OT: Great Movies with Bad Endings/Horrible Movies with Great Endings

[simons96]

so I got into this conversation with my brother last night about really good movies that get ruined by horrible endings.

I brought up Jeepers Creepers, which I though had the best first hour of any horror film of the last 20 years, then just tore itself apart in the final act. Dreadful, ruined the whole film for me.

Then he asked if there were films that I thought were terrible, but somehow had amazing endings to justify watching them. I said, immediately, without question: Crossroads.

not the trashy Brittany Spears film, but the 1986 film with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca, where Ralph plays (quite poorly through the film) a Julliard trained classical guitarist with a penchant for the blues who tracks down a famous blues man Willie Brown (Joe Seneca). They set out on a trip down south the find "the crossroads" where Willie sold his soul . . . ahhhhh really, the film is awful. Jami Gertz plays some type of temptress along the way and she is terrible. It's starts out as about 85 minutes of Walter Hill directed dreck. Even the soundtrack by Ry Cooder cannot salvage the beginning of this film.

Then when they find the crossroads and challenge the Devil to a guitar duel for Willie's soul . . . holy crow the film suddenly becomes legendary. A very young Steve Vai lends his talents to his part as the devil's axe man AND does some of the brilliant guitar work for Macchio (with Ry Cooder playing most of the slide guitar parts). ignore Macchio trying to mime the notes. Some of the most phenomenal music you'll ever hear in a film:

LINK

btw I play guitar and I've watched numerous tutorials on how Vai plays the finale. No one seems to get it spot on.

 

[mn78psu83]

so I got into this conversation with my brother last night about really good movies that get ruined by horrible endings.

I brought up Jeepers Creepers, which I though had the best first hour of any horror film of the last 20 years, then just tore itself apart in the final act. Dreadful, ruined the whole film for me.

Then he asked if there were films that I thought were terrible, but somehow had amazing endings to justify watching them. I said, immediately, without question: Crossroads.

not the trashy Brittany Spears film, but the 1986 film with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca, where Ralph plays (quite poorly through the film) a Julliard trained classical guitarist with a penchant for the blues who tracks down a famous blues man Willie Brown (Joe Seneca). They set out on a trip down south the find "the crossroads" where Willie sold his soul . . . ahhhhh really, the film is awful. Jami Gertz plays some type of temptress along the way and she is terrible. It's starts out as about 85 minutes of Walter Hill directed dreck. Even the soundtrack by Ry Cooder cannot salvage the beginning of this film.

Then when they find the crossroads and challenge the Devil to a guitar duel for Willie's soul . . . holy crow the film suddenly becomes legendary. A very young Steve Vai lends his talents to his part as the devil's axe man AND does some of the brilliant guitar work for Macchio (with Ry Cooder playing most of the slide guitar parts). ignore Macchio trying to mime the notes. Some of the most phenomenal music you'll ever hear in a film:

LINK

btw I play guitar and I've watched numerous tutorials on how Vai plays the finale. No one seems to get it spot on.

The film is painful overall, but Steve Vai is such a virtuoso and it's worth waiting to see him as Jack Butler (?) cutting heads with Ralph Macchio.

We've had a long Western discussion and I do not like the ending of either version of the 3:10 to Yuma. Not sure that they fit into the category of awful - just puzzling - and both films are good. Oh. I just thought of one "Back to School." Yeah. Like that girl is going for Rodney's surly, uptight son. Well, maybe she's a gold digger with an eye on the Tall and Fat Store empire. I'm not saying that Back to School is a great movie either.

 

[simons96]

The film is painful overall, but Steve Vai is such a virtuoso and it's worth waiting to see him as Jack Butler (?) cutting heads with Ralph Macchio.

We've had a long Western discussion and I do not like the ending of either version of the 3:10 to Yuma. Not sure that they fit into the category of awful - just puzzling - and both films are good. Oh. I just thought of one "Back to School." Yeah. Like that girl is going for Rodney's surly, uptight son. Well, maybe she's a gold digger with an eye on the Tall and Fat Store empire.

on the flip side, I suffered through most of Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland, which seemed to be a confused and mishandled student film until the very end . . . good Lord, that twist was just . . . gruesome?? cruel?? put the entire film into an entirely different context, elevating it.

