Movies without any semblance of a happy ending.

[Spiral Stairs]

There aren't too many. Even a depressing movie usually has some uplifting note at the end. (First to mind is The Ice Storm (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119349/), one of my faves.) Sometimes it's two previously antagonistic characters (like fighting spouses) sharing a smile; sometimes it's a beautiful sunrise at the end of an intense, unpleasant night. But there's usually something that is supposed to instill a sense of hope in the viewer.

One movie without even the slightest semblance of a happy note at the end is Osama (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368913/). (Which, if you haven't seen it, has nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden.)

Others?

[RikWriter]

Very Bad Things.

[Hypno-Toad]

Das Boot.

[stegon66]

Voyager, based on the novel Homo Faber by Max Frisch, has a very downbeat ending what with the main character sitting in despair and wishing that he'd never existed.

[astorian]

Das Boot.

That's a matter of perspective- even though the sub captain and his men were presented as decent men, the fact remains, they were fighting for Hitler!

So, their deaths at the Allies' hands were tragic, but still necessary and desirable.

*

For utterly bleak, hopeless endings, there are...

1) Beneath the Planet of the Apes (it ends with nuclear annihilation... though sequels cheated and gave Earth another chance).

2) The original "Night of the Living Dead" (all of the main characters die; Ben's resourcefulness and courage ultimately count for nothing).

3) Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors"- the murderer gets away scot-free with murder and the asshole (Alan Alda) gets the girl.

[Peter Morris]

Open Water couple of divers get left behind by the dive boat. They spend the movie drifting. Then they die.

The first sequel to Planet Of The Apes. World blows up, everyone dies.

The Empire Strikes Back

[Apollo's Towel]

The Mission (http://imdb.com/title/tt0091530/) - great flick with Jeremy Irons and Robert DeNiro in colonial Brazil, definitely no happy ending when the Portuguese arrive to take over.

Mosquito Coast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito_Coast) - a Harrison Ford movie that's usually forgotten, because it's nothing like Raiders or Star Wars, and Harrison's not a particularly likeable character here. River Phoenix co-stars as his son.

[Spoke]

Se7en

[Apollo's Towel]

Oh, and definitely Syriana (http://imdb.com/title/tt0365737/), for nearly every character involved.

[Apollo's Towel]

Rats, keep hitting enter too soon.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (http://imdb.com/title/tt0460989/), about Ireland's becoming a republic and two brothers involved in the struggle.

Spoorloos (http://imdb.com/title/tt0096163/), also called The Vanishing - fantastic movie about a man's obsession to find out what happened to his girlfriend who disappeared while they were on vacation.

[Ronald C. Semone]

Brazil

Sometimes A Great Notion

When I saw Das Boot and the message flashed on the screen at the end of the movie to the effect that "XXX number of German submarines went to sea and the overwhelmingly large number of them were sunk", the audience broke out in cheers and clapping; I joined in. Those subs were trying to sink the ship my father was on.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Dancer in the Dark.

[Clothahump]

Hombre.

[Sublight]

Funny Games, unless you find yourself rooting for the two killers.

In Uzumaki (Vortex), things get progressively out of control, ending with a final chapter that's just still images of the remaining characters being horribly killed.

Kairo (Pulse) ends with the last survivors on earth giving up and collapsing into dust.

[TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW]

Dude, Love Liza (http://imdb.com/title/tt0282698/). Philip Seymour Hoffman's wife commits suicide, he finds the sealed suicide letter, and gets into huffing gasoline while trying to decide whether to open it. He finally opens it and gets no resolution, then wanders down the street in his bath robe. THE END.

Great movie, though.

[bbs2k]

Pi.

Self inflicted trepanation does not equal happy ending.

[Giles]

Grave of the Fireflies always has to be mentioned in answer to questions like these. It starts with the main character already dead, and just goes downhill from then on.

[beowulff]

Midnight Cowboy
Pan's Labyrinth

[Martini Enfield]

Brazil

Depends which version you've seen- there's at least one with a conventional happy ending in the best Hollywood tradition.

[betenoir]

Welcome to the Dollhouse

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

House of Sand and Fog (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315983/). Fantastic movie. I'll never watch it again.

[Peter Morris]

Depends which version you've seen- there's at least one with a conventional happy ending in the best Hollywood tradition.

Even the real ending is a happy ending of a sort. He retreats into a fantasy world, and thus escapes from them.

[TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW]

Pi.

Self inflicted trepanation does not equal happy ending.

Yeah, but he's at peace and has found solace. That's a decent resolution.

[Spoke]

Chinatown

Requiem for a Dream (Jennifer Connelly seems to be drawn to downbeat scripts.)

Little Children " "

[Valgard]

A Simple Plan
A History Of Violence

[Baldwin]

The 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead.

On the Beach.

ETA: Some choices seem very odd to me, such as The Empire Strikes Back and A History of Violence. Should we have a debate, or just list our choices?

[Spoke]

Sunset Boulevard

A Streetcar Named Desire

[beowulff]

American History X

[Liberal]

The irredeemable Ordinary People.

[Stranger On A Train]

Dancer in the Dark.I was just glad that it was, finally, over.

Depends which version you've seen- there's at least one with a conventional happy ending in the best Hollywood tradition.We do not speak of this. Plus, this cut of Brazil (the so-called "Love Conquers All" edit) makes absolutely no sense, and continuity is shot to hell. (It's on the Criterion Collection edition, and actually worth seeing once, just to see how badly a crap editing job can mangle a film.) Still, even in the theatrical release and director's cut lobotomy endings, Sam does "get away" from his interrogators and is ensconced in his fantasy. It's probably the best possible ending for him.

Having any of you people seen The Godfather, or The Godfather, Part II? Along with Chinatown, they have classic unhappy endings. Then there's (the original) The Wicker Man. Oh, and A Simple Plan; it's not that anybody was particularly happy before, but the depths of their despair was uncovered as the "plan" unfolded. Particularly creepy was Bridget Fonda's mousy wife who turns into a scheming, manipulative shrew.

I'm not sure whether then end of The Wild Bunch can really be considered unhappy; the Gang all end up dead, but really, what were they going to do with the rest of their lives, anyway? They walked into the fortress knowing they were going to die. The end of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, however, is definitely a sad one; nobody seems particularly happy, even, or perhaps especially Vera Miles's character. Then there's High Plains Drifter: "I never did know your name." "Oh, yes you do."

Oh, and Big Trouble In Little China: "Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says, 'Give me your best shot. I can take it.'"

Stranger

[Electrical Storm]

American Beauty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Beauty_%28film%29)

I remember so clearly feeling deeply distraught for days after I watched this movie. I've not been able to bring myself to watch it again, though I want to.

Lester's comment about his wife's gardening tools and her gardening clogs matching - and that it was no accident that they matched perfectly - was haunting to me.

But the ending....it was fantastic, but so disturbing.

[fessie]

The irredeemable Ordinary People.

I'm a little baffled by your hatred for this movie, Lib; I think it's perfect. And the ending is happy - Dad and Son both achieve some authenticity.

[boytyperanma]

Arlington road

I love movies where the bad guys win.

[Bayard]

Chinatown

Requiem for a Dream
You took one of mine -- Chinatown -- but reminded me of another. Requiem for a Heavyweight, a 1962 downer with Anthony Quinn, Mickey Rooney, and Jackie Gleason, is a really good movie.

And Monster isn't exactly a cheery one, either. My wife and I saw it on Valentines Day. One of the least enjoyable Valentine's Days ever.

[kung fu lola]

The Pledge (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237572/)

Irreversible (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290673/). The mindf*ck that is Irreversible also plays with you by telling the story backwards, and the beginning of the story (end of the film) is an incredibly idyllic, soothing image - then all of a sudden, the screen begins to flash in a mind-bending, seizure inducing way, and the tag line appears on the screen: TIME DESTROYS ALL THINGS. Everything that has happened comes rushing back to you, and you think to yourself - "It really does!"

[The Stafford Cripps]

Don't Look Now

or ever again in my case - it was a good film but I don't want to put myself through all that again.

I saw Requiem for a Dream and was laughing at the end, I thought it was so self-indulgently negative. I can't remember much about it so I'm not disagreeing with anyone who thought it was a good film.

Get Carter - original version, haven't seen the re-make.

The Russian film about the Stalinist era Burnt By the Sun has a thoroughly depressing end that you don't see coming.

