Trouble with Harry) or at the other end, films like The Wrong Man, which for Hitchcock, was disturbingly realistic and gritty.
16. Fail Safe (1964)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller
A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Fritz Weaver, Dan O'Herlihy
Votes: 24,382
You might recognize the plot from Dr Strangelove, but the two are essentially unrelated if you don't count plagiarism as being related. All kidding aside, Fail-Safe accurately depicts the reality of an accidential nuclear strike against the Soviet Union and its repercussions under the guidelines of Game Theory, though the actual mechanics of a 'go-ahead' nuclear launch confirmation, the key aspect of the film, are likely exaggerated. Critics seem to miss that whether procedural, human-based, or mechanical, all errors in the nuclear launch system are in the end human errors because we designed them. It is at its heart a story of free will, the onus of responsibility and power.
17. The Color of Money (1986)
R | 119 min | Drama, Sport
Fast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver
Votes: 93,196 | Gross: $52.29M
A kind of character study one might expect sizing up the chalk-jockeys down at the local pool hall, the film ends because there's nothing left to say. While some people get distracted by the supposedly 'formulaic' plot of the movie, the film in actuality subverts the conventional 'formula' in the final ten minutes, quite contrary to the rigid mentor/protege relationship. This is not a definitive climax with a clear cut 'bad' and 'good' guy.
Of all the criticism of this film I can gather, it comes down to people misunderstanding the ending: either cynically assuming Martin Scorsese was setting up a sequel (which I'm sure sounded less stupid at the time), or that the film had no payoff (missing the point that the road-trip plot was secondary to character development),.... or in the case of Roger Ebert, that Paul Newman's character does not change, despite the fact the character's behavior, motivations, self-esteem, and morals are erratic through-out and we really only discover any reason to like the guy until the last thirty minutes when he shows vulnerability and discovers sincerity. The film works despite the fact the film is a sequel, not because of it; the ending shows how Scorsese avoided merely imitating and exaggerating the original.
18. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
R | 116 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, Jane Leeves, Cherise Bates
Votes: 39,262 | Gross: $17.31M
Perhaps the spectacular and unpredictable finale of To Live and Die in L.A. makes up for the forced ending of Friedkin's previous film The Exorcist.
19. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,334 | Gross: $5.01M
An end so great it would later be alluded to in homage in Kubrick's The Killing and the original Ocean's Eleven, to name a few. This is nothing; according to some sources, Bogart was the first choice to star in director John Huston's early version of The Man Who Would Be King. One of the great 'what if's?' in film history.
20. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps
Votes: 193,451 | Gross: $12.47M
A chase and epilogue so intense and haunting they recycled it almost verbatim in the sequel, Thunderdome.
21. The Wicker Man (1973)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A puritan police sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the pagan locals claim never existed.
Director: Robin Hardy | Stars: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland
Votes: 92,122 | Gross: $0.06M
I can't tell you anything without giving everything away. But if you've seen the remake and know the ending anyway, maybe you can still watch the original and get some of the bad taste of Nic Cage's acting out of your mouth.
22. The Wild Bunch (1969)
R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien
Votes: 90,285 | Gross: $12.06M
The Wild Bunch ruined the 'oversized shootout climax' for every movie that came after. It was so beautiful in its endless, ridiculous stream of bullets & eager, charging bodies, and elongated grimaces and strained doomed glances, that any flick that came after it would be accused of shamelessly imitating it or failing to surpass its gory majesty. It was a great Western that had an end that parodied and topped every over the top action film before it. Having 'jumped the shark' Sam Peckinpah would wisely move onto smaller set pieces and more stylized depictions of violence (though never really matching what he did in this film) in his later work. The action film genre was less astute, today we have a glut of pompous films like Inglorious Basterds and Avatar that are too dumb to realize they are just video games in comparison, because all their violence adds up to absolutely nothing. In 1969, it was legitimately controversial.
23. Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
Approved | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
The Devil arranges for a deceased gangster to return to Earth as a well-respected judge to make up for his previous life.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude Rains, Onslow Stevens
Votes: 3,192
(Spoilers) This movie is actually a remake for all intents and purposes but the end is much more poignant than the end scene of the film it is based upon, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, written by the same author just five years prior. I personally prefer the rip off, celestial justice and resurrection has got nothing on outsmarting the devil (played by Claude Rains, who also starred as the original Mr. Jordan) and revenge from beyond the grave. Paul Muni and Rains' final exchange is cheeky where as the end scene of Here Comes Mr. Jordan is just contrived and a little cheesy.
24. The Omen (1976)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner
Votes: 132,052 | Gross: $4.27M
As opposed to The Exorcist, an equally ambitious and intense film of that era, The Omen's ambiguous ending brought the film's themes of prophesy and guilt-tinged catastrophes full circle and elevated a merely good film into a great one (it is essentially a riff on Rosemary's Baby after all). Writer David Seltzer justifies his film's gore and humorlessness by presenting a protagonist who is prepared to do the unspeakable and would have us cheer him on doing it, whereas W.P. Blatty's Exorcist is content to let us off easy as if the whole ordeal was just a dream. In any case both films being a good example of the boldness and sophistication of Seventies horror, a contrast to the crass awfulness and predictability of the next four decades evident in the numerous remakes, sequels, and rip offs of both The Omen and The Exorcist.
