Best trick/twist ending in a movie? (spoilers, of course!) (1 Viewer)

[andrew markworthy]

Cees - I agree 100%. I don't know if you get Sky TV over in the Netherlands, but it's a digital service and while a programme is playing you can call up a guide to what the programme's about. There are no major spoilers, but even a basic outline of the opening few minutes of the plot ruins the enjoyment for me for just the reasons you described.

Slightly aside from this, when I was at school I studied English Literature. Our teachers had a bizarre (or so it seemed) policy of not letting us study any Shakespeare beyond what was compulsory for the examinations. Their reasoning was that you've got to have a bit of real life experience before Shakespeare will be meaningful and being given a simplified synopsis of the plays (in effect spoilers) will ruin a true appreciation of them. I thought this weird at the time, but boy have I been grateful to them ever since. I got to see practically all of the great plays from my mid-twenties onwards without any prior knowledge of the plots. And Hamlet, Lear et al really are edge of the seat excitement plays if you don't know what's going to happen.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Might be true: I studied Merchant of Venice in school, and was abysmal at it; indeed I was piss-poor at literature generally (let's just say my O level in English literature isn't worthy of being cited as one). I'd like to think that nowadays I would have a greater appreciation for it, were I to have time or inclination to read "serious" works rather than pulp fiction -- as noted earlier, I don't analyse movies when watching, and the same applies to books I read -- I'm just there for the ride, and hence most times all that is necessary to keep me happy is an interesting plot. Call me an uncultured philistine if you like, then...

 

[tyler payne]

The Road Warrior
The fact that Max is nothing more than a red herring, was really cool the first time I saw it, and it holds true to this day

Clue
OK, so maybe not a "true" twist ending, but when I first saw the movie in theaters I liked the ending. A week goes by and I invite some friends to go see it with me, and what do you know, there was a different ending. Thank god for VHS and DVD where you get to see all three endings

 

[John Doran]

No Way Out - i'm pretty sure my nose and ears were bleeding after that one.

Nine Lives - the last scene of the last vignette was like an elephant sitting on my chest - i couldn't breathe. but, man, i sure could cry.

 

[Dave Hahn]

I can't believe we are on the fourth page of this thread and no one has mentioned The Sting



More plot twists then a David Mamet screenplay and the great grand-daddy of all caper films.

The Sting easily gets my vote for Best trick/twist ending in a movie

 

[Tim Glover]

Great one Dave! How could we have ignored that Classic.

 

[Beau]

Maybe I'm just dense, but I never understood the ending to that movie. Only saw it once, though. Anyone care to explain to the village idiot?

 

[Stephen_L]

Beau, Max and his tanker were decoys to lure the marauders away from the individual vehicles holding most of the colonists and their "precious juice", petroleum. The marauders assumed the petrol was in the tanker, and the phalanx of colony defenders with it only confirmed their suspicions. When Max finally crashes the tanker he learns with us that it was only filled with sand.

 

[Beau]

Okay, that makes sense. When he crashed and saw that it was just filled with sand I just thought that maybe they were lying and didn't actually have any gas. Makes much more sense now.

 

[Southpaw]

We can add two recent movies to the list:

The Illusionist which I liked.

The Prestige which I LOVED.

Just got done with The Prestige. Incredible movie.

 

[Keith I]

The Sting was mentioned in Post #36.

Maybe this is not the "best" but 8 Women had a nice little one.

Body Double's twist wasn't quite at the end but although one might have figured it out, it was clever.

Contact didn't have a twist but that little exchange between Angela Bassett and James Woods made me pause for a moment.

The Crimson Rivers - The twist was cool because of the people involved and the location (yeah, pretty shallow but that's my reason).

Dead Again - Not an overly-dramatic twist but a nice little one.

Greedy - Even though I know the ending, no matter how many times I watch it, I get a kick out of it.

Identity - Some may not like the manipulative aspect of it but I thought it was clever.

The Last American Virgin - I thought it was going to be a typical Hollywood high school teen ending but boy was I wrong! (It's probably "typical" more in reality.)

Mission: Impossible - an unpopular choice for many but although you could have figured it out during the movie, I like the way it played out and its unconventionality.

Nighthawks - You could also figure this out but just to see it so dramatically played out was great.

Seconds - The movie was like one long Twilight Zone episode (and the twist at the end was just like one) but the ride was enjoyable albeit creepy.

Swimming Pool - A cliche'd response, perhaps, but only because it made me go HUH???

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - It wasn't a twist per se but it was a clever ending to the case and to the movie.

Terminator 3 - Although Terminator fans know how it should have ended, it still gave me hope that they could have changed things but it was a slight surprise (but I'm glad they stuck with it).

Previously mentioned that I agree with: Matchstick Men, The Spanish Prisoner

I haven't seen many of these in a long time so if I'm off-base a little or a lot, I apologize.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I just watched "Inside Man". Not so much a twist, but just how the heist was carried out, which was telegraphed in several ways, but still a neat finish.

 

[Malcolm R]

The Prestige

Frailty

 

[DaleC]

Speaking of Twists, I've seen the movie "White Sands" a couple of times, and I enjoyed it both times. The problem, to me, is they throw in one too many twists at the end. I'm following the story -- TWIST -- Woah...Okay... But I'm still --TWIST-- Uh... yup...still got it. This is cool... --TWIST-- (??!)

Maybe I'm missing something but they always lose me...