At Arts and Faith, Buckeye Jones asked a distracting question today:

What’s your all-time favorite closing shot of a movie?

Here are a few of mine…

I’ll add to this list as they come to mind, but here is the initial rush of closing shots that played like a YouTube montage in my head…

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark: The warehouse. Probably my favorite ending ever.
  • Before Sunset: The peak of both Julie Delpy’s career, and Nina Simone’s career. Probably my favorite ending ever.
  • Barton Fink: Plop. (Greatest big screen moment by a bird ever.) Probably my favorite ending ever.
  • Three Colors: Blue, White, *and* Red: Crying through windows.
  • Birdy: “What?”
  • Raising Arizona: Maybe it was Utah. Best closing monologue ever… except for this next one…
  • No Country for Old Men: “And then I woke up.”
  • A History of Violence: Eye contact at the dinner table.
  • The Mission: The shot at the end of the end credits
  • Fargo: The Gundersons in pregnant anticipation.
  • Beau Travail: The dance
  • The Last Days of Disco: The subway dance
  • Lost in Translation: The murmured secret
  • Twin Peaks (the series finale): “How’s Annie?” (Okay, I know, that’s cheating. But still.)
  • The Graduate: Of course.
  • Se7en: Brad Pitt in torment.
  • Blade Runner: Director’s cut or Final cut.
  • Brazil: Gilliam’s own final shot.
  • Once: It’s a good movie, but the closing shot makes it great.

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