Ambiguous Endings

[RobertR]

"It all worked out in the end, right?"

"In the end? Nothing ever ends."

 

Roughly paraphrased from memory from a certain famous graphic novel.

 

This is obviously spinning out of THE SOPRANOS discussion, but it's worth its own subject.

 

"The Lady or the Tiger?" What did Bill Murray whisper in Scarlett Johannsen's ear at the end of LOST IN TRANSLATION? What's the former blind girl going to do now that she recognizes her benefactor is a scruffy tramp not a dashing millionaire? What's the meaning of the freeze frame at the end of THE 400 BLOWS?

 

We all love it when a plot comes together definitively. There's a reason Sherlock Holmes is popular to this day. But the last few days has also been proof that a lot of fun can be had from not giving everyone all the answers and letting them freely interpret. Any favorites out there?

 

Robert

[TooLiveBrew]

Sinclair's The Jungle has a wonderful ambiguity in its conclusion, although the 'open-endedness' centers more around the symbolic/satiric elements of the text...

 

"'I pulled myself together and spoke slowly.

 

'The last word he pronounced was --- your name.'

 

'I heard a light sigh and then my heart stood still, stopped dead short by an exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable triumph and of unspeakable pain. 'I knew it---I was sure!'...She knew. She was sure. I heard her weeping; she had hidden her face in her hands. It seemed to me that the house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon my head. But nothing happened. The heavens do not fall for such a trifle. Would they have fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justice which was his due? Hadn't he said he only wanted justice? But I couldn't. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark --- too dark altogether.'

 

Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. 'We have lost the first of the ebb,' said the Director suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky----seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

[Fatter than Joey]

2001 and Apocolypse Now.... Do those qualify?

 

How about Blair Witch Project.

 

I think we should exclude movies that are part of series or sequels (i.e. The Empire Strikes Back)

[endaround]

Veronica Mars

[tyguy20204]

The Graduate struck me right off the bat.

 

I took it as ambiguous, anyway.

[Big Reed]

rescue from gilligan's island comes to mind as they end up being rescued only to take another cruise and end right back on the same island.

 

the last Pirates of the Carabean movie comes to mind. Will they somehow find somebody to take Will Turner's place?

 

Mash had a terrible last episode leaving almost everything up in the air as they returned home and hawkeye basically had a nervous breakdown not being able to deal with war and death anymore..

 

the last Cheers episode had zero closure in it as they just sat on the floor talking about the past..

 

the last Sienfeld episode could have been better.

 

Will there be closure to the last Price is Right? Will there be a bunch of spade and neutered pets as the last prize up for bid? and Bob Barker will leave the show walking his dog off the stage?

 

The last episode I liked the best was from the Bob Newhart show. The ending scene had him waking up and talking to Suzanne Pleshette about this horrible dream he had about being an innkeeper in Vermont. For those of us who had watched his previous newhart series, that scene was CLASSIC.

[JoeHova]

The all-time ambiguous ending is Taxi Driver's. Is it a hallucination brought on by injuries? Bickle's version of heaven? Did his mind just snap completely? Or was it real (somehow?)?

[Fatter than Joey]

History of Violence is another one.

 

Taxi Driver is a great call.

[Big Reed]

2001 - Space Odyssey.

 

now there was an ambiguous ending. all of a sudden, he's in a different world totally separated from the rest of the movie. What was that all about? I never understood that ending.

[heresrobin]

How about "Big Trouble In Little China."

 

Jack Burton's driving the Porkchop Express into the night and that one hell-demon had hitched a ride - what happens next?

 

Man, I wish they made a sequel to that movie...six demon bag...Lopan...girl with green eyes...it's all in the reflexes...

[EdgarDiazRocks]

I remember as a kid loving the ending to The Italian Job.

 

One of my Fav's .. . .

 

"Okay, I've got an idea."

 

Roll credits.

 

Brilliant!

[RobertR]

2001 - A Space Odyssey

 

I have a pretty concrete reading of this. The aliens that imbued man with intelligence at the beginning snatch David Bowman away. His humanity dies and he's reborn as the next stage in evolutionary development, the star child.

 

Taxi Driver and The Graduate

 

Two movies I did think of. You can pretty much read the "what next?" expression on the faces in the back of the bus in The Graduate after the adrenaline rush ends. Taxi Driver is filmed in such a way that you don't know if the end is reality, hell, or just a delusion of Travis Bickel.

