Movies that DIDN'T have a happy ending

[Guest spiny norman]

Forrest Gump, I guess. When he reads the poem under the tree I just bawl and bawl my eyes out.

 

Life Is Beautiful. See the same as Forrest Gump, except with a different depressing moment than the poem reading.

[Guest Paranoid]

Very Bad Things had an unhappy ending.

A great movie with a great ending!

[Guest Harry Hood]

All three of Romero's Dead films, Night of, Dawn of, and Day of, could all say that they had pretty unhappy endings. Same with Lucio Fulci's Zombi. Cannibal Holocaust? You betcha it's unhappy, or at least the documentary. MUlholland Drive was incredibly unhappy, and confusing the first times i watched it.

 

I didn't really think Donnie Darko was that sad...

 

*spoilers*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IN NIght, the main character gets killed by the rednecks, and in dawn and day the only survivors we're led to believe are forced to live on deserted islands. I tihnk it's fair to assume that in Zombie, all the characters are oging to die by the zombie ont he boat.

 

Mulholland Drive ends with the main characters suicide, driven insane by her own guily for killing Camilla, kinda a downer.

 

And in DD, Donnie had to die to make so many other people happy and live, seemed kinda like a noble sacrafice to me...

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

Donnie Darko wasn't exactly sad, but it wasn't happy either.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

Zombie was fucking scary. The parts with the zombies walking around *shudders*

[Guest Downhome]

I forgot one of the biggest ones in my opinion...

 

...My Life.

[Paul Stanley 0]

Almost all of John Travolta's movies..like the one with him in the museum or the one with the black man, he dies in Broken Arrow too..i for sure he was gonna die on Look Who's Talking: 7

[Guest spiny norman]

Yeah, I would hardly call Donnie Darko sad, but it was nowhere near happy.

 

Dr. Strangelove: I don't think it's sad, but definitely not happy.

 

I guess American Beauty, but it's sort of bittersweet.

 

Das Boot's ending really was upsetting to me. That was a great movie actually, made you feel sympathetic towards the "bad guys".

 

American History X = unhappy ending.

 

The Green Mile is absolutely heartwrenching.

 

Road To Perdition

The Birds

 

I think that's enough.

 

Oh God, how did I forget it!?

 

My Girl!

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Crimes and Misdemeanors.

[Guest Downhome]

Oh God, how did I forget it!?

 

My Girl!

Ugh, I'm a fool for not listing that one. It is quite possible the most heartbreaking movie I've ever seen. It was the first movie I ever cried while watching because of the movie.

[Guest chirs3]

Almost all of John Travolta's movies..like the one with him in the museum...

 

That was Mad City, wasn't it?

 

I forgot all about that movie...

[Guest Mole]

My Girl was defeintly sad. That was the only movie that made me cry, ever.

 

City of Angels was so sad.

 

Even though this isn't a movie, but at the end of Buffy Season 2 was soo bittersweet. It was the most bittersweet ending EVER, in my opinion.

 

American Beauty wasn't really sad at all.

 

Spoilers......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When he died, he died with a smile. That was the first time in forever that he was actually happy. He didn't feel any pain when he died, he just died. He was happy, so it wasn't really sad if you think about it. Maybe bittersweet, but we knew he was going to die because he said so at the begginning of the movie.

 

Mole

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

I don't know what you would call the ending to the Usual Suspects. I don't think it could be a "happy" ending though. Goodfellas definitely has a bittersweet ending.

[Guest spiny norman]

*AMERICAN BEAUTY SPOILERS*

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, he said he would die at the beginning of the movie, but we also knew about who would die in Moulin Rouge!, but Moulin Rouge is still sad. I guess it's sad because his life is all sorted out, all is truly good, and that's the moment it ends. And I find that really sad, is all.

[Guest Jack Tunney]

Pet Semetary (sic) is another one with a sad ending.Plus there's some sad stuff in the middle.

 

 

The ending to Reservior Dogs is kind of a tie.

[Guest WrestlingDeacon]

I too laughed my ass off when Meg Ryan got him by the semi in City of Angels, but that was because I had just seen Black Dog and expected Randy Travis and Patrick Swayze to get out of the truck. If you're pissed for having that movie ruined for you, reexamine your life. I could go through that movie shot for shot and in minute detail tell you why it is one of the biggest pieces of shit ever made, but I'm not starting a flame war so I'm not going to say anymore. And that would also force me to watch it again.

 

In the comic books Spiderman and Mary Jane get married so I don't see where the ending of the movie fits the books as El Satanico said.

 

I've said it many a time, the only two films men can cry at are Old Yeller and Brian's Song. Those are sad ending.

[Guest Mole]

*AMERICAN BEAUTY SPOILERS*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, he said he would die at the beginning of the movie, but we also knew about who would die in Moulin Rouge!, but Moulin Rouge is still sad. I guess it's sad because his life is all sorted out, all is truly good, and that's the moment it ends. And I find that really sad, is all.

