# Movies that you enjoyed, right up until the very end **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 3, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293 "2021-05-03T14:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/41 "2021-05-05T13:39:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I don’t recall many people complaining when it first came out. I think that’s a recent phenomenon where people are so used to movies ending in a climactic fight scene that when the trope is subverted, they can’t deal with it. I didn’t see it on release but I remember thinking the ending was lame back in the VHS era when I did first see it. But that was pre-internet so the only people around to hear me complain were a few friends in a basement. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/42 "2021-05-05T13:41:53Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I don’t recall many people complaining when it first came out. People aren’t complaining about it now, they’re criticizing it just like when it first came out. The gags in the credits served to revive the audience that stayed for them. The ending was not un-Python like at all, except for being so weakly done in an otherwise strong movie. It wouldn’t have taken much more to make that ending significantly funny and a suitable way to end the movie. Still, it’s a minor glitch in an otherwise great movie. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/43 "2021-05-05T13:51:50Z")
The ending is the equivalent of Indiana Jones pulling out a pistol when you’re expecting him to fight the guy with the sword. It completely subverts our expectations of what is going to happen. It’s also reminiscent of a lot of Roald Dahl stories (e.g., “Poison,” “Galloping Foxley,” “Neck”). ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/44 "2021-05-05T13:52:50Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Life of Brian Another good example in my book. IMO _Life of Brian_ is a better movie overall than _Holy Grail_, but the “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” bit at the end is one of the weakest gags in the movie. It’s funny at first but just goes on and on, and then the movie’s over. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/45 "2021-05-05T13:56:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The ending is the equivalent of Indiana Jones pulling out a pistol when you’re expecting him to fight the guy with the sword. It completely subverts our expectations of what is going to happen. That movie didn’t end when he shot the guy. In Holy Grail it is as I alluded to earlier, no different than just cutting to black at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/46 "2021-05-05T13:57:50Z")
A friend of mine saw _MP&tHG_ recently and John Cleese was there to talk and answer questions after the screening. According to my friend, the first thing he said was “sorry about that ending”. The thing is, Python weren’t known for their punchlines. The Parrot Sketch isn’t a classic because of how it ends. Something about their style seems to set up situations that are funny precisely because they can’t be resolved. I’ve heard that they considered an ending where Arthur and his knights found the Holy Grail in the grail department at Harrod’s. Even that would be an anti-climax. I can only think of a few great endings in the Python oeuvre. _Life of Brian_ is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/47 "2021-05-05T14:00:26Z")
_That_ I definitely don’t agree with. In fact, I’d argue that _Life of Brian_ is the only work of any kind that Monty Python nailed the landing on. Not knowing how to end a sketch (And now for something completely different), movie (All right, sonny. That’s enough. Just pack that in.), concert (PISS OFF!), whatever is one of the group’s endearing short comings ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/48 "2021-05-05T14:06:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It completely subverts our expectations of what is going to happen. I don’t think many people are arguing that it failed to subvert expectations. Just disagreement on whether or not it was funny or effective. People still talk about Indy and his pistol because the subversion resulted in something that was funny and cool. I couldn’t say the same about the ending. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/49 "2021-05-05T14:36:58Z")
It’s time for my biennial rant about Contact, isn’t it? Since I talk about both film and book, I put this in spoilers. It’s been a while since I was able to bring up the betrayal which was… **Contact** … so here I go again. The novel was thematically about one womans search for evidence of God’s existence. As in the movie, they get the transmissions, she goes on her voyage (6 others are with her in the book, but don’t exist in the movie. No big deal, ya’ gotta cut a LOT with only 2 hours to tell the tale.) She comes back, subjective time on Earth is as shown in the novel, other than a bunch of static on her recording, there is no evidence the voyage even happens. CUE END OF NOVEL: So there’s a govt inquest, the only evidence is the static, Ellie takes her lumps and, when done, programs her computer to figure out Pi to the n’th degree because her “father” said that’s where the evidence will be. And she finds it, the _scientific_ or _mathematical_ evidence of a creator she had spent her whole life searching for. _finis._ Really, the sort of ending one would expect from Sagan, a noted