Have you ever been channel surfing and land on a movie that is nearly over, but you watch the rest of it anyway because the ending is so great? Several months ago I did this very late or maybe very early one morning when I flipped onto the Whoopi Goldberg film, The Associate.
The movie is okay, but the ending is one of the best there is, in my pathetic way of thinking. Also starring Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Timothy Daly, and Bebe Neuwirth, The Associate is a story of one woman’s plan to crack the Wall Street glass ceiling. At the end of the film, the rich white guy Goldberg is forced to become in order to succeed is inducted into the top financial club in Manhattan, and reveals herself to be the club’s first black female member. This final scene with Dianne Wiest wraps up the whole film beautifully.
Movie endings are funny things. Some are absolutely incredible. Others are just so-so. A magnificent movie can be ruined by the wrong ending. The perfect example is Gone with the Wind which should have stopped at “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Instead we are treated to additional, almost demented, narcissistic posturing by Vivian Leigh. (I’m not a GWTW fan).
There are times when it appears as though a director has run out of ideas or money and just throws something together at the last minute. To me, the perfect example is Kevin Costner’s saga, Wyatt Earp. He throws the (very true) Johnny Behind the Deuce story in at the wrong time and the wrong place in the film. It doesn’t work. Unfortunately most of Wyatt Earp doesn’t work simply because it should have been a mini-series. And, as a huge fan of Wyatt Earp, both the man and the film, it pains me to admit it.
A wrong ending can ruin a great movie. On the other hand, a great ending can salvage what is an otherwise mediocre or even bad film. Take the 1986 turkey Water, starring Michael Caine, Brenda Vaccaro, Valerie Perrine, Billy Connolly, Leonard Rossiter, Jimmie Walker, Fred Gwynne, and Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr in ‘The Concert for Cascara’. Water is simply one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. The comedy is low-brow. The location gorgeous, and the music is fantastic. It also has one of the top movie punch-lines – “The Concert for Cascara’ is the closest thing to a Beatles reunion fans will ever have.
Another example of a mediocre movie with a great ending is Little Black Book starring Brittany Murphy and Holly Hunter. I think the only saving grace of the whole movie is the surprise ending where Carly Simon steps in and steals the whole show. The other saving grace of the film is the soundtrack which is heavy with Carly Simon music.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Daniel Woolstencroft
Just off the top of my head: what about The Wild Bunch? (for best endings).
And, for worst endings, War of the Worlds (the Cruise one).
More coming, just need to think...
2 - duane
This is much too difficult, but I'll just toss a couple out for fun, at the risk of getting booed.
Apocalypse Now -- Sheen leaving the hushed village on a boat
Parenthood -- a little sappy, but effective, no dialog, just music over an extended scene of a resolved family situation in the maternity ward
The Exorcist -- Regan kisses the priest, seems confused, gets driven away from the house, looking out the rear window of the car, wondering
Dead Poet's Society -- when Ethan Hawke climbs up his desk ... oh, my
The Deer Hunter -- singing
Hard Times -- tough guy Bronson just walks away, no parting words
The Thing (Carpenter remake) -- two guys left, sit looking at each suspiciously, cue ominous music, then fadeout
3 - D'oh
Don Corleone dying in the garden, a movielater...Michael dying alone, outside in his chair.
4 - El Bicho
Sunset Blvd, The Third Man, Lost in Translation.
"Being a rampant heterosexual woman, I don’t pay much attention to female leads"
I'm not sure why one would preclude the other, but it sounds like you are missing out on some great performances. It must make watching love stories difficult.
5 - SJ Reidhead
Please forgive my constant screw-up with spellings. You can’t expect much from a dyslexic kindergarten drop-out!
Okay, female leads " I rarely go to a movie due to a female lead. I can’t think of anyone other than a Sandra Bullock comedy that I will go just for the female lead.
On the other hand, the classic actresses are another story. My favorite is Barbara Stanwyck. If something comes on and she is in it " I have a tendency to drop everything to watch it. She was powerful as an actress. I also like Loretta Young and of course Hepburn.
I became very good friends with the late, absolutely magnificent Frances Dee McCrea those last few years of her life. I dearly loved her as a cherished friend. Just watching a commercial or a scene from one of her films leaves me in tears. I don’t know when I’ll be able to watch anything of hers again.
6 - Bliffle
You're right about GWTW: it should end right where the first-time viewer thinks it ends, with Rhetts denunciation of Scarlett.
Here are some great endings from films you may never have seen:
-"All Quiet On The Western Front" few scenes in all of movies are as powerful as this.
-"I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang" as Paul Muni looks into the camera and explains all in two words.
-"Cinema Paradiso" the theatrical cut, not the overlong directors cut.
7 - Linda
If Barbara Stanwyck is one of your favorites, how about the ending of Stella Dallas, with Barbara walking toward the camera with a growing, glowing smile on her face after watching her daughter get married (watching from outside in the dark through the living room window). That scene just kills me! (The Bette Midler remake was awful.)
I also really liked the ending of Shakespeare in Love, with Joseph Fiennes in voice over, saying lines that would 'later' go into Shakespeare's plays while the picture is of Gwyneth Paltrow walking the beach in the Caribean. She never looked so beautiful, before or since.
