House of Sand and Fog. Fantastic movie. I’ll never watch it again.
Even the real ending is a happy ending of a sort. He retreats into a fantasy world, and thus escapes from them.
Yeah, but he’s at peace and has found solace. That’s a decent resolution.
Chinatown
Requiem for a Dream (Jennifer Connelly seems to be drawn to downbeat scripts.)
Little Children " "
A Simple Plan
A History Of Violence
The 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead.
On the Beach.
ETA: Some choices seem very odd to me, such as The Empire Strikes Back and A History of Violence. Should we have a debate, or just list our choices?
Sunset Boulevard
A Streetcar Named Desire
**American History X
**
The irredeemable Ordinary People.
I was just glad that it was, finally, over.
We do not speak of this. Plus, this cut of Brazil (the so-called “Love Conquers All” edit) makes absolutely no sense, and continuity is shot to hell. (It’s on the Criterion Collection edition, and actually worth seeing once, just to see how badly a crap editing job can mangle a film.) Still, even in the theatrical release and director’s cut lobotomy endings, Sam does “get away” from his interrogators and is ensconced in his fantasy. It’s probably the best possible ending for him.
Having any of you people seen The Godfather, or The Godfather, Part II? Along with Chinatown, they have classic unhappy endings. Then there’s (the original) The Wicker Man. Oh, and A Simple Plan; it’s not that anybody was particularly happy before, but the depths of their despair was uncovered as the “plan” unfolded. Particularly creepy was Bridget Fonda’s mousy wife who turns into a scheming, manipulative shrew.
I’m not sure whether then end of The Wild Bunch can really be considered unhappy; the Gang all end up dead, but really, what were they going to do with the rest of their lives, anyway? They walked into the fortress knowing they were going to die. The end of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, however, is definitely a sad one; nobody seems particularly happy, even, or perhaps especially Vera Miles’s character. Then there’s High Plains Drifter: “I never did know your name.” “Oh, yes you do.”
Oh, and Big Trouble In Little China: “Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says, ‘Give me your best shot. I can take it.’”
Stranger
I remember so clearly feeling deeply distraught for days after I watched this movie. I’ve not been able to bring myself to watch it again, though I want to.
Lester’s comment about his wife’s gardening tools and her gardening clogs matching - and that it was no accident that they matched perfectly - was haunting to me.
But the ending…it was fantastic, but so disturbing.
I’m a little baffled by your hatred for this movie, Lib; I think it’s perfect. And the ending is happy - Dad and Son both achieve some authenticity.
Arlington road
I love movies where the bad guys win.
You took one of mine – Chinatown – but reminded me of another. Requiem for a Heavyweight, a 1962 downer with Anthony Quinn, Mickey Rooney, and Jackie Gleason, is a really good movie.
And Monster isn’t exactly a cheery one, either. My wife and I saw it on Valentines Day. One of the least enjoyable Valentine’s Days ever.
Irreversible. The mindf*ck that is Irreversible also plays with you by telling the story backwards, and the beginning of the story (end of the film) is an incredibly idyllic, soothing image - then all of a sudden, the screen begins to flash in a mind-bending, seizure inducing way, and the tag line appears on the screen: TIME DESTROYS ALL THINGS. Everything that has happened comes rushing back to you, and you think to yourself - “It really does!”
Don’t Look Now
or ever again in my case - it was a good film but I don’t want to put myself through all that again.
I saw Requiem for a Dream and was laughing at the end, I thought it was so self-indulgently negative. I can’t remember much about it so I’m not disagreeing with anyone who thought it was a good film.
Get Carter - original version, haven’t seen the re-make.
The Russian film about the Stalinist era Burnt By the Sun has a thoroughly depressing end that you don’t see coming.
Of course I’ve seen them. But like The Empire Strikes Back, I think of them as part of a story arc, and so they don’t really have ends in and of themselves. I admit I haven’t seen Godfather III, but I assume that one doesn’t happily either.
I’m going to throw 2001: A Space Odyssey in for consideration here.
Oh, and although I haven’t seen all of it, there’s no way the true story 10 Rillington Place can leave you feeling positive.
The most depressing movie ever made.
The Perfect Storm