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.
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
sorry for the ending, i pressed too quick, forget the last words
Very good point, gawen. I’d gotten that impression, too. (From the movie version, of course. The original book is a bit different)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dances with Wolves had one of those typical non-endings, where the movie didn’t end as much as it just stopped.
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 :).
The Rules of Attraction. Ends mid-sentence.
"I couldn’t help but think, " CREDITS ROLL
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?
An American Werewolf in Londo pretty much ends right on the movie’s climax. There is a very short denouement.
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?” 
Where exactly is Londo?
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.
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.
All time irritating endless ending: ** Limbo. **
And the Prim Ministe lives at 1 Dowlin Stree.