I also felt the same about the big twist at the end of Primal Fear, which seemed to be a slightly above average Richard Gere courtroom drama with some fantastic acting by Edward Norton to prop it up. maybe a 6 out of 10. then that twist, changed the entire moral center of the film, frikkin brilliant! I give the film a 9.5 out of 10 just for the last 5 minutes.

 

[mn78psu83]

on the flip side, I suffered through most of Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland, which seemed to be a confused and mishandled student film until the very end . . . good Lord, that twist was just . . . gruesome?? cruel?? put the entire film into an entirely different context, elevating it.

I also felt the same about the big twist at the end of Primal Fear, which seemed to be a slightly above average Richard Gere courtroom drama with some fantastic acting by Edward Norton to prop it up. maybe a 6 out of 10. then that twist, changed the entire moral center of the film, frikkin brilliant! I give the film a 9.5 out of 10 just for the last 5 minutes.

Those are really well articulated examples.

 

[LionJim]

on the flip side, I suffered through most of Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland, which seemed to be a confused and mishandled student film until the very end . . . good Lord, that twist was just . . . gruesome?? cruel?? put the entire film into an entirely different context, elevating it..

That's a pretty good example, Don't Look Now. Yeah, before the ending nothing seemed to make sense, the only thing it really had going for it was its incredibly hot sex scene between Sutherland and Julie Christie.

 

[BBrown]

so I got into this conversation with my brother last night about really good movies that get ruined by horrible endings.

I brought up Jeepers Creepers, which I though had the best first hour of any horror film of the last 20 years, then just tore itself apart in the final act. Dreadful, ruined the whole film for me.

Then he asked if there were films that I thought were terrible, but somehow had amazing endings to justify watching them. I said, immediately, without question: Crossroads.

not the trashy Brittany Spears film, but the 1986 film with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca, where Ralph plays (quite poorly through the film) a Julliard trained classical guitarist with a penchant for the blues who tracks down a famous blues man Willie Brown (Joe Seneca). They set out on a trip down south the find "the crossroads" where Willie sold his soul . . . ahhhhh really, the film is awful. Jami Gertz plays some type of temptress along the way and she is terrible. It's starts out as about 85 minutes of Walter Hill directed dreck. Even the soundtrack by Ry Cooder cannot salvage the beginning of this film.

Then when they find the crossroads and challenge the Devil to a guitar duel for Willie's soul . . . holy crow the film suddenly becomes legendary. A very young Steve Vai lends his talents to his part as the devil's axe man AND does some of the brilliant guitar work for Macchio (with Ry Cooder playing most of the slide guitar parts). ignore Macchio trying to mime the notes. Some of the most phenomenal music you'll ever hear in a film:

btw I play guitar and I've watched numerous tutorials on how Vai plays the finale. No one seems to get it spot on.

Interesting topic.
Def agree about Jeepers Creepers.

One of my favorite movies that almost makes it, is Shaun of the Dead.
The first 3/4 of the movie is brilliant but then its like they make a complete left turn and go straight horror instead of the brilliant mix they for the first 3/4 of the film. I don't know if it ruins the film. But when I watch usually quit watching it after the pick up his dad and make it into the pub.

The film that, INMO, the end saves is Fried Green Tomatoes. The front half is ok, well acted but I'm just not that into it then the last 1/4 of the movie just elevates it to very, very good.

 

[fairgambit]

Most of the movies I have watched in my life were produced before 1970. For whatever reason, I just don't enjoy more modern films. That said, I cannot think of a single movie that I thought was great but had a bad ending. I hope someone comes up with one I haven't thought of.

 

[mn78psu83]

so I got into this conversation with my brother last night about really good movies that get ruined by horrible endings.

I brought up Jeepers Creepers, which I though had the best first hour of any horror film of the last 20 years, then just tore itself apart in the final act. Dreadful, ruined the whole film for me.

