UKC

Does what it says on the tin.

In reply to The Lemming:

Brokeback Mountain

In reply to The Lemming:

No Country For Old Men.
Spartacus.
The Man Who Would Be King

In reply to The Lemming:
Chinatown.
Requiem for a Dream.
Planet of the Apes (not the remake obviously).

In reply to The Lemming:

Arlington Road

In reply to The Lemming:

Das Boot

In reply to yikes:

I'm sure a lot of people don't think my suggestions are great, but Arlington Road?

Maybe you're joking, I can't even remember the ending!!!

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
Great film, but didn't the Germans get sunk?

In reply to The Lemming:

Saving Private Ryan

In reply to The Lemming:

Marley and Me

In reply to The Lemming:

knowing

In reply to The Lemming:

Has anybody seen Pompeii? I watched this afternoon, great film, with a sad ending. It couldn't really finish any other way though

In reply to The Lemming:

Gladiator

In reply to The Lemming:

Brazil. You even think you're going to get a cheesy happy ending, but no.

In reply to The Lemming:

A bridge too far
The deer hunter

In reply to The Lemming:

The Mist

In reply to The Lemming:

The Big Blue

In reply to The Lemming:

Local Hero. Not sure that Mac is happy at the end.

In reply to Big Steve:


What happened?

In reply to Submit to Gravity:

a big volcano erupted, killed everybody

In reply to The Lemming:

The Great Escape

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:


By about one third of the way through, for me, any notions of them being the enemy just fell away. I empathised so much with them simply as fellow human beings doing a shitty job in unimaginable conditions. Then the horror just went on... and on... and on. When deliverance finally arrived, it turned out to be the very opposite of deliverance. Poor bastards.

A superb memorial to submariners of both sides who met lonely, horrible deaths. The bravest of the brave.

Mick

In reply to The Lemming:

OHMSS

(Bond)

In reply to Big Steve:


Shit!

In reply to The Lemming:

Titanic

In reply to The Lemming:

the long good friday

In reply to The Lemming:

Blood Diamond

In reply to The Lemming:

Pan's Labyrinth... Or does it?

In reply to The Lemming:

The Constant Gardener. Definitely in my top 5 as well.

In reply to Mick Ward:

Traitor! :P

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:



I thought it was excellent. Who was the only person not cleared to be in the garage?

In reply to Big Steve:

Noooooooooo!

Spoiler alert.

Come on!

How could you spoil something like that?




Next you'll be telling me that a big ship sinks in a film when it hits some ice.

In reply to The Lemming:

Lovers of the Arctic Circle

Butterfly's Tongue

In reply to Mick Ward:


Indeed.

My dad was a submariner - he served in the Royal Navy in subs just like the ones in the film in the early 1950s. He said 'Das Boot' was the only film submarine film to come close to conveying the conditions inside those boats.

In reply to The Lemming:

Great Yugoslav war black comedy called No Man's Land.
Vanishing Point.
Calvary.

In reply to The Lemming:

Nostalgia.

In reply to The Lemming:

Melancholia

In reply to The Lemming:

Il Postino

In reply to The Lemming:

Tess of the D'Urbevilles. Hardy has a lot if tears to answer for.

In reply to The Lemming:

Boy in stiped pyjamas. Shocking ending.

In reply to The Lemming:

Cool hand Luke

Jaws (I don't want to spoil it but the title star dies when the villains finally catch him)

Star Wars (the terrorists destroy the advanced engineering structure, setting back galactic progress)

In reply to The Lemming:

Anal Sluts From Hell Vol.4

Messy Climax.

In reply to Mick Ward:



Agreed; about the greatest war movie I have ever seen.

Two more greats:

Aguirre, the Wrath of God
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

In reply to James Rushforth:

Thanks for reminding me about Fiennes. How i could have forgotten my favourite film of all in my earlier post i don't know - The English Patient.
Then there's also the excellent End of the Affair.

In reply to Bobling:


there is a version of that with a happy ending

In reply to The Lemming:
Leon.

In reply to The Lemming:

American History X

In reply to The Lemming:

Great, in nostalgia terms, and lots of unhappy endings, but there's always someone trying to spoil things.
youtube.com/watch?v=m0xmSV6aq0g&

In reply to llechwedd:

Perfect Storm

In reply to The Lemming:

In Bruges.

