Movies with tacked on or ill-fitting endings

November 8, 2007 3:46 PM

In bracing myself for a long writers' striker, 'm trying to prepare for a bad ending movie themed party, so am reaching out out to the hive mind for some ideas. What movies can you name that would have been great (or even good) but for tacked on, stupid, too happy, too sad, or otherwise badly composed endings?

What comes to mind? I'm trying to prepare for a bad ending movie themed party, so am reaching out out to the hive mind for some ideas. Here are a few personal examples (YMMV):

the Abyss (a perfectly acceptable underwater scifi fantasy, but the crushed under the weight of a ridiculously tacked on cheery ending).

the Sixth Sense (a moody noir piece with a famous, but ultimately anti-climactic ending, that turned it into supernatural hooey).

Unforgiven (a brilliant meditation on life in the waning days of the old west, morphed inexplicably into a brainless shoot-em-upper).

posted by psmealey to media & arts (93 comments total)

Maybe not be your cup of tea, but the newer House on Haunted Hill with Geoffry Rush is actually really great until about the last 20 minutes. At this point it becomes increasingly ridiculous until the ghost of Chris Kattan saves the day.
posted by Nelsormensch at 3:53 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

A.I. The ending is almost as long as the rest of the movie.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:56 PM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Stephen King's "IT", which doesn't actually have an ending as such.
posted by ninazer0 at 3:56 PM on November 8, 2007

Unbreakable
posted by Arbac at 3:56 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I recall a Japanese movie called "[Someone's] Moving Castle" had a remarkably bad ending.
posted by parmanparman at 3:56 PM on November 8, 2007

Fight Club.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 3:59 PM on November 8, 2007

I thought that "Signs" had a lot of potential, what with the unseen aliens and rustlings in the cornfield. (Especially since I saw it at a drive-in in the middle of a cornfield).

About halfway through, it took a turn for the hokey, and by the end was just ridiculous.
posted by chrisamiller at 4:00 PM on November 8, 2007

I recall a Japanese movie called "[Someone's] Moving Castle" had a remarkably bad ending.
Howl's Moving Castle! It's a Miyazaki film.
Now that you mention it, I do remember that the ending pissed me off. It was almost as if they got tired of drawing. "I'm sick on animating this damn thing, lets just end it"

Booo!
posted by Arbac at 4:04 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Brazil's theatrical release ("love conquers all version") ending.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 4:05 PM on November 8, 2007

It's Howl's Moving Castle.

And this is the internet - you are not allowed to disparage Miyazaki.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:05 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

The Return Of The King.
posted by The World Famous at 4:06 PM on November 8, 2007 [3 favorites]

What Dreams May Come. What a steaming dog turd of a movie that was. So looking forward to the visual effects seen in the promos, but -wah-.

The Comfort of Strangers with Helen Mirren and Christopher Walken, an art house hit. Was looking forward to it but the nauseating climax was gratuitous violence and totally wasted the build up of the rest of the movie.

Seconding Unbreakable. Another steaming dog turd of a movie.
posted by 45moore45 at 4:06 PM on November 8, 2007

Million Dollar Baby -- maudlin, schlocky piece of crap ending to a pretty good film.

The Black Dahlia -- so-awful-it's-hilarious ending to an infuriatingly bad film. Features some of the best scene-chewing I've ever seen.
posted by scody at 4:06 PM on November 8, 2007

Anything by Mr. M. Night invariably collapses by the end sequence (if not before) as suggested above. Ok maybe not The Sixth Sense.

Same goes for most films by Kevin Smith. He often comes so close to greatness and then screws it up, sometimes by just a single line that could have been better written.