[Apollo's Towel]

Having any of you people seen The Godfather, or The Godfather, Part II? Along with Chinatown, they have classic unhappy endings.
Of course I've seen them. But like The Empire Strikes Back, I think of them as part of a story arc, and so they don't really have ends in and of themselves. I admit I haven't seen Godfather III, but I assume that one doesn't happily either.

I'm going to throw 2001: A Space Odyssey in for consideration here.

[The Stafford Cripps]

Oh, and although I haven't seen all of it, there's no way the true story 10 Rillington Place can leave you feeling positive.

[Fear Itself]

Testament (1983) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086429/)

The most depressing movie ever made.

[Spoons]

The Perfect Storm

[betenoir]

Testament (1983) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086429/)

The most depressing movie ever made.

Try Threads. Makes Testament look like a comedy.

[carnivorousplant]

The Prime Gig (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0223954/)

Glengarry Glen Ross (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/)

The Seventh Seal (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050976/)

Ace in the Hole (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/)

[Full Metal Lotus]

Brazil

Sometimes A Great Notion

When I saw Das Boot and the message flashed on the screen at the end of the movie to the effect that "XXX number of German submarines went to sea and the overwhelmingly large number of them were sunk", the audience broke out in cheers and clapping; I joined in. Those subs were trying to sink the ship my father was on.

Brazil had two endings.. the "Happy ending" went to america.. the rest of the world got the "bitter" one

FML

[MsWhatsit]

In the Company of Men. I felt sucker-punched at the end of this movie.

The previously-mentioned Grave of the Fireflies.

And, although this is arguable, John Sayles' Limbo. I watched it with MrWhatsit, and after the end asked him what he thought happened to the characters. "Nothing good," he said. I agree.

[Malthus]

Roman Polanski's The Tenant surely wins the prize.

[beowulff]

I bought Harry and Tonto, but I'm afraid to watch it (don't feel suicidal yet)- one of the IMDB reviews calls it "sad beyond tears". So, I don't know how it ends...

[Freudian Slit]

I'm not sure if Fight Club counts. It made me feel weird all over, though.

I'll second Welcome to the Dollhouse.

Scarface, Goodfellas, Boogie Nights.

[Interrobang!?]

Vertigo, since Hitchcock didn't use the post-belltower scene with Scotty and Midge listening to the radio.

[blondebear]

Aguirre, The Wrath of God ends with an insane Kinski shouting at monkeys, adrift on a raft with his dead and dying crew.

[gazpacho]

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

[monstro]

The Last King of Scotland

[Dusty]

Brazil had two endings.. the "Happy ending" went to america.. the rest of the world got the "bitter" oneThe "love conquers all" version of Brazil (it's not just the ending, the whole film is recut and rearranged) was never released theatrically in the US, it was intended for TV. The theatrical release was the same one seen in Europe minus around ten minutes (not affecting the story, just bit of tightening here and there to bring the film to a more manageable length).

[Geek Mecha]

The Thing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/).

[beowulff]

The Last King of Scotland
Oh, I don't know about that:
Dr. Nicholas Garrigan makes it onto the plane.
Great film.

[Johnny Hildo]

Johnny Got His Gun

"For the love of God, I'm begging you...please let me die."
"No."

I second The Pledge. That movie is one of the few recent Hollywood releases that doesn't even attempt to give you a crumb of hope.

[denquixote]

"A Perfect World"

[Stranger On A Train]

I'm a little baffled by your hatred for [Ordinary People, Lib; I think it's perfect. And the ending is happy - Dad and Son both achieve some authenticity.I can't speak for Liberal's dislike of the movie, but mine stems from the fact that, aside from how drawn out and boring the film is, it some how inexplicably beat Martin Scorsese's best film, Raging Bull, for the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards, starting a trend that would deny Scorsese recognition until he finally won an Oscar as a consolation prize for the mediocre The Departed.

In the Company of Men. I felt sucker-punched at the end of this movie.Two words: Neil LaBute. If you don't want pessimism and misogyny, avoid this guy.

Brazil had two endings.. the "Happy ending" went to america.. the rest of the world got the "bitter" oneNot quite. The American and European cuts both had the "lobotomy" ending that Gilliam intended, but the American release was shorter due to Gilliam's attempts to cut it to the required length per studio contract. When he couldn't, some no-talent executive shithead named Sidney Sheinberg, then president of Universal Studios (the American distributor) hacked it up and spliced in edit room waste to make his action-oriented, romance-heavy "Love Conquerors All" cut. Brazil ended up being released--twice--in very limited form in Gilliam's American Cinematic cut in the United States, and in an essentially uncut version in Europe (where it was distributed by Fox Worldwide). The Sheinberg cut was first seen publically broadcast on ABC, and as such is sometimes known as the "network t.v. cut" although it is a substantially different film. Both the Criterion Collection Edition DVD release and the book The Battle Of Brazil (http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Brazil-Universal-Pictures-Screenplay/dp/1557833478) detail the travails Gilliam and company (along with the Los Angeles Film Critics Society, which championed the film as being the most original and brilliant in the decade), and the DVD offers all three edits. The Wikipedia article on Brazil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(film)#The_Sheinberg_Edit_.28Love_Conquers_All.2FTV_Edit.29) details the most significant differences between the versions.

Of course I've seen them. But like The Empire Strikes Back, I think of them as part of a story arc, and so they don't really have ends in and of themselves. I admit I haven't seen Godfather III, but I assume that one doesn't happily either.What Godfather, Part III? Part II ends with Frodo getting wacked, Connie leaving her husband and moving back to the family compound, and Kay being permanently shut out of her childrens' lives.That's all it really needs.

I'm going to throw 2001: A Space Odyssey in for consideration here.Nah, it had a "happy" ending; the "starchild" (the former David Bowman) is reborn into a new evolution of the human species, which can free itself from the crude constraints of physical bodies, linear existence, and crude tools manipulated with barely modified feet. For Kubrick, at least, it's the height of optimism.

Billy Wilder had a knack for making movies that seem to have a happy ending, but probably don't. It's unlikely that Sugar is really going to be happy with "Joesphine" (or the creepy old man with "Daphne", despite his acceptance that "Nobody's perfect,") and I daresay that Shirley MacLaine's elevator operator isn't going to find the unemployed, spastic, statistic-quoting Jack Lemmon charming for long. Norma Desmond may have gotten her closeup but I don't think butler/director/former ex-husband is going to be able to keep her isolated from reality in prison.

John Frankenheimer's better films (The Manchurian Candidate, Seconds, Seven Days In May, Ronin) all end on sour notes of paranoia and deceit, even when the heros nominally succeed. "She will not be coming back here, will she?" We'd have to give David Mamet significant credit on the last, of course, as well as his own films, particularly the cynically satirical Spartan. (The pentultimate scene with Ed O'Neill channeling Donald Rumsfeld in a press conference where he spins some bullshit tale about "fathers and daughters" and how kidnapping is the ultimate terrorism, et cetera, seguing into Kilmer's character, living as an underground ex-pat in London, responding to another man's offhand comment about how it is "Time to go home," with a cryptically weary, "Lucky man," is shattering, particularly when you take it as a metaphor for the current Administration's use and disposal of patriot Americans sacrificing themselves at the alter of an illusionary agendy.)

Similarly for Michael Mann movies Thief and Heat, where the protagonist, a guy who wants to make the classic big score and retire with his woman to have some fanciful, unlikely perfect family life, ends up wounded or dead, having thrown away everything to isolate himself and maintain his code.

And I'm not sure how I missed this on the first go around, but the films of Italian neo-Realist Vittorio de Seca, particularly Ladri di biciclette and Umberto D have pessimistic, unhappy endings. So does the famous (if perhaps somewhat overrated) Citizen Kane. And Carol Reed's The Third Man (an excellent counterpoint to the tinny zealous pre-war optimism of Casablanca). In fact, pretty much everything that ever starred Orson Welles has a bad ending, paralleling his real life.

I think The War Of The Roses might have had an unhappy ending, but I was too busy laughing to notice, especially when she jerks his hand out of his as they lay dieing on the floor. Then again, DeVito advises his client to reconcile with his wife, and then calls up his own wife, indicating that he's happily married, so perhaps it's not really that the ending is unhappy, merely the overarching expectations of the Roses.

Anyway, there are clearly plenty of films with unhappy, pessimistic endings; just not the majority of films cracked out by the California studio money-printing machine.

