Top 20 Greatest Movie Endings

[LordEd1976]

I spoke to an old film professor yesterday and we debated several things regarding film. One of those was greatest film demises which I covered in another thread. the second list we hammered out was of greatest movie endings Here we expanded the list to 20 since we found it hard to take out ten more choices from the list.

20. Dead Poets Society
19. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
18. Young Frankstein
17. Primal Fear
16. Dr Strangelove
15. Princess Mononoke
14. Raiders of the Lost Ark
13. MASH
12. All the President's Men
11. Carrie (original)
10. Life of Brian
9. American Beauty
8. Godfather I
7. Richard III (Ian McKellan version)
6. Love Actually
5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (70s version)
4. Blazing Saddles
3. Planet of the Apes (original)
2. Usual Suspects
1. Saving Private Ryan

[EZMOHR]

10. The Bridge on the River Kwai
9. Signs
8. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
7. American Beauty
6. Fight Club
5. The Shawshank Redemption
4. X2
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Psycho
1. The Empire Strikes Back

Not the best by some lists standards, but my favorite.

[Davideaux]

Why "Love Actually"?

[Chiasm]

Star Wars - even if Chewbacca didn't get a medal. :evilangry

[Motormouse]

"The Thing" so down beat it's fantastic :cool:

[Hombre]

American Beauty


That ending alone makes the movie worth seeing. An ending which is greater than the rest of the movie is De Niro's final monologue in Raging Bull.
I'm also partial to Withnail talking to himself in the rain at the of the British movie Withnail and I.

[Cam63]

The Usual Suspects.
Breaker Morant.
A Fish Called Wanda.
Gallipoli.

[Lord of Denial]

10. The Bridge on the River Kwai
9. Signs
8. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
7. American Beauty
6. Fight Club
5. The Shawshank Redemption
4. X2
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Psycho
1. The Empire Strikes Back

Not the best by some lists standards, but my favorite.


As in the Mel Gibson's Signs movie?

[Norrin Radd]

The Godfather Part II
2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Wars: A New Hope
The Graduate
Psycho
Dirty Harry
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

[LordEd1976]

Why "Love Actually"?

We agreed on Love Actually because to us it seemed like the perfect ending for a romantic comedy. Not only do we bokend the opening, but also we get an "Everybody wins" ending where we see different characters hook-up, achieve their hearts desire (like Colin did) or like in the case of Alan Rickman's character, reach a reconcilation with our loved ones.

Then the movie just lets the song play as we see real people greeting the ones they love. The pictures are allowed to speak for themselves. Both my professor and I thought that was a very moving ending.

[EZMOHR]

As in the Mel Gibson's Signs movie?


Unless you know another Signs movie. Listen before you go trolling on my movie, it's my opinion. I really like that movie, and have a good time watching it. Yeah, it takes some shit from the internet community, because the aliens could fly all the way from the other side of the universe, but they can't open a door....well screw all you bastards, maybe they don't have door knobs on "Reptile Planet One." I still like the movie, and the "Swing away" part is a good ending, and saving a little Culkin is cool, and become a father at the end is good. Yeah, it may end a little too cutesy for most alien invasion movies, but that is why I like it.......it is an original alien movie that doesn't rely on explosions and stupid shit to entertain me. Or you could just say the aliens couldn't open a door and put me in my place. :D

(This rant to brought to you by having to work OT last night because of a shortage of people, and having no coffee yet this morning.)

[Nyssane]

The Shawshank Redemption, Ordinary People, and A League of Their Own are up there with my favorite endings. ^_^

[kalorama]

The Usual Suspects, The Score, 12 Monkeys, Dr. Strangelove, The Last Seduction

[Lord of Denial]

Unless you know another Signs movie. Listen before you go trolling on my movie, it's my opinion. I really like that movie, and have a good time watching it. Yeah, it takes some shit from the internet community, because the aliens could fly all the way from the other side of the universe, but they can't open a door....well screw all you bastards, maybe they don't have door knobs on "Reptile Planet One." I still like the movie, and the "Swing away" part is a good ending, and saving a little Culkin is cool, and become a father at the end is good. Yeah, it may end a little too cutesy for most alien invasion movies, but that is why I like it.......it is an original alien movie that doesn't rely on explosions and stupid shit to entertain me. Or you could just say the aliens couldn't open a door and put me in my place. :D

(This rant to brought to you by having to work OT last night because of a shortage of people, and having no coffee yet this morning.)


