So I watched a favourite movie of mine the other day, The Taking Of Pelham 1,2,3, the original from 1974, not the one with John Travolta and Denzel Washington, although that wasn't the worst remake I've ever seen. It made me think of great ending shots. If you've seen the movie, Walter Matthau is involved in one of the best final shots I've seen in the world of movies. So I thought I'd try to think up some other great ending shots, or scenes, that can make or break a movie's success. Not that the final shot of Pelham makes the movie because it's a great movie the whole way through and you must watch it when you get a chance! Anyway, here are some of my favourite endings, in no particular order. And if you are astute at reading between the lines, there will be spoilers!!
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1,2,3 (1974)
So the story is about 4 guys that plan on hijacking a New York City subway train in order to get the city to pay one million dollars for the hostages inside the car. The bad guys are played by Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo and Earl Hindman (the dude who played Wilson on "Home Improvement"). The negotiations go through Walter Matthau, the head of the transit police, along with side cracks from Jerry Stiller and Dick O'Neill. So the ransom payoff seemingly goes off without a hitch, until it doesn't. Now the short investigation starts. Who used to work for the New York transit system that may have a grudge against them? Well, of the nine candidates (I think it was nine), Martin Balsam is one. Matthau and Stiller go to his apartment, ask some questions, get no answers, and as they leave, Balsam lets out a huge sneeze. So what, right? Well, many of the hostages on the train described a man with an awful cold and loud sneeze. When Matthau hears it, the closed door slowly opens and we see the perfect Matthau mug - he knows he's got his man! It's a fantastic final shot as the credits role seconds later. By the way, this movie is where Quetin Tarantino got the idea to name the characters of Reservoir Dogs after colours.
CASABLANCA (1942)
Rick Blane, Mr. Humphrey Bogart, has been lucky or crafty enough to escape the Nazis who are invading every town in Europe during the early days of World War II. He has made his way to Casablanca, a veritable safe spot in Morocco, where he runs the most popular nightclub in town. All is going seemingly well until a former love, a love like no other, comes strolling through Rick's Cafe. The beautiful Ilsa Lund, played by Ingrid Bergman, has arrived with her husband Victor Laszlo, a leader of the underground movement to conquer the Nazis. They need to escape Casablanca, undetected, in order to build their following, and Rick is their only hope. After a "will he or won't he" moment at the airport, Rick makes sure Ilsa goes with her husband as he remains in Casablanca. "We'll always have Paris"....killer! But the finale, where Rick and the Chief Of Police Captain Renault, played perfectly by the remarkable Claude Rains, collude to allow Laszlo and Lund leave is one of the best endings in film history. "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" as the two walk into the fog of the night, not knowing what the next days, months or years may bring. Fantastic!
CARRIE (1976)
When I first saw Carrie, I may have been a pre-teen, or thirty, hard to say, I just about died from the final shot. I'm not being funny; I believe I had a small heart attack. It's funny, to see it now doesn't create nearly the same reaction, but I absolutely remember the feeling. After the unpopular Carrie White gets dumped on with pig's blood at the prom, she and her telekinetic powers begin to wreak havoc among the kids and teachers that screwed with her. Scary enough. But when its all over she goes home, covered in blood, and has it out with her mom, played ridiculously well by Piper Laurie. "They're all gonna laugh at you!!"...eerie. Carrie's "friend", Sue, played by Amy Irving, wants to pay respects to Carrie after an apparent devastating end to her and her mother. She slowly walks towards the gravesite, marked with a cross, dressed all in white, carrying flowers. She goes to lay the flowers down....and a fucking hand jumps out of the ground and grabs her arm!!!! Every atom in my body exploded when I first saw this, and that feeling has never left me!
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1984)
Hey, hey, hey, hey, ooooooooooo. Ok, maybe not as iconic as Casablanca, but as a teenager in the '80's this last shot lived with me for a very long time. As five misfits spend a Saturday in detention, they learn about themselves, each other, and the way the world works as one gets older. Ups, downs, all-arounds; the kids gain confidence in themselves over their eight hour sentence. And as the voice over runs, about a brain, an athlete, a princess, a basket case and a criminal, we see Judd Nelson defiantly raise his fist to the masses. Freeze frame. Volume up on the song; "(Don't You) Forget About Me" by Simple Minds. It gives me chills every time I see it, and I've seen it many, many times!
