Anyone have a favorite ending to a movie that you'd like to discuss (or link to)?

***************SPOILER MATERIAL***************

Dunno if many of you have seen "Without a Trace" (starring Judd Hirsch as a NYC detective investigating the disappearance of a young boy and having to deal with the boy's mother - played by Kate Nelligan). The last five minutes of the movie are quite emotional as Hirsch is driving back from Connecticut (with the missing boy) and gets an escort from all the Police who have jurisdiction on the trip home to Brooklyn. It ends with mother and son being reunited. Check out the link below:

'WITHOUT A TRACE' ENDING - CLICK HERE

Awesome scene SC!!! As you said, very emotional. No matter how many time I watch the ending, I get the chills and get all choked up! The look on Kate Nelligan's face is just priceless. She says so much without uttering one word!


I have several favorite endings but one that immedeatly comes to mind is the ending of Spartacus when Jean Simmons is escaping Rome and comes upon Spartacus who has been hanged from a cross and is dying a slow death. She risks her freedom and stops at the foot of the cross to show Douglas his child, his son that she gave birth to. Her dialogue in that scene about his son knowing freedom and everything that his father, Spartacus, fought for is just so moving.

My fav film endings are in no particular order

Raging Bull
Casino
Shawshank Redemption
GF2
Goodfellas
T2
Star Wars(Return Of The Jedi)
Deja Vu
Forest Gump
OUATIA
Braveheart


They're the ones from the top of my head.

Just a few off the top of my head:

Reservoir Dogs
The Godfather: Part II
Death Proof
Taxi Driver
Collateral
Field of Dreams

I'll add more as they come to me. Good topic, SC!

Don't be afraid to DISCUSS them, DE NIRO. You obviously have a few there that you like.... share with us "why".

Hey SC, here's another that I know is a favorite for both you and I :

"Hey Dad? You wanna have a catch?"

Apocalypse Now Redux

The ending is the best, ever, that I can think off, right now. The first time I saw the whole movie, I was just blown away by it.

It's also more powerful than the ending in the book.

Out of the selection in my short list, the ending to GFII just really stands out for me.

Very few films have been able to convey a sense of loneliness and isolation as well as the ending of GFII. Michael has come a LONG way since his days as a Marine.

In what some may consider an odd choice, I'll add the ending of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Jack Nicholson is brought back to his bed after some electo-shock treatment took away his "fight". The big Indian (so expertly portrayed by Will Sampson) can't stand to see his friend in this state and mercifully kills him, telling him that "You're coming with me". With superhuman strength he then breaks out of the institution.

I can't explain WHY but I always find this scene uplifting... below is a link to the movie's final 6½ minutes. Its a little dark, but give it a look:

ENDING OF "ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST" - CLICK HERE

That "Field of Dreams" ending is my all-time favorite. When Kevin Costner breaks down and says "Hey Dad"... I absolutely lose it every time. Its the culmination of BOTH of their dreams.

I loved WITHOUT A TRACE, SC. We've discussed it before, I just love it when they're heading into the city on the Bruckner. As far as powerful, I'll go with the end of GF II, it was really the perfect ending to the story. Until they decided to muck it up with Part III. No one's mentioned ROCKY, so I'll go out on a limb. I'm talking about the original, the music still gives me goosebumps.

SC, As soon as I saw the name of this thread, Without a Trace popped into my head. I cry my eyes out every single time I watch it, and there have been plenty. I'm also with you on Field of Dreams. I just watched it the other morning while I was doing my ironing.


By the way, there be spoilers ahead, although I guess that the fact that the title is "Best Endings" really should be a giveaway that the posts will probably contain Spoilers.



I also love the ending of Backdraft, with the two brothers in the ambulance and the majesty of the firefighter's funeral, and then DeNiro getting the bad guys at the very end.

And who can forget the original King Kong? Poor Kong trying to hang on to the building, only to come crashing down.

And then there's Casablanca, simply the best ending ever. When he tells Ilsa that she must get on that plane, and then he lies to her husband, saying that she had only pretended to be in love with him, oh, the best dialogue ever written!

CITY SLICKERS (1991)

Not the final scene, but near the end, when the boys bring in the herd while humming the theme to BONANZA. It may appeal more to men than to women (I'm not sure) but I love it!