agnostic (if not atheist, but this isn’t the thread to quibble). CUE END OF MOVIE: Govt inquest. Ellie bombarded by questions from Kitz, doesn’t have answers, finally comes up with a retort worthy of a 7th-grader on a message board “You have to take me on faith”. She walks out to an adoring audience, signs and all, “We believe you”, while Angela Basset reveals the not-so-shocking news that’s there is static on the tape which corresponds to the amount of time Ellie says she spent on the journey. FADE TO BLACK. THE BETRAYAL: The book was about what it would take for a scientist to believe in a creator of the universe. Ellies father-alien said “we have found _evidence_ of builders, here is how to find that same evidence.” Ellie goes out and finds it, but the book ends prior to her releasing it. The movie was apparently about what it would take for a congressional enquiry to not charge you with crimes if you concocted some scheme which cost the governments billion$. The “evidence of God” issue… the central theme to the novel… was jettisoned for a cutesie line about “Well, I guess YOU have to take ME on faith, hyuck-hyuck”, with the adoring… and ignorant… masses falling behind Ellie as if she is a modern day Jesus. So, the ending was changed. The character was changed. The theme, the central message of the novel, was not only ignored, it was, in fact, _the opposite of Sagan’s intentions_ . So **Contact** gets my vote here. It was going gangbusters until the final 20. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/50 "2021-05-05T14:40:52Z")
1971’s Duel, Steven Spielberg’s debut film. A trucker seems to have a personal vendetta against some guy just trying to get home. Goes out of his way to harass, and them outright harm and kill this guy. Does a fair amount of collateral damage along the way to third parties as well. At then end, the trucker seems willing to kill himself in order to get this guy, and does manage to kill himself, but the guy outmaneuvers him and survives. We never find out who the trucker was, what his motivation was, or anything. All the suspense and buildup and then just… the end. Still a great movie to watch right before a long road trip though. 🙂 ETA: Added spoiler ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/51 "2021-05-05T15:54:29Z")
**JohnT** here is the thing that has always bothered me about the ending to **Contact** the book. As you say: > [@](#): > > CUE END OF NOVEL: So there’s a govt inquest, the only evidence is the static, Ellie takes her lumps and, when done, programs her computer to figure out Pi to the n’th degree because her “father” said that’s where the evidence will be. > > And she finds it, the _scientific_ or _mathematical_ evidence of a creator she had spent her whole life searching for. _finis._ So, IIRC from having read the book 25+ years ago: She is printing out the results of her Pi calculation, and I forget how many pages and pages into it, right in the middle of the page, is a perfect circle. But to have a circle print out that way, wouldn’t it be dependent on how many characters per line and lines per page you are printing? Otherwise the characters forming the circle on the page are not going to arrange themselves correctly. And even though I’m talking about the book not the movie, I still think it fits the thread because it happens on the very last page, and makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/52 "2021-05-05T15:59:39Z")
In the novel, Sagan writes that the anomaly is most stark in Base-11 arithmetic and that the program _created_ the raster which showed the circle. So, a bit of handwaving, but he did explain this. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/53 "2021-05-05T16:01:16Z")
So, basically the bible code. If you can futz around with the base and the alignment, you can find any patterns you are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/54 "2021-05-05T16:01:59Z")
Lol, I never made that connection, but yes. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/55 "2021-05-05T16:19:17Z")
**Pump Up The Volume**. Christian Slater’s character is arrested, we don’t see any reactions from the characters - including his parents - when they finally see who’s the voice behind the radio show. It goes to black and over the credits you hear all these other teens starting up their own radio shows. Where’s the damned pay off? Nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/56 "2021-05-05T16:22:16Z")
Ah, OK. Like I said, it’s been ages since I read the book, so I was sure my memory was fuzzy on the details. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/57 "2021-05-05T16:27:45Z")
I totally love from beginning to end the movie, “RED”, with Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Dreyfuss. It was totally worthy of its star-studded cast! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/58 "2021-05-05T16:29:35Z")
It seems that this thread is about movies you stopped liking at the end or you didn’t like the ending. I do agree with you about the movie. Very enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/59 "2021-05-05T16:43:43Z")
Oops! My bad. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293/60 "2021-05-05T16:47:45Z")
The title isn’t clear. Initially I thought the same thing you did. And then starting to read the thread I wondered why people liked the awful endings to movies they mentioned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-enjoyed-right-up-until-the-very-end/941293.md?page=4)