10 Biggest Downer Endings In Major Movies

As Stanley Kubrick's black comedy has the alternate title of How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, you might not be surprised to learn that it's another film which ends with the nuclear apocalypse.

Of course, however unconventional such an ending might be today (particularly for a studio comedy), that's nothing compared to how it must have been when the film first opened way back in 1964, with the Cold War still ongoing and the Cuban Missile Crisis fresh in the memory.

A frenzied satire on the paranoia of the time, and the obvious insanity of nuclear conflict, Dr Strangelove famously casts comedy legend Peter Sellers in multiple roles as bumbling bureaucrats struggle to call off an unauthorised nuclear strike against Russia.

Needless to say, this doesn't work out, and - following the iconic shot with Major TJ 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens) riding the bomb all the way down - Armageddon ensues.

It probably says a lot about Kubrick that this was how he opted to end his only comedy. Still, it worked given that Dr Strangelove is frequently held up as one of the greatest comedies ever made, and helped launch the director into the most distinctive era of his career (1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey and 1971's A Clockwork Orange followed).