As Kay Adams watches from the foreground, men surround Michael Corleone in embraces and one man kisses his ring. The end of the Godfather Part I is the perfect logical conclusion of the film given the grandiose character arc Michael has undergone. Any other ending would leave the film feeling incomplete at best, and could possibly ruin what many consider to be the greatest movie of all time.
Other classic films, like Chinatown and Casablanca, have similarly perfect endings. Some movies, like Caddyshack, may not be seen on the Sight And Sound Top 10 poll which is released every decade, but Rodney Dangerfield blasting Journey on the golf course seems like a perfectly fitting end within the context of the film.
Unfortunately, many movies narrowly miss out on perfection in their last precious few minutes. Whether it’s a nonsensical change in personality or a deus ex machina, an unnecessary additional ending monologue or an entire 40-minute long third act full of drivel, the ending to a film can make or break it.
So grab your bucket of popcorn and bottle of white-out as we dive into the 10 endings that nearly ruined their movies.
We are currently seeking Film contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Film contributor, click here.
25 Comments
I have to disagree with Freddy, he was a great addition to the slasher genre and broke the mold of the silent killers like Jason and Michael, but I do agree with the ending being completely woeful.
It pains me to say it: Alien. Once the Nostromo is primed to self-destruct, the alien somehow knows what a lifeboat is and how to get to it. The creature’s either prescient, or there was a deleted scene on the Nostromo where it’s parsing a map kiosk like you see at a mall.
Even worse, once the alien gets to the lifeboat, it decides the best strategic move would be to have a little lie down. If the creature was smart enough to make it the lifeboat, it should also know that’s where the fleshy, chewy things with fire would go, too.
That, or it was hiding so it could get a gander at Sigourney Weaver’ butt crack…
The Nightmare on Elm Street ending is still a Nancy’s dream!!!
I disagree with Half-Baked. First you got a number of inaccurate plot points in addition you weren’t paying attention to the ending at all. He stopped smoking pot not for a girl, but for sex. The moral of the story is, weed is awesome, but sex is better. No shame in that at all.
There are plenty of women who will have sex with someone who smokes pot…To quit smoking weed for an uptight woman is a horrible ending!!!
I disagree. Only 1 of these movies was “Awesome”, and 1 came close to that definition. I liked their endings just fine.
In the spirit of healthy debate, here goes:
Actually, I think M. Night Shyamalan is a superb director, but only a pretty good writer. His problem is not a lack of talent. Like so many filmmakers, he quit listening to criticism. That’s how you go from The Sixth Sense to The Lady in the Water. Also, I think Shyamalan did exactly what Ridley Scott did in Alien: once Scott wrung all the scares he could from half-glimpses of the alien, he showed the alien. In Signs’ climax, the suspense comes from Mel Gibson’s son being in danger. The scene still plays. The water bit is debatable, I’ll give you that – but I think there’s enough leeway because, you know, they’re aliens.
A.I. is a dark twist on a fairy tale. Most characters find their way home in a fairy tale. A kiss will wake up a sleeping beauty. It’s all magic, it’s all gods in the machines, and it’s all a bit silly. That’s a fairy tale. The end of A.I. is one heck of a dark take on a fairy tale ending. Having David curl up next to a soon-to-be corpse in an alien world where he’s just as much an outsider as before is a far bleaker ending than having him stuck in the ocean. After she’s dead, what does he do then? Either way, I think we can agree that Teddy rocks.
It’s been a while since I last watched Psycho, but I remember tuning out the dialog at the end and focusing on Perkins’ unnerving stare. I don’t know if that’s what Hitchcock intended. If so, I’d say that scene still works. I’ll have to watch it again.
M.Night isn’t that bad he just has a bad time coming up with logical explanations in his movies, look at the happening had great suspense in the begining but than he found some stupid explanation instead of a logical one and it messed up the movie same happened with signs, also saying wes craven’s best movie is Nightmare on elm street makes me think you haven’t spent alot of time watching his movies and just said it was cause its the only one you saw of his.
the things at the end of AI are not aliens they are the robots that have advanced over the years
I would add:
1) Bram Stokers Dracula – The end is a bit anticlimactic in that the heroes chase Dracula on a road to his castle with the sun quickly setting. This gives the impression that if the sun sets they will not be able to stop Dracula. So what happens, the sun sets, Dracula pops out of his coffin and is stabbed to death putting up not much of a fight. Why did the sun setting then create the intense drama in the movie?
2) Superman Returns – A movie that had some good moments including iconic images of Superman and exciting action scenes (when there were some). But the end is just perplexing. The film spends the last 20 minutes as everyone waits to see if Superman will die, a doctor pulls out the last remnant of kryptonite, Superman quietly gets better, tells Lois he’ll be around then flies away. I don’t get it.
3) Do The Right Thing – this movie ventured into an area of racial intolerance that few movies dare venture. Unfortunately the message of the destructiveness of racism is muddled by having the tragic death of Radio Raheem occur during a riot started by his supporters. While Lee would argue correctly that Raheems death is the REAL crime and that the rioters do not measure up to that evil, still the police are responding to a riot where participants MUST know the use of force may be used. What could have been a perfect ending to a movie with a salient message was marred by the introduction of violence that was responded to with more unjustified violence.