Then he asked if there were films that I thought were terrible, but somehow had amazing endings to justify watching them. I said, immediately, without question: Crossroads.

not the trashy Brittany Spears film, but the 1986 film with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca, where Ralph plays (quite poorly through the film) a Julliard trained classical guitarist with a penchant for the blues who tracks down a famous blues man Willie Brown (Joe Seneca). They set out on a trip down south the find "the crossroads" where Willie sold his soul . . . ahhhhh really, the film is awful. Jami Gertz plays some type of temptress along the way and she is terrible. It's starts out as about 85 minutes of Walter Hill directed dreck. Even the soundtrack by Ry Cooder cannot salvage the beginning of this film.

Then when they find the crossroads and challenge the Devil to a guitar duel for Willie's soul . . . holy crow the film suddenly becomes legendary. A very young Steve Vai lends his talents to his part as the devil's axe man AND does some of the brilliant guitar work for Macchio (with Ry Cooder playing most of the slide guitar parts). ignore Macchio trying to mime the notes. Some of the most phenomenal music you'll ever hear in a film:

LINK

btw I play guitar and I've watched numerous tutorials on how Vai plays the finale. No one seems to get it spot on.

Going back a ways, but for me Roman Holiday is really elevated by the ending. The obvious expectation is that the film with end with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in an embrace. He ends up walking away alone with his hands in his pockets. Poignant and melancholy in a very satisfying way. I know I've gotten away somewhat from the theme. I couldn't help it. That ending is one of the finest and although the film is a romance/comedy, the ending makes you forget that it was a comedy. A real changer.

One other. The ending of The Graduate certainly elevates it to a great film. It just grips you from the moment Dustin Hoffman hits the highway with that brilliant shot of him cruising along the off ramp until the final moment of the film. You become Ben Braddock. Great film making and acting.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Interesting category, and off the top of my head I could think of two films that had great starts, but fell sort of flat at the end.

SPOILERS

First, is From Dusk Till Dawn by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. On paper, this should have been a slam dunk. It starts out well enough and is very, very Tarantino. A heist gone wrong, two crazy brothers, a super tense showdown in an isolated convenience store with the great Marshall of QT's world, Earl McGraw, a kidnapping, and we get Clooney and Harvey Keitel chewing up scenery as they roadtrip to Mexico. Once there, the bar scene is awesome, the dialogue is snappy and shap, and we get Salma Hayek dancing with a boa. Amazing. After that, Rodriguez takes over and turns it into a messy vampire flick that just isn't much fun.

The second is Gone Girl, which is extremely faithful to the book, and that means the ending is the same. Still, the first two thirds of that movie is fantastic, especially if you haven't read the book and are expecting a different outcome.

 

[Sviatoslav]

First movie to come to mind is The Abyss. I'm a big Ed Harris fan. Haven't watched it in years because of the ending, but I recall thinking it was such a good movie, then... wait what just happened... are you kidding me? It seemed like they just ran out of time and/or money and wanted to wrap things up as cheesy and expeditiously as possible. Terrible way to wreck an otherwise promising movie.
Now I"m tempted to watch it again just to see if my memory is accurate...

 

[The Spin Meister]

on the flip side, I suffered through most of Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland, which seemed to be a confused and mishandled student film until the very end . . . good Lord, that twist was just . . . gruesome?? cruel?? put the entire film into an entirely different context, elevating it.

I also felt the same about the big twist at the end of Primal Fear, which seemed to be a slightly above average Richard Gere courtroom drama with some fantastic acting by Edward Norton to prop it up. maybe a 6 out of 10. then that twist, changed the entire moral center of the film, frikkin brilliant! I give the film a 9.5 out of 10 just for the last 5 minutes.

------
Immediately thought of Don't Look Now. When you see the ending, you have to watch the whole movie again to see what you missed. The whole thing is foreshadowing the ending but so deceptively, you never know until you see it.

 

[LionDeNittany]

Terrible films with a great ending:

The Blair Witch Project - The quick catch of the boy standing in the corner gave me nightmares

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey - Station

Great film with Terrible ending:

The Village - Wow, what a terrible twist on an otherwise good film

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

------
Immediately thought of Don't Look Now. When you see the ending, you have to watch the whole movie again to see what you missed. The whole thing is foreshadowing the ending but so deceptively, you never know until you see it.

One of the scariest movie moments, really.

