Complex endings
Selection from Mick La Salle list of movies with complex endings. For the full list, see http://blog.sfgate.com/mlasalle/2013/10/08/complicated-endings/
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- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically."Another ending as wide and broad as life. The blind girl, now restored to sight, finds out that her rich benefactor is, in fact, the little tramp. A slight disappointment for her. And an education, too." -MLS
- DirectorRon HowardStarsFrank LangellaMichael SheenKevin BaconA dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon."No heroes, no villains" -MLS
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsEric BanaDaniel CraigMarie-Josée CrozeAfter the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.A movie about hunting terrorists that ends on a note of moral confusion and despair. -MLS
- DirectorVadim PerelmanStarsUma ThurmanEvan Rachel WoodEva AmurriA woman's survivor's guilt from a Columbine-like event 15 years ago causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart."Very powerful, reverberant ending." -MLS
- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsSandrine BonnaireMaurice PialatChristophe OdentAn erratic young woman's family desperately tries to prevent her increasingly erotic ways."Ends in the girl having grown up, but still carrying some of the baggage from her teen years." -MLS
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonGeorge SegalA bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night."You come away with a complicated sense of who these people are and what they've gone through." -MLS
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMontgomery CliftElizabeth TaylorShelley WintersA poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women."We come away with very mixed feelings, some conflicted, much of it surrounding our sense of the American dream, what it means, and how it works." -MLS
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime."We come away with a complicated feeling about everything and everyone. It's not a simple note at the end." -MLS
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsTim RobbinsGreta ScacchiFred WardA Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected, but which one?"We rooted for a guy that maybe we shouldn't have. We're happy, but a little queasy, uneasy." -MLS
- DirectorJean EustacheStarsBernadette LafontJean-Pierre LéaudFrançoise LebrunThe chauvinist Alexandre balances relationships with several women in the post-1968 intellectual scene of Paris."Relationships as they sometimes happen. Ends on a strange note." -MLS
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsAudrey HepburnGeorge PeppardPatricia NealA young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way."Happy, but with sadness at the back of it." -MLS
- DirectorPhilippe ClaudelStarsKristin Scott ThomasElsa ZylbersteinSerge HazanaviciusA woman struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison."The emotions are overwhelming." -MLS
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it."It ends on a note of sadness and exultation." -MLS
- DirectorLone ScherfigStarsAnne HathawayJim SturgessPatricia ClarksonAfter spending the night together on the eve of their college graduation, Dexter and Emma are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, and sometimes not."Ends sad and happy, in a moment that makes us think about youth and the mystery of time." -MLS
- DirectorPeyton ReedStarsEwan McGregorRenée ZellwegerDavid Hyde PierceIn 1962 New York City, love blossoms between a playboy journalist and a feminist advice author."Very smartly satirizes the sexual attitudes of the 1960s but those governing the making of romantic comedy in our era." -MLS
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie."Funny, but serious, about the function of comedy in the world." -MLS
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroRobert DuvallThe early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate."Michael Corleone is the world's most disastrous and pathetic success story." -MLS
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsSasha GreyChris SantosPhilip EytanA drama set in the days leading up to the 2008 Presidential election, and centered on a high-end Manhattan call girl meeting the challenges of her boyfriend, her clients, and her work."The career crisis of a call girl becomes a metaphor for how everyone can become expendable in an economic disaster." -MLS
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsHumphrey BogartGloria GrahameFrank LovejoyA potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts."The truth arrives, but too late." -MLS
- DirectorBen AffleckStarsMorgan FreemanEd HarrisCasey AffleckTwo Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally."The hero does the right thing -- and it turns out that maybe it was the wrong thing." -MLS
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsGreta GarboJohn BarrymoreJoan CrawfordA group of very different individuals staying at a luxurious hotel in Berlin deal with each of their respective dramas."A mix of hope and disaster, the spectacle of life condensed into one setting." -MLS
- DirectorElaine MayStarsCharles GrodinCybill ShepherdJeannie BerlinA newlywed man on his honeymoon has second thoughts about his marriage and falls for a different woman."He gets what he wants . . . then wonders . . ." -MLS
- DirectorSean PennStarsEmile HirschVince VaughnCatherine KeenerAfter graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life."We are left to ponder for ourselves the meaning of this life." -MLS
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJames StewartLee RemickBen GazzaraAn upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?"The defense lawyer mounts a magnificent case -- and probably gets a guilty person off." -MLS
