Going Out In A Blaze of Glory

By Jo Phillips

There are a handful of films that end with a glorious moment, one that may be not have expected. The Heroine or Hero blasts out of the screen off into the sunset, or may off to the other side? Here are a few to get your teeth into. Enjoy Going Out In A Blaze of Glory

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid 

Going Out In A Blaze Of Glory. Everyone can remember the striking final frame of the cowboy “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” It’s one immortalized in a freeze-frame shot, one that sees the charismatic bandit and his dead-shot partner facing a hail of inescapable gunfire.

And although logic assures the duo, portrayed indelibly by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, don’t squirm or shoot their way out. The film’s ending famously leaves the outlaw’s fate at the mercy of a visual cliff-hanger.

Thelma & Louise

The best use of a freeze frame for the final shot in a film is  Thelma & Louise. The 1991 Oscar winner for Best Orginal Screenplay shows the transformation of isolated housewife Thelma (Geena Davis) and cigarette-loving waitress Louise (Susan Sarandon) into the notorious eponymous duo on the run to Mexico. Essentially, it’s the feminine manifesto on how to leave domestic life behind for the freedom of being outlaws.

One of the most memorable moments of the film is the ending. After an intense police chase through the desert, Thelma and Louise choose to drive their ’66 Thunderbird off of a cliff rather than being caught by the police. However, the audience doesn’t see the actual crash. Aided by a powerful and emotional score from Hans Zimmer, the car freezes in mid-air and the screen fades to white.

Primal Fear

Martin Vail is an arrogant Chicago defense attorney who defends the case of a killed and loved archbishop. Aaron Stampler, a 19-year-old altar boy from Kentucky, is caught fleeing the scene covered in blood and charged with murder.

Vail offers to defend him pro bono, and the meek, stuttering Aaron claims he is innocent but is prone to amnesia. But the whole film twists with the final scene.

American Psycho

In 1987, Patrick Bateman, a young and wealthy New York City investment banker, who spends most of his time dining at popular restaurants while keeping up appearances for his fiancée Evelyn Williams. From the book by Bret Easton Ellis. The main character leads a double life as a serial killer.

The film blends horror and black comedy to satirize 1980s yuppie culture and consumerism, exemplified by Bateman and the supporting cast, but the end may well turn the whole movie (and book) on its head; beware.

Reservoir Dogs

A 1992 American neo-noir crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunker as diamond thieves whose heist of a jewelry store goes terribly wrong.

All of the criminals except the boss, Joe Cabot, and his son, “Nice Guy” Eddie Cabot, use aliases Mr. Brown, Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange and Mr. Pink. These colourful names bring a soft humourous facet but it’s a heist movie so maybe it is not what you think?

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