Stranger

[nevermore]

uh, there are plenty of movies that don't have uplifting endings... most of them just aren't American. for example, it's quite difficult to find a Japanese movie in which everything works out happily in the end... especially with respect to the romances; god forbid any of those ever come to fruition.

the most recent movie I watched in which the ending made me wish I'd never watched it was a Korean movie called Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. I believe that literally everyone you are supposed to give a shit about is absolutely fucked in the end.

the American example that sticks out in my mind is Requiem for a Dream. damn good movie, but if it's up to me I'll never see it again.

[vivalostwages]

Last Night---although nobody was actually miserable at the end, which is ironic, given the situation.

The Reflecting Skin.

[beowulff]

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

[monstro]

Oh, I don't know about that:
Dr. Nicholas Garrigan makes it onto the plane.
Great film.

Yeah but,

The villian goes free. And the protagonist is left with horrible memories, deillusionment, and unfulfilled dreams.

[Ronald C. Semone]

I have been trying to remember the name of a movie I saw in 1961 that had absolutely the most depressing conclusion I have ever seen. It was a French movie about a bright, young woman with a daughter who is abandoned by her drunken lover. The woman sinks into drunkeness and prostitution. And in the last scene her daughter, now a very young teenager, leaves her drunken mother in an alley and goes out on the street to begin her own career. I was depressed for a week after seeing it!

[Liberal]

I can't speak for Liberal's dislike of the movie, but mine stems from the fact that, aside from how drawn out and boring the film is, it some how inexplicably beat Martin Scorsese's best film, Raging Bull, for the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards, starting a trend that would deny Scorsese recognition until he finally won an Oscar as a consolation prize for the mediocre The Departed.You nailed it. In addition, I always thought Timothy Hutton's acting was severely affected. It was a caricature of The Method. I didn't like Donald Sutherland at the time, either. (Though I've come to respect him lately.) And there was something so very wrong with seeing Mary Tyler Moore as a fatalistic lush and cold-hearted mother. So, it was the casting, the acting, the screenplay, the timing, and the story along with the inexplicable Academy brain-fart.

[KarlGauss]

Just to make it clear, not only is Raging Bull (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0081398/) a fine movie, but it also satisfies the criteria of the OP - not even close to having a happy ending.

[The Stafford Cripps]

the tinny zealous pre-war optimism of Casablanca).

pre-war?
:dubious:

[Liberal]

Other good films that year were Tess, Coal Miner's Daughter, Fame, the Stunt Man, and Elephant Man.

[Stranger On A Train]

pre-war?
:dubious:It was filmed before American involvement in actual combat in the European/North African theatre in WWII (released to conincide with Allied invasion of Casablanca, French Morocco to get free publicity) and marketed almost exclusively to an American audience. Europe, including Britain, had been embroiled in war since 1940, and ostensibly the war began with the Septermber 1, 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany. The sentiment is very much pre-war, or at least, early in the war, with everyone trying to get Rick (an avatar for the United States) to stop being a disinterested party. ("I stick my neck out for nobody.") The film ends with a note of optimism about the defeat of European fascism and the joining of nations with a common interest in democracy, as Lazlo indicates in his final words to Rick ("Welcome back to the fight. This time, I know our side will win.") Even though Rick has to sacrifice his alleged love for dim-bulb Ilsa, he persuades (or rather, is persuaded by) the self-serving Capt. Renault, who "bends whichever way the wind blows" to go to the garrison in Bougainsville where they can fight together. (Some not-so-subtle homosexual overtones in their relationship make for amusement.) So, for the intended audience it was pre-war, or rather, prior to heavy US involvement.

The Third Man, on the other hand, which is set in the fractured, corrupt ruins of the once "little Paris" of Vienna, is very much a post-war film. The city is divided by four powers (Britian, France, the US, and Russia) which are "united only by the lack of a common language" and who are largely indifferent to the underground economy except for Major Calloway who desires to arrest and try blackmarketeer Harry Lime for selling tainted penicillian, despite the protests of best friend and ingenue dime-store novelist Holy Martins and the pining love of Lime's pining Czech girlfriend Anna (whose uncovery of forged papers will return her to Russian control). In the end of the film, Martins betrays and shoots his bests friend, loses any interest or respect of Anna, and is left without friend or job. Everybody is disillusioned and depressed, save for Martins who still foolishly holds out hope of getting together with Anna in the ruined Vienna. Truly a Cold War movie, and a nearly perfect example of the type.

Stranger

[Cat Whisperer]

"Brokeback Mountain" - I hated that bastard, Ang Lee, at the end of the movie because he had the guts to end it exactly as it had to end.

My husband nominates every version of "Hamlet" ever put on film.

[Shoeless]

What Godfather, Part III? Part II ends with Frodo getting wacked, Connie leaving her husband and moving back to the family compound, and Kay being permanently shut out of her childrens' lives.That's all it really needs.

Stranger
I think that should be Fredo gets whacked. Frodo was in a different trilogy.

My choice ("House of Sand and Fog") has already been mentioned, so other than that, I got nothin'...

[Full Metal Lotus]

12 Monkeys.. or wait.. did "I'm in insurance.." mean that it DID end happy,

or not... (Sometimes I hate Terry Gillam, but not for long)

Regards
FMl

[Hypno-Toad]

I like the ambiguity of the 12 Monkeys ending.

Regardless of political bent, Das Boot Is an unhappy ending. The crew are the protagonists of the story and they get shafted just as they finally think they're safe. Does anyone really think that the writers and directors intended that ending as a hurrah?

Another downer film is The Days of Wine and Roses. The last shot of recovering alcoholic Jack Lemmon watching his still alcoholic wife walk down the street is grim. He has nothing ahead of him but a future of harsh discipline and self-denial. And that's if everything goes well.

So many of the films listed here make me say, "D'oh! of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Se7en in particular is pretty damn harsh. The bad guy totally plays the police and gets everything he wants in the end.

[T_SQUARE]

I'll go ahead and put Fallen out there.

[Spoke]

The Ring

[neutron star]

A metric ton of Eastern European dramas fall into this category. You really get a feel for how bleak that region must be:

Lilja 4-ever (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300140/) - Okay, technically it's a Swedish film, written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, but the main characters are Russian, and much of it takes place there. If you've never seen it, do so now. If it doesn't make you cry, you might just be a robot. One of the most powerful endings I've ever seen.

Come and See (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/) - As one of the IMDB reviews said, the title is practically a dare. A deeply disturbing movie about WWII as seen from the perspective of Belorussian villagers.

[snorlax]

I don't remember all the details but I'm pretty sure The Parallax View doesn't offer any uplifting sentiments at the end.

[John DiFool]

2) The original "Night of the Living Dead" (all of the main characters die; Ben's resourcefulness and courage ultimately count for nothing).

One thing which bugged me: you see several law enforcement types approaching the cabin where you've just spent the entire previous night fighting off the living dead. Instead of jumping up and down and shouting, "Oh thank God you're here-you won't believe what happened to me!", he just aimlessly wanders around inside the house, where one of the cops mistakes him for a zombie and pops him. Could never figure that one out.

[Der Trihs]

The Thing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/).That's what I was going to post. After all, the happiest interpetation of the ending is that everyone dies. If either of the two men alive ( for the moment ) at the end are Things, then not only did the rest die for nothing, but humanity is probably doomed, as soon as a rescue team lets the "body" unfreeze.

[Knorf]

I nominate The Sand Pebbles (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060934/).

[nashiitashii]

"Brokeback Mountain" - I hated that bastard, Ang Lee, at the end of the movie because he had the guts to end it exactly as it had to end.


As a director, Ang Lee is not known for anything happier than a bittersweet ending. It's part of what makes his movies so good, IMO. Then again, some of my favorite movies are Mandarin Chinese dramas. There is no "happily ever after" in movies like Raise the Red Lantern, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, and Together. Together is as close as it gets to a happy ending, but it's a bit bittersweet, as the movie is completely about a choice of what things a child must sacrifice in order to have a happy and successful future life. Yimou Zhang (http://imdb.com/name/nm0955443/) and Kaige Chen (http://imdb.com/name/nm0155280/) are two of my favorite directors because of the way they make a bittersweet reality come to life in their films.

[Engineer Dude]

Dr. Strangelove

[I'm Ron Burgundy?]

Requiem for a Dream (Jennifer Connelly seems to be drawn to downbeat scripts.)

