Movies that are great...until the final reel screws them up (1 Viewer)

[Tommy R]

I know the movies had to conform to the books as much as possible, but the ending of “Lord Of The Rings” drove me crazy. How many endings were there? I kept thinking this is it, then there would be more movie and you thought this is it. etc etc etc.

I've always appreciated the ending going on for a while considering how long the trilogy is and that it's really one long story. But I have come to think perhaps PJ could have segued between scenes a little better. From memory he cuts to black twice when simply fading into the next shot would have done just fine. I can see how people would feel "psyched out" by it, but speaking for myself I felt relieved that it wasn't over yet with each new scene.

My choice of a final act (or final minutes) hurting a movie is definitely Infinity War. I'm still rolling my eyes whenever I think about it. I'm looking forward to Endgame redeeming it. It better be good.

 

[Cineman]

Pure sacrilege - set this man on fire and then have him dragged by camel across the desert!!!!

..I'm kidding. To each his own. Personally, I regard both of these movies as sheer masterpieces with zero flaws. But hey, that's what makes this gathering of the clan so exciting - a difference of opinion and our ability to share it with others.

Haha! I almost feel I deserve it as well since I love LoA so much. Forgive me for going a bit further to make my case since I suspect my choices, especially LoA, might be one of the more controversial and disagreed with ones here.

If I could explain it a different way, I would say I can reconstruct in my memory almost every shot, who said what, who did what and how I felt about it in heartfelt terms the final reel of, say, CASABLANCA, THE GODFATHER, SPARTACUS. On paper, there is almost no action at all. Yes, there is some brief gun play in the final couple of minutes of CASABLANCA. But for several minutes prior there is only a handful of people having a conversation on a runway. In all three, just as examples, there is nothing uplifting or exciting in terms of action going on. Just talk. But the images, the shots, the words, the meaning and what it all meant to the characters and to me are seared in my memory because of the way they are handled on a cinematic level and the actual words in the screenplay.

I can do the same thing with almost every scene in LoA, including the first meeting with Faisal in his tent, which is nothing but dialogue and geopolitical maneuvering. I can recall with excitement how Lean shifted the focus from this character to the other, who entered when, what that meant, who said what, the reaction it generated, this meaningful reaction shot, that one and so on.

But I cannot this very minute recall shots, who said what, what it meant to him or me in that final reel of LoA. And I have probably seen LoA as many times if not more than any of the three I used as an example above. At least 10 times for sure. If Mr. Harris had not mentioned it involving the Sykes-Picot Treaty, I would never have recalled the name of it. I can only remember Lawrence riding in the jeep, passing the soldiers, watching the motorcycle ride off in the distance and the final fade out. Essentially, the last minute of the movie. I wish there had been a reason for me to recall a more meaningful cinematic experience in that final reel than what seemed to me to be more like a wrapping up of the political details in order to put an end to the story and the movie.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

I Bury the Living (1958)
They Might Be Giants (1971)
Slither (1973)
Big Night (1996)

 

[TonyD]

Spielberg’s Lincoln should have ended after he was murdered.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Spielberg’s Lincoln should have ended after he was murdered.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Spielberg often has trouble with his endings, feeling compelled to tack on happy endings to otherwise darker stories.

-Schindler's List
-Saving Private Ryan
-A.I.
-Minority Report
-War of the Worlds

I thought the ending to A.I. was the same as Kubrick's orignal script? I could be wrong about that, but I thought that's what I had read.

 

[cinemiracle]

This is more than one reel, but how about the second half of Liz’s Cleopatra? The second of half of the movie, is a downer, after the first half.

Totally agree with you.Despite the second half being slow, CLEOPATRA ( in my opinion ) is still the most spectacular film ever made. It did bore me having to see it every night in todd-ao where I worked.

 

[cinemiracle]

I am a huge Hitchcock fan. But for me the last 10 minutes or so of REBECCA are a bore, which is highly unusual for a Hitchcock movie. Maybe it was more Selznick than Hitchcock's fault. But it was as though all the emotional power generated up until the final reel was dropped and the job handed over to a routine crime drama director. It is only rescued by the final, hair raising and haunting shots of Mrs. Danvers trapped in the hellish demise of Manderley.

So too are the final scenes in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. I know it is heresy to suggest such a thing on this website and there is no doubt it is one of the top 10 greatest movies ever made. However, those last several scenes are plain boring, something that happens no where else in the movie. I realize T.E.Lawrence was an enigma. But Lean seemed to have lost his mojo in also making him a compelling figure in the last reel or two. Again, the final couple of shots do make a lasting and haunting impression. But the last reel or so seems to have been underwritten and directed without anything near the inspiration of what came before.