Mystic River. If you left right after Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon finish talking on the street, you'd have a far, far greater film in your memory than if you waited 10 minutes for the end.
posted by elendil71 at 4:08 PM on November 8, 2007

The voiceover version of Bladerunner.
posted by pompomtom at 4:09 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and Scarface. Well, I'm not too big on the movie in general. But the insane rampage with infinite ammunition at the end is ridiculous.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 4:09 PM on November 8, 2007

Oh, and The Descent, which has an original theatrical release ending that's far better than the US release anyway. Doesnt really ruin the movie, but does demean it a bit.
posted by elendil71 at 4:10 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wisdom, with Emilio Estevez. My long-ago watching of it remembered it as a not-bad film (Estevez directed) -- but the ending is absolutely epic in its badness.

Also, what list wouldn't be complete without The Abyss?
posted by liquado at 4:18 PM on November 8, 2007

Argh -- try The Abyss instead. Stupid not-previewing comment.
posted by liquado at 4:19 PM on November 8, 2007

Seconding A.I. and Black Dahlia.
posted by missuswayne at 4:23 PM on November 8, 2007

I don't know if you'd consider them "bad endings", but the endings of both "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" and "Bladerunner" were changed over the objections of the directors.

Originally, in "Close Encounters" the hero ended up locked up in an asylum. In "Bladerunner", well, I won't say, but it was bittersweet at best.

In both cases the studios stepped in and ordered that the endings be made more upbeat. I think I'm glad that happened for "Close Encounters", but I thought the original ending for "Bladerunner" was better.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:28 PM on November 8, 2007

War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise - Pretty awesome visuals, but the last 20 minutes was utterly pathetic.

I will second A.I. - One of the worst endings ever...

Planet of the Apes with Mark Wahlberg. Decent movie with the one of the stupidest "twists" ever put to film.
posted by Benway at 4:29 PM on November 8, 2007

Pretty in Pink
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 4:31 PM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Here's a slightly different take on the question - how about The Merchant of Venice? The bit with the rings at the end may have worked just fine in Shakespeare's day, when the play was strictly a comedy, but with the sympathetic portrayal of Shylock which is common today, the play becomes much darker, and the ending seems utterly contrary in tone to the rest of the play.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:35 PM on November 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

The thing is, any movie with a twist ending could be considered fair game - many people love the endings of various movies discussed here (close encounters, abyss, 6th sense, etc).

I've heard people get really pissed at the end of Matchstick Men.
posted by ORthey at 4:41 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Planet of the Apes. (the remake)
posted by dhruva at 4:45 PM on November 8, 2007

Citizen Kane.
posted by dyoneo at 4:46 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

The alternate ending to Army of Darkness was pretty awful. Luckily, they had the sense to replace it with a whole lotta awesome.
posted by you're a kitty! at 4:54 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

close encounters, abyss, 6th sense

I can see close encounters and the 6th sense, maybe, but the tell at the end of the Abyss is when the Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio looks at one of the supporting characters and says, "we didn't depressurize, we should be dead." And then they both shrug and it's never mentioned of it again. Terrible, terrible ending and the writers knew it.
posted by psmealey at 4:55 PM on November 8, 2007

The Abyss actually has an alternate version that ends badly for all involved (except the water creatures).
posted by drezdn at 4:58 PM on November 8, 2007

Suspicion. Read user comment from Holdjerhorses (comment titled "Good Night Lina"). He captures my frustration completely.
posted by marsha56 at 5:01 PM on November 8, 2007

Hmm... I'd argue that the ending of Unforgiven was rather appropriate, since it's about how one can't really escape who you are-- and he was a bad guy trying to be good but ultimately failing at it and returning to his violent ways. I guess you disagree...
posted by sharkfu at 5:06 PM on November 8, 2007

Far and Away with Tom Cruise was ok until the last 5 mins.
posted by aetg at 5:07 PM on November 8, 2007

The Shawshank Redemption -- should have just ended with Red in the field reading the postcard.
posted by LionIndex at 5:10 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Also: Zhang Yimou's Hero, with its abrupt and obnoxious encomium on the virtues of authoritarianism. Jet Li gets to kick ass for 98 minutes then eat shit for one; he stands in quite handily for the audience that way.
posted by dyoneo at 5:15 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

The opposite of this is 25th hour, because Spike shows you the terrible ending, but then gives you the right one.

