# Movies with non-ending endings (contains boxed spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803 "2006-02-23T16:49:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/21 "2006-02-24T02:18:19Z")
Yeah, maybe we should define “ending”. Is it the same as resolution? Is it enough that the plot and/or the characters make some progress? It depends on the movie. If the movie is a mystery, I want the mystery to be solved. But if the book or movie is the story of a quest or personal journey, then progress is enough for me. I don’t need to know how it all turns out. I’m being inconsistent, but I didn’t like the ending of Time Bandits. The boy’s parents were dead, his home is destroyed, he’s all alone, and the fireman just winks and leaves? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/22 "2006-02-24T02:18:26Z")
_Lock, Stock, and two Smoking Barrels._ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/23 "2006-02-24T02:21:47Z")
> [@Interrobang!?](#): > > _Limbo_ is a great non-ending. _Some Like It Hot_ is a great ending. > > Are you proposing that, because real life does not have endings, movies are somehow flawed if they provide endings? I don’t buy it, but maybe I’m misunderstanding your point. No; only that since there’s no such thing as an ending, it’s almost impossible to get one right in a movie. Most movies end badly. Some, very few, get it right. Not impossible, just difficult. You can be true to reality, with non-ending like Limbo, or achieve the perfect artificial ending, like . . . well, like most conventional movies that get it right. Dickens; think Dickens. Extremely artificial, but still somehow perfect. Very, very hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/24 "2006-02-24T02:59:18Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Yeah, maybe we should define “ending”. Is it the same as resolution? > > Is it enough that the plot and/or the characters make some progress? > > It depends on the movie. If the movie is a mystery, I want the mystery to be solved. But if the book or movie is the story of a quest or personal journey, then progress is enough for me. I don’t need to know how it all turns out. In the case of a story with a defined objective, I’d like to know if the objective was attained or not. To me, _Time Bandits_ ended properly but with a loose thread. In the case of _Two Lane Blacktop_:I can presume that the film burning is an allegory for the driver wrecking the '55. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/25 "2006-02-24T08:06:33Z")
Someone, I think it was Joe Bob Briggs, said that any movie made in the '70s was like to have no ending. Five Easy Pieces comes immediately to mind . ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/26 "2006-02-24T09:28:39Z")
Roman Holiday. I LOVE this movie and every time I watch it, I end up thinking, “that’s IT?” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/27 "2006-02-24T15:43:14Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I’m being inconsistent, but I didn’t like the ending of Time Bandits. The boy’s parents were dead, his home is destroyed, he’s all alone, and the fireman just winks and leaves? I tend to look at it this way: :dubious: Okay, my guess as to what was actually happening there: The fireman was Agamemnon. He had found his way into the time stream, never looked back, and all that. He was telling Ke that everything is going to turn out all right because God knows him personally now, he already defeated the Devil once, he knows the secrets of getting into Time and whot not… Aggie’s wink could also mean, “I know. Don’t wory.” As for the parents, I don’t think Ke cared overmuch for his ‘real’ life. Plus he had already seen them die in the game show _You Bet Your Life._ Besides, they opened it. Even tho he warned them it was evil. They deserved what got. Which might not have been death, after all. Recall, this story had all sorts of jumps and fits. Maybe they just went somewhere and Aggie knew where. Yeah, I know, over analyzing… Ke is Kevin, of course ---
**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:** [February 24, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/28 "2006-02-24T17:21:01Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > You and Me and Everyone We Know. I liked it, a lot, but it sorta felt like the middle of a movie. > > We meet the characters in the middle of changes in their lives, and while there’s natural progress, it felt like it never got past the middle. When the screen went black, I said “That’s it? I want more!” Interesting. I loved that movie, too (see sig), but I think the point was that life contines, without an ending. **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** was what came to mind for me, but having no ending was a brilliant bit of filmmaking. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/29 "2006-02-24T17:24:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Interesting. I loved that movie, too (see sig), but I think the point was that life contines, Agreed. But I liked those people and wanted to see more of them! **NoClueBoy** – I accept your analysis and I feel better now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/30 "2006-02-24T17:48:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** was what came to mind for me, but having no ending was a brilliant bit of filmmaking. I can’t possibly agree. To me, it’s always looked like the Python guys ran out of jokes or something, and then cobbled together the bit with the policeman. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/31 "2006-02-24T18:31:40Z")
Blazing Saddles. Kinda wanders off into “WTF?” territory. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/32 "2006-02-24T18:39:48Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I can’t possibly agree. To me, it’s always looked like the Python guys ran out of jokes or something, and then cobbled together the bit with the policeman. Clearly not. The entire payoff runs through the film: the professor being killed by the knight, the police investigating, etc. It was a brilliantly structured surprise that was set up by what was happening within the film. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/33 "2006-02-24T18:43:10Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Blazing Saddles. Kinda wanders off into “WTF?” territory. Good mention. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/34 "2006-02-24T18:47:27Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Someone, I think it was Joe Bob Briggs, said that any movie made in the '70s was like to have no ending. Five Easy Pieces comes immediately to mind . Antonioni’s _L’Avventura_ is another. After Anna disappears, Claudia and Sandra go in search of her, but we never find out what happened to her. Not unrealistic though; the film shows how we (or at least the idle rich) lose interest in others’ problems when our own life intrudes. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/35 "2006-02-24T18:51:12Z")
> [@Plynck](#): > > … Claudia and Sandra … :smack: Sandro ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/36 "2006-02-24T18:51:39Z")
I’m having real trouble thinking of a single movie that “just quits” with no attempt at any type of resolution. Fading to black, for instance. Crawling credits maybe. However the notion does have its appeal. People are chattering away and suddenly Like that? ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/37 "2006-02-24T20:01:07Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > I’d say that Broken Flowers falls into this category. Yeah, what you said. Plus His kid never really shows up. Is the kid in the VW him? If so, and he came to see Dad, how come he doesn’t. On the whole, a big friggin’ waste. Maybe it’s incorrect to say it doesn’t have an ending, since it doesn’t have a beginning or middle either. Just another hang-dog, dull-ass Bill Murray vehicle. Did I mention I hated this turkey? ---
**Author:** ![Gladstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90db22/32.png) [@Gladstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gladstone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/38 "2006-02-24T20:03:09Z")
_The Rules of Attraction_’s ending cut off mid-sentence, just like the book (though the sentence was different, if I remember correctly). Also, while it may be arguable, _Chasing Amy_’s ending left it hanging whether Holden Alyssa ever see each other again. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/39 "2006-02-24T20:18:25Z")
Unfortunately I haven’t seen or don’t remember clearly most of the movies being mentioned here. How about the movie _Private._ It ends, arguably, leaving a seemingly major and urgent question unresolved. \*_Lissener_, could you give me examples of movies you think get it wrong by trying to provide an ending? I think I have an idea what you mean, but I’m not sure. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803/40 "2006-02-24T21:49:37Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Dances with Wolves. Pissed me off royally that I had sat through over three hours of that movie and then it just…ended! No resolution, not even a scrawl to tell you what happens. Just ends. The story is about Dunbar’s time with the Lakota. When he has to leave them, the story’s over, so the movie ends. Nothing else happens next–except what happened to the Lakota in history. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-non-ending-endings-contains-boxed-spoilers/345803.md?page=3)