INCEPTION (2010)
You know, I'm still not sure if I understood everything from Inception, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I can say this though; it is one of the most inventive films I've seen in the last 20 years. Leo DiCaprio and his crew need to "plant a seed" in the mind of their target, going deeper and deeper into his subconscious and screwing more and more with my brain. During the film, there is a question of Leo's own sanity and grasp of reality. We watch him go down elevators of his mind, literal elevators. We see cliffs crumble, families appear and disappear. What is going on with this dude??? Well, there is one way to find out. He has this little top that he spins, a totem. If the top loses it's rotation and falls, he knows he is still in the real world. But, at the end, when none of us really know what is up or down, he spins the top...and it keeps spinning. Cut to black. AHHHH!!!!!! Will it continue to spin??? Will it eventually fall???? We have no idea, but my God there are a million interpretations of the ending written by amateur film aficionados on the internet.
North By Northwest (1959)
Alfred Hitchcock was not only the Master Of Suspense, but he filled his movies with great humour, especially when it was least called for. He was a strange, strange human being. After a brilliant story of another "everyman" being mistaken as a major player in illegal undertakings, our hero played by Cary Grant traipses over the heads of four dead presidents on Mount Rushmore. He's trying to save his own life and, more importantly, the life of Eva Marie Saint, the double agent he's fallen in love with. That whole scene was amazing, and the film could have easily ended there. But noooooo. Mr. Hitchcock felt the need to make a quick edit as Eva Marie Saint is pulled to safety, spliced with her being lifted up into the birth of a train's private room. Witty banter, train whistle blows, and Hitchcock ends the film with a train plowing through a tunnel....role credits. It's an obvious sexual innuendo that will either have you snicker, sneer or chuckle.
The Godfather (1972)
It is said that The Godfather is one of the best American-made movies ever, and who am I to argue?? I think I've seen the film 100 times and I never grow tired of it. As you know, I certainly hope, the Corleone crime family has been through some hard times. The Don, Vito Corleone, had been shot a number of times, his son Sonny has been gunned down by rival gangs, his other son Fredo is a bit of a mess, and his third son Michael has no interest in the family business. But someone has to take over when the Don finally passes, and by the end of the film, Michael, who is waaaaaaaay smarter than Fredo, has assumed the role after a brilliant tactic to take down the heads of the rival families. As this happens, Michael's wife Kay turns a blind eye, pretends none of what's going on is her sweet husband's doing. But, as she witnesses "friends" arrive at their house, kissing Michael's knuckles, and then having the door close in her face, she realizes she has just lost the love of her life to "the business". It's a heartbreaking moment played so perfectly by Diane Keaton. An awesome way to end an awesome film.
Heat (1995)
Michael Mann created one of the best crime movies ever in Heat. The movie was played up for the fact that Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro would finally be in a movie together where they actually played off each other. (Of course, they were in The Godfather Part II together but never had scenes together because of the back and forth in time). Turns out the movie was so much more than that beautiful encounter of our two leads in that diner. Val Kilmer was probably better than ever. Jon Voight was awesome. I even loved watching Tom Sizemore, who often gets on my nerves. It is a great movie with fabulous action sequences and equally great quiet moments. And what made it even better was the final battle between the criminal DeNiro and the cop Pacino. After catching up to DeNiro and shooting him in the chest, Pacino could have finished him off in a second. But the mutual respect the two had for each other comes out wonderfully, as Pacino holds DeNiro's hand as the movie ends. Does DeNiro die? Does he go back to prison, where he said he'd never return? Does it matter?
Thelma and Louise (1991)
I liked Thelma And Louise, I did not love it like most people. The story involves a couple of women who are up for anything, leaving their abusive partners, looking for a fun time. When one of them is assaulted, the other shoots the bastard, and the race to stay one step ahead of the law begins. I always thought a good lawyer would be able to fix the situation, but thats just me. Anyway, after some more interesting encounters, the two women feel like all hope is lost. They know the law is right on their heels, and they have no intention on going back to their old lives. So, they grab hands, put pedal to metal, and drive their convertible over a cliff in one of the most famous suicide scenes in movie history. I've never been sure why they chose death over, well, anything else, but the scene was certainly powerful and became an iconic image in the history of film.