You have every right to your opinion and I respect it.

It just cracks me up that these aliens with tech which allows them to travel the universe come to a conquer a planet that is 3/4 water their BIGGEST weakness.

You have to admit those aliens took the short bus to school.

[Black Atom]

Unless you know another Signs movie. Listen before you go trolling on my movie, it's my opinion. I really like that movie, and have a good time watching it. Yeah, it takes some shit from the internet community, because the aliens could fly all the way from the other side of the universe, but they can't open a door....well screw all you bastards, maybe they don't have door knobs on "Reptile Planet One." I still like the movie, and the "Swing away" part is a good ending, and saving a little Culkin is cool, and become a father at the end is good. Yeah, it may end a little too cutesy for most alien invasion movies, but that is why I like it.......it is an original alien movie that doesn't rely on explosions and stupid shit to entertain me. Or you could just say the aliens couldn't open a door and put me in my place. :D

(This rant to brought to you by having to work OT last night because of a shortage of people, and having no coffee yet this morning.)

Heh, heh. Excellent post, man.

[Michael P]

You have every right to your opinion and I respect it.

It just cracks me up that these aliens with tech which allows them to travel the universe come to a conquer a planet that is 3/4 water their BIGGEST weakness.

You have to admit those aliens took the short bus to school.
Seriously. These guys did less prep work than The Lizards.

[Lord_Archive]

The Best Endings:

10. Saw
9. Batman (1989)
8. Clue (the Ms Peacock ending)
7. Dead Poet's Society
6. Blade
5. Blade II
4. The Matrix
3. Star Wars
2. Army of Darkness (Hail to the king, baby!)
1. Braveheart

[Michael P]

8. Clue (the Ms Peacock ending)

You are on crack. Everyone knows the "real" ending is the best one.

[Chiasm]

Shawshank Redemption was a great movie with a great ending.

[Schornforce]

Here's my favorite endings (but keep in mind, I generally watch only certain genres of movies, so feel free to vehemently disagree with me). :)

They are in no particular order

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Iron Giant (I still tear up every. dang. time.)
The Wizard of Oz
Nightmare Before Christmas
The Muppet Movie
Batman Begins
Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events (I count the credits as part of the ending)
Spider-Man 2

[Black Atom]

Seriously. These guys did less prep work than The Lizards.

Maybe they just happened to run out of gas next to Earth. Ever think of that!?

[Grant]

I'm also partial to Withnail talking to himself in the rain at the of the British movie Withnail and I.

Yeah that was really great.

[Lord_Archive]

You are on crack. Everyone knows the "real" ending is the best one.

It Stinks!

[EZMOHR]

Maybe they just happened to run out of gas next to Earth. Ever think of that!?


Maybe they did not think that cute Mel Gibson daughter, who gives you diabetes just looking at her, would know their weakness. Oh and for the next 10 greatest endings...since we are supposed to have 20


20. Young Frankensein (yes the Gene Wilder movie)
19. The Right Stuff (yes, the Mercury Astronaut movie)(also my favorite movie ever)

18. Animal House (yes, the Tim Mattheson movie)
17. Return of the Jedi (yes the Dead Darth Vader movie)
16. Shane (yes, the Alan Ladd is dead at the end movie)
15. Blade Runner (yes the Edward James Olmos as a pimp cop movie)
14. The 40-Year Old Virgin (yes, the Age of Aquarias movie)
13. Star Wars (yes, the Mark Hammil getting an "evil" eye from his sister movie)

12. Lonesome Dove (yes, the TV movie one with Tommy Lee Jones dragging Robert Duvall back to Texas movie)

11. Kill Bill Vol. II (yes, the five point exploding heart technique movie.)

:D

[Chou Blaster]

Well I do not have any pre set list. But I do have some of my favorite movie endings down.