Ultimately, I'd have to say that every Stephen King movie (save Carrie and Christine) belongs here.
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 5:19 PM on November 8, 2007

Perfume had an atrocious ending, I thought. Not that the rest of the movie was great.

The American remake of The Vanishing--the ending completely ruins the film.
posted by Kafkaesque at 5:23 PM on November 8, 2007

The Last American Virgin ... teen sex comedy turns into a punch in the gut.
posted by camcgee at 5:33 PM on November 8, 2007

Actually, now that I think of it: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That wasn't so much an ending as it... well, what the fuck was that anyway?
posted by psmealey at 5:36 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sixteen Candles. That whole shmaltzy birthday cake scene (plus Farmer Ted suddenly having Jake's snotty girlfriend fall for him? Really? That's the best you could do?) was all just ridiculously tacked-on.

And Titanic.

'Cuz I'm sorry... but... THROWING THE NECKLACE INTO THE WATER? Really? That's a good ending, Rose? Instead of giving a nest egg to your dutiful grandddaughter as a token of appreciation for her wheeling your old, whiny ass around all the time? You're just gonna throw the damn priceless jewel into the water after your long-dead boyfriend? REALLY? Because that makes you feel better somehow?

Personally, I wanted the whiny, self-absorbed old woman to jump.
posted by miss lynnster at 5:37 PM on November 8, 2007 [4 favorites]

High tension, what an amazing suspense movie, until you realize it is actually Donald Kaufman's The 3.

Also- any movie that ever ends with a question mark.

Lets see...
Life and Times of David Gale (or so I've been told)
Blueberry starts off as an amazing western adventure, and slows to a crawl as they trip on drugs for a half hour.
Minority Report, where spielberg decided he needed 3 endings to be crystal clear about what happened
The ending of Clue where Michael McKean isn't gay (and doesn't murder anyone)
American Werewolf in London

and for good measure...
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (they lose all the gold!)
Citizen Kane (All this angst about a fucking sled, or is it? "Not so" says Gore Vidal)
All the Presidents Men (It's like William Goldman just stopped reading the book halfway through!)
The Maltese Falcon (It's a fake!)
Rebecca (He murdered her but actually she had cancer anyway!)
Dawn of the Dead (it's too late!)
Battleship Potemkin (They lose!)
posted by Large Marge at 5:37 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oh, and Dead Man Walking- add that to the list too please.
posted by Large Marge at 5:38 PM on November 8, 2007

Good call on Titanic. That was a world class shitty movie, but the ending was definitely the coup de grace.
posted by psmealey at 5:39 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Strange Days. The ending just goes on and on, making the same point over and over and over...
posted by ga$money at 5:41 PM on November 8, 2007

It wasn't a bad or cheesy ending per se, but I would definitely have been happier if The Ring had ended around 10-15 minutes earlier.
posted by Deathalicious at 5:42 PM on November 8, 2007

The Shawshank Redemption -- should have just ended with Red in the field reading the postcard.

The book did almost exactly that.

Bad movie ending: The original theatrical release of Blade Runner, with the voiceover and the ending where the girl is a special kind of Replicant that won't die.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:44 PM on November 8, 2007

Hitchcock's once lost "Rope," which is a fascinating film on many levels. I saw the movie before I knew about the changed ending, and even in that first viewing I got mad at myself for not turning the thing off about five minutes early. It would've been so much better the way screenwriter Arthur Laurents envisioned it.
posted by pzarquon at 5:53 PM on November 8, 2007

The Life of David Gale has a great ending! bah!
posted by honeyx at 5:58 PM on November 8, 2007

Oops. Scratch what I just said. I just realized that my answer is actually the opposite of the question, in a way. It's the first minute, or the very beginning of "Rope," that was thrown in and killed a lot of what "Rope" could have been. But again, as an experimental film, it's worth watching.
posted by pzarquon at 6:02 PM on November 8, 2007

I Nth The Abyss... ridiculous.
posted by clh at 6:03 PM on November 8, 2007

Now just a second. The ending to Last Great American Virgin is SO GOOD. I just had to get that on the record.