 

Robert

[rluzinski]

"The Lady or the Tiger?" What did Bill Murray whisper in Scarlett Johannsen's ear at the end of LOST IN TRANSLATION?

 

I don't remember the movie that well but did it really matter exactly what he said? It seemed that the audience was allowed to tidy up the story any way they wanted to (and satisfy whatever emotional needs you might have had). I don't recall the actual plot dangling, though.

[Fike85]

What about Shane? I've never actually seen the movie, though I know about it because it was referenced in The Negotiator. For those of you that have actually seen the film, did Shane die?

[homer]

No, Shane just rides off into the sunset while the little kid screams after him.

[JoeHova]

Quote:

---

2001 - A Space Odyssey

 

I have a pretty concrete reading of this. The aliens that imbued man with intelligence at the beginning snatch David Bowman away. His humanity dies and he's reborn as the next stage in evolutionary development, the star child.

---

 

 

yeah, iirc, the book makes that more clear. It's been a long time since I either read or saw it though, so I'm not 100% certain.

[valpocrewsader]

Quote:

---

the last Cheers episode had zero closure in it as they just sat on the floor talking about the past..

---

 

Sounds like the Growing Pains finale.

 

I guess I see the point that people are making with some of these suggestions, but do any of them really compare to the screen just going completely black in the middle of a ho-hum scene? As a finale? I've never watched the Sopranos, but I've seen the final 30 seconds by now. That kind of "ending" seems pretty inexcusable. It'd be like reading a 400 page book and having the final page end in the middle of a pedestrian sentence.

[RobertR]

I don't remember the movie that well but did it really matter exactly what he said? It seemed that the audience was allowed to tidy up the story any way they wanted to (and satisfy whatever emotional needs you might have had). I don't recall the actual plot dangling, though.

 

No it probably didn't matter exactly what Bill Murray said, but it is a little mystery to speculate about. And the mystery does indeed allow people to fill in the space as to whether they never see each other again, they keep in contact as good friends, etc. Certainly the ending leaves room to consider the possibilities. At the very least its not a "they rode off into the sunset together" ending.

 

Robert

[GAME05]

The whisper from Lost in Translation was just like the whisper from The Hustler, when George C. Scott whispered something in the lady's ear while Paul Newman was shooting, and it was enough to make her kill herself.

 

Or there's the final scene from Being There, when Peter Sellers walks on water.

[GAME05]

At the very least its not a "they rode off into the sunset together" ending.

 

ugh, no kidding. it stinks watching a good movie for two hours only to have it entirely ruined by Hollywood's desire to create a happy ending, even though it doesn't fit with the rest of the story. Then again, give the people what they want...That Robin Williams movie where his family dies and he follows his wife to hell had that feeling.

 

wasn't Broken Flowers somewhat ambiguous? was it his son? what next?

[RightFieldCoder]

I remember reading a short story in high school English that had an ambiguous ending. A guy had to go through one of two doors. One had a lion and the other one had a woman to marry. He was put in this position because he loved the Princess and the King said because he wasn't noble he couldn't marry her. The Princess knew what was behind each door and told him to use the left door. And that was the end of the story. You didn't know whether he picked the door the Princess wanted or which result the Princess wanted. It was good for English class because we could spend a day debating what we thought the outcome was.

[davemakovec]

Robin19, that's "The Lady or the Tiger" you mention and it's a high school english classic. Good story.

[xisxisxis]

What did Bill Murray whisper in Scarlett Johannsen's ear at the end of LOST IN TRANSLATION?

 

Murray: "Who's more over-rated? Sophia or her father?"

[MKE alz]

The two I thought of...

 

Total Recall - you will probably laugh, but I absolutely loved this ending because you could just watch it mindlessly for the action and take it at face value - you can accept that everything was presented as this world's "reality"...but if you wanted to think about it more, you find yourself asking if he actually got the vacation he paid for...

 

Ghost World - actually almost goes against the point, I loved the movie despite not liking the ending much at all.

 

So I guess that's the difference for me. In general, I prefer things (like Total Recall) that appear to have a definitive ending unless you think about it much more than things (like ghost world) where the ending is purposely ambiguous.

[jason21nl]

ok, this isn't the ending but it bothers me . In the movie tombstone, when Doc Holiday dies he looks at his feet and says something. I can't remember what he says but I don't get why he says it. I love that movie, and have watched it tons of times and I still can't figure out why they show his feet.