the best ending

[ian]

As per last night's pub debate, the best ending to a movie or a book. I'd say half went for the Usual Suspects, but I went for Fight Club. Books we struggled a bit, since the ending of a book I find is more of a last line than a closing scene. I did suggest Ulysses, which made me a bit of pseud and I was forced to recant and buy more beer. It is an extraordinary sentence though.

[rogerzilla]

I'm a sucker for a good ending, so most of my suggestions in the must-see films thread have them.

Personally, I like the final scene of Dead Poets Society (count the empty desks at the start of the scene, showing how deep the purge has been).

Patton has it all - the imagery of tilting at windmills, the isolation, and the voiceover that started an entire urban legend about Roman triumphs.  https://youtu.be/uPiH-LBna5I?si=HUWrES4FK3MwfVMj

[andyoxon]

The ending of the new 'Leave the world behind' is pretty good.  Mark Kermode said of it... "well done, that is a really, really good ending"

[T42]

Best concluding line I know was by Fritz Leiber, at the end of his novella "Gonna Roll the Bones".  Worth putting under a spoiler:

(click to show/hide)

It's about a chap called Joe who has a thing for gambling, but his wife and his mum are dead against it. They're dabblers in witchcraft too, and they pull a fast one on him when he sets out anyway for an evening's flutter. Joe, however, works it out after getting singed and is more than somewhat put out.  The last paragraph goes, roughly (long time since I read it):

"Then Joe Slattermill left the saloon and headed straight for home.  But he took the long way, round the world."

[rafletcher]

I’m not sure about “best” but the end of Easy Rider is memorable, as it that of Electra Glide in Blue. And they are also similar.

[ian]

Maybe I should have been less absolute with best and gone for good. I do have a soft spot for Fight Club though, it's a near-perfect wrap-up as they hold hands and the credit company buildings come down to Where is my mind? And there's a dick, for those paying attention at the back.


Some others, Arrival, where the ending deftly knits together the story threads into a satisfying conclusion, and Momento, which holds together the two facing narratives and neatly arrives back at the start. Sixth Sense, while everyone claims they saw the twist coming, they're lying.


Most modern films struggle with endings because there's always got to be an option for a sequel, and by definition, an ending has to be an ending, not a jumpstarter for the next instalment.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'm going to nominate Alien.

The last 5 minutes have never been beaten.

[Steph]

Last line of 'Some Like it Hot'

[Nuncio]

I like the ending of The Graduate.

And the ending of The Third Man, although I've just noticed that Joseph Cotten manages to deliver the very last line of dialogue without moving his lips.

[Hot Flatus]

Popular culture, it's Fight Club.

No question.

[ian]

Ah, The Graduate, that's brilliant, the segue on their faces to what the fuck have we just done.


The Thing (the original one), literally chilling. Planet of the Apes with Charlton on his knees upon finding the reclining Lady Liberty. Mulholland Drive which I suppose is the best take on it-was-all-just-a-dream (in a Lynchian sort-of).

[Jaded]

ET

[Tim Hall]

The Long Good Friday.

Rita, Sue and Bob too.

[ian]

Also in the spirit of movies that end with a dick, Boogie Nights and Marky Marks' 13-inch swansong.

[Steph]

The cheaply made version of King's 'The Mist' completely changes the ending, in keeping with the USAnian attitude that The End (for humanity) doesn't happen.

The dilemma for me is in deciding whether it is the film ending, which is horrifying, or the novella ending, which is hopeless, that is the bleaker.

[Steph]

As for short stories, I also add in the ending of another Fritz Leiber story, 'Later Than You Think'.

No spoilers at all. Find it and read it.

[redshift]

Brazil. Not the USAnian version.
Fight Club is ok.
I always liked the end of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, with the sudden cut.
Too much stuff these days has the aforementioned sequel trailer problem.

[Kim]

As for short stories, I also add in the ending of another Fritz Leiber story, 'Later Than You Think'.

No spoilers at all. Find it and read it.

Thanks for that   

[rogerzilla]

2001 is definitely the strangest ending.  It makes more sense if you've read the book but, as the book (which differs slightly) and screenplay were written simultaneously,  few original cinemagoers would have known what to expect.

https://youtu.be/AXS8P0HksQo?si=XjrmEL2Oe0M_Rcon

[robgul]

I like the ending of The Graduate.

And the ending of The Third Man, although I've just noticed that Joseph Cotten manages to deliver the very last line of dialogue without moving his lips.

Another vote for The Graduate - especially just before the YT clip - when Ben sticks the cross between the church door handles! - in fact the whole of the last segment from Mrs Robinson mouthing when Ben appears.

[I should add that this film is probably my all-time favourite . . . I think I saw it at the cinema over the course of about 18 months with at least 5 different girlfriends  ]

[robgul]

Last line of 'Some Like it Hot'

The film was on BBC yesterday afternoon - seen it loads of times but still loads of laughs all the way through.

And to show off a bit - we stayed at the hotel with the conical roof building in 2007 - it's not in Florida at all, it's The Del, at Coronado, San Diego.

[alfapete]

I like the ending of The Graduate.

Another vote for The Graduate - it even includes an Alfa Romeo!

[I should add that this film is probably my all-time favourite . . . I think I saw it at the cinema over the course of about 18 months with at least 5 different girlfriends  ]

[Ham]

As for short stories, I also add in the ending of another Fritz Leiber story, 'Later Than You Think'.

No spoilers at all. Find it and read it.

There's a short story collection that has been my go-to favourite since my teens, replete with sting in the tail endings, and the eponymous story, most of all; it possibly was the start of the change of my world view, with a journey over the years including meeting you and hearing your own story.

Heinlein's Long After Midnight.

[Mr Larrington]

Arthur C. Clarke’s The Nine Billion Names Of God.

[citoyen]

All the Leone westerns have great endings but For A Few Dollars More is the best of them - mainly for the music.