Ten Deep 12.17.09: Movie Endings

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 12.17.2009

As the time runs down, we a look at a much-discussed topic in Owain J. Brimfield's penultimate installment of 'Ten Deep'!





Welcome to week 60 of 'Ten Deep'! There's two weeks to go until I depart in a blaze of glory, but I'll go out as I came in, by attracting a mixture of the internet's brightest and stupidest to comment here. Let's see some:

Reactions and interactions

A fair few idiots to choose from amongst last week's mostly pleasant comments, but the tool who thinks that because I haven't seen Jerry Maguire means I can't create best-of lists really takes the cake. How can you be allowed to post comments on the internet when you haven't posted on classic columns like the one where I already explained why this argument is null and void?

However, this was topped for sheer idiocy by Guest#1822, with this gem:

"WHAT A SHOCK he tries to be cool and chooses a movie 13 people have ever heard of for #1"

In case you missed it, last week's number one pick for most uplifting movie was Amelie. I'd really like to think that speaks for itself, but really, who the hell is reading this column that hasn't at least heard of that film?

Elsewhere, in the land of the sane, Denton56 and Frank wonder at the lack of Pixar flicks on the list. I actually had pretty much the studio's entire back catalog on the shortlist, but somehow they all found themselves weaned off by the time the list came together. I haven't yet seen Up, though.

As for other omissions, well, Rocky was the obvious choice and yes it was the last film to be knocked off the shortlist. To be honest looking back I think this should probably have made the lower end of the list. There's also a lot of love for Slumdog Millionaire too, which I can't really argue with.

Apparently the Kanye West meme is still going, judging by the couple of iterations of it I found amongst the comments.

BlueOyster tries to insult me, but later has to make a second comment to correct his own grammar. Better luck next time, sir, but valiant of you to show your face after the first attempt.

a. grossman [lol] suggests a film I've never heard of, Scarlet Sails. Any other supporters of this one?

Mr. C. found a way to get him some poon with Evil Dead 2. You are my hero.

The Tortoise King and Cactus have my back on the antipathy towards It's a Wonderful Life, which makes me a happy man indeed.

Finally, Just Saying wonders whether any other year can compete with 1994's triumvirate of Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. Sounds like a challenge! I submit 1984, with This is Spinal Tap, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Terminator. Closely followed by 1977, with Annie Hall, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, amongst others. Any other takers?

Moving on!

Yes, as we draw our weary way towards the end of my 411 tenure, our thoughts (well, mine anyway), turn to endings, and what a great topic for a column, because for every great ending I list there about twenty I'll have to leave off and get shouted at some interesting comments for further debate. Needless to say, this column was pretty hard to compile, but always game for a challenge am I. No doubt I've left off some classics here, but after all, I've been doing that since I started so I might as well keep that spirit up till next week's final column.

That all sounded a bit more bitter than I intended it. This is a subject that's ripe for discussion, so let's get stuck in.

Oh, and needless to say - SPOILER ALERT!


As always, there's one golden rule: if I haven't seen it, it's not allowed on the list.

This week's golden rule notable omissions: 8 1/2, Bonnie & Clyde, Jacob's Ladder





Honorable mention: Dark Star

Home to Benson, Arizona.

Honorable mention: The Mist

The most divisive ending in cinema history? Certainly one of the most memorable.

Honorable mention: The Searchers

John Wayne framed against that doorway... glorious.

