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Greatest Movie Twists, Part 11 |
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Greatest Movie Twists, Part 11 |
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Note: The films that are marked
with a yellow star |
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Greatest Movie Twists, Spoilers and
Surprise Endings |
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| Film Title | Brief Scene Description | Example |
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
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Near the conclusion of this classic science fiction film, Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) and his sweetheart Becky (Dana Wynter) fled from the town's pod-people - they were the last two non-pod people; the two were compelled to hide under the floorboards in a dark, deserted cave or tunnel; when Miles left the fainting Becky to discover the source of beautiful music for a few moments, Becky briefly fell asleep; after he returned to the mine, he found her fatigued and started to carry her; and then in the film's most memorable and frightening moment, he took her in his arms to kiss her, and then drew away from her unresponsive lips; in a tight closeup shot of her face, he looked into the blank, dark, expressionless and staring eyes of his fiancée, realizing with a look of utter fright, shock, and fear that she was now one of "them" - her body had been invaded and snatched by the clones; he knew instantly that this was not Becky but a treacherous imposter and victim - she traitorously screamed to the pod-people searchers: "He's in here. He's in here. Get him. Get him" |
 
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
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In this remake's despairing and climactic twist ending, Department of Health inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) responded to still-human Nancy Bellicec's (Veronica Cartwright) happy greeting that she managed to stay awake and remain human - he screamed a piercing howl while pointing an accusatory finger at her (he had been converted into one of the non-humans), as the camera descended into the blackness of his open mouth |
 
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The Island (2005)
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In director Michael Bay's futuristic action-adventure thriller, survivors of a massive, toxic global contamination lived in a highly-controlled and monitored, self-contained and isolated utopian environment in the post-apocalyptic world of 2019; all inhabitants were promised a lottery prize of being sent to "The Island" - the only remaining uncontaminated, paradisical land area left in the world; when skeptical Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) and his best friend Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) learned otherwise (by the simple discovery of a flying winged insect from outside), they fled to the 'real world' (a desert area near Yuma, Arizona) where they learned that they were actually clones (for Scottish playboy racer Tom Lincoln and famous model Sarah Jordan) - to be used for replacement or spare parts, organs, genes, and even wombs for their wealthy sponsors as insurance policies - when needed; in short, there was no Island; the operation was kept top-secret by 'godlike' sinister Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean), the owner of the cloning corporation, because a lie was told to those who purchased copies of themselves that the clones were only in a "persistent vegetative state" (or not human), so any harvesting process was considered non-lethal [Note: There were major legal problems for this film when the producers of the low-budget independent film Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979) filed a legal suit claiming that the DreamWorks/Warner Bros. production was an unauthorized, cloned, scene-by-scene remake; it also combined elements of THX 1138 (1971), Logan's Run (1976), and Blade Runner (1982)] |
 
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Jacob's Ladder (1990)
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The conclusion of this psychological thriller revealed that the horrifying, hallucinatory visions of demons were not the after-effects of a dose of a psycho-reactive drug (code-named 'ladder') taken by Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) without his knowledge through his C-rations - to counteract the effects of combat-induced post-traumatic stress, but instead were the fantasies and dreams of a dying (or dead) man; angelic chiropractor Louis (Danny Aiello) had counseled him earlier about hell being like purgatory: "...If you're frightened of dyin' and, and you're holdin' on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth..."; the film's scenes set in the early 1980s were fictional flashback-forwards - Jacob had actually been shot and died in Vietnam in the early 70s, but was unwilling to let go, so he continued to experience death-bed visions |
 
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Jagged Edge (1985)
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The surprise, contrived twist ending of this early Joe Eszterhas-penned courtroom thriller with many surprises finally revealed the truth -- that accused suspect and newspaper magnate Jack Forrester (Jeff Bridges) was guilty of a double homicide the entire time (he killed his San Francisco wife-wealthy socialite/heiress Page Forrester (Maria Mayenzet) and the house maid in their beach house), although he was found innocent; as a ski-masked intruder, after the discovery in a closet of a damning typewriter (with a unique typeface including elevated 't's'), he attempted to kill his divorced, retired criminal law attorney Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close), with whom he engaged in an unprofessional affair, in her bedroom late at night with the murder weapon - a jagged edged or serrated hunting knife; he was unsuccessful when she shot him a number of times with a concealed gun; questions such as: "Was he guilty or innocent?", "Were Jack and his wife on the verge of breaking up over their mutual infidelities?", and "Was Jack in love with Teddy or just using her?" made the plot twisting and unpredictable |
 
