Ending a film with a surprising twist isn't as surprisingly as it was once was. In the last 20 years, there have a plethora of movies with twisty conclusions, to include: The Game, The Usual Suspects, The Others, Fight Club, Primal Fear, The Prestige, High Tension, and most of M. Night Shyamalan's pictures.
It wasn't always that way, though. In the classic movie era (silents through the early 1980s), twist endings were far less frequent and perhaps more potent. Why? With today's mass coverage of the film industry, it's hard to go see a movie without knowing it contains a twist. As hard I tried to avoid it, I already knew the plot revelations in The Crying Game and The Sixth Sense before I saw the movies. Contrast that to moviegoers who saw William Castle's Homicidal in 1961 with no knowledge of what was in store for them (other than a "Fright Break", a typical Castle gimmick).
So what are some of your favorite classic movie twist endings? To get the discussion rolling, I'll include a few of the most famous ones plus some personal faves:
Planet of the Apes - What Charlton Heston finds in the sand in the closing shot turns this sci fi adventure on its simian head.
Soylent Green - Chuck Heston again. This time, he discovers the real composition of the "highly nutritious" food of the title.
Between Two Worlds - Passengers aboard an ocean liner make a startling discovery about themselves. Based on Sutton Vane's play Outward Bound and filmed earlier under that title with Lesie Howard--though I prefer to this Warner Bros. remake with John Garfield, Eleaner Parker, and Sidney Greenstreet.
And Then There Were None and Witness for the Prosecution - Two clever twists from the pen of Agatha Christie. The latter depends on the acting ability of a single performer--who pulls it off convincingly.
Psycho - Hitchcock's personally helped market the twist in this classic (his trailer is almost as much fun as the movie). But actually, there are two twists--the first one happening about 1/3 of the way through the film's running time. For those who know what I'm referring to, the same twist was used the same year in Horror Hotel (aka The City of the Dead).
Les Diaboliques - This 1955 French classic is the quintessential mystery in which nothing is as it seems. Remade (somewhat) in the U.S. as Games.
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - Fritz Lang's low-budget flick starts out as an indictment of capital punishment, but the twist puts it in a new light. Not Lang's best, but always interesting and the ending has been copied more than a few times.
The Sting - In a film created to capitalize on the charisma of its two stars, the twist is just icing on the cake...but still tasty icing.
There are just a few twisty samples, so what are your favorites? And would you call the climax to Hitchcock's Suspicion a twist or a just a case of a director changing his mind on how to end his movie?
I particularly liked Witness for the Prosecution, Psycho and Planet of the Apes. I was never much of a fan of Suspicion, much as I love Hitchcock -- the ending seemed to me like pulling a punch -- I felt a little cheated.
ReplyDelete(As to 2 of the modern ones you mentioned, I was floored by both The Sixth Sense and The Others. The Others is one of my favorite movies now. I had no clue to that, or to the Sixth Sense. I love being surprised!)
Between Two Worlds is very underrated -- glad to see someone else enjoys it too! Suspicion was I believe a result of screenings and/or studio politics -- Grant could not be a villain. I read Hitchcock wanted Grant kill Lena (as his character did in book) then Hitch would decide on what "punishment"/karma would result. For my money, Murder on the Orient Express has a great plot.
ReplyDeleteHow about the original version of The Wicker Man? One of my very favorite foreign films is The Bride Wore Black. If TV counts, The Twilight Zone had the the episode about the five people in the room and also An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. There were awesome twists on Hitchcock's TV show, including the episode with the woman pointing out: That's him!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Milton, the original Wicker Man! I have that movie in my collection -- wonderful. I had already read the story of Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, and got the surprise that way. Such a haunting story.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important for a director to not have the entire film revolve around the twist. Sometimes it's essential to the plot, like PRIMAL FEAR. But, as a for instance, if you take away the twist in FIGHT CLUB, it's still a great film. You take it away from THE SIXTH SENSE, on the other hand, and it's a fairly dull movie.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite films-with-a-twist is CARNIVAL OF SOULS. That twist has been done repeatedly, to the point where you assume it's the ending of any film that begins similarly. But CARNIVAL OF SOULS is one of the first and still one of the best.