And it might well be a case of what came before being SO good, it was almost impossible to wrap it up on as high a standard in both of the above movies.

I disagree with you re LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.The ending was a stroke of genius. It is the only English speaking film in my list of my top 10 films ever seen.

 

[cinemiracle]

Two very different films:
Psycho — What follows after the shocker (and the struggle in the shadows that follows it) is that boring sequence that tells us Norman Bates is a loony. Gee, do you think so?
Jingle All the Way — a funny Schwarzegger comedy about two dads (the other is Sinbad) after the last popular toy (Great poster: "Two dads. One toy. No prisoners.") is very funny until the final 20 minutes, when it gets the most overblown, repetitive ending imaginable.

re PSYCHO.No I don't think so. I saw that film when it was first released in 1960. In the decades that have since passed ,I have yet to see another film that was truly as scary as PSYCHO was.

 

[cinemiracle]

Titanic. It all fell apart in the end.

Disagree with you entirely. The ship may have fell apart (sunk) but the ending was brilliant.

 

[cinemiracle]

Spielberg’s Lincoln should have ended after he was murdered.

WHY?

 

[EricSchulz]

re PSYCHO.No I don't think so. I saw that film when it was first released in 1960. In the decades that have since passed ,I have yet to see another film that was truly as scary as PSYCHO was.

I think the final image of Norman is great, but the "explanation" of his condition felt so forced.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I think the final image of Norman is great, but the "explanation" of his condition felt so forced.

I think they did well in explaining it considering it was 1960, and was new ground for cinema. Imagine the shock, movie audiences had in certain sections of this country.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I think the final image of Norman is great, but the "explanation" of his condition felt so forced.

The HD stream of "Holiday" is $6.99 on Vudu, but is $12.99 on iTunes. The good thing is that it's a MoviesAnywhere title so it will propagate to both streaming services even if you buy it on Vudu.

 

[sleroi]

Analyze This!

The first two thirds were great. I thought Crystal’s straight man to DeNitos slightly caricatured wiseguy worked well. It was the situations and reactions that were funny.

Then out of nowhere we get ridiculous cartoon voices and sound effects and sped up film in a climax that makes no sense with the rest of the movie.

It’s like they wrote themselves into a corner and just decided what the hell and let Crystal loose.

Very disappointing, pulled me right out of the film. And, more importantly, it wasn’t funny.

 

[schmo]

The Boys From Brazil

When that awful child actor showed up at the climax between Peck and Olivier, the film went off the rails. And some of the blame can go to the screenwriter too.
I still like the movie a lot.....but that kid. Ugh.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Analyze This!

The first two thirds were great. I thought Crystal’s straight man to DeNitos slightly caricatured wiseguy worked well. It was the situations and reactions that were funny.

Then out of nowhere we get ridiculous cartoon voices and sound effects and sped up film in a climax that makes no sense with the rest of the movie.

It’s like they wrote themselves into a corner and just decided what the hell and let Crystal loose.

Very disappointing, pulled me right out of the film. And, more importantly, it wasn’t funny.

Yes I agree that Sobel had no business being at that gangsters meeting. That scene doesn’t make any sense.

Speaking of writers who seemed to hit a dead end, and can’t get out of the cul-de-sac, I’ve always felt this way about Animal House- the chaos at the town parade comes off as the best of the lousy ideas the writers had to close the film.

 

[Jack P]

Major Dundee
-A bit more accurate to say that this is a terrific film for the first 50 to 60% and then it goes off the rails completely after the execution of Warren Oates' character with pointless digressions and sidebars. For that, the blame lies entirely with Sam Peckinpah who was wasting so much time with his attempts at "authenticity" that he forgot to pay attention to writing a final act.

Obsession
-I was enjoying this film for its first three-quarters and then after the "big reveal" moment the film drags out in utterly ridiculous fashion complete with a creepy finish just because DePalma was trying to copycat a moment from "Vertigo."

Regarding "Psycho" and the Simon Oakland "explanation" I have to disagree with those who run this scene down. To me it would have been far more unbelievable for Vera Miles and John Gavin to "reason" out the explanation because that's empowering ordinary characters with deductive skills that would make us wonder why they're not doing this for a living. It's far more believable for them to wrongly think Norman's motives are rooted in a "rational" explanation (he killed Marion for the money). Oakland as an "expert" is the kind of person who would explain why and frankly we had to have that moment. I don't agree with those who think we didn't need an "explanation".

 

[Tino]

Spielberg’s Lincoln should have ended after he was murdered.

I actually think it should have ended right before he was murdered.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Spielberg’s Lincoln should have ended after he was murdered.

The movie closed with his 2nd inaugural, if I remember correctly. I found it quite satisfying, leaving the audience with some of his most eloquent ideals.