Dracula (1931) most anticlimactic movie ever?/ Terrible movie endings

[Milspec]

If you watch as much TCM as I do you realize that a lot of 30s and 40s movies end very abruptly and everything is wrapped up and often anticlimactic in them.

That is still a big weakness in films today, the need to wrap everything up like it was a Shakespere play. I don't know if they just believe that the audience is too stupid to get it unless they spell it out or what, but it has ruined a lot of movies.

Take the movie "Interstellar" for example, it really wasn't a bad movie and had they stopped it with Cooper behind the bookcase as Murphy walks out of the room, it would have been a great and powerful ending. Knowing that he was the "ghost" that tried to keep Cooper from leaving in the first place. Instead, they had to add another 20 minutes of happy ending wrap up that just sucked all the emotion out of the film and made it a forgettable effort.

I much prefer endings that twist your emotion and flips the whole movie on it's ear. Endings like you find in "No Way Out" (if you stayed long enough to see the extra scene played following the credits) or especially like "The Caine Mutiny" where the viewer becomes one of the mutineers and then is left feeling sick about celebrating the outcome of the trial.

I still struggle with movies like "Romeo is Bleeding", "The Last Detail", and "Leaving Las Vegas" as the more you watch those movies, the more often you change you mind on what the plot really was and that is a sign of either a well crafted story or else a really poor one...hard to tell sometimes which it is.

 

[Toto'sDad]

On a scale of smart to stupid, I'm probably about a two-thirds toward the stupid side. I don't like movies where I have to write my own ending to it. I want it laid out to where even (I) understand it.

 

[drmordo]

Really ?

When Josh Brolin gets killed and we don’t even see it, and it isn’t at the very end? (Like a typical Hollywood movie)*

It instantly became one of my favorite westerns. Yes, it is a western.

There’s no solution/no end in sight with everything they depicted in that movie.

Brolin is just another corpse. Same with Woody Harrelson.

Just like all the bodies at the desert crime scene.

Just like the dogs.

That was the point.

At the end Tommy Lee Jones is out there talking to his wife and not a damn thing has changed.

However, speaking of westerns? Red River ? that piece of crap ?

Bad ending.

*I had a similar response to when Leonardo DiCaprio gets popped in the elevator in The Departed. Such a great scene in such a great movie.

So the point was that life is miserable and good people die and often the bad guys win?

How profound; after watching the news for almost 50 years that thought never occurred to me.

I don't watch movies to be reminded of how unfair and randomly brutal life is. I watch them to escape that fact.

That said, it's also just poor storytelling. Why build a story where the protagonist gets randomly killed?

Imagine if Hamlet got randomly killed by an unknown bandit (off-stage) in the 4th act and the 5th act just peters out with his Uncle just continuing to be King of Denmark. At the end, the Uncle falls down a flight of stairs, but he's totally ok, and that's the end. That would suck almost as much as NCFOM.

IMO the only thing that saves NCFOM is the skill of the actors. If it was the exact same movie but made with B-list actors, no one would remember it at all.

The Departed is a million times better, because it makes perfect sense within the story that Dicaprio gets killed by the mob, and then also that Damon gets killed by the cops. It's a shocking moment, but not random and senseless.

Anyways, I'm not going to tie up the thread arguing about a terrible movie.

 

[elihu]

Hell and High Water is a good movie which kinda peters out at the end. But that’s okay because so does a lot of life. Sometimes it’s all about the journey.

 

[Texicaster]

I agree, and we ( wife and I) are always catching it on HBO, and watch...Still don't know what's going on at the end ( hope he didn't kill the wife)
- me stupid?

Also, I swear I don't think I understand one line of Tommy Lee Jone's dialogue in the movie ( and I like this actor)

But I still watch it

Yep .....she gets popped....

Remember how he checks his boots as he exits the house. Anton didn't like blood on him...other's anyways....

One of my favorite films ever. It's very close to the book. As i recall one gnarly scene omitted.

I'd LOVE to see Coen's tackle Blood Meridian!

As far as bad endings go pick any Steven King film! The Stand the absolute worst ever! Trashcan Man!