Field Of Dreams (1989)
Field Of Dreams, and the book it was based on, Shoeless Joe, seemed like a movie that was made for me. I'm a lover of baseball, and I have father issues. 😐 Anyway, the story is about Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, who hears voices in the Iowa night. He turns his cornfield into a baseball diamond, kidnaps a famous writer (played by James Earl Jones), and gives a dead ballplayer a ride to a game, all in the hopes of giving another dead, more famous, ballplayer a chance to play again, Shoeless Joe Jackson. Except, it's not really about Shoeless Joe, is it? No, Ray does all this crazy stuff in order to make amends with his own dead father. He bankrupts the farm, but finds peace of mind. His little girl, the sage of the family, realizes that their money woes will soon turn, because people will come from miles around and pay to see the miracles of the Iowan field of dreams. And as Ray has a catch with his dead dad, the camera tracks out and up, showing an enormous line of cars coming to see their little baseball diamond. And all will be ok. And I'm usually a blubbering mess by this time, too.
Big Night (1996)
I'm not sure how many people know about this movie, but if you haven't see Big Night, I HIGHLY recommend finding it somewhere. It is an absolute gem of a film! The story centres around two brothers who own a restaurant that is suffering financially. One is a phenomenal chef, the other a savvy businessman, but their clientele is waning. They have an idea to serve up the best food they can find and make to a select few who can help them revive the restaurant. They pull out all the stops; the best beef, the greatest pork, the most expensive wines, a multiple course meal that will have their guests moaning with pure delight. Of course, there are side stories and trials and tribulations throughout the special evening. But through it all are the two brothers. And by the end of the hectic evening, now into the dawn of the next day, in a quiet kitchen when everyone else has gone, the two brothers wordlessly create a simple breakfast to reflect upon the events of the night. It's an absolutely beautiful salute to each other that is perfectly played by the two leads, Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub.
The Graduate (1967)
There are few movies I've seen more often or love more than The Graduate. The first time I saw it, I related so much to Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman. He had graduated school, was expected to do great things, but found himself alone and unsure of everything. What did he want to do with his life?? Well, one idea, unfortunately, was to have an affair with the wife of his father's best friend. Oops. Then he had the great idea to fall in love with the daughter of the woman he was having the affair with. Oh my. Now feelings are hurt, relationships are strained (to say the least), and Elaine Robinson, played by Katherine Ross, is off to marry someone else. But Ben is still in love with her and has, for once in his life, made a decision. He's going to find her and break up the wedding. And everything goes to plan!! The two lovebirds run away, hop on a bus, run to the back and plop down on the seats, laughing hysterically. But seconds later, reality sets in. What have they done?? What will they do??? Is there any future at all for them??? The sheer uncertainty of the moment is one of my favourite shots in any film I've seen.
Invasions Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
This remake of a 1956 horror movie revolves around the idea of aliens taking over the bodies of people we know and love. Donald Sutherland, a Health Department official, and his lab associate, Brooke Adams, have been front and centre witnessing the strange things that are going on in their town. They have no explanation for it, but they slowly begin to believe the folks that put their trust in them. The only way to save themselves, it seems, is to run. Get the hell out of town. And as the friends of Sutherland and Adams begin to flee, they see ol' Donald down the street. As they approach, they realize something is amiss, and Sutherland turns, points, and lets out this horrific scream. He has been "invaded" and is no longer the loving man he once was. Although the movie itself is not great (some good jump scares, but thats about it), the frightening realization of the main character being "gone", and the sound that accompanies it, remains one of the best final scenes in any horror film.
The Searchers (1956)
When I was in college, all those years ago, I took a couple of film studies courses. In one of them, we talked about the movie The Searchers starring John Wayne. I had never seen it before then, but I will always remember it, if only for the last shot of the movie. After coming home from the Civil War, Wayne must soon embark on a search for his niece, kidnapped by Comanche Indians. Wayne has a deep hatred for the Comanche after the war, and vows murderous revenge. It takes him 5 long years to track down his niece, who has changed in many ways. But, eventually, she is returned to Wayne's brother. As the family reunites at the doorway of their home, they turn to walk inside, and, although Wayne is invited to join, he can't bring himself to step through the door. The shot is perfectly framed as Wayne slowly turns and begins to walk away. There is no way, after all he's seen and done, that he can enter into a "normal" family existence. He is alone in the world, and as that framed doorway begins to show as he continues to walk away, that world is growing bigger and bigger with every step. You hate Wayne's character, but at the same time, feel unbelievably sorry for him. It's a very emotional scene, surprisingly so, and is a perfect way to leave that character.
So those are some of my favourite final scenes or shots from movies I've seen. Do you have any I should know about? Let me know in the comments section and I'll try to find them!
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