Are you supposed to sympathize with the characters in this flick? It seemed like an incredibly cartoonish 'brain on drugs' commercial and all the characters are horrible horrible drug addicts who get their eggs fried.

[percussion]

Once upon a time in america

[carnivorousplant]

I nominate The Sand Pebbles (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060934/).
I second that, Sir. What the hell happened?

[Lust4Life]

The Wild Bunch

[FriarTed]

Pi.

Self inflicted trepanation does not equal happy ending.


Not sure- he was happier. The ending IS bittersweet.

[nashiitashii]

Oh! I almost forgot! The one movie that I completely thought I hallucinated all the craziness of--and this is after I saw Requiem for a Dream...

All About Lily Chou-Chou

I don't think I'll ever watch it again, but man, it was intense.

[Mr. Excellent]

Are you supposed to sympathize with the characters in this flick? It seemed like an incredibly cartoonish 'brain on drugs' commercial and all the characters are horrible horrible drug addicts who get their eggs fried.

Well, the mother is absolutely supposed to be sympathetic. She loves her son (even though he steals from her), the high point of her life is the chance of "being on television", and she essentially stumbles into drug addiction by accident (and at the instruction of her quack doctor). Hard not to feel sorry for her. In fact, on the director's commentary he mentions that the cameraman started crying during the mother's monologue on aging.

As for the others - well, they're clearly flawed and deeply selfish people, but there are signs that they could have been better than they are. Like the flashback of Marlon Wayan's character to life with his mother.

[Stranger On A Train]

Dr. StrangeloveAh, come on. They're going to end up living in mineshafts where the female to male ratio is 10:1, "necessitating the abandonemnt of the so-called monogomous lifestyle," they'll have nuclear reactors to provide power and sunlight to grow crops, and animals that can be "bred and slaughtered"; what could be better? Just don't let those Ruskies see The Big Board.

Stranger

[elfkin477]

A pair of bleak endings from Spain:
Darkness (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273517/)
The Uninvited Guest (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436374/) (El Habitante Incierto) I'll warn you though, this is the Spanish equivalent of a David Lynch movie.

[drachillix]

Well not much of a happy ending in The Last American Virgin IIRC.

[Spoke]

Dr. Strangelove

And its dramatic cousin, Fail-Safe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/).

[cookeze]

In the second Invasion of the Body Snatchers, everyone gets snatched.

Living to Die

Burnt by the Sun

1984

Betty Blue

Breaking the Waves. In this unrelentingly anti-religious film, I don't buy the miracle at the end.

In the Blob, the original one, the blob is put in a crate and dropped off in the artic because cold stops it. Then it closes with THE END? Well, now that we have global warming I see a sequel coming. Considering how fat everyone is nowadays, that blob is gonna get huge.

[OneCentStamp]

House of Sand and Fog (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315983/). Fantastic movie. I'll never watch it again.
I came to mention this movie, as well as Leaving Las Vegas and Reservoir Dogs.

[Mr. Excellent]

In the second Invasion of the Body Snatchers, everyone gets snatched.


Heck, at the end of the first one, we see pods being sent all around the country. Yes, Our Hero manages to get the warning out, but it seems doubtful that an effective response can be mounted in time. Those are a LOT of pods, even though one truck crashed. And all it takes is one night to get a whole lot of pod-people, some of whom will be in positions to stymie containment measures.

You fools, you're in danger!

[NDP]

Norma Desmond may have gotten her closeup but I don't think butler/director/former ex-husband is going to be able to keep her isolated from reality in prison.
I don't think prison was a forgone conclusion. She could've just as well ended up being committed to an insane asylum where she could continue to shelter herself from reality.

John Frankenheimer's better films (The Manchurian Candidate, Seconds, Seven Days In May, Ronin) all end on sour notes of paranoia and deceit, even when the heros nominally succeed.


Arlington road

I love movies where the bad guys win.

Which reminds me, no one's brought up The Parallax View (http://imdb.com/title/tt0071970/) yet.

A few more:

--Bonnie and Clyde (at least in the context of the movie)

--Easy Rider

--The Last Picture Show

--Vanishing Point

--Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

--They Shoot Horses Don't They?

--McCabe and Mrs. Miller

--Mean Streets

[Mr. Excellent]

One thing which bugged me: you see several law enforcement types approaching the cabin where you've just spent the entire previous night fighting off the living dead. Instead of jumping up and down and shouting, "Oh thank God you're here-you won't believe what happened to me!", he just aimlessly wanders around inside the house, where one of the cops mistakes him for a zombie and pops him. Could never figure that one out.

He's just had a really, really bad night. Might be in a bit of shock.

[carnivorousplant]

He's just had a really, really bad night. Might be in a bit of shock.
Just a late application of the "Black Guy Always Dies" rule in horror and Science Fiction movies.

[jk1245]

Se7en

[Lumpy]

Angel Heart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Heart). Private detective Harry Angel is hired by a mysterious stranger to find a man who vanished during WW2. Along the way, virtually everyone Angel seeks out for clues dies in a variety of bizzare accidents/ suicides. Angel finally discovers that:The man he's searching for, Johnny Favorite, was a Satan worshiper, who had hit upon a scheme to escape having to forfeit his soul. By slaying an innocent in a black magic ritual, he could assume that person's identity not only in this world but the next. That innocent was the real Harry Angel, and the detective is really an amnesiatic Johnny Favorite. The mysterious stranger, "Louis Cypher" is really the Devil himself, who set Angel/Favorite on the trail of his own past to break through his amnesia. The improbable deaths will be blamed on Angel/Favorite trying to eliminate witnesses, he'll go to the electric chair, and Satan will claim his soul at last.The only way the ending can be considered "happy" is that a bunch of not very nice people will go to the damnation they deserve.

[NDP]

Angel Heart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Heart). Private detective Harry Angel is hired by a mysterious stranger to find a man who vanished during WW2. Along the way, virtually everyone Angel seeks out for clues dies in a variety of bizzare accidents/ suicides. Angel finally discovers that:The man he's searching for, Johnny Favorite, was a Satan worshiper, who had hit upon a scheme to escape having to forfeit his soul. By slaying an innocent in a black magic ritual, he could assume that person's identity not only in this world but the next. That innocent was the real Harry Angel, and the detective is really an amnesiatic Johnny Favorite. The mysterious stranger, "Louis Cypher" is really the Devil himself, who set Angel/Favorite on the trail of his own past to break through his amnesia. The improbable deaths will be blamed on Angel/Favorite trying to eliminate witnesses, he'll go to the electric chair, and Satan will claim his soul at last.The only way the ending can be considered "happy" is that a bunch of not very nice people will go to the damnation they deserve.

I know this is taking the thread OT but there's one thing about that movie I was not clear about. Were the souls of Angel and Favorite sharing the same body? Was it similar to some type of dual-personality "Jekyll & Hyde" arrangement where after Angel would question a witness, Favorite's soul would resurface, take control of his body, and murder the witness?

[Lust4Life]

The Long Good Friday.

[lissener]

Sunset Boulevard

A Streetcar Named DesireI'd have to disagree on principle here, and with most Code-era movies. While the ending was unhappy for some characters, it was mandated by the Hays office that every movie had to end so that conventional morality was happy. IOW, if a character was to have a bad end, they had to commit an evil act during the story. If a character was to ride off into the sunset, any ill acts he might have committed had to have been atoned for before the credits rolled. So, even in the movies mentioned, and in, for example, The Postman Always Rings Twice, various characters--even the protagonists--may meet with an unhappy unending, but in doing so they must be fulfilling a happy ending in a larger sense, wherein the audience's conventional morality is justified.

There were, of course, exceptions, but they were extreme rarities; they were the ones that were too subtle to raise the censor's red flags. Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street, for example, ends with an innocent man executed by the state, and the mistake not corrected (probably the only time this ever happened in a Code Era film), and the real killer having only himself to answer to.

[Argent Towers]

Midnight Cowboy

I disagree, I think that when they finally get to Florida at the end and Joe throws his cowboy hat into the trash can and walks away, it's supposed to represent a chance for a new start in a new place away from the squalor of New York. And even though his best friend, Ratso, is dead, it's clear that he learned a lot from him and that he has a better shot at taking care of himself.

[Mosier]

28 weeks later ended pretty badly. About as badly as it gets, actually. I think I'd rather the world end from a massive nuclear holocaust, truth be told.

