The 15 Best Closing Lines in Movies

Closing a film can be a tricky ordeal. You want that the audience leaves the theater with a lasting impression that somehow marks and resumes the whole movie they just saw. Getting this right can mean your picture gets immortalized, getting it wrong might mean it inevitably falls into oblivion, or even worse, it does get immortalized but for the wrong reasons. There are many ways of closing a film: a masterful shot which composition is so visually striking it stays with you long after the credits roll, through a plot-driven reveal that you wait until the very last second to make it clear to the audience, and another is to rely on the language-aspect of the film and deliver a line that summarizes the film perfectly. This last category is the focus of today’s list. I’ve looked into some of the most memorable final lines in some of the greatest films in history, and it goes without saying that there were many candidates, but I’ve ultimately reduced the list to just 15. I must now issue a spoiler warning, for the context within each film for each line will be briefly discussed, so if you haven’t seen one of the films on this ist proceed with caution. So, without further ado, here are (in alphabetical order, for it is somewhat impossible to indiviually rank these) 15 of the best and most memorable closing lines in movies:

Casablanca (1943)

Line: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” -Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart)

Context: After helping Ilsa Lund and Viktor Laszlo escape Casablanca, thus rennouncing the possibility of a happy ending for him, Rick is helped by Captain Louis Renault to avoid incarceration. As they walk away from the scene they begin to make plans to leave Casablanca, giving the impression that, even though the ideal love story doesn’t end on a happy note, not all is lost and there’s hope for the future.

Chinatown (1974)

Line: “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.” – Lawrence Walsh (Joe Mantell)

Context: As Jake Gittes arrives at Chinatown for his Rendezvous with Evelyn and her daughter he is arrested by the police. Noah Cross, Evelyn’s father, tries to prevent them from escaping, so she shoots him and tries to escape. The police open fire at the speeding auto, for it to abruptly come to a halt: Evelyn’s been shot dead. Walsh, one of Gittes associates in the police, lets Gittes go as he stresses the now immortal phrase – a phrase that caputres the sense of hopelessness and nihilism that pervades through the characters and the film itself.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Line: “I was cured, all right!” – Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell)

Context: After being abused by a system that pretended to “cure” his immoral drives, and being almost driven to suicide after one of his former victims acted out his revenge, Alex is visited at the hospital by the Minister, who wants to use Alex for political reasons. Little does he know that Alex has recovered his taste of ultra-violence, resulting in him being cured from the cure that was imposed on him by a hypocritical system.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Line: “We will hunt him down because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A dark knight…” – Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman)

Context: Harvey Dent has gone full psychopatic mode, killing civillians and police officers alike. After falling to his death in the aftermath of a confrontation with Batman, the caped crusader reaches the conclusion that the image of white knight Gotham has of Harvey will do much more good than revealing the truth. He assumes the blame for Harvey’s crimes and runs off into the night, as Comissioner Gordon explains to his son why the police must chase him. This final monologue perfectly paints Batman’s character arc and the grand theme Nolan’s epic touches on.

Gone With the Wind (1939)

Line: “After all, tomorrow is another day!” – Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh)

Context: After being at odds and fighting tooth and nail for the whole film (almost four hours, may I add!), Scarlett finally realizes that she has always loved Rhett. He, however, furiously dismisses her, famously claiming that he doesn’t give a damn. Heart-broken, Scarlett vows with her rather optimistic catch-phrase that she’ll win back Rhett’s love. Again, one of cinema’s greatest love stories ends on a rather sad note, but leaving enough room for future hope.

Goodfellas (1990)

Line: “I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” – Henry Hill (Ray Liotta)

Context: After being apprehended, Henry Hill gives information to the FBI about his associates from the mob and enters a witness protection program. He had to give up his wealthy lifestyle and all that’s left for him is reminiscing on the old days. The line sums up the fall from grace of this gangster: even if he managed to get out of the business alive, he lost everything he had worked for his entire life.

King Kong (1933)

Line: “No, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty that killed the beast.” – Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong)

Context: in the explosive climax of this timeless classic, Kong escapes from his chains, kidnaps Ann and climbs the Empire State building, where he is attacked and ultimately shot down by military airplanes. Before falling he makes sure that Ann is safe. Indeed, it was beauty, namely Ann and his obsession with her, that ultimately brought Kong down, ending the film on a rather tragic and yet somehow beautiful note.

Rashomon (1951)

Line: “Thanks to you, I can keep my faith in man.” – The Priest (Minoru Chiaki)

Context: Through all the confusing and contradicting stories about the central event, the priest and the wood-cutter don’t know what to believe and have lost their faith in mankind. A baby is discovered and the wood-cutter tries to take him, but the priest protects the baby from him. The wood-cutter explains that he intended on taking care of the baby, for he already has six children and one more shouldn’t be much of a burden. The priest decides he can trust the wood-cuter, restoring his faith in humanity. For such a bleak film, it is a rather positive and nice way to close.

