10 Most Elaborate Movie Climaxes Ever

Sometimes, it takes a real professional to stage a scene of extreme chaos, particularly if that scene is loaded with the dense jargon of David Mamet (under the pseudonym Richard Weisz). Ronin is a terrific action thriller loaded with double-crosses and cons -Mamet's specialties - best remembered for its hyper-realistic car chases. Carefully storyboarded and shot, they're often ranked up there with The French Connection, The Seven-Ups and Bullit.

For scenes like that, an old Hollywood legend like John Frankenheimer was necessary. Ronin was his last film before he squandered a lot of goodwill with Reindeer Games, a film even Charlize Theron has apologized for.

At Ronin's end, Robert De Niro's crew of heisters and the IRA squabble over the film's MacGuffin - a mysterious briefcase that apparently contains sensitive information that will change the outcome of the Sein Fein/British government conflict. After a ballerina is assassinated during a performance, the crowd rushes to the exits, causing the coveted briefcase to change hands repeatedly. To add to the madness, Mamet's vague, mile-a-minute dialogue never fully explains everyone's motive, instead leaving the audience to interpret De Niro's, "I never got out" (a reference to the question of whether or not he was still a CIA agent).

It's a lot to balance, but Frankenheimer balances it out with aplomb.