The 10 greatest final frames in cinema history
Everyone, from lifestyle gurus to your parents, has long told you that first impressions are crucially important, and whilst we don’t want to retract that age-old mantra, we would like to suggest that last impressions might just matter more. Your otherwise bland experience at a restaurant, for example, can be saved by a delicious pudding, and indeed, your experience of a pants movie can be saved by an outstanding final shot.
The greatest filmmakers of all time have long been aware of this fact, with Steven Spielberg rounding off the themes of The Last Crusade with a killer final frame, Tobe Hooper terrifying audiences with the chaotic closing scene of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and George Roy Hill beautifully memorialising his protagonists’ last gasp in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
In this list of the ten greatest final shots in cinema history, we will be looking into the movies that bookended their runtime with a frame of utter beauty, encapsulating the film’s overall mood whilst creating cinematic history in one mere cell. It’s important to preface this list by stating that we’re looking specifically at the very last shots of films, which means that some of the greatest movie endings of all time might not be mentioned.
Take a look at our list below, which involves such classic movies as The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The 400 Blows.
The 10 greatest final frames in cinema history:
10. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
The American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson has quickly established himself as one of the greatest directors of the 21st century, largely thanks to his 2007 film There Will be Blood, a grisly breakdown of the American dream. Telling the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a manic businessman who is obsessed with finding and abusing crude oil at the turn of the 20th century.
Developing a rivalry with the local preacher who finds success towards the end of the film, Plainview eventually kills his adversary, ending the film in a heap on the floor of a bowling alley uttering, “I’m finished”. The final shot, framed within the bowling alley, is itself a perfect reflection of the gamification of American capitalism.
9. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
Attributed to kicking off the slasher craze of the 1980s alongside John Carpenter’s Halloween and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is a classic of horror cinema. Telling the story of the solitary Bates Motel, run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and the unfortunate guests who happen to come into contact with him, Hitchcock’s classic ends with the villain in solitary confinement.
But, just before Hitchcock allows us to depart from Bates, we are treated to one final shot, as Perkins terrifyingly cranks his head upwards, and the image of a skull is subtly layered over his face. Wonderful.
8. The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
François Truffaut’s classic coming-of-age movie The 400 Blows is an undisputed classic, but it’s most well-known for its final shot. Telling the story of a young boy, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), growing up without loving parental attention and turns to petty crime, Truffaut’s film was released shortly before the French new wave boom of the 1960s. Totally losing his way, towards the end of the film, the child is put in a centre for troubled youths.
In the final moments of the classic, Doinel escapes from the home and flees to the nearby beach, where he looks out to sea and aimlessly stares towards the camera before Truffaut pulls away. It’s a haunting end to a harrowing coming-of-age tale.
7. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
Nominated for six Academy Awards whilst winning an Oscar for ‘Best Director’, Mike Nichols’ The Graduate has since become a cinematic favourite, largely thanks to the iconic soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel. A provocative comedy romance that tells the story of a blossoming relationship between a college graduate, Ben (Dustin Hoffman), an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) and her daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross).
The film’s influential finale sees Ben disrupt the wedding of Elaine to try and convince her to leave her groom. Agreeing, the two run off together, jump on a bus, sit down and smile before quickly realising exactly what they have just done. The final shot shows faces, not of unabashed glee, but of sheer anxiety. It’s a powerful moment that speaks to the desperate spontaneity of youth.
6. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
The ending of Charlie Chaplin’s iconic monochrome movie Modern Times sees his own tramp character walk towards the sunset alongside Paulette Goddard’s ‘gamin’. It’s a simple shot that is beautifully composed, but it’s the poignancy behind the moment that truly earns its moment in film history. The final movie to feature the influential ‘Tramp’ character that thrived during the era of silent cinema, Modern Times, is a tribute to the icon.
Often referred to as the final silent film, Chaplin’s wobble towards the sunset at the end of the film, in which he finally talks, is one of the most poignant moments in cinematic history, marking the figurative career curtain call of one of the industry’s first true stars.
5. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
The sheer influence of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is difficult to quantify, with the likes of George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson and George Miller each taking notes from the 1954 classic. A story of unity and justice, the film follows farmers from a village who employ a team of samurai to protect them from being exploited by bandits. Captured in glorious monochrome, the action movie has a bittersweet end, with just three of the seven samurai surviving.
The film’s final shot sees the three remaining samurais looking over the graves of their fellow friends, with the moment speaking to the sacrifice of the title characters and the consequences of their promise to protect and fight for justice.
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
A favourite of every university student, usually for the ‘crazy psychedelics’ of the movie’s final sequence, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a special sci-fi that forever changed the genre for the better. The film sees astronaut Dave Bowman undergoing a surreal transformation from man to cosmic fetus by its conclusion, presenting an extraordinary vision to viewers that swells with mystery and intrigue.
Kubrick was usually tight-lipped about his endings, but he did provide an explanation for the Space Odyssey finale, stating: “He is transformed into some kind of superbeing and sent back to earth… It is the pattern of a great deal of mythology, that was what we were trying to suggest”.
3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
If it wasn’t already clear from our previous entry on this list, Stanley Kubrick certainly knew how to end a movie. Whilst we’ve already discussed his sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, he later bettered himself by ending 1980’s The Shining with an eerie final note. The influential horror movie, based on the novel by Stephen King, told the story of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a man who goes mad whilst looking after a remote, haunted hotel in the Rocky Mountains.
Turning on his wife and son, the film’s climax sees him chasing after his family members whilst wielding an axe, only to get lost in a hedge maze and freeze to death. As if Kubrick’s adaptation wasn’t mysterious enough, however, the film ends with a slow zoom into an old picture of Torrance attending a party at the hotel decades ago. Is the Jack Torrance of the film a ghost? What exactly is going on? The eerie ending is the perfect flourish to Kubrick’s classic, finished off with Nicholson’s piercing glare into the camera.
2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Often discussed as the greatest movie of all time, Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic gangster flick The Godfather is an utter marvel of storytelling, telling the tale of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the ageing boss of a crime dynasty, who is in the process of transferring his control to his youngest son. In the end, after much personal deliberation, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) takes the role of Don Corleone after the death of his father.
The film’s final moment perfectly encapsulates just how much Michael’s life is about to change, and it’s a simple moment too. Despite denouncing his family’s criminal business at the start of the film, vowing he’d never be a part of it, by the end of the film, he becomes the monster he always hated. The final shot shows the door being closed between Michael and his team of mobsters and his wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), who is fully aware of his husband’s transformation.
Their relationship will never be the same again, with Keaton’s heartbreaking expression translating everything the audience needs to know before the door closes and the screen fades to black.
1. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Back in the first half of the 20th century, western cinema was thriving. Filmmakers like John Ford, Sam Peckinpah and Howard Hawks paved the way for American cinema to grow with movies like Rio Bravo and One-Eyed Jacks, but no film was more influential than The Searchers. Starring John Wayne, the Hollywood icon behind many western favourites, the 1956 film told the story of a man named Ethan who devotes seven years of his life to tracking down his niece, who was taken by the Comanches.
Eventually returning from his successful travels, Ethan gives the girl back to her family but then turns away from the front door and, clutching his arm, shuffles into the dusty American wasteland. Leaving alone, just as he had arrived, the moment perfectly summarises the solidarity of the protagonist, who now no longer has anything to live for.
A violent man with a deep hatred for Native Americans, Ethan’s character is a relic of what his country used to be, with the film breaking down just how fragile his own identity truly is. Instead of rejoining civilisation at the end, he thinks it appropriate to instead stagger off injured into the wilderness. It’s cinematic perfection.
