Midnight Cowboy where Voight is holding the lifeless Hoffman on the bus.
Tom Reagan donning his hat and tilting his head toward the camera, at the end of Miller’s Crossing.
The last 5 minutes of Harold and Maude are a master class in film making, with the cuts between Harold pacing the hospital waiting room and speeding along the highway…
culminating in his car plunging off the cliff to smash on the beach below while you think he finally went through with the suicide he was always faking. And then the camera pans up to the top of the cliff for the final shot, where Harold walks into the distance plucking the banjo and dancing.
Indeed, one of my favourite fillmakers - Hal Ashby - cut his his teeth as an editor.
At the end of Being There, HA takes on a more introspective, absurdist approach, with Chauncey walking out on the lake. (Love the score.)
The end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was pretty groundbreaking, back before end credit scenes were a thing.
Bullitt
The last shot of Steve McQueen washing his face exhausted and sickened after having no choice but to kill the bad guy. The simple but beautifully poignant Lalo Schiffrin score putting the exclamation point on it all. Still moves me after many viewings.
The final shot of Psycho with Norman Bates sitting in the chair with a voiceover by “MOTHER” about how she wouldn’t hurt a fly signifying her personality as taking over Norman while it fades to Marion Crane’s car being pulled from the swamp.
Also the Giant Space Baby ending of* 2001: A Space Odyssey*.
And the twist ending of the original Planet of the Apes in the final shot.
Nice Mephistophelian sending off in Live and Let Die.
The droid with a watering can at the end of Silent Running.
As effective and poignant as most of these examples are, is there any ending to a movie that captures the feelings evoked by
The end of Jaws, where Brody and Hooper paddle their improvised raft back to shore.
The final scene of The Thing. MacReady and Childs staring each other down and sharing the scotch.
“Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
The final shot of Greed, where McTeague has killed Marcus, and realizes he’s handcuffed to the dead man in the Death Valley heat with no water.
The ending of I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Paul Muni’s character has a former love who calls out as he leaves her to go on the run, “But how will you live?” Everything goes dark and the answer comes back, “I steal!”
Accidental or planned, it’s chillingly perfect.
But if those count: that final shot of The Avengers, after their big battle — you know, when they’re just sitting around in a busted-up shawarma restaurant.
Maybe the most disturbing ending I think I’ve ever seen (so I won’t link it) - in Looking For Mr. Goodbar, Diane Keaton gets raped and repeatedly stabbed, and as she lays dieing, gasping for air, we see the final images of just her face, looking terrified up at the camera, in the intermittent light of a strobe light, until finally one, last, strobe, and then black.
Chilling.
as.
fuck.
Not exactly Hitchcock at is most subtle 
Speaking of, there’s the iconic spinning top at the end of Inception.
As finales and final film shots go, it’s hard to top Dead or Alive (1999). Here are the last 8 minutes. Needless to say, for full impact, the whole film should be viewed in its entirety (especially since the opening is pretty incredible as well):
- YouTube QE
NOTE: This clip is a bit gory, so I have separated the last few characters from the link in accordance with the site’s “2-click” rule.