Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: ian on 09 December, 2023, 01:28:54 pm

Title: the best ending
Post by: ian on 09 December, 2023, 01:28:54 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: rogerzilla on 09 December, 2023, 02:23:08 pm
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
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: andyoxon on 09 December, 2023, 02:32:39 pm
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"
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: T42 on 09 December, 2023, 02:50:30 pm
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)

Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: rafletcher on 09 December, 2023, 02:55:28 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: ian on 09 December, 2023, 05:28:17 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 09 December, 2023, 06:34:09 pm
I'm going to nominate Alien.

The last 5 minutes have never been beaten.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 07:07:14 pm
Last line of 'Some Like it Hot'
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Nuncio on 09 December, 2023, 07:16:28 pm
I like the ending of The Graduate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TP4MuVnS2A).

And the ending of The Third Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pV6zRGeeGM), although I've just noticed that Joseph Cotten manages to deliver the very last line of dialogue without moving his lips.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Hot Flatus on 09 December, 2023, 07:22:24 pm
Popular culture, it's Fight Club.

No question.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: ian on 09 December, 2023, 07:34:51 pm
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).
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Jaded on 09 December, 2023, 07:48:12 pm
ET
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Tim Hall on 09 December, 2023, 09:59:59 pm
The Long Good Friday.

Rita, Sue and Bob too.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: ian on 09 December, 2023, 10:05:49 pm
Also in the spirit of movies that end with a dick, Boogie Nights and Marky Marks' 13-inch swansong.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 10:07:35 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 10:09:08 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: redshift on 09 December, 2023, 10:39:05 pm
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.

Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Kim on 10 December, 2023, 12:34:28 am
Quote from: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 10:09:08 pm
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   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: rogerzilla on 10 December, 2023, 07:12:52 am
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
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: robgul on 10 December, 2023, 08:33:41 am
Quote from: Nuncio on 09 December, 2023, 07:16:28 pm
I like the ending of The Graduate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TP4MuVnS2A).

And the ending of The Third Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pV6zRGeeGM), 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  O:-)]
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: robgul on 10 December, 2023, 08:36:23 am
Quote from: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 07:07:14 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: alfapete on 10 December, 2023, 08:40:59 am
Quote from: robgul on 10 December, 2023, 08:33:41 am
Quote from: Nuncio on 09 December, 2023, 07:16:28 pm
I like the ending of The Graduate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TP4MuVnS2A).


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  O:-)]
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Ham on 10 December, 2023, 10:14:38 am
Quote from: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 10:09:08 pm
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.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Mr Larrington on 10 December, 2023, 02:17:35 pm
Arthur C. Clarke’s The Nine Billion Names Of God.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: citoyen on 10 December, 2023, 03:43:22 pm
All the Leone westerns have great endings but For A Few Dollars More is the best of them - mainly for the music.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 10 December, 2023, 05:12:24 pm
The Wolf of Wall Street
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Kim on 10 December, 2023, 05:12:45 pm
Quote from: Mr Larrington on 10 December, 2023, 02:17:35 pm
Arthur C. Clarke’s The Nine Billion Names Of God.

Oh yes, that's one of my favourites.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 11 December, 2023, 08:26:40 pm
The Book Thief, a tale told by Death

 “ I am haunted by humans.”
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: citoyen on 11 December, 2023, 08:52:30 pm
And not forgetting...

Planet of the Apes


The original, of course. Not sure if the remake ends the same way - I think I got bored with it and turned it off halfway through.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Pingu on 11 December, 2023, 09:19:59 pm
Quote from: citoyen on 11 December, 2023, 08:52:30 pm
And not forgetting...

Planet of the Apes...

Indeed (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=127533.msg2861478#msg2861478)
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: citoyen on 11 December, 2023, 10:00:45 pm
Dang, forgot to check if it had already been mentioned.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: cygnet on 11 December, 2023, 11:14:58 pm
Quote from: Rodney Archer
Those which tie up each and every one of their loose ends are satisfying in the short term, but sometimes you're done thinking about them before the lights come up

Can an unsatisfactory ending be "good"?
Yes, examples from those mentioned upthread:
The Graduate
The Third Man

I'll proffer my own

Film: Walkabout
Fiction: anything by John Le Carre (off the top of my head)

But there are also bad, and ugly "unsatisfactory endings" which also deserve exposure
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 December, 2023, 06:22:53 am
The original Get Carter and the risible Stallone remake are examples of a great ending and a terrible ending for (vaguely) the same film.

