Fist to the table with granite resolve, I demand the final screen of these animated visions of Stanley Kubrick’s long list of milestone works (cleverly mounted by Martin Woutisseth) be whipped up into classy, large-ish posters, particularly the one below. Everyone else can have their Tyler Stout geek-out works (also nice, but if you’ve seen one…). I want these puppies. Bummer about the typos, though.
Click the image below for a unique trip down memory lane.
I only yesterday picked up the new Bluray of Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove,” one of those canonical classics that becomes almost a cliched entry in any number of all-time-best-films lists. I haven’t had a chance to dive in yet, though the recent mini-controversy (wholly on the web) concerning the grain levels doesn’t worry me all that much.
In a real coup over at The Auteurs’ Notebook, Glenn Kenny has managed a detailed exchange with the film’s editor (and later a director himself) Anthony Harvey. There is some intriguing discussion regarding Kubrick’s post-production process, his philosophy on editing performances, etc. But the most engaging bit is obviously the paragraph devoted to the film’s notorious unused denouement that featured a pie fight preceding the end of the world rather than the title character’s painfully ironic miracle moment.
The original ending was meant to be much more in line with Terry Southern’s brand of absurdist stylings. As the iconic “war room” of the film descends further into madness in the light of oncoming nuclear holocaust, an epic pie fight erupts as the final act of bedlam from some of the world’s foremost political figures. But tragic history ultimately stood in the sequence’s way.
Don’t hurt yourself, Dave Kehr:
For all of his technical brilliance, Kubrick had no discernable sense of humor and many of the gags in “Strangelove” — from the broad puns of the character names to the overdrawn figures of Peter Sellers’s Strangelove and Sterling Hayden’s Gen. Jack D. Ripper — seem less funny as their audacity has drained away. Lines like “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” now seem more labored than deliciously droll.
Steeped in the improvisational ethic of the early ’60s (Nichols and May, the Second City) the film may be at its best in those low-key moments when Sellers, playing the American president Merkin Muffley, chats nervously on the hot line with the unseen Soviet premier — moments that owe everything to Bob Newhart’s classic telephone routines. “Strangelove” is a rare case of a film that has become a classic more for marking the end of an era (of high cold war paranoia) than initiating a new one.
• The “Oh yeah, what happened to her?” blurb of the week. [Associated Press]
• Yours truly covers Grant Morrison’s latest monthly, “Batman and Robin.” [Batman on Film]
• David Poland analyzes the brave new world of media ad buys. [The Hot Blog]
• Tom O’Neil on Geoffrey Rush’s new acting triple crown with last night’s lead actor Tony. [Gold Derby]
• Marcia Gay Harden won lead actress from “God of Carnage,” by the way, while the film won best play. “Billy Elliot” cleaned up, though. [TonyAwards.com]
• With “Brüno” on the way, Michael Deacon digs into the elusive Sacha Baron Cohen. [Daily Telegraph]
• Mickey Rourke works “The Wrestler” across the pond. [The Guardian]
• Out-of-the-blue story of the day: motorcycles big on the big screen have retailers hopeful. [Los Angeles Times]
• Glenn Kenny sees no grain in the “Dr. Strangelove” Blu-ray release, thank you very much. [Some Came Running]
Alright, this was painstaking indeed. After The Times of London saw fit to rock out a list of the 20 best movie endings of all time last week, I thought I’d try my own hand at such a collective.
There are some omissions that might surprise some folks (“Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Graduate,” “Carrie”). At the same time, there are films that, on any other day, would easily slip into the list (“A Clockwork Orange,” “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “Reservoir Dogs”).
Rest assured they were taken into account, but they didn’t speak to me on whatever levels must have been necessary to push into the top 20. But I can say these are the denouements that most affected me, be it viscerally or emotionally.
Send in your picks for the top five movie endings of all time and I’ll publish a collective readers’ list in a few weeks. Email me or post your list below in the comments section.
Here’s what I came up with:
20. “The Iron Giant” (Brad Bird, 1999)
“You stay. I go. No following.”
Animation genius Brad Bird made his feature directorial debut with this effort, packing an emotional punch by film’s end with shades of “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” — and an energizing final shot to boot.
19.”Jacob’s Ladder” (Adrian Lyne, 1990)
“He looks kind of peaceful, the guy.”
Capping off one of the most bizarre cinematic visions ever captured (and, ultimately, quite underrated as well), this closing scene is a twist that has been lifted in various other forms ever since. (see next)
18. “The Sixth Sense” (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
“I think I’m okay, really. I think it just went in and out.”
Hot prospect M. Night Shyamalan tainted the original power of the twist ending by attempting to make a career of it, but in the final moments of this early effort, his buried talent poked through the surface.
17. “The Shawshank Redemption” (Frank Darabont, 1994)
“Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’. That’s God damn right.”
Less a closing scene than a closing sequence, the entire third act of Frank Darabont’s Stephen King adaptation manhandles the heartstrings and lifts the spirit.
16. “Se7en” (David Fincher, 1995)
“John Doe has the upper hand.”
Andrew Kevin Walker crafted a near masterpiece that culminates as perfectly as it could have, death and despair, ambition and art, plus a Hemingway rebuttal for the ages.
15. “The Conversation” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1973)
“We’ll be listening to you.”
The calmly paranoid conclusion to a mind-bender from a mid-“Godfather” Francis Coppola, this finale put Gene Hackman in a position to give perhaps the greatest performance of his career.
The full list after the jump!
I was working on this piece yesterday (nothing major — just pulling together the YouTube clips), but I wasn’t aware how the list was going to pan out. “Carrie” at the top? Not so sure about that.
But The Times critics like to be contrarian. Just take a look at their Top 100 Films of All Time list, which places Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” rather brazenly at #2.
Anyway, debating and sussing out the best of movie endings ever could have us chatting into the night. Most of my favorites are recent examples, but that’s probably due to what the 1990s did to the screenwriting form.
Scribes began giving a lot more thought to how the audience would feel when leaving the theater. Twists and emotional-punches became a currency of sorts, which is probably why there are more films from the decade than any other on The Times’ list.
I will say I’m glad there was room for “Seven,” “Memento” (which I re-watched recently and absolutely adore) and “E.T.,” three (perhaps) out-of-the-box choices that don’t leap to mind when the subject comes up. And it’s impossible to argue against “The Usual Suspects,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “Planet of the Apes.”
If I were to suggest a some additions, I might begin with “Heat,” “Citizen Kane,” “A History of Violence,” “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Boogie Nights,” to name a few.
The Times’ list of the best movie endings of all time:
1. “Carrie”
2. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
3. “Casablanca”
4. “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”
5. “Chinatown”
6. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
7. “Some Like It Hot”
8. “The Italian Job” (1969)
9. “The Usual Suspects”
10. “The Sixth Sense”
11. “Thelma & Louise”
12. “The Wizard of Oz”
13. “Les Diaboliques”
14. “Dr. Stranglelove”
15. “Gone With the Wind”
16. “The Shawshank Redemption”
17. “Planet of the Apes”
18. “Memento”
19. “The Blair Witch Project”
20. “Seven”
I might pull together my own top ten soon enough.
What are your favorite movie endings?