And, yes, The Abyss. This is a movie that I love, and the ending is just, well, preposterous. The shit they went through to make that movie, and to have it be 95% excellent soiled by 5% poorly written, poorly filmed, poorly acted, unsatisfying clap-trap must be unbearable. Ultimately The Abyss is an artistic tragedy - it came SO close.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:13 PM on November 8, 2007

Dark City would probably be one of my favorite films if it weren't for the action-movie ending.
posted by j.edwards at 6:14 PM on November 8, 2007

Seconding Return of the King. Which brings to the table not one, not two, not three, but six or seven bad endings, depending on how you count them, that take over 30 minutes of weepy histrionics to wade through.

Which, for me, was an utter let down after a (debatably and much debated) phenomenal series of films that my wife and I enjoyed immensely.
posted by ZakDaddy at 6:20 PM on November 8, 2007

psmealy:
That's actually an excellent (and hilarious) example of deus ex machina (three cheers for freshman english.) Google hits are plentiful, but the American Heritage dictionary spells it out well enough:

1. In Greek and Roman drama, a god lowered by stage machinery to resolve a plot or extricate the protagonist from a difficult situation.
2. An unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot.
3. A person or event that provides a sudden and unexpected solution to a difficulty.

Think of Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus comes home to find a bunch of strangers in his house and he's all ready to go to war (and, presumably, kick off another several thousand lines of poetry) when Athena steps in and sends everybody home and the story ends. Like that.
posted by ZakDaddy at 6:31 PM on November 8, 2007

Shawshank Redemption
AI (if you count the second half of the movie as the ending)

and probably worst of all - the director's cut of Cinema Paradiso, which adds 45 minutes of complete uselessness and ruins what is otherwise one of the most emotionally arresting movies ever made.
posted by Afroblanco at 6:31 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Titan A.E. ran out of money before they could finish the last scene and it looks like absolute garbage compared to the rest of the film. Not a terrible ending story-wise, but the animation is a so terrible in comparison that it drags the entire scene down.
posted by fishmasta at 6:41 PM on November 8, 2007

Adaptation had the worst ending EVER. When we were in elementary school we used to crack jokes about ending stories that we didn't know how to end with "And they all got run over by a truck." You're the famously brilliant screenwriter, and that's all you can come up with? Really?
posted by streetdreams at 6:47 PM on November 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

8 MM, with Nicholas Cage.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 6:58 PM on November 8, 2007

adding or n+1ing

Dark City
Event Horizon
Blade Runner
Return of the King (even another couple of hours in editing wouldve fixed that one)
posted by softlord at 7:07 PM on November 8, 2007

The Lost Weekend. After a hellish, no-holds-barred exploration of the despair of alcoholism, in the last 30 seconds we find out that it can apparently be Cured in an Instant by the Power of Love.
posted by ROTFL at 7:29 PM on November 8, 2007

The American remake of The Vanishing w Kiefer Sutherland and Nancy "I've raised plucky to the level of a superpower" Travis.
posted by Naberius at 7:29 PM on November 8, 2007

Seconding Citizen Kane.

Adding on Hitchcock's Vertigo. All this buildup and then suddenly - bloop, she just trips down? How anticlimatic.
posted by divabat at 7:37 PM on November 8, 2007

Seconding the Life and Times of David Gale. My god that ending was crap.

