Remember this movie? Box office would suggest not because nobody saw it. But as a kid I did, several times. I loved it. It's a terrible movie, but for some reason I have vivid memories of this movie and particularly this scene. It was the first time I remember a sequel being so blatantly set up and I took the bait - hook, line and sinker. I was so excited there would be more (bleak, dystopian, weird) adventures for Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. Sadly, no sequel was ever made, but at a young impressionable age I learned the importance of ending a movie well.
Not all endings need to be red herring sequel baiting (although see this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrvDenYGICM for another 90s example [the music!!]).
So take a look at some very good endings and what makes them great. And not just endings, but final scenes. The moments immediately before the credits roll.
Let's talk about hope. I love hope. It gives me such...optimistic feelings. How do you inspire hope in the final moments of a film? One way is to pare it with tragedy or heartbreak. Like in this example from LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (sorry for the terrible quality):
Two people at a funeral. Grieving. Our girl has feelings for the hero, but couldn't share them with him. A small token of affection and then - her response! And their smiles! So great. This whole movie is amazing, but the ending is sublime especially for a movie with such a strange premise.
These kinds of endings are great for romantic movies and comedies where the leading pair are just so perfect for each other, but never really get together during the film (see also What's Up Doc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsjyehWzFGo; and You've Got Mail - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cjvwTzhG8g; and the similarly themed Sleepless in Seattle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeY1mkXqKgk and while I prefer the movie ending take this alternate ending to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I mean a sunrise? Come on! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6tMd5MtvUc). Hope comes when the victory is not yet won, but lies just over the next hill.
DREAD. The opposite of hope. It leaves you wondering if it's all worth it. Take for instance this Horror film. The premise: You watch a video tape, it has strange haunting images, then you get a phone call that just says "Seven days." A week later you're dead. There has to be a way to stop it, right? Well there is. Make a copy of the tape and show it to someone else. Behold the last scene of THE RING (Warning: scary images abound - PG-13 ones, but still):
GAAAAH! But you just showed ME the video and that's it?!?!?! I may never want to see that movie ever again, but I'm never going to forget that ending.
Remember nostalgia? Of course you do. There's movies that thrive on giving us that good ol' feeling. Some endings are meant to remind us of better days, but often have us simply remembering better movies. The nostalgia I'm thinking of isn't a reminder of older films, but of another time. They make us think about our childhoods, our parents, siblings, friends we've lost touch with. No one does this better than Spielberg. Take E.T. In just a couple minutes Stevie manages to pull all our heartstrings and play us like the John Williams' swelling orchestra. Watch. Remember. Cry a bit.
Sniffles.
Time to get on your feet. To cheer. To rouse rabbles, or something. What better way to sink deep into the psyche of your audience than to bring them to their feet cheering? Movies can fake this emotion easier than most because it's easier to earn a RAH-RAH-RAH moment, so often these endings can seem forced, but not always. They can be gloriously earned. None more effectively than this one...
There are a lot of endings that can work that I don't have time (or reader attention span) to elaborate on. Endings like twist endings (see: Planet of the Apes [1968] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvuM3DjvYf0); ambiguous (see: Inception [some might say this is a bit of cheat though] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khYx7P2t59I); tragic (see: United 93 [Warning: might be disturbing for some] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3X_KyqGf3w); and absurd (see: Time Bandits - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKGbguoildA).
To end this entry on endings I give you what is quite possibly my favorite film ending ever. It falls under the category open-ended. The audience isn't force-fed a happy little conclusion tied up with a bow. In this case a Texas Sheriff named Ed Tom has been tracking a sadistic serial killer who was sent to track down $2M in stolen drug money. Over several days Ed Tom sees murder and chaos like never before, but in the end the villian gets...away? And our hero...retires? Now watch the scene the directors (the magnificent Bros. Cohen) chose to end with:
That's it. He woke up. It's not a speech about the consequences of evil or the fruits of doing good (although I could write a thesis paper about how much symbolism and righteousness is packed into these two minutes). I love this endings and others like it. Again, films try to cheat with endings like this all the time and rarely succeed and even more rarely do they succeed on this level.
I have no more endings. What are some of your favorites?