 

[manatree]

My pick is what most people consider to be one of the greatest sports movies of all time. In my opinion, the terrible ending makes kills the entire movie.

"The Natural." The movie completely changed the ending from the book. In Mlamud's book, Hobbs not only takes the bribe, he actually counteroffers and his demand for more money is accepted. Bottom of the ninth, he takes the dive and strikes out.

It is the equivalent of making a film about the Titanic where the ship doesn't sink. The movie took a great book that explored its characters deepth and turned it into Hollywood tripe.

 

[PennStateNate]

Napoleon Dynamite

 

[CF LION]

Not that Rocky had a bad ending, but I read an interview with Stallone once where he said that the actual movie ending was changed from his original screenplay. In his screenplay, Rocky accepts money to throw the fight with Creed and then uses the money to open up a pet store with Adrian.

The ending didn't make sense because he was such a heavy underdog.

 

[RobBliz]

so I got into this conversation with my brother last night about really good movies that get ruined by horrible endings.

I brought up Jeepers Creepers, which I though had the best first hour of any horror film of the last 20 years, then just tore itself apart in the final act. Dreadful, ruined the whole film for me.

Then he asked if there were films that I thought were terrible, but somehow had amazing endings to justify watching them. I said, immediately, without question: Crossroads.

not the trashy Brittany Spears film, but the 1986 film with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca, where Ralph plays (quite poorly through the film) a Julliard trained classical guitarist with a penchant for the blues who tracks down a famous blues man Willie Brown (Joe Seneca). They set out on a trip down south the find "the crossroads" where Willie sold his soul . . . ahhhhh really, the film is awful. Jami Gertz plays some type of temptress along the way and she is terrible. It's starts out as about 85 minutes of Walter Hill directed dreck. Even the soundtrack by Ry Cooder cannot salvage the beginning of this film.

Then when they find the crossroads and challenge the Devil to a guitar duel for Willie's soul . . . holy crow the film suddenly becomes legendary. A very young Steve Vai lends his talents to his part as the devil's axe man AND does some of the brilliant guitar work for Macchio (with Ry Cooder playing most of the slide guitar parts). ignore Macchio trying to mime the notes. Some of the most phenomenal music you'll ever hear in a film:

LINK

btw I play guitar and I've watched numerous tutorials on how Vai plays the finale. No one seems to get it spot on.

Forrest Gump... Great film until he started running. Then I wanted to stab my eyes out with a fork.

Full metal Jacket... big huge drop off once they get in country.

Stripes....Shut it off once the urban assault vehicle makes an appearance.

 

[mn78psu83]

My pick is what most people consider to be one of the greatest sports movies of all time. In my opinion, the terrible ending makes kills the entire movie.

"The Natural." The movie completely changed the ending from the book. In Mlamud's book, Hobbs not only takes the bribe, he actually counteroffers and his demand for more money is accepted. Bottom of the ninth, he takes the dive and strikes out.

It is the equivalent of making a film about the Titanic where the ship doesn't sink. The movie took a great book that explored its characters deepth and turned it into Hollywood tripe.

Great call on "The Natural." Ridiculous ending.

 

[simons96]

Interesting category, and off the top of my head I could think of two films that had great starts, but fell sort of flat at the end.

SPOILERS

The second is Gone Girl, which is extremely faithful to the book, and that means the ending is the same. Still, the first two thirds of that movie is fantastic, especially if you haven't read the book and are expecting a different outcome.

loved "Gone Girl" but it brings me to a different book that is now a TV show . . .

"Under the Dome" was such a great novel by Stephen King. but the explanation/twist ending was so terrible, I threw out the book. I was SO disappointed reading 600+ pages of taut drama, just to have it devolve into such unbelievable crap. that is why I am reluctant to watch the TV show.

 

[RobBliz]

loved "Gone Girl" but it brings me to a different book that is now a TV show . . .

"Under the Dome" was such a great novel by Stephen King. but the explanation/twist ending was so terrible, I threw out the book. I was SO disappointed reading 600+ pages of taut drama, just to have it devolve into such unbelievable crap. that is why I am reluctant to watch the TV show.

I agree with you about the "Under the Doom" the book. Even still, I tried to watch the tv series. I have finally given up as it is a rambling bunch of crap at this point.

