Best Endings & Beginnings in film history?

[spence]

Think other TCM-ITE'S did something like this over the yrs just in case what are your top 5-10 [ersonal choices for Hollywoods all-time ultimate beginnings and endings>

 

For the record & man, these are not only hard to do but close calls

 

My vote for cinema history;s all-time greatest opening

 

1st place   *The Godfather

2nd  Apocalypse Now

3rd  Kane

4th  Saving Pvt. Ryan

& 5th pick by myself  200l

& so many others

 

^& grand finales

1st  *Casablanca

2nd  City Lights

3rd choice  Modern Times

4th *The Godfather, Part II

5th  The Searchers

 

& Angels With Dirty Faces

 

 

[JakeHolman]

 

[JakeHolman]

 

[JakeHolman]

 

[JakeHolman]

 

[JakeHolman]

 

[thomasterryjr]

I believe one of the best beginning and endings in Cinema history is in one movie.   I shall describe through memory.  

After the opening credits and such you see a black screen.  Then a door opens and you see a porch from inside the home, the inside of the home serves as a black borderline as you look out at the colorful brown land leading up to picturesque mountains.   The ending of the movie shows John Wayne standing in the doorway on the porch, turning and slowly walking away.  The inside of the house serves as a black border as you look out at the brown land and picturesque mountains.  The door closes and everything is black.  The beginning and ending I am describing is  from "The Searchers".  In between the door opening in the beginning and closing at the end is a great adventure which holds the attention of the viewer for nearly two hours.  If I schedule my day to see "The Searchers" I always try to see the beginning and stay for the ending because this is one of the greatest thought out beginning and ending shots in cinema history.

Also a well-deserved mention to my other favorite ending which I spoke of in another thread,  Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights".

[sagebrush]

18 minutes ago, thomasterryjr said:

Also a well-deserved mention to my other favorite ending which I spoke of in another thread,  Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights".

One of my favorite endings to a film, for sure!

[spence]

3 hours ago, JakeHolman said:

 

I w3as gonna inlude the legendary SHANE

[spence]

Thanks to al, but what about beginnings as well?

[spence]

Vertigo also has a heavyweight finale

[spence]

8 hours ago, spence said:

Think other TCM-ITE'S did something like this over the yrs just in case what are your top 5-10 [ersonal choices for Hollywoods all-time ultimate beginnings and endings>

 

For the record & man, these are not only hard to do but close calls

 

My vote for cinema history;s all-time greatest opening

 

1st place   *The Godfather

2nd  Apocalypse Now

3rd  Kane

4th  Saving Pvt. Ryan

& 5th pick by myself  200l

 

^& grand finales

1st  *Casablanca

2nd  City Lights

3rd choice  Modern Times

4th *The Godfather, Part II

5th  The Searchers

 

& Angels With Dirty Faces

 

 

How could I leave it the phenomenal beginning of Raging Bull?

[SansFin]

These movies have both wonderful opening scenes and closing scenes:

Sunset Blvd. (1950) 

Opening:
"Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It's about 5 o'clock in the morning. That's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men." while the narrator is floating face-down in a swimming pool.

Closing: 
"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."  while the police wait behind the camera to arrest her for the murder.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Opening: A mousy little man enters a seedy motel room and is made an offer for unspecified work in an unspecified crime on an unspecified date. We know all that is happening and we yet know that we know nothing of what is to happen.

Closing: An elegant man in an elegant setting is staying true to his persona. We knew the ending would go one of two ways. This is neither of those.

 

The Usual Suspects (1995) 

Opening:
The final moments of a brutal battle between criminals.

The movie introduces us to the characters seen in the opening and recounts what led to that battle.

Closing:
All we have learned is a lie.

 

A Boy and His Dog (1975)

Opening:
Nuclear explosions with over-saturated mushroom clouds. "World War IV lasted five days. Politicians had finally solved the problem of urban blight."

Closing:
The hero walks off into the sunrise after proving how much a boy loves his dog.

 

[TomJH]

One of the most intriguing and bizarre opening sequences for any film, certainly from the early '30s: CRIME WITHOUT PASSION.

I defy anyone to view the following two and a half minute opening and say they don't want to see more.

 

[Dargo]

And then of course there's always this film...

...in both the memorable one-continuous-shot opening sequence, and the closing scene featuring Dietrich's short 'eulogy'...

[EricJ]

I've always had a soft spot for "Superman III" (the beginning, not the whole movie):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9BwmdEfrDk

(Hey, how do we embed?  Tom?)

[jamesjazzguitar]

Here is one of my favorite beginnings: 

 

[jamesjazzguitar]

Here is one of my favorites endings;

 

[spence]

54 minutes ago, SansFin said:

These movies have both wonderful opening scenes and closing scenes:

Sunset Blvd. (1950) 

Opening:
"Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It's about 5 o'clock in the morning. That's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men." while the narrator is floating face-down in a swimming pool.

Closing: 
"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."  while the police wait behind the camera to arrest her for the murder.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Opening: A mousy little man enters a seedy motel room and is made an offer for unspecified work in an unspecified crime on an unspecified date. We know all that is happening and we yet know that we know nothing of what is to happen.

Closing: An elegant man in an elegant setting is staying true to his persona. We knew the ending would go one of two ways. This is neither of those.

 

The Usual Suspects (1995) 

Opening:
The final moments of a brutal battle between criminals.

The movie introduces us to the characters seen in the opening and recounts what led to that battle.

Closing:
All we have learned is a lie.

 

A Boy and His Dog (1975)

Opening:
Nuclear explosions with over-saturated mushroom clouds. "World War IV lasted five days. Politicians had finally solved the problem of urban blight."

Closing:
The hero walks off into the sunrise after proving how much a boy loves his dog.

 

thanx   KEYZER SOUSA

[spence]

3 minutes ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Here is one of my favorite beginnings: 

 

COOL & who could ever gorget the ending of TREASURE SIERRA MADRE either, or WHITE HEAT, or KONG-(l933)

[spence]

30 minutes ago, Dargo said:

And then of course there's always this film...

...in both the memorable one-continuous-shot opening sequence, and the closing scene featuring Dietrich's short 'eulogy'...

now a legendary tracking shot of course   filmed in Venice Beach

[spence]

I sound old at 55, but when are their closings like these noawadsys

[Dargo]

18 minutes ago, spence said:

now a legendary tracking shot of course   filmed in Venice Beach

Yep spence, and back when Venice Beach was still awash with oil derricks everywhere, and as can especially be seen in this closing sequence as Dietrich walks away from the camera...

(...having grown up not far from there, I vaguely remember seeing them as a kid, and before the price of L.A. beachfront property would skyrocket to the point that millions could be made by repurposing the land for housing)

[Gershwin fan]

 

[Bethluvsfilms]

THE ROARING TWENTIES had a great beginning and a very satisfying (if downbeat) ending with a great closing line from Gladys George....."He used to be a big shot."

TITANIC  97  had me in tears by the end of the movie.

And of course GONE WITH THE WIND has the ending of all endings and THE ultimate film line from Clark Gable as Rhett Butler...."Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."