[PBear42]

I like dark or ambiguous endings. A few films not mentioned (as far as I noticed):

On The Beach
Faithless
An Unmarried Woman
Breathless
Purple Rose of Cairo
Danny Darko
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

[Sitnam]

Requiem for a Dream

[The Them]

How about Jacob's Ladder? Torture via induced psychosis, ending in pointless waste.
To Live And Die in LA, good guy irretrievably corrupted, cute girl entering heretfore unknown levels of slavery

[Ranchoth]

I haven't seen it yet, but by all accounts: End of Evangelion.

After that...

Kurosawa's Ran
The Day After
Threads
Black Hawk Down


Honorable mention:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Or, as it's known to the rest of my family, that "Stupid jerk movie!"

[Spoke]

I'd have to disagree on principle here, and with most Code-era movies. While the ending was unhappy for some characters, it was mandated by the Hays office that every movie had to end so that conventional morality was happy.

The Hays Code did not mandate happy endings.

As long as "evil" characters got punished, it didn't matter if the film ended happily. So if you had a movie like Sunset Boulevard, where each of the main characters had done something bad (even if they were generally sympathetic characters) you could have a very unhappy ending indeed.

There was nothing at all happy about the way Sunset Boulevard ended. None of the characters, even the "good" minor characters, had things end well for them.

If you're saying that "the wicked get punished" equals a happy ending for larger society (or "conventional morality"), then a lot of the grim movies in this thread had such a "happy ending." But I don't think that's what the OP had in mind.

[hlanelee]

I always felt sorry for the little boy at the end of The Time Bandits.

[El_Kabong]

Ah, I see no one seems to have yet mentioned Miracle Mile (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097889/). So I will.

Hard to beat global thermonuclear war for a downbeat ending.

[mhendo]

Se7enOh, come on. Any move whereGwynneth Paltrow's head ends up in a boxhas at least some semblance of a happy ending.

[Sitnam]

Oh, come on. Any move whereGwynneth Paltrow's head ends up in a boxhas at least some semblance of a happy ending.
What's with the spoiler? If you haven't seen a movie released 12 years ago you deserve to have it ruined.

[Cat Whisperer]

Well, we just finished watching the mini-series "10.5: Acrockofshit*" yesterday, and we were very happy when it ended, so I guess that doesn't really count, in spite of the rather bleak outlook at the end of it. :D

*Official name "10.5: Apocalypse," but I will probably never call it that again after seeing it.

[elfkin477]

What's with the spoiler? If you haven't seen a movie released 12 years ago you deserve to have it ruined. Considering the movie's rating, I hardly think it's fair. How many kids just now 18 saw it when they were 6? I've known plenty of people whose parents wouldn't let them see R-rated movies growing up.

[Miss Mapp]

Pan's Labyrinth

I think this does have a semblance (the merest sliver, if you will) of a hopeful ending, in the coda with the stick insect and the flower.

[OtakuLoki]

Grave of the Fireflies, of course

Murphy's War

Das Boot

[DrDeth]

I think this does have a semblance (the merest sliver, if you will) of a hopeful ending, in the coda with the stick insect and the flower.

I am not sure. It could really be that the girl really does go to Fairyland to become Princess. Hard to tell.

The problem is that the Nationals are portrayed so heavily as Nazi evil thugs, while the Republicans are portrayed as selfless heroes. This bends the film so hard it it hard to see exactly what the Film maker was trying to show- other than than the Nacionales are Eviiiiiiil and the Republicanos are Gooooooood. :rolleyes:

(In actuality both sides did some pretty horrible things and both sides had some good guys. In the end, Franco did restore Democracy, so now with 20/20 hindsight we should look upon the Nationalist as the good guys. But we don't.)

[Miss Mapp]

I am not sure. It could really be that the girl really does go to Fairyland to become Princess. Hard to tell.

That's what I mean--it's not definite, but there is a suggestion that the fantasy wasn't all Ofelia's delusion to escape the real world, and that she did really escape and return to her true father's kingdom.

[mhendo]

In the end, Franco did restore Democracy, so now with 20/20 hindsight we should look upon the Nationalist as the good guys. But we don't.)Restored democracy? What the fuck are you smoking?

Do you realize that the Popular Front government he sought to overthrow as part of his armed rebellion was a democratically elected minority government?

[GIGObuster]

(In actuality both sides did some pretty horrible things and both sides had some good guys. In the end, Franco did restore Democracy, so now with 20/20 hindsight we should look upon the Nationalist as the good guys. But we don't.)

I'm not willing to give Franco even that, It was international pressure that pressured Franco and then the king to try a different path. It is just rationalization after the fact that makes many right wingers come with the idea that Franco brought the monarchy to bring democracy back, I have seen enough evidence to say that Franco wanted to bring back the monarchy because he thought it would be the only way to continue his vision of a non-democratic, intolerantly Catholic, and deeply reactionary Spain, with a military dictator as the real power behind the throne. Unfortunately the designed by Franco's successor was murdered and then Franco died. The King, after seeing the writing on the wall, (lots of unrest in favor of change) then changed his tune.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_transition_to_democracy
he swore fidelity to the Principles of the Movimiento Nacional, the sole legal party of the Franco era; took possession of the crown before the Francoist Cortes Generales; and respected the Ley Orgánica del Estado (Organic Law of the State) for the appointment of his first head of government. Only in his speech before the Cortes did he show the beginning of the transformation of the Spanish political system.
Democracy finally came to Spain by despising the will of Franco.

[beowulff]

I haven't seen it since it first opened, but Dangerous Liaisons was pretty much a downer, as I recall.

[Freudian Slit]

Reservoir Dogs

Sunset Boulevard

[Lumpy]

I know this is taking the thread OT but there's one thing about that movie I was not clear about. Were the souls of Angel and Favorite sharing the same body? Was it similar to some type of dual-personality "Jekyll & Hyde" arrangement where after Angel would question a witness, Favorite's soul would resurface, take control of his body, and murder the witness?That's possible, although with the way reality was bent by what I call a "Diabolicus ex Machina", it's hard to say. My own take on it was that everyone really did die of fantastically unlikely "accidents" or suicides, arranged by You-Know-Who, and the glimpses Angel was seeing were of the "retroactive reality" that would be how the rest of the world would see the events.

[lissener]

The Hays Code did not mandate happy endings. What I'm saying is (and obviously this is open to debate), essentially it did.

If you're saying that "the wicked get punished" equals a happy ending for larger society (or "conventional morality"), then a lot of the grim movies in this thread had such a "happy ending." My point exactly.

But I don't think that's what the OP had in mind.That's as may be. I still think it's an interesting discussion. Douglas Sirk left Hollywood because of the tyranny of the mandatory happy ending. I.e., the Hays-dictated morally standardized resolution. Obviously, this is a broader definition of the phrase "happy ending," but I think that many of the movies of that era that seem, on the surface, to subvert that mandate were actually (and I may say, though you may not, hypocritically) upholding and perpetuating it.

[lissener]

What's with the spoiler? If you haven't seen a movie released 12 years ago you deserve to have it ruined.
Because around here, minimal politeness to other posters is seen as a virtue, not a failing.

[DrDeth]

Restored democracy? What the fuck are you smoking?

Do you realize that the Popular Front government he sought to overthrow as part of his armed rebellion was a democratically elected minority government?

Forged in violence and revolt, Spain was not stable. But what I meant was that Franco restored Democracy after years of him being an autocrat.

IMHO, if the leftists had won, Spain would have slid into a number of small Communist Dictatorships and those dudes were not exactly inclined to "restore Democracy" at all. Most- if not all- of them would have been Stalinist puppet states.

[Sefton]

Angel Heart. Not just a sad ending, but genuinely depressing.

[mhendo]

Forged in violence and revolt, Spain was not stable. But what I meant was that Franco restored Democracy after years of him being an autocrat.

IMHO, if the leftists had won, Spain would have slid into a number of small Communist Dictatorships and those dudes were not exactly inclined to "restore Democracy" at all. Most- if not all- of them would have been Stalinist puppet states.You're perfectly welcome to believe that, but all it demonstrates is your ignorance of what was actually happening in Spain.

In fact, the only reason that Stalin and the Soviets gained any sort of stronghold in Spain was that the Russians were the only nation-state to defend an elected government from a coup d'etat. That Stalin did this out of naked self-interest doesn't change the fact that no-one else would help. The government itself, and much of Spain's ruling coalition, were fairly standard 1930s Popular Front types, not that much different in their general politics from New Deal Democrats. To the extent that the lefitsts were radical, the radicals tended to be anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists, especially in areas like Catalonia. Soviet-style communism was a minor position, and only gained power as a result of the arms provided by Stalin. In a time of dire military need, the republicans were in a position where they had virtually no choice but to exchange influence for arms.