The Sacrifice (1986)

Line: “In the beginning was the world. Why is that papa?” – Little Man (Tommy Kjellqvist)

Context: Not only the final line for this movie, but also the final line in Tarkovsky’s filmography as a whole. After bargaining with God for mankind to be spared from a coming apocalypse, Alexander sets fire to his own house and is taken away to a mental institution. His son, Little Man, lying by a tree, utters the only line he speaks the whole movie, namely a quote from the Gospel of John. To whom is the question directed? To Alexander? To God? The poetry of the scene and the film’s own reach is perfectly summarized in this final line, and the interpretations are endless. Why indeed was the world in the beginning?

Se7en (1995)

Line: “Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” I agree with the second part.” – Dt. Sommerset (Morgan Freeman)

Context: Detectives Mills and Sommerset fell into John Doe’s trap, where he reveals to them that he’s murdered and taken Mills’ wife’s head, all in order to make Mills kill him, thus turning him into the final sin, Wrath. As Sommerset watches Mills being taken away, he reflects on the aforementioned Hemingway quote. It works so perfectly because after all they’d been through until that point it is clear that the world isn’t a fine place, but his desire to fight for it and the greater good remains somehow intact.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Line: “I’m having an old friend for dinner.” – Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)

Context: Clarice Starling has captured Buffalo Bill and receives her diploma from the FBI academy. In the ceremony she receives a call from her old friend Dr. Lecter, who escaped earlier in the film. As we see him, he is in disguise closely tailing Dr. Chillton. Its not only Hopkins’ spine-chilling performance that makes this line so great, but also the fact that closing the film with the killer still loose makes it one of the most thrillingly uncomfortable ways to end a movie.

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Line: “Well, nobody is perfect.” – Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown)

Context: this line is delivered after Jerry confesses to Osgood that he is a man and not the woman he’s being playing the whole time, to what Osgood casually replies with the very famous line. Its not only a comical note to end the film on, but one that seamlessly sums up the film’s themes of identity and self-acceptance, not the mention the taboo-shattering nature of the scene itself.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Line: “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” – Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson)

Context: Aging former star Norma Desmond has murdered the film’s hero Joe, and as the police and reporters arrive at her state, her degrading mental state is on full display as in her mind she’s being prepped for her next scene. A film that deals with the effects of Hollywood and the entertainment industry in those who were originally glorified but later forgotten, this final scene and the line in particular captures this feeling to great effect.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Line: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that… he is gone.” – Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey)

Context: After hearing the cripple Kint’s story throughout the film and ultimately letting him go, Detective Kujan slowly comes to the realization that what he’s been hearing is just a construction based on objects in his office, and the man he just set free just might be the mastermind behind all the events in the film. As hard hitting as twist endings come, this final scene and final line rank among the best.

Viridiana (1961)

Line: “You know, the first time I saw you, I thought, my cousin and I will end up shuffling the deck together.” – Jorge (Francisco Rabal)

Context: After seeing her good intentions being repaid with savagery, Viridiana knocks on her cousin’s door, only to find Ramona also there. The three of them sit down to play cards, closing the film on a deliciously ambigous with a touch of blasphemy ending. (I touched upon this on my last review.)

So that’s that: 15 inmortal final lines in some of the greatest films. I’ve surely left out more than a handful that deserve to be mentioned. Which one do you think deserves to be on this list? Make sure to leave a comment with your suggestions. I hope you liked this list and I’d be very happy if you shared it with your friends and family. Also, you can stay up to date with the content’s of this blog by following. Until next time!

The Filmic Figure of the Gangster

“In ways that we do not easily or willingly define, the gangster speaks for us, expressing that part of the american psyche which rejects the qualities and demands of modern life, which rejects ‘Americanism’ itself.”

-Robert Warshow, “The Gangster as a Tragic Hero”

In 1948, film scholar Rober Warshow wrote a short essay titled “The Gangster as a Tragic Hero”, in which he analyses from a cultural perspective the gangster genre and figure. It is important to note that this was in a time where the most common references for this (sub)genre were Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932) or Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931); there was no Godfather trilogy (Coppola, 1972-1990), no Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990), no Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994). Since the publication of this essay the genre has already been developed, reimagined, deconstructed and reconstructed countless times. Also, while the article focuses on mainly american productions, the genre has seen many interpretations in world cinema, with the likes of Japan’s Tokyo Drifter (Suzuki, 1966), Brazil’s City of God (Meirelles, 2002), Italy’s Gomorrah (Garrone, 2008) or France’s A Prophet (Audiard, 2009). Still, I recently had to read Warshow’s essay for the university and I wanted to discuss his ideas onto the genre and how this may apply (or not) to the films post-1948. For the sake of simplicity, I will focus on american gangster films, just like Warshow did in the 40s.

