Every one of these is a spoiler, so don't read 'em unless you already know the endings.
The End II: the worst movie endings ever, from Grease to Blade Runner - Times Online: "Last week, our Top 20 film endings prompted a huge response from readers. Now, Times critics present the 20 worst endings in film. From the absurd to the underwhelming, these are the closing scenes that have ruined memorable films."
9 comments:
I'd strongly disagree with the PYTHON citation, even if it was dropping the cow (one might as well take issue with the end of BLAZING SADDLES), but think the original PSYCHO would've been improved if it was more faithful to Bloch's novel, a quarter of which occurs after the discovery of Norman's dual personality. Kubrick's ending for 2001 is pretty wide open for interpretation, but then, so is the whole film.
The most arguably unintentionally funny movie ending I recall is that for WOMEN IN LOVE. At least, I was certainly the only one in the theater laughing, but I suspect Ken Whatsits was hoping more would. Well, that and FANFARE FOR A DEATH SONG, which, taken only in its last fifteen minutes, is gratifyingly insane.
Oh! Most meretricious non-ending would be that HG Lewis tacked onto the glorified home movie MONSTER-A-GO-GO...at least among those I've seen.
And, of course, strenuous disagreement about the ending of the reasonably faithful, best MALTESE FALCON adaptation. The only real problem I've ever had with that film is that I've never taken Mary Astor to be right for her role (not a startling beauty, and too mature to effectively portray the cunning, deadly brat).
That's the one I thought most people would disagree about. And maybe CITIZEN KANE.
Well, yeah...(I'm in my usual scattered mode, peeking in around work)...particularly when you learn the joke behind, koff, the "rosebud" reference. And how that annoyed Hearst more than anything else (and probably amused Hughes).
The ending of THE LONG GOODBYE used to rile Chandler fans.
Of the movies he lists that I've seen, why criticize the ending for being either ambiguous, ironic, symbolic, or a logical outcome of the plot, when that was the writer's or director's purpose? Hard to think of a reason for criticizing the ending of GREASE as unbelievable when the entire movie is fluff. The comment on THE MALTESE FALCON just boggles the mind. Most movies nowadays are way too bloated and dragged out, and end 45-60 minutes later than they should.
These people name The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane as having the worst endings? What kind of crack are they smoking? I'm surprised they didn't include The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, too...
Count me in as one who agrees with the presence of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on this list--I think the film's original ending (where they look for the Grail at Harrod's...because "Harrod's has everything") would have been much funnier...and is also why I like Life of Brian better. And as much as I hate to say it, they are right about Psycho.
I just noticed that they included The Great Escape on their list...which I think it's a bit unfair. They criticize the fact that most of the individuals who escaped were later killed, something the movie had no control over (since it's based on true-life events). Plus, Escape has that hilarious line by "The Cooler King" to the departing camp commander: "Job just didn't work out for you, huh?"
The ending sure worked for me. I'll watch that movie anytime.
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