8 - Paul Daniggelis
Perfect Endings? How about "The Fallen Idol" (1948). Fun-loving, mischievous and confused diplomat's young son, Philippe, engages the friendship of the butler Baines. Philippe gets involved in the potential murder of the butler's wife and displays an excitable and animated child in need of maturation. When all the issues are resolved, the child's mother returns home from a long absence and Philippe is suddenly and movingly transformed into the obedient and refined young man his mother expects to see as he slowly descends a staircase to greet her.
9 - Victor Lana
Off the top of my head:
I think of Casablanca when Bogart and Raines are walking off into the foggy night. He tells Raines, "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
At the end of Jaws when the sheriff and Hooper have to swim all the way back to shore after killing the shark.
Original Night of the Living Dead when Ben, the only survivor in the farmhouse, gets shot in the head by the rescue team.
I hate to include it because it's always on a best films list, but you can't beat the last scene in Citizen Kane when we finally find out that Rosebud is nothing but a boy's sled. Pretty nice slap in the face.
Of course, the end of the original Psycho is still creepy but what a shocker the first time we find out Norman Bates (the son) is really acting out the role of his murderous mother.
10 - Brad Schader
"you can't beat the last scene in Citizen Kane when we finally find out that Rosebud is nothing but a boy's sled. Pretty nice slap in the face."
And they burn it to boot!
11 - Bryan Mau
I'm not certain what my full list would be but the warehouse scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark would be way up on it...
12 - ScottC
My favorite endings? The Sixth Sense and Greed. If you haven't seen them, you simply must. Greed is a great example of movie that literally ends at the last possible second, and wraps the movie up in a very satisfying way.
13 - Brandon
3 endings that come to mind that I like to watch are:
Fight Club
Donnie Darko
Top Gun
All 3 have excellent music and bring out a different emotion. My favorite is Fight Club right when the Pixies start playing with Donnie Darko's Mad World a close second.
14 - Kevin
The wittiest movie ending of all time is from the 1975 cult classic, A Boy and His Dog.
15 - a
Withnail and I
16 - Nancy
Concur w/critiques of GWTW: it should have stopped w/Rhett. Of the positive endings, I also thought of Jaws; after the immdediately previous 5 minutes of trying to back myself over my seat to get away from Bruce, it's a nice opportunity to let the adrenaline drain.
IMO they should have ended Jurassic Park with the scene of the T Rex roaring in the visitors center as the banner falls down around it. Once they're in the car, with all the 'red shirts' already killed off, you know they're going to make it out of there safely.
As an aside, now there's a term that Trek generated that's become universal: 'red shirt', i.e. a character designed to be killed off, usually spectacularly, in lieu of the hero. There's even a song about it.
The King & I. Yeah, he dies, & yeah, it's schlok, but who cares? It's still a great ending.
Ditto "Glory", altho I think they should have ended it with the confederates pitching the bodies together into the mass grave. God, what a movie to get the ol' waterworks going. I start in about where Morgan Freeman tells the drummer boy to run along, and can't/don't stop until well into the credits.
I also liked the ending of Some Like It Hot. Great last line by Joe E. Brown.
There are plenty of others I'm missing, I'm sure.
17 - Lex Luthier
... just wanted to commend you on such an enjoyable article. When I read your title the image from "The Searchers" leapt into my mind. You could do an "ending image" seminar simply on the films of John Ford. In an interview he once stated that the first and last images of his films were the most important, and what came between was the story of how the character got from one to the other.
18 - Iloz Zoc
Anyone who thinks Casablanca is the most perfect movie of them all is completely right! Great read, thanks.
19 - VanSieg
My favorite ending, off the top of my head? "The Usual Suspects." Chazz Palminteri running through the police station trying to catch up to Kevin Spacey, while we see the guise of 'Verbal Kint' fall away from Spacey step by step as his words echo over the music...'And like that--*whh*--he's gone.'
20 - a_vacant_soul
Monty Python and the Life of Brian......Not only the funniest Movie ever made but also a great ending with everyone singing always look on the bright side of life on the crosses. Great ending to a great movie.
21 - Pr1m3
I'm pretty sure that this falls under "Science Fiction" but in a way, it also classifies as "Western". Serenity. Great ending. Why? Pardon the cleche, but the last 15 minutes are an emotional roller coaster. From the heart-wrenching scene where the remaining crew of the ship is standing by the grave stones of their fallen friends, to the hopful scene of them rebuilding thier ship, to a bit of heart-warming, where River finally is accecpted as being human as she learns to pilot the ship from Mal. To top it off, and to lighten the mood, a quick final funny bit at the end. Outstanding.
22 - Loz
For sad endings very few really make me tear up but Gladiator was one of the few. Not the greatest movie but with the end fight and the music makes a great ending.
23 - duane
Gladiator shouldn't be in he running. The composer, Hans Zimmer, can reduce anyone to tears, any time, any place, Even if it was a jingle over a Doritos commercial.
24 - Dawn
Endings: Both are Christmas Movies, A Christmas Story (THE Christmas dinner at the chinese restaurant and It's A Wonderful Life, the toast "to my brother, George, the richest man in town!" I know, corny but it gets me every time!
25 - JBS
You said you had trouble thinking of proper Western movie endings. What about "Shane?" Perfect and memorable ending.