# Endings that aren't really endings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413 "2003-08-24T23:57:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/21 "2003-08-26T15:32:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thea Logica \* > _ **Brazil** _ \<\\> > \*\*The second and third times I saw the film, and has a better grip on what was going on, I realized what the ending was really about, then I was OK with it, but I still wonder if there was any hope for the guy. \*\* The way the filmmaker set things up, escaping into fantasy was the only hope Sam ever really had. Jill, his one reason for hope, was gunned down in front of him (this is clear in the final director’s cut, but you could have missed it if you saw another version) and he won’t be causing the Ministry any more trouble – check out the lobotomy tool in Jack’s hand before the beginning of the final fantasy sequence, and the blood on Sam’s hand afterward. ---
**Author:** ![gawen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@gawen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gawen)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/22 "2003-08-26T20:54:18Z")
hey i liked the ending of Starship Troopers, it shows us that to keep on running a military government like the one in this earth always need a war, and things will always stay the same. I would have hated a happy ending. Their society was based on war it had no meaning without an ennemy. You want ---
**Author:** ![gawen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@gawen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gawen)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/23 "2003-08-26T20:56:43Z")
sorry for the ending, i pressed too quick, forget the last words ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/24 "2003-08-26T21:14:06Z")
Very good point, **gawen.** I’d gotten that impression, too. (From the _movie_ version, of course. The original book is a bit different) ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/25 "2003-08-26T21:23:25Z")
Heh… was that deliberate, **gawen**? One movie I like that doesn’t have a real “ending” is _Eye of the Beholder_. It’s a very abrupt non-ending at the finish of the film, which to me illustrated **lissener** ’s point above very well, that the big finales in most movies are artificial and false, to some extent. The more I think about it, the more I realize that many of the movies, books, and stories I really treasure have endings which suggest strongly that the story will go on after you stop watching/reading. That’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/26 "2003-08-26T21:46:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nanook \* > \*\* > The Blair Witch Project > > ``` > (Bullshit endings all---) ** > > ``` Bullshit MOVIE, PERIOD! Dammit! I’m still pissed about this! I want my money back!! I was _cheated!_ * * * How is Rap like Porn? Both are better with the sound turned off. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/27 "2003-08-27T01:02:10Z")
I don’t know if this counts, but **Eraserhead** (which is a messed up enough movie as it is) cuts to a black screen abruptly before the credits role. The quick cut to blackness was a surprise to me because I thought it would go on. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/28 "2003-12-10T14:55:24Z")
Peckinpah’s \* Cross of Iron \* (1976?) is one the biggest “non-ending” disappointments I’ve ever had. Peckinpah sets up a conflict between a sargent and an officer in the German army on the Russian front, moves the story slowly to a tense confrontation between the two, and then … and then … the picture just ends. That’s it. No resolution whatsoever. Very seldom have I ever felt so frustrated on leaving a theater. I learned many years later that Peckinpah literally ran out of money in the middle of shooting (he was relying on a German businessman whose financial support was, to put it mildly, erratic), so he more or less just shut off the cameras and struck the sets, and assembled the best film he could from what he had in the can. I still felt cheated, though. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/29 "2003-12-10T15:40:53Z")
Well, 1926’s _The Lost World_, but only because a lot of the footage is missing. I thought _Blade Runner_ had a pretty clear ending. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/30 "2003-12-10T15:58:50Z")
Dances with Wolves had one of those typical non-endings, where the movie didn’t end as much as it just stopped. ---
**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 10, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/31 "2003-12-10T16:49:04Z")
**The Ring** has one of those endings that leaves you with the whole “things are far from over” kind of feel. Of course, they pretty much made that one to have a sequel as well, but still…it leaves you guessing. **The Road Warrior** is another one, and pretty much all of the **Mad Max** movies. **Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows** just cuts. I liked the first one, the second one was a super huge piece of shit, and there was definitely no ending there. Of course, there’s also **Memento** :). ---
**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/32 "2003-12-10T17:20:08Z")
The Rules of Attraction. Ends mid-sentence. "I couldn’t help but think, " CREDITS ROLL ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/33 "2003-12-10T20:56:25Z")
**Missing**. When I first saw the movie in the theatre, I was so frustrated by the lack of a neat, tidy ending. Of course, since when does life have neat, tidy endings? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/34 "2003-12-10T23:44:47Z")
**An American Werewolf in Londo** pretty much ends right on the movie’s climax. There is a very short denouement. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/35 "2003-12-11T00:26:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > **John Sayles’ _Limbo_ has one of the best endings ever** This is what I was going to say. Absolutely one of my favorite endings in cinema. I laughed with sheer delight in the cinema, even as a dozen people around me were barking, “What the _fuck?_” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/36 "2003-12-11T00:40:59Z")
> [@](#): > > An American Werewolf in Londo pretty much ends right on the movie’s climax. There is a very short denouement. Where exactly is Londo? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/37 "2003-12-11T00:41:59Z")
Surprised nobody has mentioned the (literal)cliffhanger ending of _The Italian Job_ (the one with Micahel Caine in it). Although I actually quite like open endings. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/38 "2003-12-11T00:53:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadfly \* > \*\*Where exactly is Londo? \*\* In Englan For an example of movies that don’t really have an ending, I think the _Planet of the Apes_ is one. Both the original and the remake. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/39 "2003-12-11T01:31:01Z")
All time irritating endless ending: \*\* Limbo. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/40 "2003-12-11T03:16:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GIGObuster \* > \*\*In Englan > \*\* And the Prim Ministe lives at 1 Dowlin Stree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413.md?page=3)