March 02, 2005
the blue denouement
3/2/05
Not to prattle on, but there's one thing about our movie that I have struggled with since a typhoon washed away our set: the ending. We tried many fixes, and cute little ideas, and I thought we were toast, but... not a single student said anything bad about the current ending, and some loved it. Victory!
In that light, I'd like to proffer my favorite endings in all movie history. I know film buffs will wax rhapsodic about "Casablanca" (blah fucking blah) but some modern endings have been just as good. To whit:
Manhattan - Woody Allen runs across the length of Manhattan to stop Mariel Hemingway from going to London to "get corrupted," and the ensuing talk they have is probably the least cynical passage ever written. When Mariel exhorts him to "trust people" a little more, the camera holds on Allen for the slightest second too long, while Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" begins - and that's when I lose it, every time.
The Untouchables - Say what you want about De Palma, but I love this flick. After a whole movie of fighting Al Capone and the liquor bootleggers, a reporter asks Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) what he will do if Prohibition is repealed. "I'll probably have a drink," he responds, which is innocent enough, until you realize the real-life Ness was plagued by tragic alcoholism. Nice tweak on an audience that has no idea how meaningful that little line is.
North by Northwest - Eva Marie Saint is dangling off the top of Mt. Rushmore, about to slip and fall to her death below. Cary Grant reaches toward her, and as she begins to slip... BLAM! Grant pulls her into the top of the sleeper car of a train, and the two ostensibly make the beast with two backs while the train slides into a tunnel. Freud himself would have popped a frickin' boner.
The Usual Suspects - Please, can a movie be this good again?
The Sixth Sense - Okay, besides this one?
Birdy - Alan Parker's somewhat-forgotten masterpiece from 1984 stars Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine, both of them arguably at their peak. Modine plays Birdy, a teenage boy who feels so outside the lines of normal that he melds into a sort of... well, bird. When Vietnam shatters both boys' lives, Cage is sent to the psycho ward to bring Modine out of his shell, so to speak, but Modine may be damaged forever. The last shot, so funny, surreal, and absolutely perfect - is so good that YOU NEED TO RENT THIS MOVIE.
Raising Arizona - In a way, how could you possibly end this movie? Nic Cage, again, lying in bed, dreaming of his future. In his utopia, he's a father, Holly Hunter is his loving wife, and they are surrounding by loving kids, while one whispers "Dad-" in his ear. It's such a moving elegy at the end of this joyride, that I can tear up thinking of the possibilities of my own future family. At the last second, Cage opens his eyes, and he thinks, "I dunno. Maybe it was Utah."
It's a clever little moment that suggests the patriarchy and family celestial kingdom of the Mormons - an ending that is so complicated, beautiful, aching and bizarrely funny.
That's all I expect out of my endings. I'd like to ask everyone to try a little harder, and I will too.
My personal favorite: At the end of Babe, "That'll do Pig, that'll do." I cry every time!
Since you are in the baby frame of mind, try to find Jodie Foster's Emmy-nominated "The Baby Dance." It was on HBO a few years ago. I saw it after Helen was born and CRIED MY EYES OUT. Affluent middle-aged couple (Stockard Channing and Peter Riegert (sp ?)) want to adopt a baby. Trailer park mom Laura Dern offers to be their surrogate. Lots of drama ensues, including a complicated delivery that may or may not result in a disability for the baby in question. I will not ruin the ending for you, but it will tear your heart to pieces. leaving you sobbing on your living room floor. One of the best things I have seen on TV, theater, movies, or otherwise.
How could you possibly leave out the final scene of To Kill a Mockingbird. The same words end the book, and it killed me when I read it. But it's even more wrenching/comforting/gentle-pure in the movie when you hear them in voiceover as Atticus sits guarding his injured child.
Speaking of movies to make you cry, the ending to "21 Grams" did it for me.
Another, all-time, favorite ending is the one to "High Noon" when Coop and Grace Kelly ride off together into the sunset (well, afternoon sun, close enough), but only after Coop shows his feelings for the town he's just saved in a perfectly eloquent gesture. It's the perfect no-bullshit ending to the perfect no-bullshit movie.
A few more, in no particular order:
The Godfather - the whole baptism/massacre thing is riveting.
Gallipoli - Mel runs his butt off to save his buddy, but you expect it will be too late. Of course, this whole movie rocks.
The Color Purple - as far as crying goes, I have seen this movie countless times and have yet to not shed a tear at the reunion scene.
Shawshank Redemption - talk about messages of friendship and hope.
Then there's the ones with "the twist" like Primal Fear and The Game.
I like the ending to Peter Mullan's "Orphans".
Scruggs! Thanks for reminding me about "The Color Purple" ending. What a tear-jerker!
Gosh, I've actually seen all of those, and you're right, the endings kick ass.
A few other endings that grabbed me...
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Chief and that bathroom console thingie. The music was the final straw that got me gushing.
A Clockwork Orange. "I was cured, all right."
Frenzy. "Why, Mr. Rusk...you're not wearing your tie."
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Probably the most hilarious "so bad it's great" movie ever made. After watching the characters indulge in every bad behavior from sexual perversity to murder, we get a gentle voice-over telling us the moral lessons to be learned therefrom. We see one character who crippled himself, hobbling across a stream on crutches with his girlfriend leading him by the hand, and it's hard to tell whether she's guiding him or taunting him.
*batteries not included and The Karate Kid. You can see these endings coming a mile away, but they're still satisfying.
The Conversation. Gene Hackman losing his mind. Creepy.
OK, I'll vouch for "Heathers."
When Winona puts on the Red Scrunchy Of Power and says to Shannen Doherty: "Heather, my love, there's a new sheriff in town." That rules.And I second "The Untouchables" all the way.
As for "Casablanca", the end is great, but to me the best part is when Victor Laszlo sings "La Marseillaise" in the bar. He is the best resistance leader ever! Although he is Czech, he knows all the words to the national anthems of his allies!!
And if tears are any sort of indicator, I must confess that I almost always cry when Kevin Costner plays catch with his dead father in "Field of Dreams". And I always, always cry at the end of "Shakespeare in Love."
OK, back to work now.
I've got to put in a plug here for my favorite movie, which also happens to have the most subtle and emotionally complex ending IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA: Steve Buscemi's masterpiece, "Trees Lounge." In the last scene (I won't give too much away), he speaks to his ex-girlfriend for the first time in the entire movie, even though both have been primary characters throughout. WHO ELSE would use that kind of restraint these days? NO ONE, that's who.
Every time I get to the end of Trees Lounge (some five times now), something slightly different is revealed to me about the characters and the story. How many movies today embody that kind of complexity? Really, how many?
Another great movie ending: "L.I.E."--nothing you ever could have imagined, and full circle.
How about Brazil for utter despair and devastation? kinda like staring down the years till the end of this administration...
Off topic, but I hate DOOK, and the perfect ending to Senior Day would be our kicking their asses Sunday. With that in mind, I suggest 2 sites:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/zmode13/206300.html?view=550620#t550620
the untouchables -- yes, de palma. but really, that's all mamet. stinky director, increasingly stinky writer, but that's a screenwriter at the peak of his powers.
my favorite endings:
madness of king george
all that jazz
happiness
together
2001: a space odyssey
sideways
8 1/2
fridayit's hard for me to comment on these because they're all so good. suffice to say they more than speak for themselves. if you haven't already (anyone), do yourself a favor and see these films. they're way better than that million dollar baby and garden state.