 

[drmordo]

Hell and High Water is a good movie which kinda peters out at the end. But that’s okay because so does a lot of life. Sometimes it’s all about the journey.

How does it peter out? That's one movie I think is almost perfect, and I don't even like Chris Pine.

What did you think about Wind River?

 

[elihu]

How does it peter out? That's one movie I think is almost perfect, and I don't even like Chris Pine.

What did you think about Wind River?

I really liked Wind River-no complaints there. I was expecting an unexpected twist at the end of Hell and High Water. I didn’t expect the brothers to totally get away with those bank robberies, even though one brother gave his life for it to happen. I thought Jeff Bridges’ character would surely come up with something. But despite all that it’s a good movie with some truly great scenes.

 

[FuzzWatt]

So the point was that life is miserable and good people die and often the bad guys win?

That was precisely the point. The book, which came out first, was written by Cormac McCarthy. This is a running theme of his, which you can find in his equally popular The Road, also a movie.

He likes to point this out while making us question, "who really is the good/bad guys here?" ALA Frankenstein - Who is really the monster?

As for the rest of your post, I completely agree. It's a depressing motif and, at the risk of sounding like a snob, quite trite and overdone at this point. I enjoy his stories, but yeah, I get it - good people do bad things and bad people get ahead... they're usually depressing to a degree.

 

[24 track]

View attachment 1016738

I saw the episode of the Osbournes where Ozzy and his son went to England and met Arthur Pendragon claiming to be King Arthur , after some medieval jousting ritual , Ozzy proclaims "that guys a F&^%^*& Nutter" to which his Son replied " This from the Prince of Darkness?" , Ozzy conceded "point Taken".
LOL

The only show that had me cowering under the covers at night when I was a squeeker ,was the William Shatner episode of Twilight Zone with the gremlin on the plane , ripping it apart in mid flight. it was one of the episodes that played once then not again until the movie came out.

 

[FuzzWatt]

It instantly became one of my favorite westerns. Yes, it is a western.

Fun fact - I don't remember who his character is, but Barry Corbin is in that movie. The old guy in the desert who speaks with Tommy Lee Jones. He's one of my favourite actors.

The movie took place in West Texas. Barry has been in many westerns and was born in Texas. He's the son of a Texas Senator.

 

[Fretting out]

The Bad Seed.

The ending of the movie doesn't spoil the ending of the movie.

I love that movie!

Nothing like a evil little girl being hit by a lightning strike…..

 

[Texicaster]

Fun fact - I don't remember who his character is, but Barry Corbin is in that movie. The old guy in the desert who speaks with Tommy Lee Jones. He's one of my favourite actors.

The movie took place in West Texas. Barry has been in many westerns and was born in Texas. He's the son of a Texas Senator.

Filmed near Alpine I believe. At the same time over the hill from one scene "There Will Be Blood" was filming and the scene where the well is on fire messed up NCFOM filming with smoke.

BTW...There Will Be Blood had a wacky ending......

SPOILER ALERT!

 

[BradKM]

Why build a story where the protagonist gets randomly killed?

There's a bit of slight of hand going on here. While we see him first and he's central to a lot of the action, Brolin's Moss isn't the protagonist/main character. The title, and the way the film/book play out, show that the true center of the story is Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff. It's a rumination on aging, nostalgia and perceptions on the worsening condition of man, wearing the trappings of a western/action movie.

If you just want the big Hollywood action version of this story, Peckinpah's 1972 "The Getaway" is a good choice... and I've always suspected that it may have been an influence, even in if subconscious, on McCarthy and "No Country..."

 

[Preacher]

Castaway...

worse ending ever. I mean he did deliver the package but no one signed for it, so did he really deliver it? And he did not take a picture. I am sure porch pirates grabbed it before that gal got home.

I was so put out by the ending.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

So the point was that life is miserable and good people die and often the bad guys win?

How profound; after watching the news for almost 50 years that thought never occurred to me.

I don't watch movies to be reminded of how unfair and randomly brutal life is. I watch them to escape that fact.

That said, it's also just poor storytelling. Why build a story where the protagonist gets randomly killed?

