20 Best Movie Endings of All Time, Ranked (original) (raw)

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman looking at each other in Casablanca (1942).

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Updated Dec 22, 2025, 9:18 AM EST

Jeremy has more than 2500 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
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Naturally, the following article will contain spoilers.Starting anything is important, sure. Getting a year off to a good start can put one in high spirits for the 12 months to come. Put something interesting in the first few seconds of a song, and maybe people who haven’t yet heard it will want to keep listening. A piece of writing can have a good introduction that doesn’t waste too much time. Whoops.

Uh, but endings are also important. The greatness of a movie’s beginning, for example, could well be undermined if the way it concludes proves disappointing. So, films that finish on a high note are naturally worth celebrating. There are too many great endings from cinema history to count, but the following are some of the absolute best, encompassing sad, joyful, surprising, and suspenseful… sometimes even all of the above.

20 'On the Waterfront' (1954)

Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy standing up to the corrupt union workers during the final scene of On the Waterfront (1954)

Image via Columbia Pictures

If it weren’t for a certain gangster movie made almost two decades later, On the Waterfront would probably be the definitive Marlon Brando movie. Ah, wait, there was also A Streetcar Named Desire, made a few years before On the Waterfront. Hmm. Okay, it’s his definitive starring role, maybe? Since he had a prominent part in those other two movies, but A Streetcar Named Desire is more Blanche’s story, and The Godfather does eventually become Michael’s story arguably more than it is Vito’s.

With On the Waterfront, Brando plays a working-class man who’s not too old, but feels his glory days are behind him nonetheless, and he slowly starts to stand up to corruption that’s impacting his work life (and, eventually, other parts of his life, too). It’s a character arc that fittingly takes the whole movie to properly play out, but his last act of defiance – and eventual moral victory, plus what it represents – delivers immense catharsis by the time On the Waterfront comes to a close.

19 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984)

Robert De Niro as Noodles smiling at the camera in the final shot of Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Image via Warner Bros.

There’s a soon-to-be-mentioned movie from 1966 that probably has the best ending in any Sergio Leone-directed film, but the runner-up spot goes to Once Upon a Time in America. This one stars Robert De Niro and a large number of other well-known actors, and is a dizzying, confronting, and sprawling movie about young boys who grow up to be Prohibition-era bootleggers, and then one of them reaches old age and has to reckon with his violent past.

Breaking it down that way doesn’t really do the film justice, since Once Upon a Time in America plays around with time, and it also has an ending that leaves certain things up to interpretation. Whether the 1960s scenes happened for real, or were some kind of drug-induced hallucination, it’s powerful either way, as is what ended up being the shot that concludes Sergio Leone’s entire filmography.

18 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' (1989)

Georgina preparing to get revenge on Albert at the end of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

Image via Palace Pictures

One of the more alarming films of its decade, but still a somewhat approachable one by arthouse standards (so long as your stomach’s strong), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is about the worst person ever (Michael Gambon) abusing his wife (Helen Mirren) and antagonizing everyone who works at – or attends – his go-to restaurant. So, the wife commits adultery to get back at him, and that intensifies his torment further.

It's a cycle of violence, but the titular thief (more of a gangster) does get his comeuppance at the end in a way that’s both startling and cathartic. Oh, and gross. Can’t forget about it being gross, since it involves forced cannibalism at gunpoint. Which sounds morbid, but he had it coming. Also, what a score here, throughout the whole movie, admittedly, but especially ear-catching during the whole nauseating climax of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.

17 'Jaws' (1975)

Brody and Hooper swimming back toward the shore after the shark is defeated at the end of Jaws (1975)

Image via Universal Pictures

You could argue Jaws has too simple an ending, and that it might well even feel a bit abrupt, but similarly, that could be a reason why it’s great. If you count the whole climax of the film, which involves the shark that’s been a threat the entire movie finally being taken out, then it’s easy to call the Jaws ending amazing and cathartic, but it’s what happens – or, rather, doesn’t happen – afterward that’s just as great.

The shark is conquered, one of the three men is dead, and the two surviving ones acknowledge their luck – and the misfortune of the other man, who’d almost become something of a friend – before setting off back to the mainland. There’s no epilogue or time spent on reuniting with those who didn’t go out to sea, because there doesn’t have to be. Jaws is about a shark terrorizing a town, and then some men trying to kill the shark. They do indeed kill the shark, but not until after the shark claims one more victim. The movie ends. It’s thunderously simple, and yet also perfect.

16 'Gladiator' (2000)

Maximus walking toward a vision of the afterlife during the ending of Gladiator (2000)

Image via DreamWorks Distribution LLC

Hey, another revenge movie, albeit one that’s incredibly different from The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Gladiator is instead not an arthouse movie, and more of an action-packed epic, being about a Roman general (Russell Crowe) who’s betrayed by Joaquin Phoenix’s character, who’s unjustly seized the throne for control of Rome, and this betrayal involves Crowe’s character being almost killed, and then made to go through the trauma of realizing his wife and son had been more than almost killed.

