I have to agree on “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” If you haven’t seen this movie (written by William Goldman, also wrote “The Princess Bride,” “Misery” screenplay, and “Marathon Man”), then see it.
The ending of “The Usual Suspects” is also very good, although I began to see it coming about five minutes before the clues started to drop.
If you’re twisted and sick, you’ll love the ending of “Dark Star” (written by Dan O’Bannon, directed by John Carpenter). All I can say is “let there be light.”
I also agree on the final shot of “Psycho.” Creepy.
I’m also rather partial to the end of the original “Rocky,” wherein Rocky loses the big match. (And if that’s a spoiler to you, then, well, you don’t get out enough.)
And the end of “Unbreakable” is one that leaves you finally realizing what the movie has been about, the very last shot, the last line. That’s the way to end a movie.
My personal favorite ending to a movie is Fight Club.
Edward Norton shoots himself in the mouth, thus killing Brad Pitt. (i’m not gonna explain how that happened but if you’ve seen it you know what im talking about) Ed gets up with a viscious gunshot wound to the mouth with blood all over and him and that chick grabs his hand. They look out the building they’re in and watch about 4 or 5 skyscrapers start exploding to shit. The best thing though is the background music they put to accompany the ending “Where is my Mind” by the Pixies.
Rose wasn’t dying in Titanic. It was a dream she had [implied most of the time, or every night] when the doomed passengers of the ship came alive again, forever young.
I know this is cheesy, but I thought the ending to Re-Animator was great
After Dan Cain escapes the hospital morgue carrying his dying/dead girlfriend and leaving Herbert West for dead in the colon-coiled clutches of the professor, he unsucessfully tries to resuscitate her. After everyone leaves, he gets a syringe with the reagent, and injects her. The screen goes black except for the glowing green reagent being injected. A few seconds later, you hear a bloodcurdling scream. Awesome ending IMO.
No, she died. Check it out: everybody in the grand staircase was dead and had died during the disaster. The point of the final scene was that she went to join them (and re-unite with Jack) upon her death.
Lipid: (cool name, BTW!) The ending of Fight Club reminds me of the ending of Videodrome. I won’t say that it was an homage, but it might have been.
James Woods says “Long live the new flesh” and shoots himself in the temple. IIRC, the setting was harsh and barren, as in the last scene of FC. I remember thinking, “How brave you would have to be to take that chance.”
DKW: Another Harold and Maude clarification (hate to pile on you, but this movie, and Hal Ashby, are two of my favorites!). It wasn’t “post WWII”; it was released in 1971 and was topical. Harold was somewhere between 18 and 21. He was also from an “old money” family, which is how his aimlessness went unchecked for so long.
What I like in the last shot is him playing the banjo as he walks away. With his long skinny legs and awkward movements, he looks like Kermit the Frog! That can’t possibly be a reference: Sesame Street only came on the air in '69 or '70. It’s just an archetype: the cheerful, ungainly banjo player. “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.”
I thought it was pretty clear in Titanic that Rose died at the end. The implication was that her “story” had come to an end - she had been back to Titanic, she had returned the necklace to where it belonged, and she had finally told someone the story of the true love that she had kept secret for almost 80 years. It never occurred to me that it was possibly another nightly dream.
I have to agree; also, when she goes to bed you see a collection of photos that indicate Rose has lived a full, rich life.
The Michael Caine movie The Italian Job, a great heist movie with a terrific car chase, ends with the getaway bus balanced precariously on the edge of a cliff, swaying up and down, with a ton of stolen gold at one (dangling over space) and our hapless bunch of crooks at the other end.
The final scene in Resurrection. It is one of the most moving final scenes in any film. Over twenty years later and I can still feel the emotional power.
Sorry to bump a thread after it’s faded for a week, but I feel I should respond to the speculation about whether or not Rose died at the end of Titanic. The real answer: It’s ambiguous.
So – believe what you like. But based on the available evidence, including the writer/director’s own intent, there’s no way to concretely answer the question.
I’m not going to post a spoiler even using the tags 'cos I’m not going to give anyone the opportunity to spoil it for themselves.
The film IMO is infinitely rewatchable, but nothing can compare with the effect the ending has the first time you see it.
Synopsis : devout Christian policeman travels to remote Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a child and finds that the islanders are all into paganism. Stars Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward. Guest appearance by Britt Ekland’s tits.
If you haven’t seen it, try and get the Director’s cut if humanly possible, tho’ the theatrical release is still very good.
