Top 10 Tragic Movie Endings (2023)

NARRATION:rebeca brayton
Script written by Niki Neptun.

Prepare the tissues and check the tear ducts. In this video, http://www.WatchMojo.com counts down our picks for the top 10 tragic movie endings. For this list, we're looking at movie endings that really raised our tolerance for angst. While some of these movie endings seemed likely at the start of the film, we weren't yet emotionally ready for the gut-wrenching pain of the ending. Of course, there are spoiler alerts everywhere.

Special thanks to our users offbeat08, sven van de riet, Chris Ashton, JIM Garcia 8, Dancing Bear, Graham Burdick, itsnick21, Jonathan Orr, sven van de riet, and Adrian Rystad for submitting the idea to our suggestions page on WatchMojo. comsuggest

Script written by Niki Neptun.

Top 10 tragic movie endings

Prepare the tissues and check the tear ducts. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 tragic movie endings.

For this list, we're looking at movie endings that really raised our tolerance for angst. While some of these movie endings seemed likely at the start of the film, we weren't yet emotionally ready for the gut-wrenching pain of the ending. Of course, there are spoiler alerts everywhere.

# 10: "American History X" (1998)

Even though it was a film filled with Nazi and white racist rhetoric, deep down most of us were still hoping for a happy ending. We get glimpses of Edward Norton's character makeover as a former neo-Nazi who, after serving time in prison for a hate crime, comes to terms with his mistake. Derek Vinyard witnesses his younger brother follow in his woefully misguided footsteps and try to intervene. And just when it looks like he's reached Danny, a bullet pierces his brother's chest, jolting us all.

# 9: "Requiem for a Dream" (2000)

It's pretty obvious that a movie about addiction is likely to expose viewers to the harsh reality of the harmful effects of addiction. However, at the end of these films, viewers are usually given a reprieve, for example with a protagonist who appeared and changed his life for the better. But not so much in "Requiem for a Dream". At the end of Darren Aronofsky's psychodrama, each of the four main characters is consumed by their addictions; They have a real sense of how destructive their addictions have become.

#8: "Philadelphia" (1993)

See a movie starring Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks and you'll get a good idea that your emotions will be brutally manipulated for the next two hours. In "Philadelphia," Hanks plays a lawyer who is fired after his employer discovers he has AIDS and is gay. As Andrew Beckett grows increasingly ill over the course of the film, audiences may be aware of his impending doom, but that still doesn't soften the blow when he finally succumbs. His court victory ends bittersweet when he dies and is remembered by his family and friends in a moving final funeral.

#7: "Se7en" (1995)

This well-constructed thriller was packed with surprises, most of the gruesome kind. There was a man who had been force-fed, a guy in a bed who we all thought was already dead, and a young woman who met a really painful end with a really painful sex toy. Despite all that, audiences still weren't expecting the terrifying twist that director David Fincher had in store for the finale. In "Se7en," Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman play detectives who finally catch up with an elusive serial killer and are driven to the conclusion of his crimes, only to discover he was still one step ahead of them.

#6: "Life Is Beautiful" (1997)

The words "Holocaust" and "move" don't necessarily go together, but audiences were momentarily mesmerized by the story of a man trying to protect his son from the horrors of a concentration camp. In this dramatic comedy, famed writer and director Roberto Benigni stars as an Italian-Jewish bookseller whose family was housed in one of these camps. You are trying to convince your child that everything is an elaborate game with a prize at the end. After the allies arrive to close the camp, we hope that everyone will come together and escape the ordeal together. But Guido's encounter with a guard brutally shattered that dream.

#5: "Someone Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975)

In this '70s classic, Jack Nicholson stars as a mental institution inmate named Randle "Mac" McMurphy, who manages to instill a love of life and a spirit of defiance in a group of his fellow patients. He clashes with the notoriously unsympathetic Sister Ratched several times throughout the film, undermining her authority whenever the opportunity arises. One night out is followed by a violent confrontation between Mac and Ratched, resulting in Mac's lobotomization. He is then put to sleep by one of the inmates he inspired to seek his own freedom.

#4: "The Green Mile" (1999)

This is again one of those movies where, despite your best instincts, you're hoping for the best. Michael Clarke Duncan stars as John Coffey, a man wrongly convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering two girls and facing execution. The prison guards soon realize that Duncan's character is actually a gentle soul with an immense gift who is likely to die for someone else's crimes. When Coffey finally meets his destiny, of his own free will, we see how the destruction of his potential by the world's evil and prejudice is truly the greatest tragedy.

#3: "The Mist" (2007)

While this Stephen King horror adaptation may be a complete departure from The Green Mile and King's original ending, it definitely doesn't skimp in the tragedy department. When a dangerous fog traps a group of villagers in a local grocery store, they are pursued by otherworldly creatures and are forced to fight for their lives. After surviving the night, some survivors, including the film's protagonist and his son, decide to flee to safety. But when the vehicle runs out of gas, they decide it would be better to give up. After killing his son and the rest of the group, David Drayton shows up to find that help was literally outside his door the entire time.

#2: "Leave Las Vegas" (1995)

Before viewers were introduced to Nic Cage's crazier roles, he delivered this Oscar-winning performance as an alcoholic with a death wish. As Ben Sanderson, a screenwriter who has decided to drink himself to death in Las Vegas, he befriends and falls in love with a prostitute named Sera, played by Elizabeth Shue. The two become friends as Ben slowly sinks into the abyss of his alcoholism. As a final farewell, Ben and Sera share moments of a romance that never materialized, after which he finally succumbs to his illness.

Before we reveal our top picks, here are some honorable mentions.
- "Titanic" (1997)
- "The Fighter" (2008)
- „Soylent Green“ (1973)
- "Black Swan" (2010)

#1: "The Million Dollar Baby" (2004)

In this sports drama, Hilary Swank stars as Maggie Fitzgerald, an ambitious waitress who convinces a gruff but experienced trainer to help her dream of becoming a professional boxer. As Maggie quickly rises through the ranks of her department, the two develop a father-daughter bond, and things seem to be going smoothly for the most part. That is, until a ball in the ring paralyzes her. It's not a fate Maggie can accept, and she begs Frankie to put her out of her misery, which he eventually does.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the most tragic ending to a movie? To see the Top 10 most hilarious posts posted each day, subscribe to WatchMojo.com.