There's also the original Ocean's Eleven. They don't get the money. It's burned up in some dude's coffin! What kind of heist movie ends with them not getting the money.
posted by nooneyouknow at 8:03 PM on November 8, 2007

Although it was never actually released, the alternate ending of Terminator 2 springs to mind.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:06 PM on November 8, 2007

Return of the Jedi, if only because George Lucas sold out his "Huge number of wookies kick some ass in a forest" idea for his more marketable "adorable teddy bears overcome galaxy-spanning technological empire with poorly-propped bows-and-arrows" idea. An already cheesy series became cheesier, and the expensive space battle effects become more and more unbelievable next to the midgets and children in costume.

The infamous "Noooooo" at the end of Episode 3 drew laughter when I saw it in theaters, and that was opening day.

I say both of these things as a huge Star Wars nerd.
posted by Benjy at 8:21 PM on November 8, 2007

The happy ending to Demi Moore's The Scarlet Letter.
posted by Falconetti at 8:35 PM on November 8, 2007

Seconding Adaptation. Yeah, I got the schtick. That doesn't mean it isn't total bullshit. Our own goatdog agrees more eloquently than I can state.

It had the potential to be a film I would have loved, but at the end, it's just a movie. And that's a damn shame.
posted by kyleg at 9:52 PM on November 8, 2007

Seconding the alternate ending to Terminator that Johnny Assay mentioned. John Connor is a Senator? Really? With an insane mother and a history as a juvenile delinquent who helped blow up a research building?
posted by happyturtle at 11:38 PM on November 8, 2007

Meet Me In St. Louis
Good Burger
posted by ageispolis at 11:38 PM on November 8, 2007

The one movie that sticks out in my mind as having a bizarre and ill-fitting ending is Slums of Beverly Hills. I really liked the movie until the very end, where it just...stops. It was like the filmmakers just ran out of money and that was where the movie ended. Very abruptly.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:08 AM on November 9, 2007

Sweethearts (1996): ending was surprising, in that it was too sad.

Hover for spoiler.
posted by philomathoholic at 12:17 AM on November 9, 2007

I'd say: American Beauty.

Lusting after a hot babe and when she kindly offers herself, say "no thanks", because that's what suburbian middle aged men do when on a testosteron trip. OH REALLY?
posted by NekulturnY at 12:55 AM on November 9, 2007

Two Danny Boyle films:

28 Days Later - Intensely creepy, apocalyptic, awesome movie turns into standard issue thunder n' lightning automatic weapon zombie flick at the end.

Sunshine - Intensely creepy, realistic and harrowing film turns into daft stalker slasher flick.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:25 AM on November 9, 2007

I'm not sure if Eyes Wide Shut counts - it didn't really have an ending - it just ended. I saw it at the cinema and when the credits came on you could hear everyone kind of going 'oh'.

Then again, I'm not sure how, in a film about a boy who talks to ghosts, finding out the main character is also a ghost, suddenly makes it supernatural hooey.
posted by missmagenta at 2:35 AM on November 9, 2007 [2 favorites]

You're right missmagenta, it was poor choice of words. Just felt like it was one of those self-conscious endings where you were trying to be manipulated into thinking that the director was a genius, rather than trying to put something truly creative or entertaining into the world. But that's just me, I know tons of people loved the movie and its ending.
posted by psmealey at 3:26 AM on November 9, 2007

2001: A Space Odyssey. WTF?
posted by afx237vi at 5:30 AM on November 9, 2007

The ending of The Abyss leaves room for a sequel: Son of Abyss.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:18 AM on November 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

I will probably get killed for this, but I thought the ending of Apocalypse Now turned an excellent war movie into . . . something else, I'm not sure what.

Strongly agree that Pretty in Pink's ending was terrible, and AI, and Titanic, and The Abyss. I don't think the ending ruined David Gale b/c the entire film was crap.
posted by Mavri at 7:12 AM on November 9, 2007

2001: A Space Odyssey.

The ending actually makes sense if you read the book. Since I read the book before I saw the movie, I didn't mind the ending so much. Instead, I just found myself thinking, "Oooooh. trippppppy. I bet they thought this looked cool back in 1969."

