There are three kinds of great movie endings — those that grant the protagonist a personal or general victory, those that leave audiences in suspense, and those that throw in a major twist reveal. Such conclusions are defined by marvelous production techniques such as fade-to-black and tense music, among others. Consequently, audiences are left pondering and discussing what they saw, right after leaving the theater or pressing the stop button. In turn, they feel compelled to recommend the film.
In the ‘70s, franchises weren’t such a huge thing, so directors never felt the need to set up a sequel. Most cliffhangers were the intended farewells and even though this was frustrating at times, it’s part of the reason why they became so iconic. Today, the following movies from the era are remembered for not only featuring great plots and performances but for wrapping things up satisfyingly.
10 Chinatown (1974)
Many great crime films of the ‘70s are considered some of the best in the genre overall. From Mean Streets to The Long Goodbye, there is no shortage of classics. Add Chinatown to the list, which performed fairly well at both the box office and the Oscars, despite being released in the same year as The Godfather: Part II. The film’s plot — revolving around corruption in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — is intriguing, but the ending is even better.
In the film’s final seconds, the private investigator J. J. “Jake” Gittes (Jack Nicholson) attempts to take matters into his own hands after realizing that the tycoon, Noah Cross, is about to get away with murder, but his colleague stops him before delivering the iconic movie line, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown!” The words remind audiences that this is a world where powerful figures are never punished for their sins. As hard as Jake might try to play hero, there is nothing he can do.
9 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
By the late 70s, Hollywood was already populated with alien movies, so sci-fi filmmakers started working hard to serve audiences something unique. On his part, Philip Kaufman chose to adapt Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. And even though the book had already been made into a monochrome movie back in the ‘50s, the director was able to offer something better than both the source material and the original film by exercising creative liberties and crafting a superior ending.
Like the other works, Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers follows the scientist, Dr. Bennell, who attempts to stop aliens that are masquerading as flower pods before making duplicates of humans while they are sleeping. The duplicates then end up thriving while the real people wither and die. Bennell’s main strategy involves avoiding sleep himself, but as he heads to work in the dying minutes, a colleague greets him, only for him to let out an alien scream (a confirmation that he dozed off at some point and got duplicated). The revelation that the protagonist has lost the fight is far more interesting than the novel’s ending where the “flower people” get bored with Earth and go back home and the ‘50s flick’s climax, where law enforcement takes care of the situation.
8 Carrie (1976)
In the first-ever Stephen King adaptation, Brian De Palma stays loyal to the print version by keenly traversing topics such as bullying, adolescence, and the dark side of religion through the life of the central character, Carrie White. The 16-year-old character is constantly harassed by both her pharisaical mother and her schoolmates, but things turn in her favor when she discovers she has telekinetic powers. In Carrie’s third act, she takes stands up to her bullies in a rather brutal way by murdering them all during prom. Additionally, she kills her mother when back home and burns the house.
As the movie comes to a conclusion, Sue, the only teen that was kind to Carrie, passes by the charred remains of the house to lay flowers. Suddenly, an arm pops out of the rubble and grabs her. However, it turns out she was only dreaming. Audiences thus find relief in knowing that as violent as Carrie was. she would never hurt her one and only friend. With such an ending, it’s no surprise that this remains the most revered installment in the Carrie film series.
7 The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974)
The Taking of Pelham 123 has been remade twice, first as an ‘80s TV movie and then as a blockbuster directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington. These two hardly match the quality of the original, which follows centers around the attempts to stop four criminals that are holding passengers inside a subway train.” We are going to kill one passenger a minute until New York City pays us 1 million dollars,” one of them says, and the tension remains high from there on.
It is clear why Tony Scott’s version flopped. It avoided the fancy names initially used by the robbers (Mr. Blue, Mr. Grey, Mr. Green, and Mr. Brown) and had a tame conclusion. In the original’s ending, Harold Longman, aka, Mr. Green, manages to lie his way through an interrogation after avoiding capture like the rest of his gang members. Unfortunately, as the police are leaving, he sneezes in the exact way he had done during the hostage negotiations, hence giving himself away.
6 Rocky II (1979)
Sylvester Stallone might no longer be wearing the gloves as the fictional boxer, Rocky Balboa, but fans will forever remember his iconic moments in the ring. Rocky II — which focuses on a much-hyped rematch — comes a second in both chronology and ranking of the Rocky movies. This is mainly because of the barbaric nature of the 15-round duel as well as the match result, which sees the titular hero getting a surprise victory after being brutalized in the ring by Apollo Creed.
