15 Awful Endings That Ruined Potentially Great Films
2. North By Northwest (1959)
Sad but true, Alfred Hitchcocks films often ended in a rather farcical way. It may just be a sign of changing times, the desire for a large set-piece ending, or simply a sense of having run out of creative ideas for the ending. Either way, North by Northwest, for a film with a high number of iconic moments still studied today by anybody interested in making films, takes a step beyond the realm of common sense for the finale. The Ending That Ruined The Film The whole third act of the film is pretty stupid. The action involves a forest hut of the villain Vandamm (Played by James Mason, not Jean Claude). After some rather spurious standoff moments, Thornhill (Cary Grant) and love interest Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) escape and somehow take the only escape route down the carved presidential faces of Mt. Rushmore. Hanging there, clinging to life by the fingertips, the duo are saved as a park ranger manages to turn up and luckily has a gun to kill him with. Phew. Commendation however must be given to Hitchcock for including the best final shot of any film: the train going into the tunnel euphemism.