 

[jjsocrates]

The Village - Wow, what a terrible twist on an otherwise good film

You could say that about almost every M. Night Shymalan movie since The Sixth Sense...swear to God the guy has been trying to do a "suprise plot twist" in every one of his movies, essentially trying to rip himself off. If he just made a NORMAL movie without trying to go for some supernatural twist, he might recover some of the magic. For me "Signs" was the perfect example - great movie...until you realize the aliens could be beaten by: WATER. Oh, that's a good idea - an advanced species invades Earth without doing their due dilligence that over 70% of it is covered in a substance that is toxic to them. Brilliant.

Love the topic, Jeff! This is classic dorm room debate over a few smuggled cases of beers.

Spoiler Alerts!

Here's a few more I came up with - seems like a lot of these are in the Horror/Sci-Fi genre. I think that's because when you're dealing with some kind of supernatural or fantasy element, you have to rely on some kind of deus-ex-machina or other fantastic way to wrap it up. Almost like you stretched your brain to its limit of imagination:

A.I. - although this is up for debate. The end seemed forced.

The Matrix Revolutions - although it could be argued that the entire MOVIE ruined an otherwise great first two movies.

I am Legend - again, they changed the ending from the book dramatically eliminating the entire plot line about HIM being the mutant threat.

Sunshine - great movie turns into slasher flick.

Superman - yeah, I'm not even going to GET into how this one didn't make sense. Just rotate the Earth in the opposite direction? OK, so does that mean time on Venus runs in reverse??

 

[KnightSlayer]

Signs by M Night Shyamalan

Entertaining Sci-fi thriller that I enjoyed through most of the movie until the end. These intergalactic aliens travel across the galaxy, with some nefarious intentions, to a planet with 3/4 of it's surface covered in water and, they have just one major weakness. Water reacts with their skin like acid. Really? They can travel across the galaxy but they can't account for deadly water? Protective clothing, some rubber gloves maybe. Seemed like a cheap knock off of the War of the Worlds ending where powerful aliens are stopped by tiny viruses and bacteria.

 

[BBrown]

loved "Gone Girl" but it brings me to a different book that is now a TV show . . .

"Under the Dome" was such a great novel by Stephen King. but the explanation/twist ending was so terrible, I threw out the book. I was SO disappointed reading 600+ pages of taut drama, just to have it devolve into such unbelievable crap. that is why I am reluctant to watch the TV show.

Agree about the Under the Dome. I didn't throw it out but the ending was junk. I'm a huge SK fan but sometimes Big Steve's endings are just bad. I know its not a movie (ok it was a tv mini series) but I felt the same way about IT. The first 7/8 of the book is just brilliant and then the "turtle" arrives. Ughhh.

Back to the Dome, I watched the first Season and it was fairly faithful to the first part of the book after that they went in very different directions.

And since we are on the subject of Good Movies with bad endings and you brought up SK. I'll go with The Mist. Loved the first part of it and then the ending in the movie was just rubbish.

 

[BBrown]

You could say that about almost every M. Night Shymalan movie since The Sixth Sense...swear to God the guy has been trying to do a "suprise plot twist" in every one of his movies, essentially trying to rip himself off. If he just made a NORMAL movie without trying to go for some supernatural twist, he might recover some of the magic. For me "Signs" was the perfect example - great movie...until you realize the aliens could be beaten by: WATER. Oh, that's a good idea - an advanced species invades Earth without doing their due dilligence that over 70% of it is covered in a substance that is toxic to them. Brilliant.

Love the topic, Jeff! This is classic dorm room debate over a few smuggled cases of beers.

Spoiler Alerts!

Here's a few more I came up with - seems like a lot of these are in the Horror/Sci-Fi genre. I think that's because when you're dealing with some kind of supernatural or fantasy element, you have to rely on some kind of deus-ex-machina or other fantastic way to wrap it up. Almost like you stretched your brain to its limit of imagination:

A.I. - although this is up for debate. The end seemed forced.

The Matrix Revolutions - although it could be argued that the entire MOVIE ruined an otherwise great first two movies.

