# Best ending to a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2002, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827 "2002-12-01T21:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/1 "2002-12-01T21:13:36Z")
In your opinion, what movie has the best ending? My vote goes to **The Shawshank Redemption** , because Tim Robbins gets to live out his dream, and his best friend travels all the way to Mexico to be with him. **Arlington Road** also had a very good ending, if not disturbing. After the building blows up, we hear a news reporter say “Officials are saying that this act of terrorism is the result of one man, and one man alone”. If you’ve seen the movie, you kbow what I am talking about. I also love then ending to **8 Seconds** when Lane Frost’s friend Tuff rides the bull for well over 8 seconds. “He’s riding for Lane, now.” That movie makes me cry every time! So what movie do you think has the best ending? ---
**Author:** ![lazymexicanamerican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@lazymexicanamerican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazymexicanamerican)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/2 "2002-12-01T21:32:00Z")
Haha Soul Survivors the ending was great b/c it meant the twisted messed up movie was FINALLY over after 2 hours of being totally lossed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/3 "2002-12-01T22:38:59Z")
{Spoilers} **Day of the Jackal** Scene: An unmarked common grave in Paris. It is raining. A body is being buried. Commisaire Lebel is the only one in attendance. (Voice-Over) “But if the Jackal wasn’t Calthrop, then Who the Hell Was He?” Lebel leaves, as on the soundtrack a band plays a French march. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/4 "2002-12-01T23:12:32Z")
Planet of the Apes ---
**Author:** ![Fifteen\_Iguana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Fifteen\_Iguana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fifteen_Iguana)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/5 "2002-12-01T23:33:37Z")
Sixth Sense ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/6 "2002-12-01T23:40:08Z")
I like the double-take at the end of **Breaking Away**. _Bon jour, Papa!_ ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/7 "2002-12-02T00:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Arlington Road also had a very good ending, if not disturbing. After the building blows up, we hear a news reporter say “Officials are saying that this act of terrorism is the result of one man, and one man alone”. If you’ve seen the movie, you kbow what I am talking about. This ending was ripped off from the much better _The Parallax View_, and it is indeed a very good closing in that film. But for the best ending to a movie ever, I’ve gotta go with the obvious. The farewell scene in Casablanca is perfect, but for my money comes in a close second to the also perfect ending to _Notorious_. Cary Grant finds Ingrid Bergman, nearly dead from the slow poison her husband has been feeding her. He picks her up and carries her out right in front of her husband, Claude Rains, and the husband’s Nazi bosses. Rains lets her go because he is actually in love with her, and has the choice of kill her or let go. Hitchcock films the final descent so that Grant actually goes down more steps than there are on the staircase. Upon their exit, Claude Rains is asked to step into the study, because his superiors need to talk to him (ie–they’re going to kill him for failing his mission), and he goes willingly, having already lost everything in his life worth living for. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/8 "2002-12-02T00:44:12Z")
I loved the ending of _Brazil_, in which the main character escapes from the guys in Information Retrieval by retreating into his fantasy world for good. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/9 "2002-12-02T01:00:33Z")
I second **Casablanca** **Grave of the Fireflies** which has one of the great openings as well. **The Apartment** “he goes willingly, having already lost everything in his life worth living for.” Eh? IIRC he tries to get a ride with Cary Grant but is refused. Then he goes back because he has no choice. But you are right; it was a great ending. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/10 "2002-12-02T01:34:27Z")
Given the season, how could we forget **It’s a Wonderful Life**? ---
**Author:** ![lethean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@lethean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lethean)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/11 "2002-12-02T01:41:06Z")
**Lawn Dogs** ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/12 "2002-12-02T01:42:22Z")
**The Usual Suspects** … this movie comes up in movie discussions so often that I’m beginning to believe that it may be one of the top ten movies ever made. The ending is such that you don’t really understand what’s been happening until the last minute or so. Then you have to go watch it all over again to see how all the pieces fit together and you’re _still_ not sure if you’ve got it right. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/13 "2002-12-02T01:58:24Z")
“Come on, Jake. It’s **Chinatown**.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/14 "2002-12-02T02:29:38Z")
I’ll put in a nomination for **Wrong is Right** , made in 1982. The whole movie’s an incredible mish-mash, which is a shame because it had an interesting idea at the heart of it and it was years ahead of its time. Sean Connery plays a Geraldo Rivera/Arthur Kent type war correspondent for a 24-hour TV news network. He spends most of the movie chasing intelligence sources and meeting with paramilitary groups in the desert and broadcasting reports back to the home office. His bosses are happy to cultivate his go-anywhere, rough-and-ready image. At the very end there’s some new crisis at some remote trouble spot, and he’s in a plane overhead ready to parachute in. He goes to the open door, reaches up and takes off his toupee, and jumps. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/15 "2002-12-02T03:18:45Z")
Another vote for **The Usual Suspects** , because, like **The Sixth Sense** all the clues were right in front of you. I wouldn’t vote for **It’s A Wonderful Life** however. In the end the evil Mr. Potter gets away with theft, gets paid twice by George Bailey, and there is nothing that prevents him from continuing to gobble up the town. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/16 "2002-12-02T03:24:20Z")
If by “ending” you mean “final scene,” I think the award has to go to **Raiders of the Lost Ark** – the closng image of the ark being carted off to some obscure corner of a massive government warehouse. After nearly two hours of nonstop death defying action in an attempt to find the damned thing, the ark ends up just as lost as it ever was. It’s the perfect coda to the film. If by “ending” you mean “wrapping up the main plot,” I’d have to go with **Casablanca**. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/17 "2002-12-02T03:27:38Z")
**Schindler’s List** and **Places in the Heart** ---
**Author:** ![John\_Zahn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@John\_Zahn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Zahn)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/18 "2002-12-02T03:33:21Z")
**Midnight Express** ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/19 "2002-12-02T03:43:47Z")
When it comes to horror movies, **The Thing** is fantastic. The S-Mart ending to **Army of Darkness** has got to be one of the best. Completely grituitous, over the top…absolutely perfect. For most anti-climactic, I would go with **Dirty Work**. > [@](#): > > And Dr. Farthing finally got over his gambling problem. But the Bookies beat him to death anyway, so he’s dead. Well, that’s it, good bye. ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827/20 "2002-12-02T04:16:08Z")
**Shawshank Redemption** was the first movie that popped into my head when I read the thread title. Good stuff. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ending-to-a-movie/139827.md?page=2)