Had western European and other democratic countries (France, US, UK, etc.) actually helped the ELECTED GOVERNMENT of Spain in its time of need, they would have been in a position to exert even greater influence on the politics of the country. Had the leftists won with the help of countries allegedly concerned about democracy, Spain in the postwar period most likely would have been just another western European country, probably characterized by multiple parties and volatile politics, but no more a tool of the Soviets than France or Italy.

[Sleel]

There are actually quite a lot of movies that don't have happy endings.

Memento (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/), Leonard is left without direction or conscience, and like he said, "How can I heal if I can't feel time passing?"

Young Poisoner's Handbook (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115033/), real life was a bit worse than this movie, but the movie still has no upturns at all.

The Collector (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059043/), the movie that all serial killers could point to and say, "That was the first time I ever saw a movie that made me think that someone else understood exactly how I feel."

Spider (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278731/), shows a schizophrenic's descent into further madness.

The Well (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120493/), the best thing that can be said about the tone of this movie is that the older woman was at least happy for a while.

The Man in the Moon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102388/), very good coming of age story, bittersweet ending.

The Limey (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165854/), it's not a happy movie, and the best thing that the main character gets out of it is the realization that he's been a shitty father, but it's not his fault his daughter died.

Hard Candy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424136/), I wouldn't call the ending even remotely happy. There were two twisted sociopaths in that room, but only one of them got off on intentionally causing pain.

Miller's Crossing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100150/), sure the main character survives, but that doesn't a happy ending make. Ditto Road to Perdition (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257044/).

Cube (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/), very few answers to questions and even the question of what happens if someone makes it out is unclear.

The Machinist (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/), it gets weirder and worse as the movie goes on. The best thing that happens is that he might be able to sleep from now on.

[TheMerchandise]

I just watched a movie today that fits the bill: Curse of the Golden Flower.

Depressing and brutal. But preternaturally beautiful.

[Ike Witt]

How about The Grifters?

[PBear42]

A few more:

Cabaret
All That Jazz
The Third Man
American Beauty
Planet of the Apes
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
And a typo correction. Of course, that should have been Donny Darko. I am not obsessive, I am not obsessive, I am NOT obsessive!!

[FriarTed]

How did I forget "Johnny Got His Gun"? Whew!

I'd debate "Donny Darko"- I'd also categorize that as "bittersweet".

[kaylasdad99]

Boy, I sure hope I get to be the first person to say Requiem for a Dream.

:D Just kidding, I've read the whole thread, and I've seen how many people seem to be thinking that.

But I AM the first person to mention The Pumpkin Eater, Easy Rider, and American Me.

ETA: Ooh, also Sayonara with Marlon Brando and Red Buttons. And The Detective, starring Kirk Douglas.

[DrDeth]

You're perfectly welcome to believe that, but all it demonstrates is your ignorance of what was actually happening in Spain.
.


Meh. Start a thread in GD.

[NDP]

Boy, I sure hope I get to be the first person to say Requiem for a Dream.

:D Just kidding, I've read the whole thread, and I've seen how many people seem to be thinking that.

But I AM the first person to mention ... Easy Rider ....

I hate to tell you this but I mentioned Easy Rider back in post 95. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8827045&postcount=95)

[mhendo]

Meh. Start a thread in GD.Hey, you're the one who started the political hijack.

[kaylasdad99]

I hate to tell you this but I mentioned Easy Rider back in post 95. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8827045&postcount=95)
Dang, I shoulda done a Ctrl+F. Well done.

Oh, well, four out of five ain't all that bad for me in a CS list-type thread.

[Koxinga]

I'm not that much of a film buff, but I appreciate the movies where there's no happy ending at all--once you stop and think about it, or realize what's *really* going on.

E.g., Blade Runner and Minority Report. Must be something about Philip K. Dick.

[cher3]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, at least the more recent version. I don't remember how the original ends.

[Krokodil]

I'll second Welcome to the Dollhouse.

Scarface, Goodfellas, Boogie Nights.

I'd dispute two of those. Welcome to the Dollhouse ends with Dawn Weiner finally catching on to the rhythms and finding an environment where she's not a freak. (Happiness is a much bigger downer.) Boogie Nights, although we all know the AIDS epidemic is merely days away from exploding, ends with these sorry misfits finding the only family they've ever really known; it's about as happy an ending as can be expected.

More downers: The Grifters, Sounder, Last Tango in Paris, Godfather 3.

[ASAKMOTSD]

How about Roger & Me - particularly in light of what has happened to that city since then...

[Freudian Slit]

Spoilers for both Welcome to the Dollhouse and Boogie Nights below...




I'd dispute two of those. Welcome to the Dollhouse ends with Dawn Weiner finally catching on to the rhythms and finding an environment where she's not a freak.

Really? I interpreted it as her going on a trip to Disney World (or land?) that she didn't even really want to go on because she has to. And then at the end when you hear her singing merging with everyone else's--it's like she's totally integrated, but unwillingly, into the fold. Slipping between the cracks, so to speak. I didn't see any evidence that she liked or fit in with anyone else there on that bus.


Boogie Nights, although we all know the AIDS epidemic is merely days away from exploding, ends with these sorry misfits finding the only family they've ever really known; it's about as happy an ending as can be expected.

It looked so sad, though. The main character just staring at his huge penis in the mirror...it looked like he knew it all really meant nothing, this dehumanizing world where all that mattered about him was that one body part.

[garygnu]

Matewan (http://imdb.com/title/tt0093509/)

[Moe]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Ironweed (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093277/) with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. That is truly one of the most depressing, and emotionally draining movies I've ever seen, with some of the most phenomenal performances at the same time (as you would expect). Misery, followed by tragedy, followed by misery, wash, rinse, repeat...

That and the aforementioned Monster are two movies I'll never see again.

[CalMeacham]

E.g., Blade Runner and Minority Report. Must be something about Philip K. Dick.


One of my constant complaints is that Hollywood takes SF stories and changfes them out of recognition. Both of these movies are based on Philip K. Dick stories, but they don't resemble the original stories much. And, in particular, the endings are completely different. So you can't pin this on Dick.


Come to think of it, you could make that statement about practically every movie supposedly based on a Philip K. Dick work. And there are a lot of them.

[Zebra]

Citizen Kane

and

Penn and Teller Get Killed

[Johnny Hildo]

I'd dispute two of those. Welcome to the Dollhouse ends with Dawn Weiner finally catching on to the rhythms and finding an environment where she's not a freak.

Make of it what you will, but Dawn Weiner later commits suicide in Palindromes. There's not a lot of hope to be found in Todd Solondz movies.

[Robot Arm]

Le Salaire de la Peur (The Wages of Fear), and its America remake Sorceror. These movies have been discussed here before (and led to my only mod warning), but I have to say that I like the remake a little better, in part for the ending. Just when it looks like Scanlon has caught a break, his past catches up to him. The original achieved its downbeat ending with a deus ex michelin.

I've only seen it once, but I don't remember any happily-ever-after at the end of Rififi.

And I'll put The Hustler up for consideration. Eddie beats Fats, and grows enough to defy Bert, but I don't think any of those characters were happy again for a long time.

[pravnik]

Why does everyone keep saying Requiem for a Dream didn't have a happy ending? Hey, at least she was working!

[Lars Aruns]

Brotherhood of the Wolf, which was not a good movie, didn't have any semblance of a happy ending. In fact, it felt pointless.

I would like to second Umberto D. and Bicycle Thieves, two of the most depressing Italian movies I've ever, ever seen. Excellently made, but God protect me from ever seeing them again.

[NDP]

Make of it what you will, but Dawn Weiner later commits suicide in Palindromes. There's not a lot of hope to be found in Todd Solondz movies.

Actually, Palindromes was supposed to be about what happened an older Dawn Weiner. However, when Solondz approached Heather Matarazzo about reprising her character, Matarazzo apparently wanted too much money and generally acted so diva-ish that the two had a falling out. As a result, Solondz had to rewrite Palindromes so that it would be about a new character and spitefully dealt with Dawn Weiner by having it mentioned she committed suicide after suffering a series of further indignities and humiliations.

Moral: never piss off a writer.

