Every week, we’ll pose a new “five favorites” question. You just list your five favorites that fit in that category (preferably in preference order) and you’re welcome to discuss and debate the selections and see just how much you do or do not have in common with others. If you want to take a look back at our past articles to comment or enjoy, here is a post set aside to track all of our articles.
As a natural extension of last week’s poll, let’s give it a twist.
4 responses to “5 Favorites #161: 5 Favorite Twist Endings”
Almasy
I vote for top 10 in this category, there are so many great endings in cinema, theses are my favorites (ther first 5 are the top 5)
The Usual Suspects
Seven
The Empire Strikes Back
The Crying Game
Memento
And 5 more I love:
Sixth Sense
The Prestige
Chinatown
FIght Club
The Secret In Their Eyes (one of the last great movie endings, If you haven’t seen this picture don’t miss it, is amazing)
I love a good twist ending. There seems to be recurring plot scenarios for many movies of this nature:
“It’s all a dream. You’ve been dead all along, pal.”
“It’s not real, but a fabrication of your insane mind.”
“The innocent person turns out to be the bad person.”
“The big con.”
“Where not where we think we are.”
Some other picks:
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (a movie short later made into a Twilight Zone episode.)
Angel Heart
Identity
Primal Fear
Widow’s Peak
1. Witness for the Prosecution (1957) – even if you guess who the murderer is, you don’t see the other twists coming.
2. Laura (1944) – not the ending so much as the twist that comes half way through the film.
3. Planet of the Apes (1968) – its totally unexpected ending makes you re-examine everything you’ve seen.
4. And Then There Were None (1945) – as many times as I’ve seen this, it takes a while for me to remember which of two main characters is the murderer. It’s still fun even when you know the twist ending.
5. Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936) – my favorite Chan, chillingly atmospheric, with a wholly satisfying twist ending.
1. The Empire Strikes Back – It’s a twist that is now common knowledge, but to take the story of the original trilogy in the direction that they did was incredibly daring, especially considering the story was ending as dark as it was. On top of that, you had no idea what was being filmed either, as the spoken line on set was “No, Obi-Wan killed your father”. Yeah, doesn’t quite have the ring that actual line does.
2. The Usual Suspects – The knock-out ending of all knock-out endings, where you feel as caught up in the ride to see the surprise that the story let you in on. If only it were a few more minutes longer…
3. Planet of the Apes (1968) – Wow, just wow. This twist leaves you to really reflecting on who the real monsters were and just how did things get to where they were. That final image is one of the greatest images in film history.
4. Oldboy (2002) – You never expect a revenge tale to end up like this and when it’s intention is revealed, you can never shake it.
5. Citizen Kane – That ending is still technically a twist and it really causes you to look back on what you just saw, like a good twist ending should.
So many honorable mentions, though, but I’ll leave it for others.
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