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In the famous explosive, nihilistic/apocalyptic ending of this late film noir based on a Mickey Spillane novel of the same name, waiflike femme fatale Lily/Gabrielle Carver (Gaby Rodgers) opened the film's doomsday McGuffin -- the "great whatsit" -- a leather-strapped, metal-lined Pandora's Box stolen from a government science lab that was filled with nuclear material (loosely identified with "Manhattan project. Los Alamos. Trinity"); in a blinding white-hot light, she was incinerated and the beach-house she was in burst into flames with a powerful nuclear explosion; whether detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) and his assistant Velda (Maxine Cooper) survived or not was not entirely clear when the film abruptly ended; in the film's restored version, they staggered onto the beach after escaping from the burning house and hugged each other in the surf |
  
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Klute (1971)
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In this suspenseful thriller and character study about a New York call-girl and aspiring actress named Bree Daniel(s), played by Best Actress-winning Jane Fonda, the 'homicidal' killer was revealed to be the research firm's top executive Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi); confusingly, Klute was the name of the small-town Pennsylvania police officer played by Donald Sutherland | 
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L.A. Confidential (1997)
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In the surprising conclusion of this popular post-noir crime drama, "Hollywood" detective and technical advisor for the TV series Badge of Honor Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) was shot in the chest and killed by LAPD Capt. Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) for knowing too much - as Vincennes slumped to the floor, he said the words 'Rollo Tomasi' to his killer as his "valediction"; the metaphoric term denoted the corrupt police chief as the perfect example of a criminal who was able to escape punishment and literally get away with murder; afterwards when held at gunpoint by Smith after a brutal shootout in the Victory Motel, idealistic young cop Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) told him about the meaning of the term 'Rollo Tomasi' -- (Exley had made up the name after his cop-father was shot and killed by a purse-snatcher in the line of duty - and he now realized that the chief was a corrupt mastermind crime boss ("You're the guy who gets away with it. Jack knew it, so do I")); when the tables were turned, Exley shot Smith in the back as he walked away; afterwards, Exley confessed to superiors that the Nite Owl Coffee Shop murders were conducted by LAPD officers (including Smith, who was "assuming control of organized crime in the city of Los Angeles"); ironically but true to form, Smith was remembered as a hero, and a compromised Exley was awarded a Medal of Valor - to avoid controversy |
  
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Last Year at Marienbad (1961, Fr/It.) (aka L'Année Dernière à Marienbad)
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Alain Resnais' enigmatic, allegorical New Wave film about dreamy seduction, memory, the past and the present, the reconstruction of reality, and time was set at an opulent European hotel; handsome X/Stranger (Giorgio Albertazzi) endlessly attempted to convince sleek, elegant and alluring A/Woman (Delphine Seyrig) that they had met a year before and had an affair; in a dance of seduction, the two unnamed 'lovers' recounted a fragmented tale of their perceived reality and unrealized (?) love affair; it was never clearly ascertained whether X's claim of a relationship was true or false -- however, it could be argued that the entire film was only a dream/memory |
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(alphabetical by film title)
Intro
| Part 1 | Part
2 | Part 3 | Part
4 | Part 5 | Part
6 | Part 7 | Part
8 | Part 9 | Part
10 | Part 11 | Part
12 | Part 13
Part 14 | Part
15 | Part 16 | Part
17 | Part 18 | Part
19 | Part 20 | Part
21 | Part 22 | Part
23 | Part 24 | Part
25
Created in 1996-2008 © by Tim Dirks. All rights reserved.
Greatest
Movie Twists, Spoilers, and Surprise Endings: Avid filmgoers often
speak about seeking rare movie surprises in the movie-going experience,
such as discovering films that have cunning plot twists, a shocking
surprise ending, a surprise revelation about a particular character,
or some other unknown or unsuspected narrative element. Compiled here
in this comprehensive collection is a detailed set of films with the
greatest movie twists, spoilers, and surprise endings.
are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 