In reply to The Lemming:

Dead Man's Shoes

In reply to The Lemming:

Betty Blue

Robin Hood - prince of Theives

In reply to The Lemming:

Stalingrad

In reply to Tom Valentine:




alot of americans didnt like no country because of the ending,they seem to like a happy finish.personally i enjoy a nasty ending,especially in porn

In reply to ed woods:


i was thinking that as well.great film,named our daughter after the girl who got shot

In reply to The Lemming:
any film of any sort where a dog dies

if youre like me you can Pre check your chosen film for this here:

http://doesthedogdie.com/

In reply to The Lemming:

One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Hamlet
Macbeth
Omega man/I am legend
Dead Snow
Dog Soldiers
Gladiator
Valkyrie
Amadeus
Ichi the killer
Carlito's way

In reply to The Lemming:

One flew over the Cuckoo's nest

In reply to mack:

damn! beat me to it

In reply to The Lemming:

most George Romero films.

most film adaptations of Stephen King books.

In reply to The Lemming:

Oldboy has a pretty nasty ending.

In reply to Mikkel:





The first time I ever saw Bladerunner , it did not have a happy ending.
Then I watched it a few years later and the sad ending was replaced with some crappy dreamy sequence that made no sense but tried to make a half ending. That spoiled it for me. A travesty of there ever was.

In reply to The Lemming:

Another vote for blood diamond.

Life is beautiful, a film of two halves lets just say!

In reply to The Lemming:

Don't Look Now

In reply to The Lemming:

Withnail and I

In reply to The Lemming:

Blair witch Project.

butch and Sundance.

Any Kevin Costner film his character survives in.

In reply to The Lemming:

The Wages of Fear

In reply to The Lemming:

Layer Cake, then again you don't find out if he actually dies.

In reply to The Lemming:

Amongst the classics, Casablanca and Brief Encounter spring to mind, but they are known as "weepies" so does that disqualify them?
The Empire Strikes Back (the clue is in the title)
Any Vietnam war movie

In reply to BnB:


Brief Encounter had a fairly happy ending didn't it? Richard Dreyfuss got to go on board the alien mothership just like he wanted to.

In reply to ThunderCat:


Yes, but the Probing you Know he was sure to get makes your eyes water.

In reply to The Lemming:

Green Mile

In reply to The Lemming:

Calvary

In reply to The Lemming:

seven

In reply to The Lemming:

The end of Season 3 Game of Thrones. I know that generally it's quite a bloody storyline, but Jesus, the wedding banquet scene shocked me. Watched it with actor commentary on too, amazing to hear their reaction to it as that was the first time they had watched it (as opposed to acted in it)

In reply to The Lemming:

The Departed

Fight Club

In reply to 1234None:


Most definitely. I had read the book before seeing the film and couldn't believe what I was reading when I read those last few pages. Not prone to emotion when reading books or watching films but had a tear in my eye then!

In reply to The Lemming:

United 93.

In reply to Mick Ward:
I Agree, we get to see and feel soldiers doing their job, just wanting t get home. A great film that transcends national allegiances.


To the OP
Blackfish

In reply to The Lemming:

Dr Strangelove.

In reply to The Lemming:

Dawn of the dead (either version)

Boogie Nights

The Battle of Britain ( I was rooting for the Germans they're uniforms were so much cooler).

In reply to The Lemming:

Someone has already said Dead Man's Shoes but it's so good it's worth mentioning twice...so...

Dead Man's Shoes.

In reply to BnB:


I don't think being a weepy disqualifies them, any more than a lot of the films listed might be disqualified for not being happy throughout.

However...I thought Brief Encounter DID end happily enough. The marriage is saved, with no repercussions - she's forgiven unconditionally isn't she?

In reply to The Lemming:

The Bedford Incident

In reply to The Lemming:

How could I forget 'The Fountain'. Before Aronofsky lost his way a bit.

In reply to The Lemming:

Kiss Me Deadly
Watchmen (or IS it a reasonably happy ending??? Cleverly ambiguous, yes I know it's an adaptation)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, maybe not quite a "great" film but it is unfairly maligned and its ending is what MAKES is almost-great.
Fargo
Never Let Me Go

but I realise that I am mostly picking films that don't really have a happy vibe throughout, so that the unhappy endings are kind of inevitable and not shocking.