Creed’s arrogance is what costs him. His trainer informs him to sit back and avoid punches in the final round because he is so far ahead on points, but he insists on going for a knockout in order to appear badass. The two men continue to trade fierce blows but they both end up losing balance and falling, Unfortunately for Creed, Rocky beats the count of 10 before him and gets the belt. Rocky caps the beautiful moment with his famous “Yo, Adrian, I did it!” quote, a dedication to his lover via the numerous TV cameras.
5 The Godfather (1972)
For Michael Corleone in The Godfather, a “Yo, Adrian, I did it!” moment is simply out of the question when he becomes crowned as the new boss of the Corleone crime family. The two are the kind of couple that one ought to watch when looking for things to avoid doing in a marriage. They clash throughout the movie, and the tense conclusion further confirms that trust shall never exist between them.
In the tense scene, Michael’s sister confronts him about allegedly giving orders for her abusive husband to be murdered. The Don refuses to either acknowledge or deny and when his wife, Kay, asks him about it, he finally gives an answer, stating he didn’t do it. Shortly after, the crime family’s lieutenants show up and kiss Michael’s ring, one by one. It’s a moment that proves just how powerful Michael has become and how low the marriage has come. Early in the movie, he was just a Marine who was proud to tell Kay everything about his family but by the end, she doesn’t matter to him. Only his job is important.
4 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The majority of the bloodiest kills in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise might not come from the first installment, but the movie trumps the rest when it comes to originality and a sense of dread. In it, five friends become the target of a chainsaw-wielding killer named Leatherface and his family after their car runs out of gas. Each of them is picked on one by one until the braver Sally remains as the last captive.
It’s Sally’s actions in the third act of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that would lead to the emergence of the major horror trope that involves the final girl surviving and showing up in future installments. After a tussle in the family’s compound, Sally escapes, with Leatherface in full pursuit. She jumps onto the back of a pickup right in time and laughs hysterically as the cannibal curses out in frustration. Even though the antagonist stays alive, this counts as one of the most satisfying wins ever for a protagonist.
3 Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979)
Religious comedies are always guaranteed to trigger plenty of outrage and for Monty Python’s The Life of Brian the backlash was so intense that the movie was banned in several countries, including Ireland, Norway, and sections of the United Kingdom. The film revolves around a man named Brian who is mistaken for Jesus because he was not only born on the same day as him but also in the house next to that of the Messiah.
The identity error enables Brian to enjoy the perks of fame, but things take a downward turn towards the last minute when he is arrested in order to be crucified. He almost gets a lucky break when a comical version of the biblical Pontius Pilate orders for his release, but in a scene that resembles the “I am Spartacus!” one in Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus, several criminals claim to him in order to be pardoned. The wrong person thus ends up getting released and Brian dies.
2 Vanishing Point (1971)
Vanishing Point is a sobering study of addiction and its dangerous effects. In it, Vietnam War veteran Kowalski (Barry Newman), who now works as a driver-for-hire, makes a bet with his drug dealer that if he delivers a Dodge Challenger from San Francisco to Colorado in under 15 hours, his next amphetamine purchase will be free. He, therefore, breaks all traffic rules along the way, resulting in a tense and lengthy police chase.
In the end, Kowalski proves that he would rather die than miss out on free drugs, an outcome that is truly saddening. When police officers block the road with bulldozers in one of the towns, he opts to crash his car into them, hence dying in the process. The scene would end up inspiring the series finale of Sons of Anarchy, where the main character, Jax Teller, also opts to crash his bike on a truck and die while being pursued by officers.
1 Live and Let Die (1973)
Live and Let Die is a polarizing Bond film as it has arguably the worst villain as well as one of the best henchmen. Dr. Kananga, aka, Mr. Big, is a poor parody of the numerous dictators that had taken over in the era, and he is also not sophisticated. Apart from being the ruler of a fictional Caribbean dictator, his only other goal in life is to be the top drug dealer in Harlem, something he intends to achieve by flooding the market with free products first.
On the other hand, his henchman, Baron Samedi is a voodoo expert and one of the few people to ever give Bond a proper run for his money. The brute seemingly dies in the early stages of the third act when Bond throws him into a coffin full of venomous snakes, but in a surprise development before the credits roll, he is shown laughing in front of the train that the MI6 agent is traveling in. The scene is proof that Samedi is immortal, a strange but refreshing twist for a franchise that mostly avoids going the supernatural route.