American Beauty (pretty much is the end. Guy dies, an din tha tone second of life, experinces his life, and was thankful for it.)
The Shawshank Redemption (It was great.)
Dr. Strangelove (Do not fear the bomb!)
Psycho (That skull over Norm's head, just perfect.)
Dirty Harry (Scropio Killer had it coming!)


The Graduate
Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: New Hope
Super Man 2. (You cannot tell me it was not awesome, Supes pwning the evil super people. You can't!)
Batman Begins

Indianna Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Fight Club
Usual Suspects
In the Mouth of Maddness. (The whole movie, was on big Dark Comedy, with a Lovecraftian begining and end. It is only enjoyable, if you know the source material.)
The Thing (Is Kurt a Thing? Is Keith David A Thing? Will they both die? Oh, the suspense that was never solved.)

Braveheart (FREEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!(
Army of Darkness (Yes, Hail to the King!)
The God Father2 (It just showed what Micheal Became, and it also showed.. He was truely alone, in the flash back and in that present.)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (It was on a nice note. The new one felt too tacked on.)
The Iron Giant (Superman!)


My thoughts on others:

Signs had a good ending, that well ties in together, that some force (God, or what have you.) plotted it all out. Since the theme was the Preacher to gain faith again. But too many plot holes.

1: If they could jump that far, one kick would have destroyed a door.

2: Water kills them? Why is it they survived that long, on our surface? (Water is in the air.)

2001:Space Odssey: Lovely movie, love dit.. But the ending.. Lefted a "What the ****!?!!" In my mind. (I mean, he was reborn in space? Gained free will? On with the Monolith and the universe? What!?)

[EZMOHR]

I think the better question about 2001 is, why not just keep the monkey people from the first 20 minutes of the movie...and have them fight HAL.

2001: A Space Odyssey.....The most dissapointing film of all time!!! (Let the Flame War begin.)

[Chou Blaster]

I think the better question about 2001 is, why not just keep the monkey people from the first 20 minutes of the movie...and have them fight HAL.

2001: A Space Odyssey.....The most dissapointing film of all time!!! (Let the Flame War begin.)


If you think that is disappointing.. 2010.. Worse, much worse.

[EZMOHR]

If you think that is disappointing.. 2010.. Worse, much worse.


Nah, it aint worse because nobody on earth had expectations for that one. Plus, I'm always game for a claustrophobic John Lithgow piece.

[Michael P]

Maybe they just happened to run out of gas next to Earth. Ever think of that!?
That's actually a good way to view the movie. They're not invading, they just need to borrow enough Uranium-236 to get to the next filling station.

[Tages]

"Taxi Driver." Favorite ending ever. Because (assuming it's really happening) you know he's just going to do it again.

[Trystenn]

I still smirk to thye ending of "Monster".

I swear you actually feel bad for that lady.

[Ontir]

The end of A Zed and Two Noughts was prettty cool!

The two naked twins dying, while their cameras filmed their decomposition, frame by frame, as they'd done with all the animals in the Zoo! :eek:

[blackdragon6]

the wicker man

jacobs ladder

revenge of the sith

the thing-awesome ending

orca

menace to society-kanes down fall was brutal

final fantasy spirits within

night of the living dead(both versions)

[BigJayStudd]

I want to add the ending to Tales from the Hood, where they found out they were really dead and the Funeral guy was the devil.



"Welcome to hell..............Mother fuckers!"

[Trystenn]

I want to add the ending to Tales from the Hood, where they found out they were really dead and the Funeral guy was the devil.



"Welcome to hell..............Mother fuckers!"
Man me and my sis were rolling after we saw them "burning"

[Capt USA]

Star Wars A new Hope
Star Wars Empire strikes back.
They Live
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Predator 2
Field of Dreams
Bull Durham
Rocky and Rocky 3.
Die Hard

[LordEd1976]

the wicker man



That ending always unnerved me. So did the scene where Ashton Kutcher's dog died in Butterfly Effect and the people in the church getting burned alive in the Patriot. I've always been really freaked at scenes where people get burned to death.

