Top 50 Movie Endings Of All Time

A few glaring omissions (The Sixth Sense, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Soylent Green, Thelma And Louise, King Kong [pick a year]), and some stuff needs to move down (Memento, over Brazil? Get fucked...), but otherwise, I don't have any qualms, for once.

I think this was the best one of these lists in a while, but Crow is right about some glaring omissions. I haven't seen Brazil, so I can't speak to that, but I did enjoy the end/beginning of Memento. I'm going to look at the list in more detail tomorrow, but I skimmed it today and got a few new additions for my Netflix queue.

Okay, I'm a little biased on this one, but I'm astounded that this list doesn't include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Seriously, it has Batman Begins, and not Butch? Outrageous!

No it's not.

No Army of Darkness, 'ey?

No love for The Rock? Bah.

And Infernal Affairs, dammit.

Batman Begins? BATMAN BEGINS? I can think of a ton of movies from the top of my head with better endings than Batman Begins. The Quiet Earth. The Brood. Or any other Cronenberg movie. Demons. Was this guy really that surprised that there was going to be a sequel to a movie called "Batman Begins?" Cripes.

Oh, and Tim Robbins' character from Jacob's Ladder was stabbed in the gut with a bayonet, not shot.

And no way is the Pulp Fiction ending better than Reservoir Dogs.

BAtman Begins doesn't belong and Brazil is too low on the list.

I kind of wish Kill Bill Vol. 1 was on there. Talk about wonderful cliff-hangers.

The AoD ending seems a little belaboured to me. I like Evil Dead 2, although I think I'd like it even better if there was never a third film.

What the fuck is that? Is that even a word? Fuck off, Z-Man!

No CITY LIGHTS? No THE THIRD MAN? BATMAN BEGINS on the list? No Kurosawa? They can't find room for more than one film before 1940?

Like most lists, this says more about the people who made the list than the films themselves. Yes, there are some wonderful endings on the list, but the breadth of this list is too slight to take seriously.

At least Citizen Kane wasn't first.

BOOGIE NIGHTS and FIGHT CLUB were also too high (and RUSHMORE too low), but the inclusion of BIG NIGHT earns a lot of goodwill for the list.

It was still too low, though.

Another biggie omission: Se7en.

i have to say i liked that this list was less concerned with big plot twists than logical, emotional and ridiculous ways that many of these films were concluded. it seems more interested in natural progression to the climax and the cinematic appeal of them. i'm kind of glad sixth sense did not make the list, it might have done more to confuse the intent.

Where's Sgt. Powell shooting Karl?

And what about Heat? That ending was incredible.

I almost brought that one up as well. That final shot is terrific.

What?!? No Diggstown?!

Point Break anyone? Come on.

And I'll second Diggstown.

Normally I don't care about lists like this but, The Searchers at twenty-seven is way too low.

I was really hoping that Birdy would be in the top ten...

For the most part I agree, there's plenty of great stuff. But I also agree with many of the comments: Fight Club is too high on the list, Seven should be on there in its place somewhere, though number 2 I think is still much too high for either. I showed some friends An American Werewolf in London last night, one of my favorite movies for a long time now. When I first saw this in high school, my mom recommended it to me and we watched it together, and at the end when he gets shot and the upbeat version of "Blue Moon" pops up, I threw my empty soda can at the TV. I really didn't get it immediately. But after a few days I thought about it and it really affected me, and it still stands as one my favorite endings. Beyond that...just looking at the short list of stuff on my shelf and trying to remember the last moments of them...Taxi Driver? Travis's ambiguous look into this rear view mirror? And yeah, I really dug Batman Begins, but should it really be on here? What about 2001's ultimate mindfuck of a last shot? What about Lee Marvin fading into the shadows at the end of Point Blank? What about Deckard's escape with Rachel to make a new life at the end of Blade Runner? Popeye Doyle's last shot running after the drug runners in The French Connection? The end of Fat City really, really gets me, Stacy Keach staring at the guys playing dominoes, and the song "All My Friends Are Dead and Gone" coming up as he sits and drinks coffee with Jeff Bridges. The ending to Me and You and Everyone You Know is great...but yeah, for the most part, great choices on this list, with the exception of a couple. I know it was all about "classics," and I think they hit the mark for the most part.

You gotta love the complete OTT-ness: there's even American flags waving in the back ground!

Lame.

What about The Shawshank Redemption? I cried, goddamned!

Not that I think there should necessarily be 2 Gilliam films on the list, but the end of TIME BANDITS fucked my head when I was a kid.

The ending of "House of the Dead" was great, but for all the wrong reasons.

The ending of The Brood is great, for all the right reasons.

Are your right reasons the same as my wrong reasons?

Not unless you love House of the Dead's ending for it's effective use of babysac.

Yeah, that's a good one. Ought to be some Spike Lee movies on there. Do the Right Thing, Get on the Bus, He Got Game, 25th Hour, all great endings. And how about Enid getting on the bus at the end of Ghostworld?

Yeay yeah, here comes the Tolkien fanboy, but the ending of Fellowship of the Ring was damn near perfect. That last shot of Frodo and Sam cresting the ridge and seeing the sheer enormity of the journey before them, and the simple friendship and trust between the two of them as they head off into it, with Shore's score soaring in the background, almost made it bearable that the next film was a year away.

And where the hell is the end of either version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers???

I love the new testament (or the second holy trilogy) as much as anyone, but I don't think the end of FOTR or TTT is actualy an ending. It's more of an intermission. It's handled well, but it doesn't really end anything. And ROTK had too many endings to count (and the books have these same characteristics).

I do think the lack of Se7en on that list is a huge blow to its credibility.

My brain just melt.

If you're going to go with bus endings, the final scene of Midnight Cowboy reigns supreme, followed distantly by The Graduate.

Oh come on this guy must have done this list in 10 minutes.....how can you not put the 6th sense and seven. Personally I would also have liked to see the ending of Snatch on that list as I thought it was a great ending.

Easy Rider should be on there as well.

Which ending?...the S-Mart ending or the original ending?

Top 10? TOP FIVE!!

No DePalma's The Fury? This list is invalid!

I would also add Peter Weir's Fearless to this.

There is an appalling lack of Spielberg on this list. You could make a case for Raiders, Jaws, E.T. and Schindler at minimum.

You mean the "League of their Own" ending in Schindler's List?

What about Electra Glide in Blue? It has a terrific ending, but I guess not too many people have seen it.

Gotta give a shout out to Minsky for mentioning THE QUIET EARTH. Now that's an awesome ending, unfortunately on a film few have heard of let alone seen.

Personally I love the ending to Repo Man. But I have all of you beat.

Best ending ever?

A Boy and His Dog

Can't be topped. Can't be bested...

Escape from New York/LA. Both equally great.