Best Surprise/Twist Ending to a Movie?

[joeybee12]

I'm going with Il Bidone (The Swindle) by Fellini. Those of you who have seen it know what I mean.

Any nominees????????????

[La_Serpiente]

1. Sixth Sense

*I see dead people*

[MUAD_DIB]

63. I agree.

I didn't see it coming at all. Nice ending.

[Guaranteed]

2. The Usual Suspects

That ending absolutely blew me away.

The end of the first Godfather is pretty damned good too.

[dolo amber]

5. Yup yup

Definitely Usual Suspects. I literally cheered! :D

[Kat45]

10. Yes, I agree on The Usual Suspects

The ending totally blew me away!

[FloridaJudy]

38. Definately the Usual Suspects!

That had me guessing up until the last 30 seconds.

*Twelve Monkeys* and *Carrie* weren't shabby either.

[grannylib]

62. 'Usual Suspects' was great...and 'Rebecca' had a good plot twist, not

really the ending but if you have seen it you know what I am talking about

[rbnyc]

3. First one that comes to mind is...

...The Conversation.

"He would kill us if he had the chance."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071360/combined

[BurtWorm]

29. That just gave me the chills.

That is a creepier movie under the surface than you realize. :scared:

[rbnyc]

33. Truly.

I just saw The Ring and it has a similar Twist.

Have you seen it?

[BurtWorm]

34. No. I've heard the Japanese version is excellent.

Is that the one you saw?

[rbnyc]

37. I was too tired for subtitles that night...

...so we opted for the remake. But I do want to see the original now.

[kixot]

4. Planet of the Apes and Citizen Kane

I know, wayyyyy oversatirized but both still rank as among the most dramatic and surprising endings in cinematic history.

[joeybee12]

6. You know, the first time I saw Citizen Kane about half-way through

I said to the people I was watching it with--"It's the sled."

Didn't surprise me, although most people didn't get it.

[toddzilla]

7. to live and die in LA

not too many flicks where the main character dies unexpectedly..

[htuttle]

12. Night of the Living Dead does that better

I was a lot more shocked at the end of that movie.

[tjdee]

22. Happens in Psycho...and the main character was a famous actress.

Imagine J. Lo/Jen Aniston/any famous actress doing a film where her character died in the middle? What a mind f*** that is, when the main character dies...you feel kind of...funny...haven't seen To Live and Die in LA though.

[rbnyc]

23. I saw it a long time ago.

I do remember being pretty shocked when the character died.

[dolo amber]

8. Titanic

:D

[regnaD kciN]

53. Yeah...!

Who would ever have guessed that the ship sinks?

[Booberdawg]

The Eyes of Laura Mars

[intheozone]

9. Sixth Sense! nt

[dwckabal]

11. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

and The Usual Suspects

Figured out The Sixth Sense fairly early, although Unbreakable had a pretty good twist at the end.

[Guaranteed]

13. Yeah, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

was classic, all the way. Start to finish.

I think I'm going to name my next cat "Ruprecht."

[MrScorpio]

14. Some of my favorite twisted endings

Angel Heart

Mickey Rourke's looking for a guy who's running from the devil and finds himself.

Soylent Green

Yep. They're made from people.

Seconds

Rock Hudson finds out that sometimes you don't get second chances to start over.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The cops taking everybody away at the end is timeless

Jacob's Ladder

Sorry dude. You never left Viet Nam.

Of Course ad said before:

Planet of the Apes
The Usual Subjects
The Sixth Sense

[Champion Jack]

15. The Crying game

or what ever it was called. the one where the chick turned out to be a guy.

[SiobhanClancy]

16. Yes!

That was totally shocking. I just saw that movie again the other day.

[joeybee12]

18. Great movie, but I wasn't shocked

Maybe because I'm gay and can spot a drag queen a mile away.

Ever watch Dog Eat Dog this past summer? One of the challenges was to spot the real woman in a line-up of drag queesn--it was so damn obvious, but of course the guy didn't pick the right one!

[peekaloo]

17. The Mechanic

Charles Bronson as a paid assassin with Jan Michael Vincent as his apprentice.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

31. If you are reading this note, I am already dead, and you will be

too in 2 seconds.

[ironflange]

19. Blazing Saddles

[kodi]

20. the last 15 minutes of film "the ice storm" were devastating

i sat so stunned, so affected by what had unexpectedly just happened on the screen that i wept like a child.

if you have never seen the film, i suggest it to all.

[tjdee]

21. The Fight Club (book, anyway)...Psycho....

Finding out the background of the movie Psycho really made me appreciate it much more. That is one rollercoaster of a film for this reason:At first, you think it's a film about a woman (a famous star at the time) who takes the money and runs. It's not. Hitchcock throws you off course, and after the famous shower scene you're not sure who's going to take care of you, LOL. Who are you to identify with? What is this movie about? Then he gives you poor, sweet Mr. Bates. Then Hitchcock works it. That movie ROCKS.

I've not seen the film of The Fight Club, but damn if that was a totally unsuspected twist there. You can't get much better than that.

