The 101 Greatest Endings in Movies History

I've long been a fan of Mother. I also love the ending to Memories of Murder by the same director. He has a real knack for ending stories.

"Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."

Miss Charlotte Vale (a lesser one)

[quote] "Good finales offer catharsis. The best deny us closure"

Sub-Wildean epigram. Sounds good, not always accurate.

I don't see how they didn't include Psycho's "I hope they're watching. They'll see. They'll see and they'll know because she couldn't hurt a fly."

An Unmarried Woman

One of the best endings EVER.

Oops, I didn't click on the link and just added an ending. I now see it was #21.

The Village by M. Night Shyamalan. Oh, wait, you said BEST endings

And of course ....

I enjoyed the last 5 minutes with Agnes Moorehead.

But I don't want to watch it again.

This was utterly terrifying the first time.

The 2005 remake of King Kong was bloated in some ways, but its bones are strong. The finale is heartbreaking.

Where the fuck is Gone With the Wind?

Frankly, my dear R13, they didn't give a damn.

AFTER ALL...

"Rebecca," with the burning of Manderley.

The Sixth Sense

The Haunting (1963) with Julie Harris - there's a narration that the house now possessed her or something - don't remember the wording but it was powerful.

(I didn't watch the remake - I'll stick with Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Julie, etc., thank you very much)

In TSOM , the family is fleeing the NAZIS in Salzburg , by crossing the Alps into GERMANY .

Live By Night

Ben Affleck playing with his son at the beach.

Thanks, R6. LA Confidential is one of my all time favorites and that it lost the Oscar was a disgrace. Brilliant film at every level. That they were able to come up with that incredible script from the crazy mess of that novel was amazing.

The ending to Jagged Edge became my mantra.

As she is crying over her lost, murderer lover, the grizzled old private eye comforts her with, "Fuck him, he was trash."

Jack Lemon and Joe E Brown in Some Like It Hot

The ending of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I guess you had to have lived through that time to appreciate how magical that ending was. It was like a gift.

“Inglorious Basterds” and the inferno in the theater.

Could you explain the "Nobody's perfect" joke from Some Like It Hot and Jack Lemmon's double take, for someone who is not a native English speaker?

Damn paywall. Anyone have the list?

R25 It's possibly one of the greatest movie endings because the whole movie, the audience knows that Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis are in drag. Basically the audience is waiting for one of the other characters to realize it and freak out and have a fit. The joke is that all that build up, and it's completely passed over by a nonplussed Joe E. Brown character like it was no big deal at all.

Supposedly that line was just a placeholder until they could come up with something better. But it ended up being one of the most iconic moments in the movie.

What? No mention of "Your girl is lovely, Hubbell"? This list is anti-Semitic. That is an iconic ending that inspired an iconic scene in my iconic HBO show.

"Give 'em a good strong finish and they'll forgive you anything."

Any list without Shawshank Redemption is bullshit.

Dancer in the Dark

“Papa, watch me fly!”

Old Boy. The original. Devestating.

Dangerous Liaisons

Wilder's 'Some Like it Hot' has to take the prize. Although the ending of Hitchcock's late entry 'Frenzy' is a personal favorite.

I've only seen a handful of those movies.

Body Heat

Rogue One, the best of the modern Star Wars films.

Tarkovsky's Nostalghia from 1983. One take (!)

Carrie, of course.

Thelma and louise

Papillon (1973)

Yentl was a bad choice. The ending of Funny Girl with Babs singing My Man is arguably more memorable.

Halloween (1978)

Another vote for Thelma and Louise. And the final scenes in:

Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)

El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in their Eyes)

Le conseguenze dell'amore (The Consequences of Love)

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Von Ryan’s Express

Anklaget (Accused)

I can't read the article because it's paywall. What movies are the cartoons depicting on OP's link? I know one of them is Some Like it Hot.

Miss Lindsey as Bette Davis on the final scene of Baby Jane

Miss Lindsey as Mo'Nique, Mariah and Gabourey in a three-for-one bonus in Precious.

SUZANNE SOMERS This is my bad side!

I really think the ending of Bonnie and Clyde.

Iconic and shattering.

Lindsey as Miss Havisham in her bridal dress, pining for McCain or Trump or any man who refused to marry her.

I like the ending to the original Alfie. This clip includes Alfie's (Michael Caine) monologue and Cher's singing of the title song, along with a beautiful montage of the credits.

The two guys in the kitchen at the bottom of three picture are from the ending of “The Big Night.” That never would have crossed my mind, since Sexy young Marc Anthony had exited the scene just prior.

Good shout, I'm amazed they missed the end of Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

For a bittersweet ending? Nothing gets me like the final scene from Running on Empty. When the River Phoenix character rushes to put his bike in the back of the family truck? And then Judd Hirsch tells him to get the bike out and leave?

Ugh. It KILLS me every time!

Black Widow

Three Bette Davis movies, with 2 of her immortal closing lines.

R27, you used "nonplussed" incorrectly to mean pretty much the opposite of what it actually means, but other than that, your analysis of the brilliance of the ending of SOME LIKE IT HOT is spot on.

The delightful faux 60's TV show music video that plays during the end credits of Down With Love, with Ewan and Renee and a brief cameo of composer Mark Shaiman on piano. Adorable.

The Spirit of the Beehive

Another vote for Body Heat. Easily top five.

Where in the hell was Sunset Boulevard?!?! Did I just miss it? I wasn't surprised not to see it for the length of the article because it is obviously top five if not number one, but then...nothing. Crazy.

Tootsie (1982)

That final scene is all about forgiveness. And the scene ends with the beautiful song "It Might Be You".

The Usual Suspects should have been on this list.

R60. Because they self-imposed a one director/one film, they used their Billy Wilder slot for Some Like It Hot. I’d argue that SLIH May have the best final punchline, but SB has a memorable last scene.

The Graduate.

I agree about Usual Suspects, although I am sure it is a little low brow for some here. I also thought the ending (credits?) of Wild Things was genius. And the whole movie was such fun. Bill Murray especially.

"Imitation of Life" (1959)

"Shawshank Redemption"

"The Usual Suspects"

Endings are so tough to get right. Really makes you appreciate the great ones. The worst are the ones that just cut to black with no pay off whatsoever.

Carrie has one of the best. Also Friday the 13th even if it's basically the same concept as Carrie.

The original Black Christmas has a great ending, too, that wraps things up but leaves a lot of wrong for ambiguity. Really creeps me out.

The German film "Das Leben Der Andersen" (The Lives Of Others) has one of my favorite endings.

Look! I've stopped the drift!

One Director/One Film - and for Kubrick they chose Eyes Wide Shut? Did they not see A Clockwork Orange?? "I was cured all right"...then Gene Kelly "Singin' in the Rain" as credits start to roll. Fucking brilliant!

Also, R68, I second that!

This person puts Mama Mia on the list but omits The Taking of Pelham One Two Three? Absurd.

Fearless

Wilder's Ace In The Hole and Altman's Brewster McCloud.

The movie Lore is a very dark one, but the ending actually contains hopefulness as Lore rejects her grandmother's insistence on "proper" table manners and then retreats to her room to smash her mother's porcelain figurines - a sign that the younger generation will acknowledge what happened, and won't follow in the footsteps of the older generation who are refusing to own up to it and whose attitudes contributed to it.

Radio Flyer. Who wants a child to suffer? Or doesn't like a good child snuff film?

R25, "Nobody's perfect" usually refers to little things--like you forget your umbrella on a bus. By having the old guy say it to Lemmon meaning that his being a man is not a big deal, Wilder pretty much went against all the conventions of gender and sex at the time.