He's sold into slavery, becomes a gladiator, and then sets out to get revenge for what happened, all the while also inspiring action on a societal level against Rome’s new, corrupt emperor. He gets his revenge, dies from his wounds, but then is shown reconnecting with his deceased loved ones in the afterlife, or at least having a vision of it as he dies. Either way, the ending to Gladiator is incredibly moving, even though it might sound like the most obvious way to end a movie like this. Still, it’s all in the execution, and Gladiator does ultimately build to one hell of a tear-jerking conclusion.

Henry Thomas as Elliot, looking straight ahead in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Image via Universal Pictures

Steven Spielberg was at his most sentimental when he directed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but it just works, dammit. That approach to the story at hand is perfect, since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is all about experiencing the world as a child, with all the big emotions—both positive and negative—that come with that. It’s an appealing movie to watch when you're young, and when watched while old, it perfectly reminds you of how it felt to be young.

The entire thing is about the unlikely friendship between a boy and a stranded alien, with the former helping the latter get reunited with his fellow aliens. And that’s what inevitably happens at the end of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the alien has to leave. It’s both happy and heartbreaking. It’s a pitch-perfect, beautifully scored, and bittersweet ending that gets the balance between bitter and sweet just right (considering it’s a family movie, it’s a little sweeter than it is bitter, but part of it stings nonetheless).

14 'Pulp Fiction' (1994)

Image via Miramax Films

If you arranged Pulp Fiction’s scenes into chronological order, the movie would end with Bruce Willis talking about Zed’s chopper before riding off, finally safe after a hectic ordeal, and that wouldn’t be a bad ending. But Pulp Fiction does not play out in chronological order, nor does it focus on just Bruce Willis’ character, so it actually ends with a rare death-free Mexican standoff.

If you want to argue that Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) is the main character of Pulp Fiction, this whole ending sequence would be Exhibit A. He renounces his violent ways and makes good on such a claim, preventing anyone from getting hurt during an armed robbery before proclaiming that he’s “trying real hard to be the shepherd.” It’s an unusually redemptive and even peaceful note to end such a movie on, but Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson make it not just work, but soar.

13 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946)

It's a Wonderful Life's Bailey family hugging.

Image via RKO Radio Pictures

It’s hopefully not a bold take to say that It’s a Wonderful Life is kind of the Christmas movie to end all Christmas movies. It follows a man named George Bailey (played by James Stewart) who finds himself at an absolute low in his life on Christmas Eve, which in turn gets him a visit from a guardian angel who shows him what the world would look like had George never existed.

This ends up changing his outlook on the world, and suddenly, it really is “a Wonderful Life,” for as corny as that might sound. But there’s nothing corny about the ending, in execution, of It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s undoubtedly cathartic and feels right, especially when other parts of the movie get pretty heavy for something of its time, and it’s the emotional heft of the ending that really makes the film overall.

12 'Toy Story 3' (2010)

Woody and Buzz from "Toy Story 3" comforting each other after leaving Andy

Image via Pixar Animation Studios

Maybe it’s a little unfortunate that Toy Story 3 didn’t end the Toy Story series overall (sequels are just too lucrative, maybe), but Toy Story 3 can be viewed as a conclusion to the “Andy saga,” for lack of a better term. Because Andy owns the main toys throughout the first three Toy Story movies, and Toy Story 3 ends with him—now college-age—effectively bidding them farewell by passing them on to a new owner.

There’s a bit more to Toy Story 3 than just that, but that’s the conflict that gets things in motion, and the famed ending of Toy Story 3 is ultimately about saying goodbye. Pixar’s output throughout the 2010s was a bit spotty, but the way the studio started the decade—with, ironically, an ending of sorts—was undeniably strong.

11 'The Empire Strikes Back' (1980)

The final shot of 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' with R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Luke (Mark Hamill), and Leia (Carrie Fisher) overlooking a planet in the galaxy.

Image via Lucasfilm

Every movie in the original Star Wars trilogy is some level of great, but it’s the second of the bunch—The Empire Strikes Back—that just so happens to be the greatest. Lots of that comes down to the bold way it concludes, with the heroes suffering a series of setbacks… none enough to kill anyone, nor put anyone out of commission, so to speak, but the Empire ends the film having successfully struck back, following on from their defeat in A New Hope.

To have the follow-up to such an acclaimed blockbuster end in a way that was perhaps more downbeat than upbeat was a bold move, but it’s a key reason why The Empire Strikes Back is considered a series high for Star Wars overall. It makes you want to see the fight continue for sure, but The Empire Strikes Back does still feel conclusive; it’s not a strict cliffhanger, and it’s not a total downer. It feels like the perfect way to end the second installment of a trilogy, in effect.