[Nlighten1]

24. "The Vanishing" the original foreign version of course.

[Nlighten1]

25. The "Odessa File"

Very cool twist at the end.

[0rganism]

26. "Barton Fink", of course

The whole movie turns upside-down about halfway through, and shakes you until your head explodes.

[CandyCrim21]

27. Identity or Seven! Toss up guys!

:shrug:

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

44. I saw the ending to Identity a mile away.

Not the multiple personalities thing, but which one the killer turned out to be. That probably says more about me than I'm willing to face...

[Guaranteed]

49. Identity was good

The scene where they tell him what's going on is really well done, I thought...Cusack is great...

[Bonobo]

28. Brazil... the real version.

n/t

[tarkus]

30. Yeah, The Usual Suspects, Les Diabolique, or perhaps Basic. N/T

[mitchum]

32. When we find out that "Rosebud" is a zombie

I didn't see that one coming

[BurtWorm]

35. Was that "A Touch of Evil Dead?"

I didn't see that one coming either. Or going.

[starroute]

36. Chinatown

"She's my daughter . . . my sister . . . my daughter . . . my sister."

Might not seem so shocking today, but in 1970-whatever, it was a real mind-blower.

[regnaD kciN]

54. That's not the ending...

Actually, the ending caused a lot of controversy, as that was not the way that Towne's screenplay ended. Polanski (who had just survived the loss of wife Sharon Tate to the Manson family killers a few years earlier) decided on a downbeat ending because, as he told Towne, "Beautiful blondes die in Los Angeles. Sharon did."

[kaitykaity]

39. "Wild Things" for pure camp.

I had another one, but it slipped my
feable mind. :shrug:

[Greyskye]

40. A Boy and His Dog

I can't believe no one has mentioned "A Boy and His Dog", based on a short story by Harlan Ellison. It came out in 1974, and starts a very young Don Johnson (of Miami Vice fame).

One of the all time great surprise endings. :evilgrin:

On edit: here is a non-spoiler review (just don't read the user comments!) that has some photos, audio clips, and a scene clip -
BoyAndDog

[ronzo]

41. Easy Rider.

Who saw that ending coming?

[Dogmudgeon]

42. Bandits was pretty good

Billy Bob Thornton and Bruce Willis, competing for the affections of Cate Blanchett (I think that's how she spells it). An under-rated movie with a great ending. Hilarious, too.

--bkl

[gate of the sun]

43. identity has

an interesting twist......if that's what you want to call it. worth wathcing even though it seems like some slasher movie......

[Richardo]

45. The Sting

Grandfather of the con/twist movie. The whole thing set you up along with the marks, and nobody (in 1974) was expecting it. Now, you're kind of second-guessing all along as to who the rat or other traitor will be. Everyone is a suspect.

Honorable mentions:
"The Spanish Prisoner" (Mamet)
"House of Games" (Mamet)
"The Usual Suspects"
"Empire Strikes Back" ("I am your father, Luke")

[scottcsmith]

46. Although I've never seen it...

...apparently the 80's slasher flick "Sleepaway Camp" has a surprise ending.

I don't think I've seen a movie yet where the ending caught me off guard.

[corarose]

47. The Others, Harold & Maude & Sixth Sense

I thought that Harold killed himself at the end of Harold and Maude. My Sister and I broke down crying when we were kids because we loved Bud Cort.

[Punkingal]

48. Seven....

that was a total shocker for me. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I did not see that coming.

[Supormom]

50. "Seven" and "No Way Out"

[Booberdawg]

51. How could I forget Seven! - and also The Crying Game

There was NO WAY to see that ending coming in Seven. Not in your wildest dreams.

And The Crying Game - where the woman turned out to be a guy - that shocked me but a lot of people that saw it knew that was coming.

[bain_sidhe]

52. not mentioned yet...

Primal Fear w/ Richard Gere and Edward Norton (one of Norton's first roles, I think)

Also, I thought The Heist (Gene Hackman) had a pretty neat twist.

Of the ones already mentioned, my favs are Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Wild Things and The Sting.

[Chomskyite]

55. To Kill a Mockingbird

If you think Sixth Sense competes with this one, you gotta be kidding.

[arwalden]

56. The Others --- (spoiler inside)

It was a real surprise to find out that THEY were the ghosts and not the other way around.

-- Allen

p.S. The Usual Suspects would get my 2nd place vote.

[joeybee12]

57. I think if I had seen The Others BEFORE The Sixth Sense, I would

have been surprised--sort of saw this coming.

[Richardo]

58. House of Games

...little known David Mamet movie with Joe Mantegna and Lindsay Crouse. Excellent - one of Ebert's all time favorites.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

60. spanish prisoner by Mamet

Also has great twists in it, more than one.

[Loonman]

59. The Road Warrior

The tanker was full of sand!

[geniph]

61. Deathtrap!

How can no one have mentioned Deathtrap? Who saw that kiss coming? I went HOLY SHIT, all the homophobes in the audience went pale and went EWWW and the plot thickened yet further!

The greatest surprise twist EVER!