12 Greatest Red Herring Movie Endings

4. The Bad Guy Wins With Minimal Fuss - No Country For Old Men

The Coen brothers' Best Picture-winning thriller initially appears to be structured like a classic western, with audiences likely assuming that the grizzled "heroes", Llwellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), will end up facing off against and defeating the Terminator-like assassin Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).

This being a Coens movie and all, they intentionally say "balls to all that" with not one two but big red herrings. First of all, Moss is killed 25 minutes before the end of the film by a gang of Mexicans, denying the audience the expected showdown between him and Chigurh.

The film then quietly concludes with Bell effectively admitting that he's outmatched by Chigurh, who escapes with the money (albeit after suffering a broken arm in a car accident).

The ending certainly frustrated many "casual" viewers by not simply serving up a predictable finale where either Moss or Bell blows Chigurh away, but the result is a far more haunting and memorable conclusion to the story. Bravo.