I like your picks but disagree with Do the Right Thing. I see the riot as them rebelling against the neighborhood which had been complicit in the racism, particularly the pizza place Mookie worked at
Judging by the response I am getting, I can see I am in the minority (pun intended) regarding Do the Right Thing. Thanks for the response.
You made mention of it in one of your summaries, but Donner’s Superman, where he manages to spin the world counterclockwise, thereby turning back time and giving him a do-over in saving Lois Lane was such a completely inane ending that i remember thinking ‘That’s not right’ and i was only 7 years old at the time. When you have a 7 year old realizing such a giant plot hole exists in a movie, you’ve done something wrong.
I think of that as a bonus entry
Aside from the impossibility element of shifting time backwards, I always thought it was very selfish of “Mr Truth & Justice” to only want to save Lois. He could have gone back a little further in time and stopped the San Andreas Fault from collapsing, preventing the near-collapse of the Golden Gate Bridge, the bursting of the dam and the disintegration of the rail network by diverting the second bomb. Fair enough, we don’t actually see anyone die so presumably he somehow saved the lot the first time around, but California would inevitably become some kind of logistical nightmare that could have been avoided if he’s focused on prevention rather than impressing Lois.
Got to agree about The Departed. I’ve never been to Boston but I suspect it doesn’t have giant rats running along balconies in the middle of the day. Not quite enough to detract from a truly brilliant movie, even if the number of times Leo/Damon slightly miss each other (and also the fact no-one clicked that both were the obvious choice to be the respective ‘rat’; Leo because he was a convicted copper who openly looked uncomfortable in the face of violence; Damon’s propensity for consistently being in the right place at the right time). But the rat thing wasn’t half cheesy and unnecessary.
Patrick, you are 110% wrong about “Do the Right Thing”.(Spoilers)The ending is perfect, and is very misunderstood, even by those who love it. Raheem was murdered. The residents were understandably angry given they history of racial turbulance, and that anger is projected onto Sal and his sons. The part many don’t seem to understand is Mookie sees those daggers, re-directs that anger onto the pizzeria, saving their lives. Everything before it builds to that scene. If it didn’t end that way Spike Lee wouldn’t have done the right thing.
Also, “The Departed”? That’s nowhere near Scorsese’s worst ending. Check out his “Cape Fear” remake. That last 10 minutes… Not many movies literally sink in that spectacular a fashion.
Look I completely understand where you are coming from…but you state yourself that “The residents were understandably angry given they history of racial turbulance, and that anger is projected onto Sal and his sons.” The moral question was is it “right” to project it at Sal and his sons. That moral ambiguity changed the nature of the film for me adding another level of morality to the movie…what is the appropriate response to that event (Raheem’s murder). Unfortunately the movie ends after introducing that question with no attempt at justification…and maybe by choice as I am sure many might think that the residents did not go far enough.
I second Bertoff.
In Elm Street all is explained with a logical ending – Nancy is still dreaming. Okay, the ‘it was all a dream’ scenario is often used as a cheap cop-out, but it is fitting for this film as the story revolves around dreams.
Granted, some of the editing is awful. Even Nancy’s mother being dragged through the window looks bad the second time around. But the first time you watch it in your teens? Horrifying. And no doubt more so for the viewers in 1984.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari actually becomes far more unsettling with the revelation that it was all the inner thoughts of a madman. The fact it is all in his head explains the beautiful Expressionist sets as a representation of his twisted worldview. I also agree with the posts above who say M. Night Shyamalan is a decent director but a horrible writer. I have no idea how you can watch 2 hours of self-important whispering voiceover and then criticise the ending of Tree of Life for being pretentious. Also, I hate to be a nit-picker but it’s such a glaring error, Blade Runner was an 80s film not a 70s one.
I agree with you on A.I. though, the ending to that was a step too far, but it seems like Spielberg regularly struggles to end a film, just look at The Lost World, Minority Report, War of the Worlds and Lincoln.
You’re right, it’s 1982. Blade runner just has the feel of the great 70s Hollywood flicks so I lump it in with them in my mind.
The end of Caligari can kind of work in the twist ending sense, but looking at the social commentary intended from the outset and the negation of that sentiment is kind of depressing and leaves the movie without a real message or sense of purpose. Still, a great movie.
Tree of a life is pretentious throughout, but it’s Malick so I expect no less. But that one line is so cheesy it stands out from the rest of the movie
I liked the endings of Psycho and The Departed but it’s still a good article.
One word. “Knowing”
Okay, perhaps not. It was not amazing, it was a moderately exciting end of the world flick with not just an ‘annoying’ ending… but a truly abysmal display of lazy screen writing!
“Psycho” was ruined by “pop psychology?”
There was no such thing as “pop psychology” in 1960, dude. You’re criticizing the first horror movie in film history by saying, “Eh, just another lazy horror movie.”
You should have put “The Wizard of Oz” on your list, instead. Just another lazy “it was all a dream” endings, right?
I first watched Blade Runner (theatrical) then years later saw the director’s cutised I hated the original version for your reasons. The ending of AI was just spielberg outsmarting himself which is nothing new. Signs really really pissed me off. Intelligent life forms travel across the universe to a planet covered 70% in water and have no idea it will kill them? Mel Gibson is spectacular in that movie and had his performance ruined by the Night man. Youd think Gibson being an oscar winner would have spoke up but I guess he is crazy. Add The village…really theyre living in the present? What do they live under a no-fly zone?