2. The Searchers
If the opening shot of John Ford's classic revisionist Western The Searchers opens the door to the American Old West, then the final shot closes the door on it, surrendering Ford's tragic eulogy of a time long gone. John Wayne's Ethan Edwards spends the entirety of the film attempting to save his niece, Debbie (Natalie Wood), who was abducted by the Comanche, and even when he succeeds, he finds himself unable to enter the family home, instead opting to disappear into the wilderness once again. Wayne standing in the hallway is a potent image, wracked by confusion and a dilemma, before deciding that he is no longer needed by the family, and that he does not belong there. He belongs out in the wild where violence is the law, and with his job done, he decides to return there. From the beautiful cinematography to the highly influential framing of the shot (Tarantino recently copied it during the opening of Inglourious Basterds) and the ideology packed into the image, this is one of cinema's most thought-provoking and emotive ways to close a film.