The best movie endings are often the ones which let the audience fill in the gaps, and showing just a few more seconds would ruin them. These endings leave audiences desperate to find out what happens next. In many cases, simply showing what happens wouldn’t be as interesting as letting people decide for themselves. This also invites people to think about the story and the characters in more depth.
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Whether it’s a cliffhanger ending or something intentionally ambiguous, there are many great movies which end at the perfect moment. If the directors had taken the more traditional route and shown the finale unfolding in full, audiences could forget the movie before too long. A great ending can elevate the entire movie, so choosing to end things a little earlier than some people would like is just provocative enough to get people talking.
10 Inception (2010)
Cobb’s Top Begins To Falter
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10/10 8.2/10 Inception
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*Availability in US Director Christopher Nolan Release Date July 16, 2010 Cast Tom Hardy , Elliot Page , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Cillian Murphy , Ken Watanabe , Marion Cotillard , Leonardo DiCaprio
Christopher Nolan’s movies usually end with a startling image, like Oppenheimer‘s memorable final quote or Gordon’s speech at the end of The Dark Knight. None of his other movie endings have had the impact of Inception, however, as the final shot perfectly ties into one of the story’s main mysteries. Throughout Inception, Cobb spins a top to figure out whether he is awake or dreaming. In the final scene, he walks away before discovering the result.
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While Cobb may have turned his back on the spinning top, deciding to live in his reality whether he’s awake or not, many people still want to know the answer. As Nolan pushes in to focus on the top, it falters almost imperceptibly before the screen cuts to black. Nolan knows that neither result would be as satisfying as the mystery, and that the most important thing to the story is that Cobb is no longer searching for an answer.
9 The Italian Job (1969)
The Gold Slides Toward The Edge Of A Cliff
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The Italian Job
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*Availability in US Director Peter Collinson Release Date September 3, 1969 Cast Michael Caine , Noel Coward , Benny Hill , Raf Vallone , Tony Beckley , Rossano Brazzi , Margaret Blye , Irene Handl
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The Italian Job‘s literal cliffhanger ending has ensured that the British crime caper has stayed fresh and enjoyable over the decades. Michael Caine is on top form in The Italian Job, using every ounce of his cockney charms as he leads a gang of misfits on a dangerous heist in the picturesque city of Turin. After the famous Mini Cooper getaway scene, the gang pile into a bus and make their escape through the Alps.
In the final scene, the bus slides out of control and ends up with its back half dangling perilously over the side of a cliff. The gold slides toward the rear doors, and the gang hold their breath as the bus teeters on the brink. Caine’s character tells the group he has a great idea, but the movie ends before he explains it. Fan theories about his plan involve deflating the tiers, adding weight to the front half of the bus, or simply letting the gold go and collecting it from the bottom of the cliff. The mystery is much more interesting without a resolution.
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8 Enemy (2013)
Adam Sees Helen As A Massive Spider
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Enemy
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*Availability in US Director Denis Villeneuve Release Date February 6, 2014 Cast Jake Gyllenhaal , Mélanie Laurent , Sarah Gadon , Isabella Rossellini , Joshua Peace , Tim Post , Kedar Brown , Darryl Dinn
Prisoners and Arrival perfectly illustrate that Denis Villeneuve likes to end his movies with a memorable scene, making sure that he keeps his audience’s full attention right up until the very last frame. Enemy is even more shocking, and it’s probably the one Villeneuve movie that has inspired the most debate over its ending. Spiders are a motif that runs throughout Enemy, but nobody could have predicted the giant spider in the corner of the room in the movie’s closing scene.
Prisoners
and
Arrival
perfectly illustrate that Denis Villeneuve likes to end his movies with a memorable scene.
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There are a lot of unanswered questions from the ending of Enemy. Does Helen really turn into a spider? Has she been a spider all along? Is it merely part of Enemy‘s long-running metaphor that isn’t to be taken literally? If it’s a real change, then continuing the movie to explain it would rob it of its mystery. If it’s merely a symbolic moment, then continuing the movie could shatter the illusion. Villeneuve cuts at the right moment, leaving his audience with a lot to think about.
