31 Movie Days: 22

Day 22 - Favorite Final Scene/Line

Honestly, I'm not too enthusiastic about this category. Initially, I was thinking the resurrection of Barbossa, revealed at the closing seconds of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, but then sorta concluded that I think I like that scene more because of the audience reaction which was hysterical [listening to everyone cheer, whistle, and call Geoffrey Rush 'hot', utter greatness]. And although I do like BACK TO THE FUTURE and PRINCESS BRIDE, I can't say their endings really won me over with anything like fellow bloggers. And as far as lines go, not too many final lines that I can honestly say I like, let alone remember enough to include 'em.

Anyhow, there is, however, one particular scene that I nearly skip the ENTIRE movie to watch, and it's the final sequence. A few short years ago, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up to present audiences with a true grindhouse experience with a three hour-plus movie appropriately titled GRINDHOUSE. When the DVD hit markets, the two features were separated a month apart, DEATH PROOF then PLANET TERROR. Out of the two, I'm more of a PLANET TERROR fan, but Tarantino sure delivered one hell of a final reel to his 'crazy driver' storyline. Kurt Russell played a dude who loved to stalk and kill him some pretty ladies [sexual satisfaction?], but on this particular occasion, he picked the wrong gals. SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen DEATH PROOF.

Also, apologies for the crappy screencap. It's difficult to find a shot of the DEATH PROOF final scene online. Now I dunno if it's my own sick, twisted mind that finds this scene so damn funny and bloody fantastic to watch, but similar to the AMERICAN WEDDING scene that never fails to make me happy after a pissy day, this three minute punch-kicking-beatdown gives me such joy and giddiness. Here's Russell's character, a hard motherfrakker who cavalierly kills without mercy or compassion, and his pretty car gets beat up quite a bit and he's bleeding a tad, and the three gorgeous girls make their way to him, finding the dude crying his little hearts out. The irony there is enough to make me smile writing this. What follows for the next two minutes are our three female leads beating the living bonkers out of the poor dude, all the way to the killing blow. DEATH PROOF itself may not exactly be Tarantino's masterpiece [still better than JACKIE BROWN; don't kill me], but he sure as hell knows how to craft some stellar car chases and action scenes.

Anyway, there's my pick for Favorite Final Scene. For all I know, this will change rather quickly, but as it stands, DEATH PROOF's closing moments are freakin' hilarious, ironic, uncompromising, nicely directed and edited, and just simply fun. If you haven't done yourself the pleasure of seeing GRINDHOUSE yet [which hits Blu-Ray next month in a special edition 3-Disc set], I'd very much give the recommendation to do so.