25. Pickpocket (1959)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Drama
Michel passes the time by picking pockets, careful to never be caught despite being watched by the police. His friend Jacques may suspect, while both men may have their eyes on Jeanne, the pretty neighbor of Michel's ailing mother.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri, Dolly Scal
Votes: 25,320
This ending manages to redeem a merely average film into a good one. In all due justice, American Gigolo is a more entertaining, better acted movie, but it stole its ending from this Bresson film.
26. Duck Soup (1933)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Musical
Rufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx
Votes: 62,711
Another example where a fantastic climax makes the movie.
27. Manhattan (1979)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy
Votes: 147,131 | Gross: $45.70M
Stylistically and dramatically speaking, the peak of Woody Allen's career.
28. The Dogs of War (1980)
R | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Mercenary James Shannon, on a reconnaissance job to the African nation of Zangaro, is tortured and deported. He returns to lead a coup.
Director: John Irvin | Stars: Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely, Hugh Millais
Votes: 9,404
A fairly average production until the final two or so minutes, the final reveal adds a much needed twist of conscience and justice to a plot filled with an otherwise callous and grim cast of protagonists (which was the entire point of the twist). A fitting commentary by Frederick Forsyth (the same mind behind The Day of the Jackal) on the perpetual political instability, and paternalistic tampering by ex-colonial nations in Africa; not surprisingly, a strikingly similar coup would breakout in real life years later in 2004 in Equatorial Guinea. By coincidence or inspiration, life had imitated art, albeit without Chris Walken's surreal pep talk. I can't help but compare TDoW's superb ending, plot, and rising sense of tension to the less than stimulating Live and Let Die. A striking parallel -- another occasion to ponder the Bond franchise's utter failure to hold its own against better films in the genre.
29. The Passenger (1975)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
Unable to find the war he's been asked to cover, a frustrated war correspondent takes the risky path of co-opting the identity of a dead arms-deal acquaintance.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry
Votes: 26,150 | Gross: $0.62M
Finally a Michelangelo Antonioni flick worthy of the pomp that is the Criterion Collection. The film plays off his previous efforts, L'avventura and Blow-Up, adding personality and urgency where the others seem trifling and obnoxiously opaque. The Passenger is a worthy thriller, all while exploring the idea of identity and the perception of truth far more convincingly than any of his earlier films. The climactic scene, a seven-minute, uninterrupted single shot, is a study in composition. (Spoiler) The dialogue of the actresses in this scene is crucial, revealing the alienation & banality surrounding his death, and his failure to see the larger picture. In trying to fulfill some fantasy in his mind or live someone else's life he has only negated his own self.
30. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,623 | Gross: $3.27M
(Spoiler) Devastating coda, with a very effective superimposed shot after, and a long, empty blank screen to reinforce or subject the viewer to concentrate all the more on what they had just witnessed. Depending on your outlook you could potentially read the fate of the protagonist in any number of ways, for he at least received a quick death unlike so many others. I've come to the conclusion he lucked out.
31. The Fire Within (1963)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Depressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living. Will this help him?
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Yvonne Clech, Hubert Deschamps
Votes: 10,449
As a first impression, the end seems suspiciously non-chalant. A figure worthy of perhaps both scorn and pity, Louis Malle's main character is the embodiment of the self-absorbed bourgeoisie that populated art-house movies throughout the Sixties and Seventies, a gamble on Malle's part. Seldom do alcoholics on screen appear so mundane and irredeemable. Oddly, his personal relationships give his life meaning but are the very source of his discomfort. For a guy so sociable and respected he inevitably always winds up holed up alone with only his thoughts, which renders the whole affair all the more realistic and uncomfortable (and so it should be). A man so bored extracting every ounce of pleasure out of life he is reduced to squandering the greatest oppurtunites for reasons known only to him. An Epicurean warning and an affront to those who would romanticize suffering or expect absolution or consoling denouement. Bunuel could not craft a better rebuke of the hollowness that constitutes bourgeois malaise and Catholic guilt. Malle's use of jump cuts in the dinner party finale unmatched by any of his fellow practitioners.
32. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 234,844
A perfect, unique combination of horror for mankind and relief for our heroine marks the conclusion of one of the best horror films ever made. I can only imagine the shock is threefold by those who were under the impression they were watching another psychodrama about a paranoid basket case, not unlike Roman Polanski's previous thriller Repulsion. The fact that the antagonists are so eager for Rosemary's participation in their project and her maternal instincts are so obliging that we the audience are compelled to take her side, makes this film so much creepier and unnerving than the goriest of slashers.
33. Taxi Driver (1976)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 919,379 | Gross: $28.26M
A large part of the charm and genius of this film's ending is the controversy surrounding it, the media that got lost in questions of glorifying violence and the sociopaths who perpetrate said acts. I don't want to spell it out, but (in my judgement at least) the film and the subsequent deranged legion of imitators and guileless fans it inspired echoes precisely the deeply troubling comment about society Paul Schrader and Scorsese were attempting. The more I think about it the less the finale seems like a tragic comedy or a simple ironic twist than it does a farce or satirical revenge-fantasy. To exactly what degree or at what point the film slips into a figment of Travis' imagination we are only to guess. Or is he the just right perverted hero that our perverted time calls for?
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