10 Movies With Annoyingly Abrupt Endings

8. The Tunnel - North By Northwest

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

This ending comes at you so fast, it's entirely possible that - had you chosen to blink as it occurred - you missed it actually happening and wound up wondering at which point Alfred Hitchcock opted to end his classic film.

During the iconic fight that takes place on Mount Rushmore, the movie cleverly cuts from Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) reaching for Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) as she dangles over the edge of the famous monument, to him pulling her into the bed on a train carriage and addressing her as "Mrs. Thornhill." You can't fault Hitch for his ability to rely a ton of information in one cut: we learn they both survived and they're married just like that.

At this point, the two begin to kiss and there's a very unsubtle shot of a train going into a tunnel (they're having sex, get it?) as "The End" appears on the screen. And that's it. From the moment that Thornhill is grabbing for Eve Kendall atop Mount Rushmore to the moment the film actually ends, there are just twenty seconds.

There are genuine reports of people rewinding the movie at this point, as a result of things happening so damn quickly. North by Northwest is an otherwise leisurely-paced film, after all, so this sudden ending has always felt oddly out of place.

Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.