Imagine if Hamlet got randomly killed by an unknown bandit (off-stage) in the 4th act and the 5th act just peters out with his Uncle just continuing to be King of Denmark. At the end, the Uncle falls down a flight of stairs, but he's totally ok, and that's the end. That would suck almost as much as NCFOM.

IMO the only thing that saves NCFOM is the skill of the actors. If it was the exact same movie but made with B-list actors, no one would remember it at all.

The Departed is a million times better, because it makes perfect sense within the story that Dicaprio gets killed by the mob, and then also that Damon gets killed by the cops. It's a shocking moment, but not random and senseless.

Anyways, I'm not going to tie up the thread arguing about a terrible movie.

The second Brolin grabs the case with the money, he’s part of it and when he gets killed it’s in no way a random killing.

Fun fact - I don't remember who his character is, but Barry Corbin is in that movie. The old guy in the desert who speaks with Tommy Lee Jones. He's one of my favourite actors.

The movie took place in West Texas. Barry has been in many westerns and was born in Texas. He's the son of a Texas Senator.

Yep - that guy’s phenomenal.

There's a bit of slight of hand going on here. While we see him first and he's central to a lot of the action, Brolin's Moss isn't the protagonist/main character. The title, and the way the film/book play out, show that the true center of the story is Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff. It's a rumination on aging, nostalgia and perceptions on the worsening condition of man, wearing the trappings of a western/action movie.

If you just want the big Hollywood action version of this story, Peckinpah's 1972 "The Getaway" is a good choice... and I've always suspected that it may have been an influence, even in if subconscious, on McCarthy and "No Country..."

Castaway...

worse ending ever. I mean he did deliver the package but no one signed for it, so did he really deliver it? And he did not take a picture. I am sure porch pirates grabbed it before that gal got home.

I was so put out by the ending.

The way I took it, was that he definitely goes back to talk to the woman who was played by country singer Lari White (RIP) or - he doesn’t.

He couldn’t go anywhere but to the shore of his tiny island - he was trapped/stuck.

But now, when he’s at those cross roads (trite I admit) at the end, he can go as far as he wants in any direction.

My vote is on the redhead !

 

[Telekarster]

Off at a tangent, but a while I ago I studied the original Dracula novel on a literature course. In discussion, one of my classmates referred to it as a work of fiction. ("It's a great work of fiction" or something.)

We had a very beautiful Romanian woman in the class, with an accent that would just be perfect for such a movie. Anyway, she responds with:

"I from Romania. We know is not fiction.'

You probably know this but for those who may not, Vlad Draculea AKA Vlad the Impaler was a very real and historic ruler in Romania, known for exceptionally cruel and unusual punishments of his enemies. Pretty wild stuff.

Vlad the Impaler - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[micpoc]

I’m saying this with all due respect and I love the movie

But….

Dracula has to be the most anticlimactic movie EVER

“Oh no the sun is coming up better get into bed” Dracula (in full view of van helsing)

Dracula climes into coffin/van helsing sees Dracula clime into coffin

Van helsing opens coffin and slays Dracula

THE END

For someone that had been alive for hundreds of years you’d think he’d have a better plan

Any other terrible movie endings?

Now that I think about it, I think the OP's problem isn't so much with the classic 1931 film's ending as it is with the very nature of vampire-slaying. I think it really is as simple as that... though it does beg the question, "If it's so easy, why don't MORE people slay vampires?"

 

[String Tree]

I’m saying this with all due respect and I love the movie

But….

Dracula has to be the most anticlimactic movie EVER

“Oh no the sun is coming up better get into bed” Dracula (in full view of van helsing)

Dracula climes into coffin/van helsing sees Dracula clime into coffin

Van helsing opens coffin and slays Dracula

THE END

For someone that had been alive for hundreds of years you’d think he’d have a better plan

Any other terrible movie endings?

But, it left the door open for All of those Sequels!

 

[flamjam9999]

It’s old. What do you expect?

 

[Milspec]

Castaway...

worse ending ever. I mean he did deliver the package but no one signed for it, so did he really deliver it? And he did not take a picture. I am sure porch pirates grabbed it before that gal got home.

I was so put out by the ending.

It really should have ended with the recipient opening the package to find a short wave radio or at least a flare gun. Hanks dead panning to the camera and roll credits.