The most haunting final shot in a movie?
The Days of Wine and Roses
shareFor its time (1970) the closing shot of battleship row from Tora Tora Tora after the attack was very haunting.
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MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > The most haunting final shot in a movie?
American Graffiti. The airplane's engine buzzing in the background while showing the fates of the characters in the movie. The fleeting time of innocence.
shareI agree with this one. We hoped the good times wouldn't end, but we all know they do.
shareAgree with this one too. I like how Curt saw the white T Bird driving off into the desert; youthful dreams fading as his adult life begins.
shareThe sequel -- although not as well received -- also had a shock ending. We see the accident that kills John Milner. We already knew from the first movie that Paul Le Mat's character is eventually killed by a drunk driver. However, the way it was filmed for the second movie is both clever and saddening.
[spoiler] At the end of the movie, we see Milner's car driving down the road away from us towards an oncoming truck in the other lane.
Both vehicles disappear down into a shallow valley in the road as they approach each other. However, after too many long seconds, neither vehicle reappears and the credits start to roll.
[/spoiler]
I'm one of the few that actually likes that movie :) I agree. I actually think that ending leaves more of an impact than the original. Each main character singing along at the same time during different years. The editing during the ending was very well done.
shareIt has been a long time since I saw it, but I recall liking it too in spite of the lukewarm reviews it got. Also, it was nice to know that Toad's eventual fate didn't turn out the way we had been led to believe at the end of the first movie.
I only wished we could have caught up with Richard Dreyfuss' character.
Threads (1984)
shareThe American 'version' The Day After also had a bleak ending.
We see dozens of people in an arena? school gym? (I forget now) injured and dying in the aftermath of the nuclear exchange. Then the camera slowly pulls away as we see hundreds, then thousands of people and realize that the sheer mass of humanity will completely overwhelm any efforts to save them.
I remember that scene, I think it was in an underground carpark beneath the hospital and then we see Robards above ground finally breaking down. Decent film.👍
shareWhiplash.
shareFor me, as a boy, the ending of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.
Instead of the movie ending with his death, it ends with the the pinnacle of his career, the shooting of Enter The Dragon. Have a look, even the comments say it is the greatest film ending. https://youtu.be/gBrP0wRp4Bg
Probably Chinatown. There's almost nothing to feel good about there and the idea that the villain will get away with it is so very much like real life. Brutal.
Some of my runners-up:
Requiem for a Dream is relentless.
Silence - which I find really amazing, but I'm not sure "haunting" is quite right here...
The Godfather builds a lot of very sinister ramifications into the last moments.