# Movies without any semblance of a happy ending. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2007, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485 "2007-07-28T12:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiral\_Stairs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Spiral\_Stairs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiral_Stairs)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/1 "2007-07-28T12:14:18Z")
There aren’t too many. Even a depressing movie usually has some uplifting note at the end. (First to mind is [The Ice Storm](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119349/), one of my faves.) Sometimes it’s two previously antagonistic characters (like fighting spouses) sharing a smile; sometimes it’s a beautiful sunrise at the end of an intense, unpleasant night. But there’s usually something that is supposed to instill a sense of hope in the viewer. One movie without even the slightest semblance of a happy note at the end is [Osama](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368913/). (Which, if you haven’t seen it, has nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden.) Others? ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/2 "2007-07-28T12:24:57Z")
Very Bad Things. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/3 "2007-07-28T12:58:42Z")
Das Boot. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/4 "2007-07-28T13:03:02Z")
_Voyager_, based on the novel _Homo Faber_ by Max Frisch, has a very downbeat ending what with the main character sitting in despair and wishing that he’d never existed. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/5 "2007-07-28T13:10:21Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] Das Boot. [/QUOTE] That’s a matter of perspective- even though the sub captain and his men were presented as decent men, the fact remains, they were fighting for Hitler! So, their deaths at the Allies’ hands were tragic, but still necessary and desirable. - For utterly bleak, hopeless endings, there are… 1. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (it ends with nuclear annihilation… though sequels cheated and gave Earth another chance). 2. The original “Night of the Living Dead” (all of the main characters die; Ben’s resourcefulness and courage ultimately count for nothing). 3. Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors”- the murderer gets away scot-free with murder and the asshole (Alan Alda) gets the girl. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/6 "2007-07-28T13:12:38Z")
_Open Water_ couple of divers get left behind by the dive boat. They spend the movie drifting. Then they die. The first sequel to _Planet Of The Apes._ World blows up, everyone dies. _The Empire Strikes Back_ ---
**Author:** ![Apollo\_s\_Towel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Apollo\_s\_Towel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollo_s_Towel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/7 "2007-07-28T13:14:54Z")
[_The Mission_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0091530/) - great flick with Jeremy Irons and Robert DeNiro in colonial Brazil, definitely no happy ending when the Portuguese arrive to take over. [_Mosquito Coast_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito_Coast) - a Harrison Ford movie that’s usually forgotten, because it’s nothing like _Raiders_ or _Star Wars_, and Harrison’s not a particularly likeable character here. River Phoenix co-stars as his son. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/8 "2007-07-28T13:16:03Z")
Se7en ---
**Author:** ![Apollo\_s\_Towel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Apollo\_s\_Towel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollo_s_Towel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/9 "2007-07-28T13:17:26Z")
Oh, and definitely [_Syriana_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0365737/), for nearly every character involved. ---
**Author:** ![Apollo\_s\_Towel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Apollo\_s\_Towel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollo_s_Towel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/10 "2007-07-28T13:24:33Z")
Rats, keep hitting enter too soon. [_The Wind that Shakes the Barley_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0460989/), about Ireland’s becoming a republic and two brothers involved in the struggle. [_Spoorloos_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0096163/), also called _The Vanishing_ - fantastic movie about a man’s obsession to find out what happened to his girlfriend who disappeared while they were on vacation. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/11 "2007-07-28T13:30:08Z")
**Brazil** **Sometimes A Great Notion** When I saw \*\*Das Boot \*\* and the message flashed on the screen at the end of the movie to the effect that “XXX number of German submarines went to sea and the overwhelmingly large number of them were sunk”, the audience broke out in cheers and clapping; I joined in. Those subs were trying to sink the ship my father was on. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/12 "2007-07-28T13:31:20Z")
_Dancer in the Dark_. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/13 "2007-07-28T13:36:17Z")
Hombre. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/14 "2007-07-28T13:42:18Z")
_Funny Games_, unless you find yourself rooting for the two killers. In _Uzumaki (Vortex)_, things get progressively out of control, ending with a final chapter that’s just still images of the remaining characters being horribly killed. _Kairo (Pulse)_ ends with the last survivors on earth giving up and collapsing into dust. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/15 "2007-07-28T13:42:20Z")
Dude, [Love Liza](http://imdb.com/title/tt0282698/). Philip Seymour Hoffman’s wife commits suicide, he finds the sealed suicide letter, and gets into huffing gasoline while trying to decide whether to open it. He finally opens it and gets no resolution, then wanders down the street in his bath robe. THE END. Great movie, though. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/16 "2007-07-28T13:48:29Z")
Pi. Self inflicted trepanation does not equal happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/17 "2007-07-28T13:56:28Z")
**Grave of the Fireflies** always has to be mentioned in answer to questions like these. It starts with the main character already dead, and just goes downhill from then on. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/18 "2007-07-28T14:04:23Z")
**Midnight Cowboy Pan’s Labyrinth** ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/19 "2007-07-28T14:05:04Z")
[QUOTE=Ronald C. Semone] **Brazil** [/QUOTE] Depends which version you’ve seen- there’s at least one with a conventional happy ending in the best Hollywood tradition. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-without-any-semblance-of-a-happy-ending/413485/20 "2007-07-28T14:18:40Z")
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