I am Legend - again, they changed the ending from the book dramatically eliminating the entire plot line about HIM being the mutant threat.

Sunshine - great movie turns into slasher flick.

Superman - yeah, I'm not even going to GET into how this one didn't make sense. Just rotate the Earth in the opposite direction? OK, so does that mean time on Venus runs in reverse??

Every Sci fi movie or any movie really that uses "the Dream" or "time Travel" to change the events or explain them is about the cheapest and easiest plot device there is and I hate it.

 

[LionDeNittany]

A.I. - although this is up for debate. The end seemed forced.

- I feel like the "end" is just make believe. Meaning the boy/robot dies and then they add a childs ending. A lot of films do this sort of thing. IMO the real ending and the ending of the film are two different things. Another example is Boogie Nights (wait maybe it was Magnolia) after the Frogs. It's like... hey reality is they are all crashed out. But in imagination land...

The Matrix Revolutions - although it could be argued that the entire MOVIE ruined an otherwise great first two movies.

-The first film had a perfectly good ending. The two after were garbage.

I am Legend - again, they changed the ending from the book dramatically eliminating the entire plot line about HIM being the mutant threat.

-This was very annoying. Completely agree.

Sunshine - great movie turns into slasher flick.

- Agreed.

 

[jjsocrates]

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey - Station

Call me crazy, but I just LOVED the Bill and Ted movies. I thought they were just so fun and goofy. I actually liked the sequel better for the fact that it was even dumber and goofier.

Gone Girl - hey, I LIKED the ending. I know everyone hated because the bad "guy" won in the end and it was left so ambiguous, but wasn't it kinda the point? We didn't get closure at all, but I think the point was - she got away with it. ALL OF IT.

And while we're throwing in Shaun of the Dead, another Simon Pegg movie was "The End of the World" - I pretty much loved that movie until the last 10 minutes. Even Hot Fuzz was a little disappointing. Seems like the first 90% of the Simon-Pegg Edgar Wright trilogy is amazing, and then leaves you flat at the end.

 

[jjsocrates]

Every Sci fi movie or any movie really that uses "the Dream" or "time Travel" to change the events or explain them is about the cheapest and easiest plot device there is and I hate it.

Unless the movie is ABOUT time travel - then it can either be done brilliantly (Back to the Future, Primer) or just be a complete mess (countless other examples).

AND...unless the movie is ABOUT dreams and altered reality - then it can either be done brilliantly (Inception, the Thirteenth Floor) or just be a complete mess (countless other examples).

But yeah - there is really nothing worse than a brilliantly conceptualized sci-fi/fantasy movie that has a forced ending. It literally (haha) seems like the writer just ran out of ideas or had no concept of story at all - just a great idea that ran out of momentum. This is why something like the entire Harry Potter series was so well done - Rowling planned EVERYTHING out from day one...she basically wrote the ending to Book 7 FIRST and went back and designed her entire storyline backwards. I think more authors need to do this. Stephen King is certainly guilty of this in many of his books, but actually does it well in a lot of his good ones.

We Game of Thrones fans really, really, REALLY hope that George Martin has thought about the ending to his series. please, please George.

 

[Monty2007]

There was a movie I saw in Schwab during a film class I took as an elective that I still haven't decided which of the two it is, The Day of the Locust.

 

[jjsocrates]

And since we are on the subject of Good Movies with bad endings and you brought up SK. I'll go with The Mist. Loved the first part of it and then the ending in the movie was just rubbish.

I'll disagree with you on The Mist. I think in the novella, they just kept driving - with no hope in store at all. The movie added that last twist, and it was so damn heartbreaking. That book was one of the scariest ones I've EVER read by King, and frankly - the final scene in the movie adapation might have been one of the most horrible even though it was probably more Darabont than King.

As long as the ending doesn't dramatically restructure the entire plot of the movie (in a bad way mind you, not like The Sixth Sense which just makes you rethink what you've just seen) then I'm ok with the twist ending. The worst is the macguffin or deus-ex-machina or "and then a miracle occurred" ending that just shows laziness, or the twist ending that just seems childish and opens up a whole host of plot holes.