- DirectorDrake DoremusStarsFelicity JonesAnton YelchinJennifer LawrenceA British college student falls for an American student, only to be separated from him when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa."A great ending, with the couple making important, silent realizations." -MLS
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glenda FarrellA small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune."The bad guy is defeated -- but he wasn't all that bad -- and the reason he's defeated is because he did something good for once." -MLS
- DirectorAdrienne ShellyStarsKeri RussellNathan FillionJeremy SistoJenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness."An ending that matches the movie's arresting mix of farce and drama." -MLS
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsHilary SwankClint EastwoodMorgan FreemanFrankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond."Sad, but exalted, and not sure what was right." -MLS
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsKenneth BranaghEmma ThompsonKeanu ReevesYoung lovers, and soon to wed, Hero and Claudio conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles, Benedick and Beatrice, to wed as well."Everything's great, but when the party's over, there's another war to contend with." -MLS
- DirectorRolf SchübelStarsJoachim KrólErika MarozsánStefano DionisiFollows three men who are in love with a beautiful waitress during World War II: an intellectual restaurant owner, a mysterious musician, and an erratic businessman."German masterpiece ends on a happy note, but very mixed with sadness and tragedy." -MLS
- DirectorXavier BeauvoisStarsNathalie BayeJalil LespertRoschdy ZemA rookie policeman from provincial Le Havre volunteers for the high pressure Parisian homicide bureau and is assigned to a middle-aged woman detective."A police captain wins her case but loses everything. What does she go from here?" -MLS
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartJean ArthurClaude RainsA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character."This is what Capra does. He makes you suffer, then gives you the ending you want, but makes you realize that the happy ending is the unlikely ending, practically a miracle, so that a complicated feeling lingers beneath." -MLS
- DirectorBrigitte RoüanStarsBrigitte RoüanPatrick ChesnaisBoris TerralThe end of an affair from the woman's point of view."Amazing film, written by, directed by and starring Brigitte Rouan -- starts off as a sex farce, about a fiftyish married woman who has a fling with a young man. But it becomes a rumination on the differences between male and female emotional nature. A remarkable film." -MLS
- DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsLyudmila SavelevaVyacheslav TikhonovSergey BondarchukThe Russian aristocracy prepares for the French invasion on the eve of 1812."Life doesn't turn out the way anyone plans it, but the survivors are reasonably happy." -MLS
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn CazalePenelope AllenThree amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does."Lots of ideas, all relating to NY in the seventies, and lots of mixed feelings."
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter."Not a happy ending, not a sad ending, but the right ending -- and the right feeling." -MLS
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsRobert TaylorMargaret SullavanFranchot ToneThe close friendship of three German soldiers is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman, who is dying of tuberculosis."Like CAMILLE, sad but with an underlying feeling of victory." -MLS
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsClark GableMarilyn MonroeMontgomery CliftA divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle."Sad, but happy. Mixed up." -MLS
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineVictor McLaglenIn 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land."A comedy with a tragic ending." -MLS
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyVirginia MayoEdmond O'BrienA psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist."By the end, we actually like the homicidal maniac and dislike the undercover cop who's trying to ruin him." -MLS
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsIsabelle HuppertFrançois CluzetMarie TrintignantA housewife in Nazi-occupied France struggles to make ends meet when her husband returns home after being wounded in the war."Fascinating finish. Huppert plays a woman who has little to inspire sympathy -- but by the end you wind up admiring her inability to be anything other than herself." -MLS
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJack LemmonShirley MacLaineFred MacMurrayA Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue."Another movie that ends in complicated feelings." -MLS
- DirectorMonta BellStarsNorma ShearerMalcolm McGregorGeorge K. ArthurA world-weary prostitute yearns after respectability and the love of an inventor."With Norma Shearer, playing rich girl Florence and poor girl Molly. The rich girl gets what she wants out of life, and the poor girl has to settle for second best. But the rich girl knows she has missed a big chunk of life's experiences, and the poor girl has the expanded soul." -MLS
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsRichard BarthelmessDavid MannersJohnny Mack BrownWorld War I veterans roam Paris, drinking and admiring a woman they recently met."A movie about WWI fliers. They'll go on and live their lives . . . but will they ever recover from what happened to them?" -MLS
- DirectorJodie FosterStarsHolly HunterAnne BancroftRobert Downey Jr.After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson faces spending the holiday with her family."Seemingly a comedy, but also a kind of rumination on the mystery of family." -MLS
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsCarole LombardJack BennyRobert StackDuring the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy."Funny, but about a serious subject." -MLS