Good call, whoever said OHMSS.

In reply to The Lemming:

Last of the Mohicans

In reply to The Lemming:

Into the wild
Save the green planet

In reply to The Lemming:

Amadeus
Jean de Florette and its sequel even more so - Manon des Sources.

In reply to The Lemming:

Oldboy

I have only seen the American re-make but i assume the original ends in the same way.

In reply to The Lemming:

My Girl.

Why I thought of that movie, who knows!

In reply to The Lemming:

Good thread! (Troll)

Sophie's choice

Broke the unwritten - yet otherwise binding- rule that no kids must die

In reply to Tom Valentine:


Clue is in the title. How many do they start with?

In reply to The Lemming:

Gallipoli

In reply to The Lemming:

Thelma and Louise

Merry Christmas mr Lawrence has a sad ending but was shit

In reply to The Lemming:

Bladerunner, obviously not the godawful version with the tacked on happy ending.

Memento.

Easy Rider. Although it doesn't really qualify as a great film.

In reply to Andy Long:

Very good call. Though what that is in French, I haven't a clue.

T.

In reply to The Lemming: The ending of The Wicker Man isn't especially cheery either.

T.

In reply to The Lemming:

Romper Stomper

In reply to The Lemming:
The Bridges of Madison County

In reply to Mick Ward:




Pull yourself together, for God's sake,

In reply to Blue Straggler:


As I recall (it's been a long time since I saw BE, and I've only seen the original, which cannot be improved upon) Laura is forgiven, but in flashback. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the final action temporally, actually nearer the start of the film, her semi-conscious drift into suicide attempt? The film invites us, beautifully, to share her misery and regret. Oh, Celia Johnson's eyes, so deeply expressive!!

Is there some dust in here, I think I need to sneeze, pass the hankies.

In reply to The Lemming:

500 Days of Summer. Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy doesn't get girl back, girl gets another boy.

Husbands and Wives. Woody Allen asking the camera man at the end: "Can I go? Is this over?"

In reply to The Lemming:

Inside Llewyn Davies
Dallas Buyers Club

In reply to The Lemming:

The Remains of the Day
The Best Offer

In reply to Mike Highbury:


Actually... I think not.

Of course if you'd like to pull me together, you're very welcome to try.

Mick

In reply to The Lemming:

Harry's Game

In reply to Pursued by a bear:


Yes it is, look how happy everyone is. Well almost everyone, but we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

In reply to wme:

Jaws (if you're a shark)

and on a similar vein....Watership Down

http://www.postersandprintsblog.com/postersandprintsblog/2010/10/31/al-murp...

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

The book is so much better than the film. Ive read and re read 3 copies til they've fallen apart in my hands. Beware though there are 2 translations- one by a British author and one by an American. The British one is miles better as the Authors use of descriptive terms is that much more developed and rich

In reply to The Lemming:

Funnily enough three of the greatest films ever made have sad endings...

Dr. Strangelove
Withnail and I
The Man Who Would Be King

In reply to The Lemming:

No country for old men

- kills just about everyone except the baddie

In reply to The Lemming:

The Prestige

In reply to The Lemming:

Thelma and Louise, as someone above has already said. A very affecting ending to a great film.

To take a recent film, Her, with Joaquim Phoenix is an excellent, thoughtful film with a downbeat ending.

In reply to The Lemming:
Red state.
Wicker man.
Easy rider.

In reply to The Lemming:

In similar vein to Dr Strangelove, "On the Beach" based on the Shute novel.

In reply to BnB:

You know it better than I. Only saw it once, 20 years ago. I'll need to check it. Thanks!

In reply to paul-1970:



Keeping it Allen...

Vicki Christina Barcelona. Rebecca Hall's face at the end speaks volumes about her future.

Blue Jasmine. Just when Jasmine has finally earned some sympathy from the audience - WHAM.

In reply to The Lemming:

Harry potter and the goblet of fire

In reply to The Lemming:

silent Running.