7 Mean Streets (1973)
Several Characters’ Lives Are Left In Limbo
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8/10 Mean Streets
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*Availability in US Director Martin Scorsese Release Date October 14, 1973 Cast Robert De Niro , Harvey Keitel , David Proval , Amy Robinson , Richard Romanus , Cesare Danova , Victor Argo , George Memmoli
Mean Streets was one of Martin Scorsese’s first hits, made three years before Taxi Driver. Like many other Scorsese collaborations with Robert De Niro, it’s a gritty crime drama that shows the glamour, danger and darkness of organized crime. It’s known for its relatively loose plot, so the ending can feel rather abrupt. A drive-by shooting causes Charlie to crash his car while driving with Johnny and Teresa.
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Mean Streets
examines how life and death can often be about luck, and the mysterious ending illustrates this point perfectly.
The chaos of Mean Streets‘ finale is a lot to unpack, with the three characters stumbling from the wreckage of the car in different directions. It might require a couple of watches for some viewers to understand their movements, but there are still many questions left unanswered. Charlie seems like he will probably survive, but Teresa and Johnny could be in serious trouble. If Scorsese had shot 30 more seconds, the ambiguity of this scene would have been ruined.Mean Streets examines how life and death can often be about luck, and the mysterious ending illustrates this point perfectly.
6 Rocky III (1982)
Rocky III’s Iconic Freeze-Frame Ending Is Better Than Continuing The Fight
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8/10 Rocky III
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*Availability in US Director Sylvester Stallone Release Date May 28, 1982 Cast Sylvester Stallone , Talia Shire , Burt Young , Carl Weathers , Burgess Meredith , Tony Burton , Mr. T , Hulk Hogan
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Most sports movies end with a climactic game, race or fight, but it’s interesting to see how different movies wrap things up afterward. After Rocky Balboa defeats Clubber Lang to reclaim his heavyweight championship belt in Rocky III, he goes back into the gym to fulfill his promise to Apollo Creed by giving him a behind-closed-doors rematch. As they joke and tease each other in the ring, the movie ends with a freeze-frame when they throw their first punches.
In 2015’s
Creed,
Rocky reveals that Apollo won the bout at the end of
Rocky III.
Rocky III is one of the best movies of the Rocky franchise, and the final scene gives it the perfect ending. While it’s exciting to see Rocky and Apollo back in the ring, the outcome of their fight isn’t as important to the story as the simple fact that they’re in there together as friends. The freeze-frame means fans can make up their own minds about who wins, but it also shifts the focus on to the relationship between the two boxers.
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5 The Graduate (1967)
Benjamin And Elaine Escape Her Wedding
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7/10 The Graduate
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*Availability in US Director Mike Nichols Release Date December 21, 1967 Cast Dustin Hoffman , Katharine Ross , Murray Hamilton , Anne Bancroft , William Daniels
The Graduate is one of the funniest comedies of the 1960s, perfectly capturing the spirit of a younger generation who wanted to break away from the traditions and expectations of their parents. Decades later, it still resonates with college graduates and young adults. The Graduate‘s ending scene delivers a surprising emotional gut punch to the comedy, and its true meaning has been debated for years.
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The 1967 coming-of-age masterpiece The Graduate relies on its unforgettable quotes to describe all sides of its comedic love triangle.
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After Benjamin shows up uninvited to Elaine’s wedding and whisks her away, the couple get on a bus and drive away to an uncertain future. Their delirious smiles start to fade, perhaps suggesting that they realize they haven’t truly solved any of their problems. The Graduate ends abruptly before they say another word to one another. Their following conversation would provide more insight into their feelings, but the ambiguity is much more interesting.
4 Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Tom Gets A Phone Call As He Disposes Of The Guns
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10/10 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
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*Availability in US Director Guy Ritchie Release Date August 28, 1998 Cast Jason Flemyng , Dexter Fletcher , Nick Moran , Jason Statham , Steven Mackintosh , Vinnie Jones , sting , Peter McNicholl
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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was Guy Ritchie’s debut movie, and it’s impressive to see his style of dark humor so fully-formed from the beginning. Like Snatch, The Gentlemen and Revolver, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels follows a gloriously knotty criminal conspiracy involving a cast of disreputable characters. The movie ends with an excruciating cliffhanger, as Tom receives a desperate phone call from his associates telling him not to dispose of the guns.
