# Dismalest movie ending (SPOILERS!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 10, 2024, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047 "2024-09-10T06:00:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/41 "2024-09-10T17:23:06Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Chinatown_ (1974) – Evil wins. “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/42 "2024-09-10T17:25:24Z")
Sorry…I did miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/43 "2024-09-10T17:31:27Z")
The Rapture. Though I suppose the lead character at least had agency in the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/44 "2024-09-10T17:45:31Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > > [@Dropo](#): > > > > _Chinatown_ (1974) – Evil wins. > > “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Jake gets paid. He’s a pragmatic man to his core, just got mixed up with some dizzy broad for a time is all. The end is cool, for Noir that’s a good ending even if not uplifting. War films are similar, even a ‘triumphant end’ still has loads of dead people to ponder over. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/45 "2024-09-10T18:12:54Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I think the ambiguous ending is perfect, though. The whole movie was a study in paranoia and mistrust. There shouldn’t be a tidy conclusion. (Carpenter’s **The Thing** ) I agree. The ending is perfect. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/46 "2024-09-10T18:38:04Z")
_Martyrs_ (the original French version, haven’t seen the remake) _The Perfect Storm_. The slow zoom out as Clooney, having sent Wahlburg to his likely death by drowning, slowly retreats back into the submerged cabin. Crazy. _Carlito’s Way_. DePalma cranks up one of his best-ever pursuits and then just as you think Pacino’s getting away: “Remember me? Benny Blanco! From the Bronx!” Blam! What a gut-punch. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/47 "2024-09-10T19:18:36Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I found the ending of **Requiem for a Dream** to be so cartoonishly over-the-top that (for me) it was about as gloomy as an anvil falling on Wile E. Coyote’s head. Do you mean the entire ending or just the refrigerator scene ( which _is_ over the top)? You have a steelier heart than I 😮 ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/48 "2024-09-10T20:32:10Z")
**1984**. Anything other than a dismal ending would have been disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/49 "2024-09-10T20:37:11Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Do you mean the entire ending or just the refrigerator scene ( which _is_ over the top)? All of it. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/50 "2024-09-10T20:52:48Z")
The end of the Road ends with the boy being saved and joining a family and getting a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/51 "2024-09-10T21:48:23Z")
You’re right, but I don’t disagree with the inclusion of _The Road_ in this thread due to the unremitting bleakness of the entire movie. And that pervasive bleakness makes it clear that family-and-dog or not, the boy’s remaining life is going to be harsh and (likely) short. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/52 "2024-09-11T11:15:18Z")
“Georgy Girl” where Lynn Redgrave marries James Mason, the sleazy old letch who’s been stalking her through the whole movie. Because she needs a daddy for the baby her boyfriend and her roommate abandoned. It’s a bit like the ending of “Osama”.(See above). Only “Osama” wasn’t supposed to be a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/53 "2024-09-11T11:41:18Z")
Oh yeah! I hated that movie. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/54 "2024-09-11T11:48:13Z")
I only saw this once years ago, so hopefully I’m not mis-remembering. What a dismal ending! A movie from 1957, _All Mine To Give_, was about a large pioneer family in Wisconsin who all get sick during an epidemic. The parents die, and at the end of the movie the oldest boy trudges around through the snow pulling his siblings on a sled. He stops at various cabins and gives away his siblings one at a time. The last scene is of the boy trudging off alone into the snowy wilderness. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/55 "2024-09-11T12:20:25Z")
_[Melancholia](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527186/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_Melancholia)_ (2011) is a profound exploration of depression and existential dread, and its dismal ending (collision with the rogue _blue_ planet, Melancholia) is both emotionally and thematically fitting for the story it tells. Things don’t get much bleaker than that. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/56 "2024-09-11T13:22:11Z")
I just rewatched _The Poseidon Adventure_ (1972) on cable. The ending is pretty dismal with only 6 survivors on an ocean liner that had a thousand or so passengers and crew. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/57 "2024-09-11T13:30:08Z")
Grave of the Fireflies. I don’t recall if the reveal is really the end, but Dear Zachary. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/58 "2024-09-11T16:53:20Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I just rewatched _The Poseidon Adventure_ (1972) on cable. The ending is pretty dismal with only 6 survivors on an ocean liner that had a thousand or so passengers and crew In the book the ending is different. The group that followed the ship’s doctor to the bow of the ship is also saved. Also people who just stayed where they were and never went on the adventure, they are saved as well, not going through the muss and death of the adventure. So more people live, yay. But the adventure seems less worth it, boo. There were a couple of characters dropped from the adventure, the parents of the two kids were there in the book but not in the movie. But most of the characters that lived or died were the same, with the exception of the little boy who knew everything about the ship. He dies in the book. Presumed dead anyway, he wanders off during a rest break halfway through and is never seen again, presumed dead. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/59 "2024-09-11T17:41:12Z")
Great contributions, everyone. I totally agree with the mentions of films I’ve seen, and the ones I haven’t I’ve added to my watchlist. **Cabaret** fits, I think. Even though we all know what eventually happened, seeing the singing and dancing juxtaposed with the NAZIS in the audience just leaves one with a dreadful feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047/60 "2024-09-11T20:04:52Z")
I was coming in to mention _Brazil_ but someone already has. I’ll go with another Terry Gilliam movie _12 Monkeys._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dismalest-movie-ending-spoilers/1007047.md?page=4)