Ran across this list and it got me thinking. David Mamet once said something to the effect that the best movie endings are both surprising and appropriate; unexpected and obvious. For me the key is that the ending has to be quick. Too many movies ruin a great ending by drawing things out just a little too long. Last of the Mohicans is a perfect example. Jackie Brown is another. Or Out of Sight. Children of Men. All great movies, but the ending dragged for just a little too long. I also like endings that make the audience reconsider everything we have just seen. Finally, a great ending must be perfectly satisfying. Here's my list (I was surprised that so many were sci-fi), in no particular order except for the last two, which are my personal favorites:
Terminator ("There's a storm coming." "I know.")
Empire Strikes Back (Like Kevin Smith said, "Empire is the one most like life. It's a series of down endings.")
Unbreakable ("It was the kids. They called me Mr. Glass.")
Godfather II ("For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow...")
Eddie and the Cruisers (Reflection in the window.)
Citizen Kane (Rosebud)
Goodfellas ("I get to live the rest of my life a schnook.")(By the way, this is the only Scorese movie I can think of that really ended well, and by well I mean satisfying. Scorsese is a master at starting a movie but, in my opinion, he tends to fumble the endings. Compare the first five minutes of The Color of Money to the last. Or The Departed.)
Zodiac ("On a scale of one to ten how certain are you?" "About an eight.")
Seven ("Hemingway once said the world is a fine place, and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part.")
The Usual Suspects ("Poof. He's gone.")
Planet of the Apes ("Noooooooo....")
Adaptation (Flowers)
Clue ("I'm going home to sleep with my wife.")
Traffic (Baseball)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (The warehouse...)
Devil in a Blue Dress ("And I sat. On my porch. With my friend. And we laughed a long time.")
Body Heat ("It's hot." "Yes. It is.")
Menance to Society ("Yeah, I do.")
No Way Out (Yuri.)
Angel Heart ("You're going to burn for this." "I know.")
The Road Warrior ("He lives on now, only in my memories.")
And now my two favorites...
Spartan, one of my ten favorite films of all time and written and directed, fittingly, by David Mamet. There are shades of Eddie and the Cruisers as the camera begins on a TV in a department store and pulls out revealing two people watching through the display window. One man grunts, turns away, and says, "Time to go home." Scott, our hero, who, in achieving his goal, can never again return to his, says, sadly, "Must be nice."
And number one: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Butch and Sundance, frozen and fading, as the rifles sound, over and over. William Goldman described the fadeout perfectly in his screenplay: "The rifle fire is popgun soft now, as it blows them back into history."
