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Warning: Here Be Spoilers
browsing around the BBC news website, I found this article on the “best film endings”. I certainally wouldn’t say that Titanic has the best film ending ever, but I tend to agree with James King, that the best film endings are the ones that keep you guessing about “what happens next”.
I recently saw Taxi Driver. One of those films that has been on my ‘to watch’ list for a long time. The character of Travis Bickle is a legend in movie history, thanks to a brilliant portrayal by Robert DeNiro. However, it is the ambiguous ending that makes the film.
Perhaps it is that I have become desensitised to the violence, having grown up in the era of Schwarzenegger, but I felt disappointed as the camera panned away from what was apparently the final scene. However, during the epilogue we learn that Bickle is being praised as a hero (either in reality or his fantasy - but that’s another story), the ending comes alive for that film. The final shot of Bickle s eyes flashing up to the mirror is the ultimate in open endedness. Will Bickle decend back into madness? was he simply reacting to the traffic? It is a point of much debate.
Yet Taxi Driver does not get a mention in the top 10 list.
However, my favourite film of all time, The Shawshank Redemption does get a mention. Now, there is a film that the ending is ruined. I would have preferred the ending to be the same as director Darabont orginally intended. In his version, the movie ends with Red on the bus after finishing his speech about hope. The studio thought it was too ambiguous, so they insisted on the final beach scene where he and Andy are finally reunited. The ‘Directors Cut’ ending has more impact, as you’re left wondering if Red did actually meet up with Andy. Of course, you’d like to think he did - but I don’t think you’d need it actually spelled out to you.
Films with a twist ending are another favourite of mine. The Usual Suspects is probably the prime example of the twist ending. The endeering feature of The Usual Suspects is that after watching it for the first time and noticing the twist, you feel compelled to watch a second time to work out exactly how the Kevin Spacey character does it. Although with The Usual Suspects, the twist is deliberately hidden, on first viewing you are not given any clues to it. Some twist endings are plainly obvious; The simple fact that Bruce Willis does not talk to anyone other than the child in The Sixth Sense, yet the child can see the dead - I’m sorry, but I saw that one a mile off.
While not all movies will be able to have the greatest of endings, there are some that will always stand out, and in my mind, they are always the ambigous ones. The ones where you wonder what happens next. Granted, the sweeping shots through Titanic as it transforms from the sad ocean wreck into the glorious ship of Rose’s memories are nice, but what exactly was Michael Caine’s plan at the end of The Italian Job?Â
My band, 