[xizor]

Fargo

[Freudian Slit]

Fargo
I'd dispute that one.

Life for Marge and Norm Gunderson was pretty good. Aside from the little stamp mishap, that last scene with them was really sweet.

[Diceman]

I'd dispute that one.

Life for Marge and Norm Gunderson was pretty good. Aside from the little stamp mishap, that last scene with them was really sweet.
Yeah. Norm is miffed that his artwork was only put on the 2-cent stamp, but all-in-all they seem to be doing OK. The crime was solved and the guilty punished.

[OneCentStamp]

Yeah. Norm is miffed that his artwork was only put on the 2-cent stamp, but all-in-all they seem to be doing OK. The crime was solved and the guilty punished.
You betcha.

[Ichbin Dubist]

The almost completely forgotten Burt Lancaster movie Twilight's Last Gleaming (www.imdb.com/title/tt0076845/). Not to give it away, but a lot like The Parallax View in its general outlook.

The German film Stalingrad (www.imdb.com/title/tt0108211/). The Germans are the protagonists in this movie. The battle of Stalingrad didn't go too well for the Germans. Nuff said.

[Gestalt]

Did someone mention The Talented Mr. Ripley and I just missed it?

Gestalt

[Lumpy]

About Hays-era happy endings: what are some movies where a happy ending was tacked on that was so ridiculously out of synch with the rest of the film, so artificially glurgy, that it's obvious that the director was flipping the bird at the censors? I've heard this claimed about Bad Seed but I've never seen it for myself.

[Khadaji]

I don't remember anything happy about the ending of Pay It Forward

Although some might say it is a happy day when that kid from Sixth Sense gets stabbed

[Cicero]

Little Ceaser
White Heat
Dillinger
The Public Enemy

they all go without saying- as does Bonny and Clyde.

What about The Other? Or A star is Born?

[mamboman]

You know, Stanley Kubrick films weren't known for happy endings - The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut were all bummers - ranging from ole Sparty up on the cross, to the brutal execution of the French Prisoners in Paths and the "Mickey Mouse" ending of FMJ - there isn't a lot of hugging and reflecting on lessons learned going on there.

[Trunk]

I did a "search this thread" and nothing turned up. . .

Mystic River.

A woman set in motion events that killed her husband. A man wrongly killed his long time friend. It set up a showdown between other long time friends. Lady MacBeth comes out on top.

[Krokodil]

Make of it what you will, but Dawn Weiner later commits suicide in Palindromes. There's not a lot of hope to be found in Todd Solondz movies.

Well, first off, it was a different movie, and secondly, I thought it was Solondz dissing the actress, not working out the character. Kind of like what the Spinal Tap sequel did to Ian Faith (Tony Hendra) because the actors couldn't stand the guy.

[Spoke]

I did a "search this thread" and nothing turned up. . .

Mystic River.

I thought about that one, but there is a spark of hope there: Kevin Bacon finds redemption by reuniting with his wife.

[Ludovic]

You know, Stanley Kubrick films weren't known for happy endings - The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut were all bummers - ranging from ole Sparty up on the cross, to the brutal execution of the French Prisoners in Paths and the "Mickey Mouse" ending of FMJ - there isn't a lot of hugging and reflecting on lessons learned going on there.Not to mention the real ending of AI.

[Snickers]

It's not a very good movie, but The Chronicles of Riddick fits the bill.

[Cat Whisperer]

Not to mention the real ending of AI.
What is the real ending? We watched "AI" again just last night (it really is an interesting, thought-provoking movie - raises all kinds of moral responsibility questions), and the ending seemed too Disneyfied for my taste (although I hate to think what Ang Lee could have done with it :eek: :D ).

[Ludovic]

What is the real ending? We watched "AI" again just last night (it really is an interesting, thought-provoking movie - raises all kinds of moral responsibility questions), and the ending seemed too Disneyfied for my taste (although I hate to think what Ang Lee could have done with it :eek: :D ).The general consensus seems to be that the movie was meant by Kubrick to end when The boy gets trapped "forever" near the Blue Fairy,and that everything after that was tacked on by Spielberg for a feel-better (can't really say feel-good) ending. I came to this conclusion, too, before I heard that anyone else did: a bunch of people seem to have thought of this independently.

[Leechboy]

No mention of Jude? It finishes with young children committing suicide. Can't get any bleaker.

[Finagle]

Broadcast News? Had a non-conventional ending -- a love triangle where no one got anyone. The girl didn't end up with the jerk she had a crush on, but neither did she end up with the mensch everyone expected her to end up with. Everyone ended up lonely and alone.

[Cat Whisperer]

The general consensus seems to be that the movie was meant by Kubrick to end when The boy gets trapped "forever" near the Blue Fairy,and that everything after that was tacked on by Spielberg for a feel-better (can't really say feel-good) ending. I came to this conclusion, too, before I heard that anyone else did: a bunch of people seem to have thought of this independently.
I think the movie would have ended just fine at that point. The ending we saw last night really did have a "tacked on" feel to it (sort of a slash fiction-y kind of ending). It was still poignant, but it didn't feel right.

[Freudian Slit]

How about the Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover?

They do manage to eliminate Albert, but basically everyone has already had their life ruined by him throughout the course of the film.

[dotchan]

As far as the ending of NGE goes, it depends on your point of view.

All of humanity has their barriers foricibly removed (including physical flesh) to become one mass consciousness (made of Orange Tang, apparently). This can either be interpreted as an evolution into a higher level of being, or the ultimate hell.

Shinji's case is a bit more ambiguous. The parallel scenes in the TV ending seems to suggest that he regained his sense of self-worth and escaped the Tang, but the "congratulations" seems a bit artificial and that final scene on the beach could either be his fantasy or the human race going back to a single couple.

Asuka's last line--"Kimochi ga warui"--is translated as "I feel sick" in the subtitles, but the spirit of that line is more like "what a bummer", so that doesn't help the "New Hope for Humanity" take much.

[NDP]

Well, first off, it was a different movie, and secondly, I thought it was Solondz dissing the actress, not working out the character. Kind of like what the Spinal Tap sequel did to Ian Faith (Tony Hendra) because the actors couldn't stand the guy.
That's what I said (see Post #153).

The general consensus seems to be that the movie was meant by Kubrick to end when The boy gets trapped "forever" near the Blue Fairy, and that everything after that was tacked on by Spielberg for a feel-better (can't really say feel-good) ending. I came to this conclusion, too, before I heard that anyone else did: a bunch of people seem to have thought of this independently.
I think the movie would have ended just fine at that point. The ending we saw last night really did have a "tacked on" feel to it (sort of a slash fiction-y kind of ending). It was still poignant, but it didn't feel right.

I recall reading that Kubrick's original plan for last act of AI did include the advanced mechas bringing back David's "mother." The only change between that and what Spielberg did is in Kubrick's version, David's "mother" actually had an indifferent attitude toward him so her "resurrection" was based on David's falsely happy memories of her.

[DrDeth]

The general consensus seems to be that the movie was meant by Kubrick to end when The boy gets trapped "forever" near the Blue Fairy,and that everything after that was tacked on by Spielberg for a feel-better (can't really say feel-good) ending. I came to this conclusion, too, before I heard that anyone else did: a bunch of people seem to have thought of this independently.

Well, that's very nice and all, but since the real "real" ending was the one the filmaker shot, unless we have both a time machine and a mind reading helmet your hypothesis doesn't even rise to a theory.

[The Them]

Gahh! How could I forget Carrie? Either version. In the first, Sissy Spacek dies and everyone else gets permanent nightmares. In the second, the actor (I forget her name) goes into the world as a broken child, unstoppable and much more likely to be malevolent than otherwise.

[Beware of Doug]

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.

[Zebra]

Yeah. Norm is miffed that his artwork was only put on the 2-cent stamp, but all-in-all they seem to be doing OK. The crime was solved and the guilty punished.


I believe it was the 3 cent stamp. Or the tree cent stamp, if you will.

[Bayard]

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
Gah! I thought of that movie in the shower this morning, and I was itchin' to come back in here to bring it up. Great movie.

[Cicero]

The Big House

[marshmallow]

Cube 2: Hypersphere. The original was better, but this is still a good popcorn flick.

Due to the bizarre warping of time and space from the hypercube, there are a large amount of copies of each character running around meeting their fate in different yet horrible ways. One of the characters goes insane and wanders the Cube killing the clones of this friendly guy, taking his watch, and eating him. At one point, a much older cannibal is met, his arms covered in watches, talking about how he's been eating this same guy over and over for decades.