[The Wayner]

I've never had an ending kick me in the gut like that which closes The Great Silence; the best oater Sergio Corbucci ever made (forget Django).

[Legato]

The ending of Star Trekk: Wrath of Khan. Talk about your downer endings.

[PirateMan]

10. Terminator 2 ( cause I'm out of ideas, that's why!!!)
9. American History X
8. Children of Dune (not really a movie but still very powerful)
7. The Lion King (you know you love it)
6. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Gattaca
4. Donnie Darko
3. American Beauty
2. Boondock Saints
1. Requiem for a Dream

[StoneGold]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.


BLONDIE YOU SON OF A--- AIAIAIA!!!!

[Grazzt]

I want to add the ending to Tales from the Hood, where they found out they were really dead and the Funeral guy was the devil.

"Welcome to hell..............Mother fuckers!"

Based off the ending for the 1960's (or was it 70's?) Tales From the Crypt movie.

[Domo Goddess]

The Sleepaway Camp ending is probably my favorite movie ending so far. Night of the Demons ending was OK.

The Sleepaway Camp ending gave my friend nightmares ! :evilsmile

[Kirayoshi]

In no particular order:

Casablanca. "Y'know, Louie, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
It's a Wonderful Life. "Attaboy, Clarence."
Spider-Man 2. "Isn't it time somebody saved your life?"
Kill Bill Vol. 2. "The lioness is reunited with her cub and all is right in the jungle."
When Harry Met Sally, with the 'real life' interview clip.
Schindler's List. The surviving Schindler Jews and the cast placing stones on Oskar Schindler's grave.
Sullivan's Travels, when Sullivan realizes that sometimes all we want is a good laugh.
Batman Begins. "I never said thank you." "And you'll never have to."
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. All five or six endings.:D
Shakespeare in Love, where he imagined Viola washing ashore, escaping her unhappy marriage(and ended up writing Twelth Night).
Unbreakable. "They called me Mr. Glass!"
The Front Page(Lemmon/Mattheau version). "Son of a bitch stole my watch!"
The Truman Show. "And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night."

Funniest ending in a recent movie: Hear My Song, an obscure little piece starring Ned Beatty as an Irish tenor pursued by a smoothtalking bar manager who desperately wants him to sing at his club, in order to save face, his club and his relationship with the woman he loves. I am not going to give away the ending, as I urge you to see this movie. The last ten minutes literally had me rolling on the floor.

[Hombre]

Another one I liked is the ending to the movie "Hair" when the parable on friendship becomes apparent, poignantly signifying the collision of reality and idealism.

[StoneGold]

Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-man.

Zoom in on the eye, and have the best SFX sequence in the entire movie with the end webswinging sequence. Stick to the flag, then web swing into the camera.

[Buzz Dixon]

20. The funeral in THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE
19. Jack Lemon's reaction to Tony Curtis throwing THE GREAT RACE
18. Nothing's too good for THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
17. THE DIRTY DOZEN makes a house call
16. Going out a nobody, coming back a star in 42nd STREET
15. Al Pacino's ultimate betrayal in THE GODFATHER
14. Steve MacQueen going back in the cooler in THE GREAT ESCAPE
13. The volcano blows up real good in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
12. Orson Welles' big reveal in F IS FOR FAKE
11. John Wayne and Montgomery Cliff settle things in RED RIVER
10. Errol Flynn's last futile charge in THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
9. Henry Fonda's last futile charge in FORT APACHE
8. Opening the box in KISS ME DEADLY
7. The Flower Girl recognizing the Tramp in CITY LIGHTS
6. The opera in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
5. "Broadway Melody" from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
4. KING KONG
3. The last battle in the rain in SEVEN SAMURAI
2. The door closing on John Wayne in THE SEARCHERS
1. CASABLANCA

[Lubichev]

Demo is right, the last shot in Sleepaway Camp is brilliant. Those 5 seconds are worth sitting through 1 1/4 hours of utter shit.

If you haven't seen it, YOU MUST!! YOU MUST!!

[Buzz Dixon]

Whoa! How could I have forgotten this one?

PINK FLAMINGOS