Mind you, few people will have noticed "J" in the railway carriage at the very start of the original film. 
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: citoyen on 12 December, 2023, 09:36:33 am
Quote from: rogerzilla on 12 December, 2023, 06:22:53 am
The original Get Carter and the risible Stallone remake are examples of a great ending and a terrible ending for (vaguely) the same film.

See also: The Vanishing

Remakes are rarely an improvement.

The Shining is a rare example of a film adaptation that changes the ending of the book and actually improves it. It's a long time since I read it but as I recall, the ending of the book is slightly disappointing.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Mr Larrington on 12 December, 2023, 09:39:08 am
William Shirer's The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich has a pretty good one,

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52994407681_656c0de7d8_o.png)
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: citoyen on 12 December, 2023, 09:41:16 am
Quote from: cygnet on 11 December, 2023, 11:14:58 pm
Quote from: Rodney Archer
Those which tie up each and every one of their loose ends are satisfying in the short term, but sometimes you're done thinking about them before the lights come up

Can an unsatisfactory ending be "good"?
Yes, examples from those mentioned upthread:
The Graduate
The Third Man

I'll proffer my own

Film: Walkabout
Fiction: anything by John Le Carre (off the top of my head)

But there are also bad, and ugly "unsatisfactory endings" which also deserve exposure

Corollary question: can a great ending rescue an otherwise terrible film/book? The example that springs to mind is The Italian Job. (Massively overrated film, and this is not open to discussion.)
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Legs on 13 December, 2023, 08:31:54 pm
I’m aware it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the final sentence of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, the final instalment of the Dark Tower series, is pretty much perfect.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Legs on 13 December, 2023, 08:42:52 pm
Quote from: citoyen on 12 December, 2023, 09:36:33 am
The Shining is a rare example of a film adaptation that changes the ending of the book and actually improves it. It's a long time since I read it but as I recall, the ending of the book is slightly disappointing.
Stephen King endings are generally not great (the exceptions I can think of being The Dark Tower, Dolores Claiborne, and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (although I think King’s title of the last is a bit of a giveaway)).
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: ian on 13 December, 2023, 09:56:55 pm
They changed the ending of Shawshank too, and though the changed ending shouldn't be better as it's strictly speaking unnecessary, it strangely is – and the author agreed.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 17 December, 2023, 07:55:51 pm
"Next came the jagged bows of the Archimedes, still tip-tilted over to one side.  Right up in the peak the look-out stood, occasionally shifting his position from side to side. Presently he came aft a little and rang six bells: the only bells ever tolled over the grave of Mr Ramsay MacDonald, once a chief engineer.

'In Hazard'
Richard Hughes 1938
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Legs on 20 December, 2023, 12:54:45 pm
"The razor felt cold against his throat." - This Thing Of Darkness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Thing_of_Darkness), Harry Thompson
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: mattc on 21 December, 2023, 06:55:43 am
Quote from: ian on 09 December, 2023, 07:34:51 pm
Planet of the Apes with Charlton on his knees upon finding ...

hard to beat that!

A (more) modern one that quite hit me was the fast Zombie sequel 28 Weeks Later. It combines a shocking realisation with a really beautiful cinematic vista.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: ian on 21 December, 2023, 10:49:42 am
Did anyone mention The Mist? Not sure the best, but brutal.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Nuncio on 21 December, 2023, 04:47:35 pm
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… . And one fine morning ——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Redlight on 21 December, 2023, 10:35:05 pm
Film - The Wicker Man, not only because the 'twist' is so clever but also because that final shot with the pagans dancing as the sun goes down and the structure burns is just perfect.

Book - two possibilities for me.

First, the original Restaurant at the End of the Universe, in which our heroes discover that the answer to the ultimate question is wrong: "I always thought there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe."

Second, Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty. At the end, he's wrapped up all the loose ends and it's not clear what happens next. If I recall, the final line is: 'I never could get the hand of endings'.
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: Legs on 20 March, 2024, 06:48:08 am
Quote from: Steph on 09 December, 2023, 10:09:08 pm
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.
Thank you Steph!  That was five minutes well spent  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: the best ending
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 22 March, 2024, 08:44:41 am
For a book, Neuromancer has an excellent ending. Not going to put in spoilers, but it is so human and not hollywood.