From this post in the “don’t remember name of” thread, it got me thinking of more final shots that totally lingered in the mind, like the freeze frame at the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or Leatherface swingng his chainsaw around in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
This includes final shots that the end-credits roll over, like the awesome zoom-out of Fonda’s burning bike in “Easy Rider”, or the exterior shot of the house as we hear an increasingly loud telephone ring in Black Christmas ('74).
Surprised there hasn’t been a thread on favourite final film shots, unless my search has failed.
400 Blows. This has the freeze frame.
Freeze-frame at the end of Thelma and Louise
Revenge of the Sith - The prequels may have been uneven and messy, but George totally nailed the feels with the final shot of Obi-Wan staring into the dual sunset while the John Williams score swelled up on the soundtrack.
Not a shot, but the final intertitle card at the end of Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures was one of the biggest gut-punches I’ve ever had at the movies. The entire theatre exited in complete silence after that one.
Speaking of Peter Jackson, the final shot of Aragorn and the others kneeling before Frodo and Sam at the end of Return of the King.What’s that? There were three more endings after that? Lalala I can’t hear you!!
The subway train pulling away with the alien at the end of Brother from Another Planet.
It took me a while to realize that he (effectively an alien slave) was being spirited away on an Underground Railroad.
Sully’s smile at the end of Monsters Inc when he goes looking for Boo.
I guess I gotta mention Michael shutting the door closed on Kay at the end of The Godfather
Speaking of trains, the one penetrating the tunnel at the end of North by Northwest.
John Wayne left all alone on the porch at the end of The Searchers
The final shot of, “Kingdom of the Spiders,” should have been awesome, but it just looked cheapjack.
Aguirre on his raft, monkeys his only remaining crew.
Good one!
That movie also has a great opening scene, with the conquistadors making their way down a seemingly impossible mountainside.
Ben and Elaine on the bus in The Graduate.
The red phone box, and its ring, at the end of Local Hero (1983).
An increasingly darkening picture as Anthony Perkins loses his sight (again:p) in How Awful About Allan. Best ever end title!.
Fun, Mozart-fuelled tracking shot through the offices in After Hours.
The story behind this is that this was filmed by a backup director who forgot to say cut, so the two actors stayed in character, but looked lost because they weren’t sure what to do next, which meshed nicely with their character arcs.
The inside of a warehouse, the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A pair of lost souls hold hands while towers fall,* Fight Club.*
Verbal Kent transforming as he walks down the sidewalk in The Usual Suspects.
That’s the second-to-last shot. The last shot is a fragment of a scene from earlier in the movie, with Verbal saying, “And poof! - he’s gone.”
Since you mentioned scenes where the credits roll over the shot, the truck driving away in Five Easy Pieces.