I know I rave about the film way too much, but I just love the ending of Fight Club; in fact, the last 30 minutes are genius. Obviously, I wouldn't recommend watching this clip if you haven't seen the film... But here are the last 2 minutes or so of the film. I really wish I could have found the end scene in its entirety (people who've seen the film before know what I mean), but surprisingly, this is the longest excerpt from the ending that I could find on youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HnBJBaHbwak&mode=related&search=

The ending of Star Wars episode 3 Revenge of the Sith, sorry but I love movies where the bad guys win.

The ones not mentioned already:
American Beauty ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYrgHju3d-E )
Zerkalo ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1W8HfpY0U0 )

Here are a few endings, off the top of my head:

Planet of the Apes - The original from 1968. Yeah, I saw it coming a mile away, but it still grabbed me by the short hairs. Must be seen in widescreen.

The Time Travellers (1964) A strange low-budget film that had a not-exactly-happy ending. Unusual for its time.

Bonnie and Clyde - One of the most famous movie endings ever.

The Swimmer (1968) - A very underrated film, with an ending that will make you want to re-watch the film to see all the foreshadowings.

And then, there's always 2001: A Space Odyssey. Visually, one of the most incredible endings ever put on film, though after almost forty years I still have no idea what the hell it all meant.

Signor V.

I'm embarrassed to say, I didn't even think of 2001 when I entered this thread... Possibly the greatest ending ever. It's mind blowing.

I'm going to pull for Once Upon a Time in America's ending while I'm at it.

You guys are mentioning some good ones that I forgot about. Planet of the Apes ending blew me away the first time I saw it. I must have seen it right away because the cat hadn't been let out of the bag yet.

I did see Without A Trace and of course Bonnie & Clyde (great endings). I've mentioned before that I walked out on 2001 Space Odyssey. Evidently I must have been the only one. I couldn't tell you the ending.

What about The Sixth Sense?

TIS


PS: The Swimmer? Is that with Burt Lancaster? He goes door to door to different swimming pools or something???? I saw it years and years ago and maybe I was too young, but I couldn't figure it out. I thought it was strange. I admit though, I haven't seen it since. Evidently, it must have made some impression because I remember the title.

My favorite movie of all time is Unforgiven (1992). Not only does it have my favorite actor, Clint Eastwood, but it also has my favorite end to a movie. I absolutely love how we know the entire movie that Eastwood's character is a former bad guy, and one of the baddest ever. But all we see is him as a changed man, a loving father of two children, thanks to his wife, R.I.P.

At the end, once his best friend, Morgan Freeman's character, is killed, all it takes is a couple of shots of whiskey to transform him back into the one of the most ruthless characters I have seen and enters a bar where, of course, there is the ultimate shoot-out. He kills just about everyone.

Two of Eastwood's lines that give me the chills at the end of the movie:

"Little Bill Daggett: You'd be William Munny out of Missouri. Killer of women and children.

Will Munny (Eastwood): That's right. I've killed women and children. I've killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you did to Ned."

---

"Will Munny: All right, I'm coming out. Any man I see out there, I'm gonna shoot him. Any sumbitch takes a shot at me, I'm not only gonna kill him, but I'm gonna kill his wife, all his friends, and burn his damn house down."

You win. Close thread.

"The Sting" (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) had an interesting ending that I didn't see coming (maybe one of the few in the audience that didn't)....

Similarly, "Fried Green Tomatoes" (learning that Idgie was still alive).

Honorable mention to "The Green Mile".... no real surprise but very touching.

As good as that was I liked the remake with Naomi Watts (ending) better. The look that Kong gave her just before he fell from the building, and the almost slow motion of it was so melodramatic!!

Forrest Gump
Blow
GF 1
Love the endings in these films.All of them leave me thinking....

I thought I smelled somthing burning.

I think my favorite ending to a comedy has to be Monty Python's Life of Brian. Dozens of people being crucified, hanging on crosses, bobbing their heads side to side singing "Always look on the bright side of life".

shawshank redemption ending was great. true redemption.

Here's the ending on Youtube

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

********************SPOILERS****************************

The end of John Carpenter's Halloween is great(Don't think sequels-Just the original)when Michael Meyers dissapears
after being shot off the ledge. Donald Pleasance's face is
great and the ending shots of the town with the breathing are fantastic.
John Carpenter's The Fog also has a cool ending as Blake the Pirate kills the priest(The awesome Hal Holbrook)-A Grabber!

That's just 2 for the Halloween Season-:)