I think my favorite movie twist is in the film, Laura, with Gene Tierney. When Mark, is becoming obsessed with Laura, returns to the apartment and starts searching through her personal things. Then he falls asleep under the portrait. He wakes to the sound of someone entering the room. Could it be the killer ?
ReplyDeleteOther favorites are: Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green.
CARNIVAL OF SOULS, LAURA, and THE WICKER MAN are all terrific additions to our growing list of classic movies with plot twists! Can't believe I omitted those three from my original list. How about BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY? Doesn't it have a twist at the end? (Haven't seen it in awhile.) And while I don't consider SUSPICION's ending a twist, I think that STAGE FRIGHT qualifies.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we could devote an entire post to the ending of Hitch's STAGE FRIGHT. People seem to either love or hate the ending. I'm the former. Maybe that could be next month's DIAL H FOR HITCHCOCK... so long as readers don't mind a giant spoiler.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of STAGE FRIGHT and believe it plays fair with the audience. The infamous flashback has to be placed in the context of how it's presented...and then the ending makes perfect sense. Yes, it'd be a great choice for a future discussion.
ReplyDeleteRick: Really fun article. I have to vote for your two Agatha Christie mentions, especially AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. On a similar note, the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes flick THE HOUSE OF FEAR has a good twist too.
ReplyDeleteKevin, I had forgotten about THE HOUSE OF FEAR, which was a fun (and atmospheric) entry to Universal's Holmes series. A very impressive addition!
ReplyDeleteI think The Empire Strikes Back should be included in the list of movies with a plot twist. I agree with Sark and thought of The Empire Strikes Back. The whole movie doesn't center around the twist at the end. The movie is a great one without the plot twist. It was like...wow...that was a shock when I watched the ending!
ReplyDeleteAki, that's one of the reasons why THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is my favorite SW movie. I also thought of another twisty ending: THE JAGGED EDGE, which you reviewed earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteWe (JoAnn and I) both like Laura, and I thought of Zardoz...which has a (sort of) twist. And Rick, how can you leave out O Lucky Man??
ReplyDeleteThis was a clever idea for a post! Of the films listed with great plot twists I have to vote for "Laura," "Witness for the Prosecution," and "Between Two Worlds."
ReplyDeleteDid anyone catch So Dark the Night directed by Joseph H Lewis? I recorded it on TCM and what a twist!!! It was outstanding! It starred Steven Geray as a French detective on vacation who stumbles onto love and murder. When his fiancee is killed, he is relentless in finding the killer.
ReplyDeleteI thought of another one, Rick. Pupi Avati's THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS, an Italian film from the '70s, has a strange and eerie twist.
ReplyDeleteI love learning about movies I'm unfamiliar with and thus am now most intrigued by THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS and SO DARK THE NIGHT. Paul, I know the twist in ZARDOZ and it's a fun one to list. I never really thought of the ending of O LUCKY MAN! as a twist...it's kind of an "anything goes" movie (which is one reason why I love it). But I can see your point! Toto, I am still baffled how I could have omitted LAURA when starting this discussion. Thank goodness, Dawn and others mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. A friend at work mentioned John Carpenter's THE THING. I don't think that really a twist. It seems to fall in the category of movies which don't really end when the credits roll.
ReplyDeleteThe List of Adrian Messenger was not particularly a twist, not as I recall (it's been a long time since I've seen it), but it was so much fun at the end to see the masks come off and recognize the stars in it. I knew a couple of them, but the others surprised me.
ReplyDeleteRick, I think you'll like So Dark The Night -- it's from the director of Gun Crazy. He knew how to do a lot with very little money! Plus, you see some great character actors get some nice roles and a chance to shine. Steven Geray is usually a supporting player but gets to shine as the lead here!
ReplyDeleteGilby, it's on my must-see list now. I saw GUN CRAZY for the first time a few years ago and it's quickly become a favorite.
ReplyDeleteI thought of two more: the British sci fi film (1) GORGO has a cute little twist at the midpoint; (2) The made-for-TV movie, THE DEADLY DREAM, sports a nifty twist at the very end.
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