Top 5 Greatest Endings Ever
Overview: More times than not, we are disappointed by the way things end, either because they don’t go the way we hope or planned, or because we wouldn’t have allowed them to end in the way they did. But every now and then, we are surprised and delighted, which is what makes for great endings.
Criteria: Anything with an ending is eligible; a sporting event, tv series, movie, book, lifetime pursuit, etc.
Rob's Notes: I was actually inspired to create this topic by the insipid nature of how dark many nursery rhymes are and how terrible so many TV series end, so last week we did worse endings. It only makes sense to list the best ones this week. Remember, these are OUR greatest endings, so they mean something more to us.
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Rob's Top 5 - |
Arnie's Top 5 - |
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5. The Sixth Sense. Almost no movie ever stumps me. I see and predict endings to the point of often being bored to tears or devastated by disappointment. It’s like sex with Arnie. However, I never saw, watching the movie for the first time, the idea that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. It seems so cliché and obvious now, and it’s awful that is spawned a series of horrendous movies from M. Knight Shamalama-ding-dong, but this movie kicked my ass. 4. Every single time we’ve been told “soccer had arrived” in America. The ending is always the same; no one cares. Most recently, when the American women’s team lost to Japan, a country we had no business losing to in 2011. That was awesome. 3. “Newhart.” The series finale wrapped up the decade long TV show by revealing that Bob Newhart had dreamt the entire thing as his character (Dr. Robert Hartley) from the original Bob Newhart show. No one saw it coming and it was hysterical. 2. Super Bowl XXIII, January 22, 1989, Montana to John Taylor to win with :36 seconds left. At that point, the Niners were the team of the decade, I was 17 and about to graduate high school and everything in the world was awesome. All down hill from there… 1. The Reverend Jim Jones getting 909 pepole to commit mass suicide in Jonestown. Honorable Mentions: The 1981 NFC Championship game featuring “the catch.” It’s only 5th because at the time, I was 10 and had no idea what it would lead to. Yeah, it was great, but watching Joe Montana do it over and over again for ten more years was better.
Fight Club. I don’t love the movie as much as many men who worship it, but the fact is that the ending predicted the future; a world of emo-men and self-terrorism, the exact society we live in now. The Departed. In every great mob movie, everyone has to die, but the last 20 minutes of that film, concluding with Mark Whalberg’s killing of Matt Damon were just intense. Watching Phil Mickelson choke away the 2006 U.S. Open golf tournament. I hate him, and watching his self destruction was very satisfying. Arnie’s marriage. The way it ended was not pretty, but I have to admit that I didn’t care. I was just glad it was over. It’s only an honorable mention because it didn’t really improve my life in any way. The 2000 election. After weeks of non-stop hand wringing to have the Supreme Court hand the election to George W Bush (an idiot to be sure) was awesome, especially when every single study of the Florida ballots for years to follow proved that Bush would have won anyways, even if we would have re-counted and re-counted.. I love watching ideologues squirm. Bob Hope’s life. By far, the most overrated entertainment icon of all time Johnny’s Carson’s final two shows. Total class, and then he disappeared like one should. Joe Carter’s homerun to win the World Series in 1993. It’s not in the top 5 because I couldn’t care less about the Toronto Blue Jays or Joe Carter, but he lived every kids dream and it was an awesome moment. Plus Arnie didn’t see it live because he was at a ballet (or something) with his mother. HAHAHAHA |
5. The Natural 4. Fight Club Honorable Mentions: Either January 20th, 2013 or 2017 the end of the Obama reign |