Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Last of the Mohicans. (Daniel Day Lewis version.)
I love the ending to Return of the King, even though a lot of people think it goes on too long. I disagree. It’s the ending to three movies and one long story. It’s perfect.
I also love the ending to Pitch Black, with Vin Diesel. Everything about the way things works out is dead on perfect. The exact right people survive story wise and character wise.
Rocky 2
How do you look at this 37 seconds and not blink back a tear?
In the “Worst Concept for a TV Show” thread, the name Ivan Dixon came up, and I nominated the ending of the movie Car Wash as one of the finest endings in movies.
Ivan plays Lonnie, who’s closing out the car wash cash in the scene. Ivan is excellent and so is the other actor playing Abdullah, Bill Duke. I’m surprised he didn’t do more movies based on his performance here.
You really have to watch the whole movie to get the full impact of the ending, but it impresses nontheless. Here it is. The scene starts at 06:44.
Shawshank Redemption. Best ending ever.
The Usual Suspects.
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. One long chase sequence with a “pissed off DM” ending that is just perfect.
The “Earn this” ending from Saving Private Ryan
The “Envy/Wrath” ending from Se7en.
Memento. Any film by Christopher Nolan in fact.
Fallen, The Sixth Sense, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Diggstown. It’s a mediocre movie, but an absolutely fantastic ending.
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Fight Club.
Not just the ending, the final 15 minutes or so (from Blondie shooting the cannon at Tuco) is all brilliant.
My nomination is My Man Godfrey (an even funnier closing scene than Some Like it Hot).
Back To the Future is about 11 satisfying climaxes in a row, starting with George punching Biff, going through Marty playing guitar, George standing up and kissing Lorraine, Doc climbing the clock tower, Doc’s bulletproof vest, the new and better McFly family, and of course Mr Fusion and “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need… roads”.
I always liked:
“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
Toy Story 3
The very last shot mirrors the very first shot in the first film, and everything wraps up perfectly.
The ending of Carrie had me, and everyone in the movie theater, certainly sit up and pay attention as we all screamed like little girls.
The ending of Thelma and Louise left no doubt there was never going to be a part 2. Plus, it was quite a final thrill ride.
The ending of Fatal Attraction was another sit-up-in-your seat adventure, and sort of took the fun out of taking long, leisurely baths.
And I know there is a lot of hate for Titanic, but the fact that they made the well-known ending seem shocking and sad speaks volumes for the effective art of storytelling.