Seven
“What’s in the box?!”
The Italian Job (the original): “'Ang on lads, I’ve got an idea…”
The 400 Blows: Antoine runs onto the beach and a freeze frame of him looking at the camera.
Chinatown: “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
Avatar.
“Louis, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
+1 – First one I thought of!
Fight Club - the narrator touches Marla’s hand and says, You met me at a very strange time in my life…
The Dark Knight - Gordon explains to his son, Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves…but not the one it needs right now…
The remake of the Thing.
McReedy and the other fellow sitting around the fire with their camp around them destroyed. Neither know if the other might be the/a thing. Just waiting for the cold to come take them.
1776, with the signers turning into the painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the sound of the Liberty Bell ringing.
The Godfather, Part II
Michael’s flashback to the time he told his family that he joined the Marines. A young idealistic man, refusing to follow what was to be expected of him. Then we’re bought back to a lonely Michael, still wearing his wedding ring, sitting by himself outside. The juxtaposed scenes show how much he’s changed.
I’ve always liked the end of Gone in 60 Seconds (Nic Cage version). Fade to black, then you hear the Shelby’s engine stall out. “Oh, don’t do this to me.”
Captain, it is I, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your stinkin’ palm tree overboard! Now what’s all this crud about no movie tonight?
The final scene of City Lights. Heartbreaking.
I’ll go a bit farther. This scene is great, but I found him sitting in the cab, just riding along to be a powerful ending. It let the viewers mind churn along with Clayton, and I still find that ending to be amazing.
+1
And from the inspiration thread, I will add a movie that I liked the opening scene…
“… And then, I woke up.”
No Country For Old Men.
The closing scene from The Bedford Incident is also a great one.
The movie is about a US destroyer that’s tracking (and harassing) a Soviet sub that’s close (perhaps too close) to Greenland. The Bedford’s commander (Richard Widmark) is a martinet who insists on people jumping at his orders; he also like to play cat and mouse with the Soviet sub. Both have nuclear weapons. In the final scene, the commander arms his missiles. The civilian advisor (Sidney Poitier) tries to convince him to stand down, but the commander says he’s not going to do anything “But if he’s going to fire one, I’m going to fire one.” The person in charge of the missiles says, “Fire one, sir,” and missile goes off. The sub is destroyed, but not before it sends off a nuclear torpedoes. We get quick shots of the main members of the crew (stills that are melted as we watch) and then the Bedford is destroyed.
The final scene in Two-Lane Blacktop, where the film appears to stick in the projector, melts, and burns away.
It is a very apt ending to this particular film.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/235367/Two-Lane-Blacktop-Movie-Clip-Burnout.html
The Last American Virgin
I did my best, but I guess my best wasn’t good enough…
Movie wasn’t that good, but damn, the final scene.