In reply to 1234None:


We got this on lovefilm, and watched it on a Sat night in. Finished at about 11 and we ended up going out just to try and shift the mood it had left us in. Good film though.

In reply to The Lemming:

Old yeller

In reply to The Lemming:

I'd reiterate Carlito's Way. Such a strong build to such a sad ending, and the first time of watching, quite unexpected (to me at least, in 1993)

In reply to The Lemming:

I suppose a honorary mention should be made of Werner Herzog's 'Stroszek'. I've never seen the film, but it is infamously the last film that Ian Curtis watched before hanging himself. So unlikely to have finished on a Grease 'everyone happy together and a ride off into the sunset'.

In fact, according to Wikipedia, the film ends with a dancing chicken, a chicken playing a piano and then a rabbit riding a toy fire truck...

In reply to The Lemming:

Most of Michael Haneke's films have endings that deliberately do not resolve what has taken place, therefore for some the ending will be perceived as unhappy. I remember an ex of mine throwing up her hands and then being ready to throw something at my head when the credits rolled at the end of 'Hidden'.

Definitely the end of Haneke's 'The Piano Teacher' is dark and downbeat though. How many lead characters stab themselves in final scenes of films?

In reply to paul-1970:

There are things in Stroszcek bleaker than its ending, though.


This thread does seem to be inviting suggestions of films that are pretty grim throughout, such that their unhappy endings come as no big shock....

Guess that's the nature of the beast.

True Romance's originally shot ending was bleak, and Tony Scott persuaded Tarantino to make it happier. I think Scott made the right call.


OH!

How about Carlito's Way? The end is prefigured as it loops back to the opening scene and the whole film is a narrated flashback, but it still hits pretty hard actually.

In reply to crayefish:

"And Daniel never let go of Peachy's hand"
One of my earlier choices. Pleased to find a fellow fan.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I'm a fan too, took me ages to get around to watching it because I used to have an irrational prejudice against Michael Caine (I respect him lots now) so, coupled with Connery (against whom I hold a perfectly well reasoned prejudice), this seemed one to avoid. But even Connery is good in this one, it's one of his few enjoyable screen presences.


I got another one.

Out of the Past. Very clever ending actually - it is bittersweet.

In reply to The Lemming:

Silver Dream Racer (1980 - starring David Essex)

In reply to The Lemming:

The Thing

Odd Thomas

In reply to The Lemming:

Just seen Calvary. I need a drink.

In reply to Mikkel:

Is that the directors cut?

In reply to Pursued by a bear:
"Le Salaire de la peur."

Yves Montand is driving his lorry-load of gelignite through Central America. He finds an old Paris Metro ticket in his pocket. He sniffs it for a moment then stares at it as his eyes glaze over with nostalgia and homesickness. Suddenly it's blown out of his fingers. No fancy pyrotechnics - we all know that his mates in the other truck have just blown up.

In reply to Andy Long:

That's not the end of the film by a long shot, and I'm sure you know that. I am confused!

The way they end "Sorcerer", the 1977 remake, is actually far far more devastating than the ending of Le Salaire de la Peur

In reply to The Lemming:

Man on Fire

In reply to Andy Long:

I thought he was rolling a cig. Is that a different film?

In reply to Mark Westerman:


There is an important clue in the title of the film though!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

What if it was called Cavalry?

Would it entail a Bruce Willis saves the day ending (like in The Player).

In reply to Tom Valentine:

You're right, I was confusing two different bits! I must dig out my copy again.

As to the 1977 remake, I've never seen it. However, if it doesn't end in "FIN" I don't want to...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

He died for others sins? What a miserable bunch they were. Its kept me awake thinking about it though.

In reply to The Lemming:

The Vanishing (1988 aka Spoorloos not the other one)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096163/?ref_=nv_sr_4

The Wicker Man

In reply to mark s:

They didn't like Kes, either, but not just because the bird got it.

In reply to Cambridge-Climber:

Their music was better, too. In fact, it was so good we confiscated it and renamed it "Aces High"

In reply to Mick Ward:

read Iron Coffins, fascinating. An account of the german submariners during the war. Das Boot over again, a great read.

In reply to The Lemming:

Watchmen

Skyline - that ending is just weird

Sin City - this was on the other night, forgot how awesome it is.