Oh yeah, and the female character who makes it out in the end actually worked for the evil company and just wanted to manipulate the group and steal the data disk from the virtuous hacker who made the entire hypercube but wished to rebel. And she's shot in the head anyway. So the big evil company wins and everyone is killed.

[GargoyleWB]

When the Wind Blows, another ultra-depressing animated film, though with great music and imagery.
...charming old couple slowly die of radiation poisoning in blind faith of the infallibility of their country's leadership...

[Ignatz]

Johnny Got His Gun

"For the love of God, I'm begging you...please let me die."
"No."

I second The Pledge. That movie is one of the few recent Hollywood releases that doesn't even attempt to give you a crumb of hope.


Where can I get a copy of "Johnny Got His Gun"? I saw it first run and would like to see it again, though it is a definite downer. I've tried to get through the book twice and can't.


My choices: The Bedofrd Incident

Madame X

[Ignatz]

And, Sorry, Wrong Number.

[cormac262]

Angel Heart. Not just a sad ending, but genuinely depressing.

I recently re-watched this, and though it is not a "happy" ending, it is certainly a "the guy got what he deserved" ending.

But so far no one's mentioned either:
"Gallipoli"
or
"Breaker Morant"

Of all the one's mentioned, I think "House of Sand and Fog" is the downer of all downers.

[Darryl Lict]

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but I don't ever recall seeing a non-porno movie concluding with a "happy ending".

[mhendo]

But so far no one's mentioned either:
"Gallipoli"
or
"Breaker Morant"Ooooh, yeah, good ones. I love both those movies, and completely forgot them.

"Shoot straight, ya bastards."

[betenoir]

Ohh...Gallipoli. All the sadder becuase is was basicaly true.

How about "Johnny got his Gun"? I can't think of a least happy ending.

And "All quite on the Western Front"

[vivalostwages]

I didn't look through all the posts here, but The Rapture may qualify. At least, Mimi Rogers doesn't have a happy ending.

[8675309]

Requiem for a Dream


My pick as well.

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

The general consensus seems to be that the movie was meant by Kubrick to end when The boy gets trapped "forever" near the Blue Fairy,and that everything after that was tacked on by Spielberg for a feel-better (can't really say feel-good) ending. I came to this conclusion, too, before I heard that anyone else did: a bunch of people seem to have thought of this independently.
Except, despite what reviewers of the film have thought, the ending of the film seen on screen is the ending that Kubrick would have done.

[lissener]

Except, despite what reviewers of the film have thought, the ending of the film seen on screen is the ending that Kubrick would have done.
Cite?

[BrainGlutton]

Chimes at Midnight, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimes_at_Midnight) Orson Welles' adaptation of Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. Of course, as in his adaptations of Othello and MacBeth, Welles was limited by Shakespeare's script, which does not end happily for the principal protagonist.

[BrainGlutton]

Bonnie and Clyde (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde_%28film%29) -- depending once again, of course, on one's definition of a "happy ending."

But the ending of Joe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_%28film%29) is tragic by any standard.

Longass thread -- have Easy Rider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Rider) and Cool Hand Luke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Hand_Luke) already been mentioned?

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

Cite?
I'm trying to search Google but all I'm getting are tons of reviews. It was mentioned in the recent Spielberg documentary that was shown on TNT (I think it was TNT.)

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

Here's one page that has an interview with Sara Maitland, one of Kubrick's collaborators on the script
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/index2.html#slot14
It was the relationship between David and his mother that most occupied Kubrick and Sara Maitland. An alcoholic whose 'Bloody Mary' cocktails David would mix for her in a vain attempt to win her affection. The mother was the to be emotional center of the film that would eventually come full-circle.

At the story's conclusion, the robots that have inherited the Earth use David's memories to reconstruct, in virtual form, the apartment where he had lived with his parents. Because his memories are subjective, the mother is much more vividly realized than the father, and his stepsister's room is not there at all; it is just a hole in the wall.

For Ms. Maitland, the film would end with David preparing a Bloody Mary for his mother, the juice a brighter red than in real life: "He hears her voice, and that's it. We don't see him turn to see her." Kubrick, however, wanted a coda in which the new race of robots, because of a technological limitation, cannot keep the mother alive after reviving her. The movie would end with David in his mother's bedroom, watching her slowly disappear.
A bit different than the film, yes, but the ending is still the same, it was never meant to end under the water.

(That doesn't mean I wouldn't have preferred it to end earlier, I don't much like the ending as it is, but it wasn't tacked on by Spielberg.

[Malacandra]

And I'm the first person to mention Alien3? Everything Ripley fought for in the previous film gets trashed in the opening five minutes, and the rest of the film just revolves around Ripley's dawning realization that she has a chestburster inside her, and after she's headed up the demise of the alien on the rampage, there's nothing for her to do but throw herself into a blast furnace.

[plnnr]

Leaving Las Vegas

Of course, Nicholas Cage does get exactly what he wanted, so maybe it has a happy ending after all.

[pbbth]

My vote would have to be for Unfaithful (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250797/). I left the theater feeling sick and empty after this movie ended.

[Khadaji]

My vote would have to be for Unfaithful (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250797/). I left the theater feeling sick and empty after this movie ended.
I dunno. Diane Lane gets naked in it - that contributed to a happy ending for me...

(OK, I haven't seen it, it was just a joke.)

[Amok]

I thought the French musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg had a downer of an ending.


The two main characters are OK in their current lives, sure, but it's basically a romance movie where the main couple doesn't end up together. And one of the main points is that they end up apart due to corrosive effect of the Algerian war on daily French life, it seemed to me. So that was kinda sad.

[Asimovian]

Perhaps this doesn't really count since it's based on someone's life story, but I've never seen an audience walk out of a theater more somber than when I saw Quills.

[The Them]

As I recall, Twelve Monkeys ends with Bruce Willis dying with the knowledge that not only has he failed to save the world, but that he will repeat this failure, over and over, forever. It's so starkly bleak, it ruined my day. GREAT movie, though. :(

[Martini Enfield]

As I recall, Twelve Monkeys ends with Bruce Willis dying with the knowledge that not only has he failed to save the world, but that he will repeat this failure, over and over, forever. It's so starkly bleak, it ruined my day. GREAT movie, though. :(

I didn't read it that way- as he manages to change the past (by sending the message about the fact the lead they're following is a dead end), and the lady in the blonde wig smiles at the end instead of looking sad. In short, he might have to repeat the scenario a few times over, but eventually he's going to succeed in stopping the virus carrier.

Also, the purpose of his mission wasn't to stop the carrier, it was to obtain a sample of the virus in a pure form- hence the "I'm in insurance" line at the end. They know who is responsible for the outbreak, but whether or not they actually stop them (or simply take the virus back to the future for study) is never explained.

Either way, Bruce Willis does, in a round about kind of way, succeed, so I didn't think the ending was all that bleak, IMHO.

[usar_jag]

I nominate the film The Grey Zone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_grey_zone). (Warning: Link has spoilers.) It's a holocaust film that makes Shindler's List seem like a romantic date movie.

Here is a voice-over narriation of one of the characters (spoken after the character's death) during the movie:

I catch fire quickly. The first part of me rises in dense smoke that mingles with the smoke of others. Then, there are the bones, which settle in ash. And these are swept up to be carried to the river. And last, bits of our dust simply float there, in air, around the working of the new group. These bits of dust are grey. We settle on their shoes and on their faces, and in their lungs. And they become so used to us, that's on they don't cough and they don't brush us away. At this point, they're just moving, breathing and moving. Like any one else, still alive in that place. And this is how the work... continues.

[Boozahol Squid, P.I.]

I've always found for a good, rousing feeling of "Kill me now ,the world is too bleak", nothing beats Breaking the Waves.

Did anyone mention Happiness?

[jsc1953]

I came in here to mention Easy Rider, but see that it's been brought up (at least) 3 times, so I won't. But I saw the ending recently for the first time since its initial release, and I was really surprised: I'd only remembered Dennis Hopper's death, probably because him flipping off the rednecks is an iconic cinema moment....but Jack Nicholson's and Peter Fonda's caught me by surprise.

And speaking of surprises....Sorry, Wrong Number. I didn't think moves in the 40s tended to end that way.

[xanthous]

I did a search and this title didn't seem to come up in this thread, so:

Sid and Nancy