 

[joeparules]

Good movies with bad endings ... my top pick would be No Country for Old Men. I am the type that needs "closure" in my movies and this did not provide it. I saw it in the theater and everyone continued to sit through the credits thinking there had to be more. I didn't watch The Sopranos, but is sounds like a similar ending. I could also add Contact with Jodie Foster.

Bad movies with good endings ... can't think of any great examples. Probably Napoleon Dynamite or Little Miss Sunshine.

I love movies with great twists at the end. Someone already mentioned The Sixth Sense and I would like to add Body Heat, No Way Out, and Primal Fear.

 

[Obliviax]

so I got into this conversation with my brother last night about really good movies that get ruined by horrible endings.

I brought up Jeepers Creepers, which I though had the best first hour of any horror film of the last 20 years, then just tore itself apart in the final act. Dreadful, ruined the whole film for me.

Then he asked if there were films that I thought were terrible, but somehow had amazing endings to justify watching them. I said, immediately, without question: Crossroads.

not the trashy Brittany Spears film, but the 1986 film with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca, where Ralph plays (quite poorly through the film) a Julliard trained classical guitarist with a penchant for the blues who tracks down a famous blues man Willie Brown (Joe Seneca). They set out on a trip down south the find "the crossroads" where Willie sold his soul . . . ahhhhh really, the film is awful. Jami Gertz plays some type of temptress along the way and she is terrible. It's starts out as about 85 minutes of Walter Hill directed dreck. Even the soundtrack by Ry Cooder cannot salvage the beginning of this film.

Then when they find the crossroads and challenge the Devil to a guitar duel for Willie's soul . . . holy crow the film suddenly becomes legendary. A very young Steve Vai lends his talents to his part as the devil's axe man AND does some of the brilliant guitar work for Macchio (with Ry Cooder playing most of the slide guitar parts). ignore Macchio trying to mime the notes. Some of the most phenomenal music you'll ever hear in a film:

LINK

btw I play guitar and I've watched numerous tutorials on how Vai plays the finale. No one seems to get it spot on.

The movie, Cannonball Run, hits all categories: a horrible move with a horrible ending.

 

[simons96]

Forrest Gump... Great film until he started running. Then I wanted to stab my eyes out with a fork.

Full metal Jacket... big huge drop off once they get in country.

Stripes....Shut it off once the urban assault vehicle makes an appearance.

Stripes is coming to theaters in a few weeks. you shall not disrespect the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle.

 

[mn78psu83]

Call me crazy, but I just LOVED the Bill and Ted movies. I thought they were just so fun and goofy. I actually liked the sequel better for the fact that it was even dumber and goofier.

Gone Girl - hey, I LIKED the ending. I know everyone hated because the bad "guy" won in the end and it was left so ambiguous, but wasn't it kinda the point? We didn't get closure at all, but I think the point was - she got away with it. ALL OF IT.

And while we're throwing in Shaun of the Dead, another Simon Pegg movie was "The End of the World" - I pretty much loved that movie until the last 10 minutes. Even Hot Fuzz was a little disappointing. Seems like the first 90% of the Simon-Pegg Edgar Wright trilogy is amazing, and then leaves you flat at the end.

I only saw the first Bill and Ted movie, but was howling too. I don't think it was mentioned by anyone in the comedy thread. Maybe I will.

 

[simons96]

I'll disagree with you on The Mist. I think in the novella, they just kept driving - with no hope in store at all. The movie added that last twist, and it was so damn heartbreaking. That book was one of the scariest ones I've EVER read by King, and frankly - the final scene in the movie adapation might have been one of the most horrible even though it was probably more Darabont than King.

As long as the ending doesn't dramatically restructure the entire plot of the movie (in a bad way mind you, not like The Sixth Sense which just makes you rethink what you've just seen) then I'm ok with the twist ending. The worst is the macguffin or deus-ex-machina or "and then a miracle occurred" ending that just shows laziness, or the twist ending that just seems childish and opens up a whole host of plot holes.

also a fan of the movie The Mist. one of the best straight up horror films in the last 20 years. and King quipped that Darabont put a better ending on the story than he (King) did. I would recommend renting the blu ray with the director's commentary, because I think that ending is so shocking and unexpected, most people lose sight of its meaning in the broader context of the human drama of the film. Just remember, Thomas Jane promises to protect his son from the monsters . . . that final twist is a giant kick in the teeth, but Darabont explains that SOMEONE has to pay for the sins of humanity.

