# Best Endings - Movie Division **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062 "2011-03-17T20:27:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/21 "2011-03-18T14:40:09Z")
_Memento._[spoiler] > [@](#): > > Now then - where was I? Yes, I know it is not really the end.[/spoiler] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/22 "2011-03-18T14:53:21Z")
Birdie The Verdict ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/23 "2011-03-18T15:19:07Z")
Apocalypto - out of the frying pan, into the fire Beautiful Thing - dancing The Color Purple - redeemed / reunited The Dark Crystal - apotheosis Fight Club - watching the world fall away Gattaca - pee left handed before you reach the stars Joe vs the Volcano - those darn suitcases! Memento - the beginning, middle, and end Mission to Mars - holographic powerpoint Serenity - River’s rampage, restoration Se7en - what’s in the box?!? Skyline - everyone else hates it but I love it’s twistedness Shortbus - let’s just bring in the marching band Slumdog Millionaire - hey, it’s not why I’m here, but thanks for the million anyway The Fall - I don’t like your ending, I demand a new one, OK that’s better thanks The Matrix - machine code The Princess Bride - maybe a little kissing wouldn’t kill me Young Einstein - splitting the beer atom Watchmen - 35 minutes ago Inception - old men, filled with regret ---
**Author:** ![Sakuma\_Drops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sakuma\_Drops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sakuma_Drops)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/24 "2011-03-18T15:26:01Z")
Office Space: Peter finally gets a productive job (albeit construction), Samir and Michael also get new gigs, Initech burns down, and Milton winds up on a beach somewhere with the money. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/25 "2011-03-18T15:29:11Z")
It got mentioned twice in the other thread, but the ending to _The Mist_ really belongs in here. The ending to that movie was like getting kicked in the solar plexus. Fucking brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/26 "2011-03-18T16:16:18Z")
“It’s the stuff dreams are made of.” -_The Maltese Falcon_ ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/27 "2011-03-18T16:18:41Z")
History of Violence, when he just sits down at the table for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/28 "2011-03-18T16:19:02Z")
It’s not a great film by any measure, but _The Lost Boys_ has, hands down, one of the best endings in movie history. “…all the damn vampires.” ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/29 "2011-03-18T17:59:16Z")
I guess it’s not technically the ending, but I loved the “kicks” scene at the climax of _Inception_. You know it’s coming; they’ve spent enough time setting it up; but still the breathless series of kicks is like coming up from drowning, through several layers of water. I think the ending of _Fail-Safe_ was perfect. A series of shots of all sorts of people in the city going about their business, then a staccato burst of stills of each of the people you’ve just seen moving, then a blinding white screen of nothingness. More meaningful **and** more powerful than just showing a nuclear fireball. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/30 "2011-03-18T18:00:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s not a great film by any measure, but _The Lost Boys_ has, hands down, one of the best endings in movie history. > > “…all the damn vampires.” Nailed it (see what I did there?) ---
**Author:** ![MovieCriticNextDoor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@MovieCriticNextDoor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieCriticNextDoor)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/31 "2011-03-18T18:50:24Z")
Again, not necessarily a great film, but one movie that I think did an excellent job of pulling people in at the end was _Quarantine_. I saw it in the theatre, and as the credits began, not a single person got up. Though I see movies literally every weekend to review them, I can honestly say I never saw that happen before or since – usually it seems like at least a quarter of the audience is packing up to leave as the credits start to roll. _Black Swan_ came close, though, with only a couple of people bolting for the door. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/32 "2011-03-18T18:52:17Z")
“Big Night” - the long scene of the two brothers making breakfast with no dialog. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/33 "2011-03-18T20:07:06Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > “Big Night” - the long scene of the two brothers making breakfast with no dialog. Yup. And it was perfect; just watching them, you knew what they were feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/34 "2011-03-18T21:44:16Z")
**Two-Lane Blacktop** This is a bit of a car nut movie from producer Monte Hellman that I saw at the drive-in movie in '73 or '74. I was enthralled and told my girlfriend to put her shirt back on, we were watching the movie. The characters don’t have names, there is The Driver, James Taylor (yeah, the singer), The Mechanic, Dennis Wilson (of the Beach Boys) driving a '55 Chevy, and they meet Warren Oates in a role that should have won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, driving a new '70 GTO Judge. Also a young Harry Dean Stanton as a gay hitchhiker, and Lauri Bird as The Girl. Even the cars get equal billing as stars during the final credits. The movie starts out as two rival teams racing across country for pink slips. Somewhere along the way they all bond and the race becomes secondary. At the end, The Girl hops on some stranger’s motorcycle and leaves all three men. James Taylor is last seen driving off, punching through the gears, and then the film breaks in the projector and burns and melts off the screen. The best ending for a movie that started nowhere and in the end characters realized they had nowhere to go. It was genius on Monte’s part. Maybe not the best ending to a movie, but certainly the best one for this movie, one of my personal favorites. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson can act about as well as your dog can sing. But this is a movie that connoisseurs should see. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/35 "2011-03-18T22:30:10Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > I came in to mention this. Fantastic. Also good is \* The Prestige\*. ..no-no. BEST ENDINGS… not shock for the sake of shock endings. …seriously… Yes it’s a great visual but loathsomely stupid. Why does he keep all the water tanks WHY??? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/36 "2011-03-18T22:55:11Z")
_My Favorite Year_, starting with “Porthos!” ---
**Author:** ![Gilles\_de\_Rais](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@Gilles\_de\_Rais](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilles_de_Rais)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/37 "2011-03-18T23:01:38Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned _A Boy and His Dog_. Has there ever been a more [ahem] satisfying ending to a film? ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/38 "2011-03-18T23:51:43Z")
Invasion of the Body Snatchers ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/39 "2011-03-19T02:59:38Z")
Gone Baby Gone. Ben Affleck’s 1st director job. Breaks my heart that the mother didn’t know the kids toys name. You knew she was a miserable person. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-endings-movie-division/575062/40 "2011-03-19T03:27:23Z")
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