is one of the great end scenes in cinema.

Very striking image.

Narratively I think my favorite might be the end of French Connection II.

Though the end of Vertigo (which I saw in its theatrical re-release) made me yell something like, "No way!"

x-post, natch. Yeah that ending is what I was thinking of, but the shot of the line of the expedition winding it's way up (down?) the mountain as far as the eye can see at the beginning is pretty frelling amazing too.

Both scenes are featured in My Best Fiend, so maybe I don't have to see it! Frank's report on Fitzcarraldo is about what I guessed.

Though the end of Vertigo (which I saw in its theatrical re-release) made me yell something like, "No way!"

And, of course, that's one of the great "suspended / what next" scenes of all time because if it went on for a moment longer it looks pretty clear that Jimmy Stewart's going to go jumping off the roof too.

at the beginning is pretty frelling amazing too.

Oh yes. I was a little uninterested in it when my roommate at the time rented it. But between that first shot, quickly followed by the sequence where one of the cannons they were humping over the peaks of the Andes was too heavy for the ground beneath it, and the cannon (and crew, I think) plunged thousands of feet into the jungle below, I was hooked.

Though the end of Vertigo (which I saw in its theatrical re-release) made me yell something like, "No way!"

I've forgotten the exact ending, but I remember being very dissatisfied with Vertigo, as I had watched it after several other Hitchcock films, and thinking it much weaker than the other films I'd seen.

Wikipedia agrees that Vertigo ends on the bell tower, but I thought it ended in some kind of hearing room, like the wrap-up in Psycho. Maybe I am mixing up my Vertigo scenes.

I've forgotten the exact ending, but I remember being very dissatisfied with Vertigo, as I had watched it after several other Hitchcock films, and thinking it much weaker than the other films I'd seen.

Pfft. This is a silly opinion.

Of course Vertigo is a very weird movie that makes very little sense. But it is all about the dream logic and Hitch leaving all his creepy obsessions up on the screen.

Naturally, it is my favorite Hitchcock movie, though I'm also very partial to Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt, and Rear Window.

Vertigo is one of my top five, but I think its pace makes it not for everyone (see also Eyes Wide Shut).

Pfft. This is a silly opinion.

In my own defense, I think I was about seventeen at the time, so there are many subtleties in lots of art that I missed at the time (see: Kurt Vonnegut).

Of course Vertigo is a very weird movie that makes very little sense. But it is all about the dream logic and Hitch leaving all his creepy obsessions up on the screen.

I shall have to watch it again and see how my opinion of the film changes.

Both scenes are featured in My Best Fiend, so maybe I don't have to see it!

There's plenty of good stuff in between. I've been meaning to buy it on DVD for ages, but just hadn't thought of it when I was actively in shopping mode.