 

[BLSLion]

First movie to come to mind is The Abyss. I'm a big Ed Harris fan. Haven't watched it in years because of the ending, but I recall thinking it was such a good movie, then... wait what just happened... are you kidding me? It seemed like they just ran out of time and/or money and wanted to wrap things up as cheesy and expeditiously as possible. Terrible way to wreck an otherwise promising movie.
Now I"m tempted to watch it again just to see if my memory is accurate...

Your memory is spot on; you don't need to watch it again. Great movie until the end.

 

[mn78psu83]

You could say that about almost every M. Night Shymalan movie since The Sixth Sense...swear to God the guy has been trying to do a "suprise plot twist" in every one of his movies, essentially trying to rip himself off. If he just made a NORMAL movie without trying to go for some supernatural twist, he might recover some of the magic. For me "Signs" was the perfect example - great movie...until you realize the aliens could be beaten by: WATER. Oh, that's a good idea - an advanced species invades Earth without doing their due dilligence that over 70% of it is covered in a substance that is toxic to them. Brilliant.

Love the topic, Jeff! This is classic dorm room debate over a few smuggled cases of beers.

Spoiler Alerts!

Here's a few more I came up with - seems like a lot of these are in the Horror/Sci-Fi genre. I think that's because when you're dealing with some kind of supernatural or fantasy element, you have to rely on some kind of deus-ex-machina or other fantastic way to wrap it up. Almost like you stretched your brain to its limit of imagination:

A.I. - although this is up for debate. The end seemed forced.

The Matrix Revolutions - although it could be argued that the entire MOVIE ruined an otherwise great first two movies.

I am Legend - again, they changed the ending from the book dramatically eliminating the entire plot line about HIM being the mutant threat.

Sunshine - great movie turns into slasher flick.

Superman - yeah, I'm not even going to GET into how this one didn't make sense. Just rotate the Earth in the opposite direction? OK, so does that mean time on Venus runs in reverse??

The Matrix Revolutions - although it could be argued that the entire MOVIE ruined an otherwise great first two movies.

For me they rank in pretty steep descending order from first to last, but the script for Revolutions - are you kidding me?

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Gone Girl - hey, I LIKED the ending. I know everyone hated because the bad "guy" won in the end and it was left so ambiguous, but wasn't it kinda the point? We didn't get closure at all, but I think the point was - she got away with it. ALL OF IT.

Oh, I was fine with the ending too; it's identical to the book and the book is one of those great, quick, summer mysteries that I love devouring in a sitting or two (and I love Gillian Flynn's 'voice'). Having said that, and not to get on a big tangent, BUUUUTTTT..... Was Amy really the bad guy? It's hard to tell. She sort of does everything for Nick, to include leaving NYC for Louisiana. She's mostly a model wife - mentions how concerns she is about keeping up her looks, does whatever he wants, etc. She wants a baby, he's not so sure. Things get really bad when the market crashes and they fall on tough times, but again, it's he who seems to have all the issues. He's moody and miserable. He then cheats on her, and she catches him. That's where she begins to set her plan in motion because she feels she's sacrificed so much for him.

So, we get she's a shady character, but it's still not perfectly clear that she's as manipulative and cold as we think. Was anyone really *that* upset when she killed NPH's character? He was creepy, and definitely manipulative. Then, we learn about another guy in her past who says she accused him of rape. He seems like a decent guy and since she's way out of his league we believe him. But, who knows? Both the book and the movie could have done a better job with this. Both were culpable in my book, but she was more clever about it. And in the end, she did win, because she got him to stay with her.

 

[Woodpecker]

another Simon Pegg movie was "The End of the World" - I pretty much loved that movie until the last 10 minutes.

Along those lines, I kinda liked "This is the End" until ... well, the end.

 

[Victor E. Bell]

Who remembers this one? Fess up, geezers.

 

[BBrown]

Who remembers this one? Fess up, geezers.

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Yea I remember that I'll add another one similar to that. Vanishing Point.