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Related All 5 Upcoming Guy Ritchie Movies Explained
Guy Ritchie has at least 5 different upcoming feature films in various stages of production, in addition to two highly anticipated television series.
With his phone in his mouth and his body dangling over the side of London’s Southwark Bridge, Tom doesn’t seem to know whether to answer his phone before or after pushing the guns into the river. Although he doesn’t know it, this decision will dictate whether he and his gang end up with a huge score, or whether they walk away empty-handed. Tom’s dilemma creates a hilarious image, and cutting to black before he makes his next move is a great punch line.
3 Birdman (2014)
Sam Looks Out The Window For Riggan, Before Looking Up In Awe
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9/10 8.7/10 Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
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*Availability in US Director Alejandro González Iñárritu Release Date October 17, 2014 Cast Andrea Riseborough , Naomi Watts , Emma Stone , Edward Norton , Zach Galifianakis , Michael Keaton , Amy Ryan
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Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Best Picture winner Birdman is mostly presented as if it’s one long take. This illusion is shattered when Riggan shoots himself in the head on stage, and the following scene has been the topic of much debate. Riggan’s daughter Sam visits him in hospital, where she sees that he is making a recovery. After she turns her back on him and he disappears, she looks out the window to see if he has jumped. Then, she looks up, suggesting that he is flying just off screen.
One theory suggests that Riggan really did die on stage, and the final scene is a brief hallucination in his final moments.
Iñárritu cuts to black rather than panning the camera to show what Sam is looking at. This means that many of the different interpretations of Birdman‘s ending are still valid. One theory suggests that Riggan really did die on stage, and the final scene is a brief hallucination in his final moments. He has everything he wants in the final scene, including critical acclaim and the renewed love of his daughter. In such a fantasy, perhaps he also has the ability to fly.
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2 Fight Club (1999)
The Narrator And Marla Watch The Towers Collapse
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9/10 38 8.7/10 Fight Club
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*Availability in US Director David Fincher Release Date October 15, 1999 Cast Brad Pitt , Meat Loaf , Edward Norton , Jared Leto , Helena Bonham Carter
Fight Club‘s ending shows the Narrator hand-in-hand with Marla as Project Mayhem unfolds and the city starts to collapse. After the shocking twist, this seems like the only part of Fight Club that can be taken at face value, with Tyler Durden finally left behind, even if his plan and his ideas live on. After so much of Fight Club gets called into question, it’s unclear what the future holds for the Narrator and Marla.
After so much of
Fight Club
gets called into question, it’s unclear what the future holds for the Narrator and Marla.
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The two big questions about what happens after Fight Club‘s closing scene focus on the rest of Project Mayhem and the relationship between the Narrator and Marla. While the Narrator may not want to go through with Tyler’s plan, he could be powerless to stop it. It’s also unclear how he and Marla are set to continue. Their next conversation is undoubtedly key, but David Fincher doesn’t show it.
1 The Lobster (2015)
David Prepares To Blind Himself
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5/10 The Lobster
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*Availability in US Director Yorgos Lanthimos Release Date October 15, 2015 Cast Colin Farrell , Rachel Weisz , Olivia Colman , Lea Seydoux , Michael Smiley
Yorgos Lanthimos’ style can be bewildering to some people, but it’s richly rewarding for those who can get on his peculiar wavelength. The Lobster uses his trademark lack of emotion and straightforward dialogue to create a hilarious dark satire on the state of modern romance. David starts out by searching for love in the strange hotel, but he later joins a band of loners in the woods.
Lanthimos urges the audience to think more about this dilemma by leaving David’s answer out of the equation.
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David has been taught that all couples must have something in common or else they are romantically incompatible, so the final scene sees him preparing to blind himself with a steak knife so that he and his partner can share a life together. The Lobster‘s ending doesn’t reveal whether David goes through with his plan or not. He could reject the idea that he needs to be blind, but this might necessitate lying to his partner to begin their relationship. Lanthimos urges the audience to think more about this dilemma by leaving David’s answer out of the equation.
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