Had I seen the movie without reading the book, I probably would have been totally disappointed.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:17 AM on November 9, 2007

Strongly agree that Pretty in Pink's ending was terrible

I disagree. If you see the movie as more following the Duckman character arc than Andie's (or Blaine's), then it was the right ending. He finally was able to outgrow his childish puppy love fixation for this intriguing, but ultimately shallow girl, and grow a little bit closer into manhood.
posted by psmealey at 7:17 AM on November 9, 2007

Meet Me In St. Louis
Good Burger

Hey, Good Burger rocked!
posted by Chrysostom at 7:58 AM on November 9, 2007

Far and Away with Tom Cruise was ok until the last 5 mins.

You mean the last 5 seconds.
posted by Totally Zanzibarin' Ya at 8:07 AM on November 9, 2007

Der Letzte Mann.

Director F.W. Murnau and screenwriter Carl Mayer originally wanted the film to end with the death of the doorman at the bathroom. Executives at UFA pressed them to conjure up a happy ending before the film's premiere in order to maximize its economic potential. Murnau and Mayer, obviously annoyed by this, created a cynical epilogue, showing the doorman having inherited from an eccentric hotel guest, who bequeathed his entire estate to the last person seen before he died. The executives also pressed the artists to change the film's title from "The Last Man" to "The Last Laughter".
posted by martinrebas at 9:07 AM on November 9, 2007

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' stunt casting of Sean Connery as King Richard for the last 30 seconds of the movie.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:10 AM on November 9, 2007

Unfaithful

I was completely drawn into that movie, and started to understand Diane Lane's Academy Award nomination. Then, the last 3rd of the movie was "Hollywoodized". On appalling ending to an otherwise enjoyable movie.
posted by unceman at 11:53 AM on November 9, 2007

I always considered that the ending of Shawshank (given the voice over) was just a portrayal of Morgan Freeman's hope of meeting his friend again, and not the actual meeting. I thought it was a nice visual -- better than just having him stand there reading.

For some "what the hell?!" endings (but not because of studio re-writes), how about:
Blazing Saddles
Monty Python's Holy Grail
Sliver (the Volcano ending)
posted by hammurderer at 12:45 PM on November 9, 2007

Heat.

DeNiro, the consummate pro bank robber ("It's business") has the money and a beautiful girl, and a clean escape.

Then he turns around and walks into an obvious trap so he can fail to to kill a guy because of a personal grudge.

Have I spoiled it for you yet?
posted by sacre_bleu at 12:49 PM on November 9, 2007

Sweethearts is awesome because of the nonHollywood ending. It was the only possible ending given everything that led up to it. It's awesome for a lot of other reasons. A very dark comedy. I highly recommend it. Had it ended any other way, I would not recommend it. That movie with a Hollywood ending woulda been like a T-Bone steak covered in whipped cream and strawberries. Yuck.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:55 PM on November 9, 2007

Oh. Pretty much the entire rest of the thread I agree with. Sweethearts was the only film that I wanted to defend.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:56 PM on November 9, 2007

I never minded the ending to Shawshank so much as I did the middle part where we learn that the Tim Robbins character actually was innocent of the crime. I thought the movie would have ultimately been better if they had left it a little ambiguous.

Seconded on Heat. Totally lame way to end it.
posted by psmealey at 12:58 PM on November 9, 2007

Neon Genesis Evangelion.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:05 AM on November 10, 2007

For Your Consideration was bizarre and confusing. The whole theatre sat there for a full minute thinking that it couldn't possibly be over.

I also hated the ending to Sahara, but that was mostly my fault. I spent the whole movie thinking the two guys were gay partners, then all of a sudden in the last scene, McConaughey is frolicking on a beach with Cruz. Ruined the movie for me. And then I found out I was the only one who had thought that...
posted by smoakes at 11:33 AM on November 10, 2007

From Dusk Till Dawn
posted by hootch at 6:06 PM on November 10, 2007