Entertainment Weekly has on their website a photo show of what they call "20 Perfect Movie Endings." Some predictable (Vertigo), some less predictable (Rushmore). If you don't feel like clicking & reading, here they are (I don't think they're ranked):
Sixteen Candles
Vertigo
Once
The Sixth Sense
Dr Strangelove
Cinema Paradiso
Rocky II
Before Sunset
The Seventh Seal
Rushmore
Gone With the Wind
Brokeback Mountain
The 400 Blows
Sideways
Casablanca
About A Boy
The Searchers
Big Night
Facing Windows
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Thoughts? Agreements? Omissions?
18 comments:
Off the top of my head:
Psycho
The Birds
Some Like it Hot
Stalag 17
The Great Escape (in the case of the Cooler King, at least)
Carrie
Sixteen Candles, The Sixth Sense, totally agree.
Of course I'm gonna add Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner.
The last however many minutes of Goodfellas, when things start really falling apart.
Just the last 10 seconds of Pirates of the Caribbean (the first) where he sings "drink up me hearties, yo ho."
Seven.
Good Will Hunting.
When Harry Met Sally.
Most of mine are cheesy cause I'm a sucker for the sappy ending.
I think you could pretty much put any Hitchcock movie on that list -- apropos to Grapey's post above.
I'll tell you an ending I loved: the original Oceans 11 with the Rat Pack. Why? Because they lost all the money! That was my big beef with the remake, which I really did enjoy: they got away with it, and that bummed me out.
Another great ending: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Why? Because they lost all the money!
Loved the end of Eternal Sunshine. Loved that entire movie.
Breathless left me, er, Breathless.
Man, I could go on forever!
Oh, and SG, you're so right about Carrie. I still get the heebie jeebies thinking about that movie. One of the few King books that was made into a formidable movie.
Speaking of which, how about the end of The Shining?
I hated the ending of Seven, though. Hate, hate, loathe, despise, and hate. I wanted to find the guy who wrote it and punch him in the nose.
One of the few King books that was made into a formidable movie
I had a long post once on some blog or other about good King books made into bad movies, bad King books made into good movies, good King books made into good movies, and bad King books made into bad movies. I think the upshot is that his drama in general tends to translate better than his horror. Shawshank and Stand By Me are great movies, in many ways better than the stories they are based on.
Carrie rocks.
Shawshank and Stand By Me (The Body) were both short stories too...
You think the fact that their source material was only novella sized has some bearing? The longer the book, the worse the movie? Carrie is also pretty short. :)
I think "The Princess Bride" had a perfect everything, including the ending.
I clicked over to EW to read it. This list is actually part II of their list.
Their first list:
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Reservoir Dogs
Lost In Translation
Some Like It Hot (YES!!!)
Valley Girl
The Third Man
Boogie Nights (of course!)
Manhattan
A League Of Their Own
White Heat
The Karate Kid (on Mr. Miyagi)
North By Northwest (see, we should do this one, it's a sign)
Pride & Prejudice
The Killing
The Bourne Ultimatum
Saw
A History Of Violence
The Godfather, Part II
The Others
A Taste Of Cherry
I think I'd have to add "True Romance," too.
"You think the fact that their source material was only novella sized has some bearing? "
Yes! Misery was pretty short. Here's an interesting one: The Green Mile. As a book, somewhat long. But it was published as a series of novellas, in a way, and I thought made for a great movie (albeit a little long).
I am not a Green Mile fan. But you may be onto something. The Shining, also short for a King. The Stand and It, very long, and they're just awful movies.
Bonnie and Clyde, shockingly good. Even though you knew it was a comin’, you didn’t expect quite that.
And the first Nightmare on Elm Street.
Since we're talking some modern horror here, the first Halloween's ending creeped the shit out of me. Obviously it's been done time and time again since then, but man, it was scary. And how about Silence of the Lambs? "I'm having a friend for dinner." Ooh, and Friday the 13th! When the kid comes out of the lake!
I'll tell you the worst fucking ending: Happiness. Anyone see that? If you did, you know what I'm talking about, with the kid and the dog. Fucking horrible and unnecessary.
Most predictable ending: The Machinist.
I can't believe they remade "Halloween." Absolutely no need for it.
(Wait, to bad they didn't remake it with Dakota Fanning and have her get creamed at the end. I'd buy a ticket for that.)
"They" didn't remake Halloween. Rob Zombie remade Halloween. Big difference. Not that I'm expecting it to be better than the original (and not that I think the original needed to be remade), but Zombie is a huge, huge fan of the original movie. I have to admit, I'm curious to see what he does with it...
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