10 Famous Movie Endings That Were Total Accidents

9. A Seagull Invaded The Closing Scene - Barton Fink

The Graduate Ending Katharine Ross Dustin Hoffman
Fox

The Coen Brothers' superb psychological thriller Barton Fink ends with one of the most memorable images in their entire filmography - courtesy of veteran DP Roger Deakins - when Barton (John Turturro) wanders onto a beach only to see a beautiful woman resembling the one from the iconic photo featured throughout the film.

To top it all off, in the final second of the film a seagull is seen flying into shot and suddenly falling into the sea, apparently dead. As much as this might seem like an intentional blackly comedic concoction by the Coens, it was actually completely by happenstance.

As it turns out, this wasn't planned in the slightest - the seagull simply divebombed into the sea mid-take and the Coens liked it enough that they not only kept it in, but abruptly cut to the credits afterwards to give the impression the gull was dead. Perfection.

In this post: 
The Graduate
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.