American Beauty Spoilers....

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's not what I meant. I meant that since he died happy, the first time he has been happy in a long time, it really wasn't that sad. It was a good ending, with good closure.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

The only reason I would cry at Old Yeller is out of boredom. That movie is so boring to me.

[Paul Stanley 0]

Almost all of John Travolta's movies..like the one with him in the museum...

 

That was Mad City, wasn't it?

 

I forgot all about that movie...

Yeah, I think. He had a string of movies he just died in.

 

and to LaParkaYourCar..

 

Old Yeller boring? That's one of my favorite movies..everrrrrr. I haven't talked to anyone who's seen it who thought it was boring..small world, most of the characters were in a shitload of other Disney movies as well..Swiss Family Robinson comes to mind..

[Zorin Industries 0]

The Omega Man just depresses me throughout, it has to be one of the most downhearted movies i've ever seen (although I love the ending).

 

Plus any 70's Italian horror movie I have ever seen has had a depressing ending, Lucio Fulcis' "The Beyond" being the best in my view.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Spoilahs.

 

Pi. Drill meets head, he loses his gift. Sure, it's what he wanted to happen, but damn, why throw that away?

[Guest Mole]

You know, I don't think anyone listed this movie, but I'm not gonna check all of page one to see.

 

Empire Strikes Back

 

The bad guy did win. And I think everyone here has seen Star Wars, so I don't need to explain.

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

I was kind of pissed at the ending of Spiderman.......why the hell did he tell her he just wanted to be friends???

Guys, try not to spoil any recent films...k.

 

As for Spidey, although it bothered me slightly that he didn't take Mary Jane when she offered herself to him....all he could think about is how much danger he'd put her in if he did, so I can understand that.

 

Dames

The second he denied her and walked away with her seemingly figuring out who he was, I immediately figured part II has already been set.

[Guest JangoFett4Hire]

La Bamba/ Buddy Holly Story (I assume that movies based on actual events count, as Goodfellas was listed)

Actually, basically any story based on a rock star could be listed- except maybe that movie about Tina Turner, that was a happy ending.

Or, what about JFK? You can argue about the legitimacy of Garrison's argument, but the fact that his case was tossed out is an unhappy ending. Everything he worked for over that 6 year span of his life was pissed away, and it nearly cost him his family, his practice, his life, etc...

A movie that got me as a kid was Where the Red Fern Grows. So much so, that as a guy in his mid 20's, I can't even think about it I get so depressed...

Another "kiddie" movie based on a book with a melancholy ending- Watership Down

(although they were both marketed as children's books/movies, I think both may have been a little too much for the younger crowd).

[Zorin Industries 0]

Another "kiddie" movie based on a book with a melancholy ending- Watership Down

(although they were both marketed as children's books/movies, I think both may have been a little too much for the younger crowd).

Jesus, I first saw that film when I was 6 and I still can't go back and watch it.

 

Chinatown has a really downbeat ending but I would say Planet of the Apes has the most famous downbeat ending of the lot.

[Guest Steve J. Rogers]

Depending on your view I guess Gone With The Wind counts (as much as Casablanca and thats on this list)

 

BTW, yeah Mary Jane and Peter marry, but thats years down the road, Spiderman The Movie was the first part of the Spidy mythos up to the death of the original Green Goblin

 

Steve

[Guest SP-1]

Spider-Man spoilers

 

 

 

 

 

The thing that was so right about the ending to Spider-Man is that that's who he is. Part of what makes Spidey so appealing as a character is that he has to pick and choose who he gets close to because people close to him are very much in danger. He had to make a very hard decision, perhaps the most heroic decision in the entire film there. I think it was perfect, though bitter.

 

 

 

 

 

END SPOILERS

[Guest starvenger]

Very Bad Things had an unhappy ending.

A great movie with a great ending!

Clarification: Yes it was a great ending since it fit the movie perfectly. But was it a HAPPY ending? No.

[Guest nl5xsk1]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre... that just had an insane ending

SPOILER (although if you haven't seen TCM by now, you're never going to so I shouldn't worry about spoiling the ending, but I don't want to incur the rage of the spoiler-police)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How is this an unhappy ending? I haven't seen it in years so might be forgetting certain aspects, but unless you're rooting for Leatherface and family it seems like it's an OK ending.

 

 

On an unrelated movie reference, the Salton Sea does not have a happy ending.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

On an unrelated movie reference, the Salton Sea does not have a happy ending.

*SPOILERS*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wholeheartedly disagree. Salton Sea didn't have a Disney-happy ending, it had a realistic-happy ending. Both Tom Van Allen and Danny Parker are both dead and Val Kilmers character is free to live his life. He's gotten revenge on the people who killed his wife and the local Latinos think he's dead and burned so they won't be troubling him anymore, provided he leaves town and finds a new life which we're led to assume he does.