In the comments of an earlier post on my top 5 closing lines of novels, Timbo suggested that a top 5 list of closing lines of movies would make a post. I agreed. Now, remember, these are my top 5 lists, not lists that I’m arguing are the best of all time for all people. I also decided not to use the line from The Return of the King since I already put that in my list for novels—it’s no fun to have things show up in multiple lists unless it’s something like Richard Nixon showing up in historians’ lists simultaneously for the best and worst U.S. Presidents. Again, these are the last lines of movies, so there are likely spoilers. Consider yourselves warned.
- Narrator: You met me at a very strange time in my life.—Fight Club (d. Fichner, 1999)
- Red: I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.—The Shawshank Redemption (d. Darabont, 1994)
- Alex: I was cured, all right!—A Clockwork Orange (d. Kubrick, 1971)
- Osgood: Well, nobody’s perfect.—Some Like it Hot (d. Wilder, 1959)
- Steve Zissou: This is an adventure.—The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (d. Anderson, 2004)
- William Wallace: In the Year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland – starving and outnumbered – charged the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets; they fought like Scotsmen, and won their freedom.—Braveheart (d. Gibson, 1994)
- Lester Burnham: I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time… For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars… And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street… Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper… And the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand new Firebird… And Janie… And Janie… And… Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me… but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday.—American Beauty (d. Mendes, 1999)
(It was hard for me to limit this list to just five, so I’ve added a few more.)
I have intentionally left out some good ones so others can offer them.
You could have just made this a top seven list. In that spirit, I offer my five favorite lines and two other endings that don’t have an actual line:
1. “I do wish we could chat longer, but I’m having an old friend for dinner. Bye.”
2. “As you wish.”
3. “You’ll have to excuse my friend. He’s a little slow. The town is back that way!”
4. “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
And the immortal line that was added three weeks later. . .
5. “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
The two that aren’t actual lines are Mozart’s laugh in Amadeus and Hitchcock’s final line (shot) to end North By Northwest.
Comment by Timbo — February 26, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
Timbo hit a couple of mine.
1. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” (Sunset Blvd)
2. Chinatown
3. “Mein Führer! I can walk!” (Dr. Strangelove or: HILTSWALTB) – Thought the ending music is better than the line.
4. Casablanca
5. Can i count the epithet at the end of Royal Tennenbaums
Comment by mune — February 27, 2007 @ 1:11 pm
These are all great suggestions. I’ll count the epitaph. I agree with everything said about Dr. Strangelove.
Comment by Tyler Watson — February 27, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
Mune, you picked two I had a hard time leaving out. I like both closing lines from Sunset Blvd. and Dr. Strangelove, though you rightly point out that the music from Dr. Strangelove is better than the line. I think the deranged look on Norma Desmond’s face is better than “I’m ready for my closeup” in much the same way.
Comment by Timbo — February 27, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Ebert says something somewhere about how Billy Wilder came up with two of the best closing lines in movie history: Sunset Blvd. and Some Like it Hot.
Comment by Timbo — February 27, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
Well Wilder was one of the finest screenwriters.
My favorite line from Sunset Blvd is “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!”
“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” is also great.
Comment by mune — February 27, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Though it doesn’t compare to other mentions as far as quality of the film it was in, “Lens-cap” from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, was, in my opinion, a great closing line.
Comment by doug harriman — September 25, 2008 @ 10:33 pm