Sticking a landing is never easy, especially in film. Some movies plump for an underserved sequel, and the current age of Marvel-dominated cinema suggests that an end-credits scene teasing that next big thing is always necessary, so to put a full and satisfying stop on your film just before the credits roll is a real skill.
The scripts for the films listed below are confident from start to finish, delivered by actors of immeasurable panache and skill, and have us quoting their last uttered lines as we leave the movie theaters, into the lobby, and for years to come. These are some of the best final lines in movie history, for films which will always have the last word.
7 "The name's Bond. James Bond." - Casino Royale
Following on from previous James Bond actor Peirce Brosnan's poor final outing with Die Another Day in 2002, Bond had to make a return which was new, fresh-faced, and (most importantly) actually good. Casino Royale was a classy, bloody-knuckled modern day take with throwback sensibilities. For all the criticism that the then relatively unknown Daniel Craig received going into the role before anyone had even seen the movie (blond Bond!? How dare they!?), the announcement in the final line wasn't merely a tick box for fans of the series, but a confirmation that this was our new, machine gun-toting 007, and he's here to stay.
6 "The truth is... I am Iron Man" - Iron Man
Marvel's maiden voyage to the big screen (sort of) needed to be something special. Iron Man was at this point a B-list superhero who most non-comic readers didn't even know existed. However, the casting of Robert Downey Jr. (an actor beloved, then rejected by Hollywood at the time) as an alcoholic playboy couldn't have worked out better. By the end of Iron Man, Tony Stark, after beating the villain and faced with a press conference, fumbles his own words. Pressed to stick to the cards, cocksure, Stark admits "I am Iron Man," and the hall of reporters erupts.
The film immediately blares Black Sabbath and goes to the credits. Before superhero movies were the popular norm, this was a ballsy, confident movie with a simple statement. Marvel Studios knew they had struck (red and) gold.
5 "He said there's a storm comin' in." "I know." - The Terminator
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), now carrying a child, finds herself in Mexico following the events of finally stopping The Terminator. In a foreign land, moving on and unable to stop, this is finally a moment of quiet, as Sarah preps her unborn son for the future through voice recordings. Pulling in to a gas station, she mulls over what to reveal and what not to.
The scene is chaos theory. It exists, so that the rest of The Terminator movies can follow, and start. The picture taken of Connor there at the gas station is the same one given to Kyle Reese, who would return solely to meet Sarah and create John. The mention of the storm, and Sarah's frank confirmation, suggests that this is only the beginning of the Connor family's turbulent journey...
4 "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Back to the Future
Poor Marty McFly has barely had a chance to sit down before a cryptic Doc Brown tells him he needs to shoot off again into the far distant future of 2015 to sort out his unborn offspring Back to the Future is honestly a fantastic enough movie that they could have cut this final scene entirely, and it would still have been great. That said, the frenetic dash of Back To The Future's final act does fit perfectly in to Doc Brown's urgency in the last scene, this time hinting at heading in to the future as opposed to the past. As the Delorean lifts off the ground and flies away, the film confirms the high-tech future of flying cars and far-out chrome sunglasses that we've been promised for so long.
3 "The horror... the horror..." - Apocalypse Now
After a series of terrifying ordeals and having an existential crisis, with all his crew dead, Martin Sheen's Captain Willard finally completes his mission and assassinates Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Trippy and kaleidoscopic, Apocalypse Now's ending is exhausted, tired and jaded. Willard wades past the hordes of Kurtz's loyal followers and returns to his boat and back to civilization, the soldier's job done, his mission finally over. Through masterful voiceover narration, the ghostly and maddened tones of Kurtz's overlong and circling monologue from earlier see the soldier out, as a reminder that, yes, War Is Hell.
2 "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" - Casablanca
Placing the love of his life on a plane and away from the city of Casablanca, Rick and Captain Renault disappear into the fog. Having held Renault up at gunpoint and forcing him to help with Ilsa's escape, the Captain takes the move surprisingly well, willing to cover for him and offer Rick transport out of the city as well. The act of kindness and generosity from the captain prompted the finale line, as the two men, solitary in their acknowledgement that love feels impossible in a dangerous world, walk into the fog of night. If anyone needed an example of when black and white added beautifully to a movie, this was it.
The Simpsons would spoof the ending to Casablanca wonderfully with the lost alternative ending, suggesting a ludicrous flip-flop instead.
1 "It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast." - King Kong
Looking past the now very dated special effects, King Kong assumes an almost Shakespearean level of final lines. In its last moment, we witness a great 'character vs nature' conflict. Kong has scaled the height of the Empire State Building with his captured bride in tow. Kong dwarfs the city while biplanes circle the ape, showering it in gunfire. Too wounded to continue, Kong drops to his death and is surrounded by rubberneckers.
Peter Jackson's 2005 remake would give the beast a bit more of a fight in its epic and tear-jerking finale, but it's only so derivative of the original. As Kong lays sprawled out on the pavement, original captor Carl Denim arrives. Responsible for the whole ordeal, the extraordinarily selfish entrepreneur realizes that finally, it's all over. This too has been spoofed endlessly in popular media, but that's because it's such iconic cinema - beauty kills.