10. Saw

So how many twist endings do you think will make the list by the time we hit number one? Place bets now! Although in the spirit of all of those people who have previously spoiled The Sixth Sense, let me offer my own spoiler by saying that didn't make it. Or maybe the twist is that it did. Anyway, although the twist ending has been pretty much done to death by now, there are still some films that manage to make it work, and Saw, which has built its franchise's reputation on twist upon twist, got it right first time. Disassociate yourself from the ultimately disappointing sequels and think back to when the film stood on its own two feet; that initial setup really did have potential, didn't it? While the mythology would be endlessly played out and extended, the moment in the closing moments of the film where the manipulative Jigsaw Killer is finally revealed is truly shocking (admittedly less so than Cary Elwes finally biting the bullet and doing what we worried he'd do all film long, and saw off his own foot) - he was there all along! - and even if the logic behind it is ever so slightly suspect in hindsight, it doesn't dilute the impact of Jigsaw rising to his feet and locking the hapless Adam in darkness while poor old Dr. Gordon's fate is left undecided. Despite going on to become horror cinema's best equivalent to Tupac Shakur (Jigsaw, too, seems to have more material after his death than he did when he was alive), when presented within the confines of Saw alone, Jigsaw really is a nasty piece of work, having a grisly modus operandi and that most important facet of villains, the conviction that he's doing the right thing. Of course, the extent of his plan, when it's finally revealed, is all the more horrible for being emphatically not the right thing.

9. Before Sunset

Ending on just as ambiguous a note as its predecessor Before Sunrise, Sunset is the only film I've seen in the cinema whose rolling of the end credits has elicited loud cries equal parts dismay and agreement from the audience, and for that alone it deserves its part on my list. The simple words "I know" haven't been as infused with meaning since, well, since a certain scene in this week's number seven pick, for those of you who can't guess it. Of course, through an expert slice of foreshadowing, such a note of ambiguity has already been hinted at in the opening scenes through the three journalists interviewing Jesse about the book he's written based on the events of Before Sunrise, with the three opposing viewpoints (romantic, cynic and realist) representing the possible avenues of interpretation of the earlier film's ending, and soon this one too. So what's your choice? I've seen the film two or three films and still haven't decided as yet. The film strikes just the right balance of hope and pragmatism that it's difficult to decided whether the sight of Julie Delpy dancing to Nina Simone is sufficient for the man to stay and, essentially, wreck his marriage, but frankly, there must be something wrong with him at that point if he elects to leave. It's a glorious dilemma and plays out all the more effectively through playing on our expectations, knowing how the first film had ended and hoping that this time round there might be a little more finality to proceedings. As for leaving the ultimate decision in the romantic hands (or otherwise) of the viewer, it only seems fair that we can decide for ourselves whether this really is a happy ever after, or whether it's a nearly but not quite.

8. Twelve Monkeys

Entirely spoiled if you've previously seen Chris Marker's short La Jetée, from which Twelve Monkeys borrows liberally (and intentionally, I hasten to add), then this ending is already pre-spoiled for you. Taking a pleasingly logical look at time travel, in a storyworld where pre-destination and fate are apparently undefeatable forces, unlike the plethora of other time travel movies where timelines are rewritten willy-nilly, the film presents are lovely and neat close of the loop to finish. Having begun the movie with Bruce Willis as a child witnessing a man being gunned down in an airport, the final scene reveals that the man is in fact his adult self, having traveled back in time in an attempt to prevent a deadly virus being unleashed and decimating the world's population. Of course, while the perfectly neat logic of it all is pleasing for those minds as particularly fastidious as mine, it's not the only attraction to Twelve Monkeys' conclusion. The pace at which the final ten minutes or so evolves, where it slowly but surely dawns on the viewer what's occurring to the point where they realise themselves what's about to happen just before it actually happens, is expertly set and may indeed in and of itself make a comment about the laws of time. Coupled with the suspense of wondering whether or not the rogue vial of the virus will make it through airport security, and the brilliantly ambiguous line as our evildoer sits down on the plane only to find himself seated next to a potentially time-traveling colleague of Willis' who claims to work "in insurance" (so does the virus get unleashed or not? It's up to you to piece that puzzle together, just as Willis has been forced to piece together his sanity), it's a wonderfully well rounded climax to one of the most original science fiction films of recent times.