First we have to define the gangster genre: “Gangster Films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or gangsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and violently murdering their way through life.” (http://www.filmsite.org/crimefilms.html) Ok, that’s a simple definition with which we can work with. Second, we must understand the difference between crime film and gangster film: a crime film can be a detective story for example, naturally crime plays a big role, but its focus doesn’t necessarily lie in the gangsters themselves; whereas gangster films are crime films, not every crime film is a gangster film – the gangster film works rather as a subgenre of the crime film.

That being said, let’s take a look at Warshow’s main thesis, which can be seen clearly in the quote above. The figure of the gangster exists with the sole purpose of subverting the american dream, of rising from the masses as an individual and achieving success. This success comes, as expected, at the expense of crime and violence. We as an audience only get to see the criminal and violent aspects of a gangster’s career, thus we associate their enterprise and business mentality with this acts of brutality. And yet, there’s a part of us that admires the gangster and even wishes to become him: they are anti-heroes in the sense that they do what most of us wouldn’t dare, namely going against the establishment into the criminal underworld and rising from the masses as a powerful individual. Much like horror films (click here for my analysis on that genre), the gangster film can reveal aspects of our psyche that we’d rather ignore, but then again, just like the aforementioned genre, it may provide a sort of catharsis for such “inpure” desires.

Warshow adresses the gangster mythos by claiming that the core of it all is the city, a hostile place where anonimity reigns above the individuals and the gangster depends on his wits and brutality to raise in such enviroment. He further says that it is worth knowing the difference between a criminal and a gangster: for him, the former exists in real cities and real underworlds, while the latter exists only as an imaginary construct of our culture. Basically, the gangster is a mythological figure (and a tragic one at that) that has been romanticised by a culture that knows it should condemn him but deep down sympathizes and even adores him.

But there is a second dimension to the function of the gangster genre as a cultural phenomena, and here is where I wanna draw differences between the films pertient to this genre before the writing of this article and those that came later. This dimension is, in essence, a moral one: in the classical era, all gangster films (according to Warshow) end with the death of the anti-hero, a downfall that serves as a reckoning for those who dare go against the system and go into the criminal world (it is also worth noticing that most of these were produced before the Hays Code kicked in in 1932). And while I won’t argue that in more modern iterations the gangster doesn’t suffer consequences for his actions, it is his final punishment that is different: by the end of The Godfather Part II (which was intended to be the final entry before Coppola decided to return 16 years later because of financial reasons) Michael loses his family, the trust of his closest allies and even his convictions by killing his own brother – he may still be at the top of his empire, but he has basically lost everything on a personal level; at the end of Goodfellas, Henry is forced to renounce his wealthy lifestyle and his dream of always being a gangster in order to simply survive; in American Gangster (Scott, 2007), Lucas is caught by the police and is sentenced to 70 years of prison (though to be fair, his sentence is shortened because of his collaborating with the police).

Sure, there are still plenty of examples of newer films where the gangster is dead by the end, but it comes as a final ordeal after having already suffered greater punishment: Sullivan’s wife leaves him after discovering his involvement with the mob in The Departed, and by the end of Reservoir Dogs basically every gangster is dead except for one, but before that the heist went completely wrong and their trust as a group was broken. Ok, we can agree that the practice of killing the gangster by the end of the movie as a sort of moral judgement and as a message of warning is still in use, but what I’m trying to argue is that this particular trope, which was employed in virtually every gangster film of the classical Hollywood period according to Warshow, is an example of an aspect of the genre that has been revolutionized since the essay was written.

We can still see in the american gangster films of today many of the traits with which Robert Warshow characterized the genre back in 1948: the gangster as an anti-hero who subverts the ideal of the american dream, the desire to trascend the masses and raise as an individual, and the final punishment of justice falling above him as a consequence for the crimes he has committed throughout his career. Still, given that this essay was written 70 years ago, it is no wonder that the genre has evolved since then – in this case, I wanted to show how the gangster’s final fate is not exactly how it was executed back in the day, even though we still get examples for such resolutions. The gangster genre is one that is very interesting to look at, and many of the greatest films ever made can be found within this genre. That’s why it is important to look into it and its theories, they may reveal aspects of our culture we hadn’t considered before.

Sources:

-Robert Warshow, “The Gangster as a Tragic Hero”

-“Crime and Gangster Film”, http://www.filmsite.org

If you like the content this blog produces, please subscribe and leave a like or a comment telling me what you think. Also, it’d be a big help if you share this with your friends and family. Until next time!