7. The Empire Strikes Back

For those of you who didn't guess this already given my earlier tease, here it is. One of the most frequently cited endings when this sort of discussion tends to come up, certainly when considering the "big" films at any rate, and it is indeed a great example of how to close the middle part of a trilogy - downbeat, but with a number of cliffhangers and a note of optimism that things will come to fruition in the upcoming sequel (or "threequel"). Fresh from the astonishing revelation - well, it was astonishing the first time you saw it, the impact is slightly diluted nowadays after two decades of it being imprinted in popular culture - that the main bad guy is actually the main good guy's dad, it all goes somewhat tits up for our heroes, as the good guy gets his hand cut off, and the other good guy (and burgeoning love interest of the love interest) gets imprisoned and carted off by a bounty hunter, and it seems that the dark side has pretty much won the day, off on their merry way to construct another Death Star with which to wreak merry havoc across the galaxy. Hope remains though, as the guy who betrayed the other good guy even though he had no choice and the other good guy's sidekick head off on a rescue mission, and the main good guy gets a robotic hand replacement, all the better for ambidextrous derring-do and evil-foiling even if he does have some pretty hefty Freudian issues to work through. The final shot of the goodies staring off into space, framed by the window of ship, is certainly a minor classic as closing shots go, and having seen the way Empire closes there's surely no way now you'll skip seeing Return of the Jedi.

6. Planet of the Apes

Arguably the most visually iconic and memorable of the endings in this list (come on, even if you haven't heard of Charlton Heston you still probably know how this one ends), Planet of the Apes is to some degree the progenitor of the "twist"-type ending that does so well when it's done right (as in a few other films this week) and annoys so greatly when its overdone. Having crossed space and time and ventured into and out of the forbidden zone of the titular apeish society, Heston finds himself at their mercy of the conservative and bigoted ways, and risks his life to escape and find some proof that he's actually right and they really are just a bunch of filthy apes. Finally negotiating his release through force after failing to convince their leader that archaeological ruins are actually anything of relevance to help his cause, old Big Guns rides off along the coastline in an attempt to find some semblance of real life away from the big talking monkeys. What he finds, of course, is rooted in cultural mythology and is surely one of the defining images in all cinema. In fact had I been writing this column thirty years ago this would have been a shoe-in for the top spot; it's only the fact that it's rare to find someone watching the film for the first time who doesn't already know how it ends, that prevents this from climbing any higher in the list. Not the film's fault, to be sure, but I can't in good conscience reward its ingenuity to the extent it once deserved. Nevertheless, those maniacs who blew it up are more than worthy of mention, and I'm sure all of you know a student who had this image postered on a wall at some point in your life.

5. Seven

My good friend castmeastheriddlerchris presciently pre-empted this one in the comments section a fortnight ago, and with good reason - how often do you see a film where the killer pulls so many rugs out from under the cops, and right when they think they have him bang to rights, he pulls the ol' switcheroo and turns out to have masterminded a complete victory after all. Not often, that's how. Seven (or Se7en if you want to really infuriate me. It's not called "Sesevenen"!) has a fantastically diabolical villain in the shape of John Doe, who finally emerges near the end of the film to be deliberately (and literally) caught red-handed and convinces good cop and bad cop (well they play those roles to some extent) to take a drive with him out into the middle of nowhere to reveal the final step in his grand plan to help the world atone for its sins. With Doe having been such an unseen Machiavellian schemer throughout the film, capable of some pretty horrendous acts and possessing an apartment that you'd only invite your neighbor to if he was Lucifer himself, everyone knows that some greater ploy is afoot, but the suspense wrought out of the final car journey and the climactic showdown is almost unbearable. Despite apparently being patently obvious, the question of what exactly was in the box is seemingly still up for debate as far as some people are concerned, but even without a note of ambiguity the implied reveal is powerful, and the expression on Kevin Spacey's face as he realizes his plan is coming together is chilling. Some will no doubt argue that Doe gets what's coming to him, but that ignores the fact that it plays absolutely into his hands, and he entirely controlled the outcome of his spree, which is what makes this ending so great. Oh, and it gives me a chance to re-use one of my favorite YouTube clips:

4. Memento

Amongst the many facets of Memento's ideas, structure and plotline that are routinely discussed and lauded as examples of premier league filmmaking, the actual ending itself isn't always thrown in there. Partly, perhaps because the actual ending of the film isn't technically the end of the story, just the end of the manner in which it's presented, which leads to all sorts of existential angst over what exactly constitutes the conclusion of the film. It's good either way, but I'm referring specifically to the final moments before the end credits roll, as we finally learn what motivates Lenny and the lengths he's gone to deceive his own memory in order to gain some measure of revenge for his wife's killing. What could have been just another "oh, it was him all along" is thrown into disarray by the film's non-chronological structure, meaning the moment where it all finally clicks is given extra thrust. It's capped off, too, with a final line that I always feel gets overlooked in terms of great movie lines, so I just thought I should mention that. While it's not an ending that can be readily explained in one quick (high) concept like some of these others - and on a related note, I really hope none of you have the misfortune of watching this with someone who's easily confused - the mind-bending logic behind it all slots into place with a resounding and satisfying finality and lends itself to plenty of watercooler discussion without becoming one of Hitchcock's famous "refrigerator movies". For those who'd seen Chris Nolan's preceding film, Following, the ending's style might not have come as so much of a surprise, but it certainly still holds a visceral impact, and it's as memorable, if not more so, than the disjointed twists of the narrative. Now, where was I?

3. The Usual Suspects

I'm sure you all know, by now, who Keyser Soze is. But goddamn if the first time you find that out isn't one of the forehead-slappingest, gosh-darningest moments in your film viewing history. Despite being one of those films that smart arses think it's fun to give away the twist, the scene as Kevin Spacey (him again? He's good at playing the bad guys isn't he) leaves the police station and slowly drops his limp, as poor sucker Chazz Palminteri slowly pieces together his deception and the crucial fax comes through confirming the man's real identity, is one of the those rare and highly sought-after genuinely jaw-dropping moments that the movies deliver once in a blue moon. Throwing the events of the previous two hours entirely into question and practically forcing you to re-watch the movie at your soonest convenience, rarely has a movie's ending turned everything on its head quite as expertly as in The Usual Suspects. The audacity of revealing the fiction as a fiction within a fiction (so to speak) is pretty much unparalleled, and although it's easy to say in hindsight how well it works, it must have taken some serious cojones on the part of all concerned to even attempt it. As far as endings to crime thrillers go, you couldn't really ask for something with more impetus than revealing that the quiet mousey guy made everything up. Legend has it that even the cast didn't know the twist was going to take place, with Gabriel Byrne in particular convinced his own character was Keyser Soze, and frankly if you can successfully bait and switch the people who were in the actual movie, than far from being predictable as is frequently the criticism of things like this, you have yourself an actual moment of movie magic.

2. The Thing

I was increasingly surprised with myself as I was putting this list together to see how high The Thing was creeping, although perhaps not as surprised as some of you reading this might be. Nevertheless, looking back I think it's a justified high placing. The film ends with such an overwhelmingly eerie and claustrophobic moment, that's as thought-provoking as anything else you'd care to suggest (can you see the guy's breath or not??), that I couldn't omit it from the higher echelons of this week's list. Few films are as effective at evoking an atmosphere of paranoia and suspense as John Carpenter's masterpiece (well, one of several masterpieces really, but certainly my favorite), as the suspicion over which of the Antarctic research crew could have been infected by the mutant alien beastie grows to overpowering levels. With the crew decimated by a variety of gory special effects, the monster is eventually stopped with explosives - OR IS IT. The film ends as the survivors share an uneasy drink and it's up to the viewer to decipher the clues as to whether some, all or none of them were infected before the main baddie bit the dust. It's, pleasingly, a question that doesn't really have a definitive answer. Were it not for the existence of various video games and comic books that sequel-ize the story, it'd be one of horror cinema's great mysteries, but if you pretend they're non-canon (or, lucky for you, don't know about them) then the film's ending is all the much better to appreciate. While it may not have the iconic cache of Planet of the Apes or the ball-twisting swerve of The Usual Suspects, it has atmosphere in spades and that bumps it up to the number two slot.

1. Casablanca

I don't need to write anything for this, because words can't do it justice. You all knew it was coming. Here's the best movie ending ever made, and likely ever will be made:

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And finally…

Feeling aggrieved or elated at this week's ten picks? Then let me know! Be sure to tune in next week my final edition of 'Ten Deep', but until then - keep watching the skies.