Good And Bad Final Films Of Big Stars

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Since we are nearly at the end of this year, it got me thinking of the last films made by big stars, some were very good or very bad, here are a couple that I have seen, please add any others you can think of.

The Misfits (1961) The final for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, an interesting film which gave good roles to each of them. Gable in particular is excellent, one of his finest performances.

Trog (1970) A sad end to the screen for Joan Crawford. She tries her best acting with man in a monkey mask who is supposed to be a troglodyte.

Walk Don't Run (1966) A final one for Cary Grant, a pleasant, innocuous romantic comedy, though he is not the romantic lead here. He seems to have settled into the role of the wise old man giving advice to the young. He probably could have continued on in this vein if he did not decide to retire after this.

[CinemaInternational]

Good:
The Whales of August (1987) for Lillian Gish and Ann Sothern
Liebestraum (1991) for Kim Novak. Novak had been much aggrieved about how her part was much shortened and often consisted of her cries of pain. But she still had a few deathbed scenes of dialogue that were among the film's best scenes (although it was jarring hearing her saying one obscene term) and the film itself was a very intriguing David Lynch style neo-noir.
Only the lonely (1991) for Maureen O'Hara

Bad:
Wicked Stepmother (1989) for Bette Davis. I only bother looking at bits and pieces of it when it played Underground one night, and it just plain didn't work.
Skidoo (1968) for Groucho Marx
The First Deadly Sin (1980) for Frank Sinatra, unless you count a later cameo. Sinatra was fine, but the film was deathly dull.
The Swarm (1978) for Fred MacMurray

Toss-up:
The Towering Inferno (19740 for Jennifer Jones. She gives one of the best performances in the film, and it was a popular hit, but what they did to her in her final scene was unforgivable.
The Flintstones (1994) for Elizabeth Taylor. The film is very minor, but her cameo role shows her in great spirits and she steals the show.

[HoldenIsHere]

Toss-up:

The Flintstones (1994) for Elizabeth Taylor. The film is very minor, but her cameo role shows her in great spirits and she steals the show.

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Taylor and love her in THE FLINSTONES as Wilma's mother Pearl Slaghoople.

She has the best lines in the movie and her performance is comic brilliance.
To Wilma: "You poor, poor dear. And when I think of all the sacrifices your father made for you. Lambs. Oxen. Your brother Jerry."



I love the look she gives John Goodman (Fred) at the 2:13 point in the video.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Jean Arthur - Shane is one of the top westerns and it is interesting that a western was her final film.

William Powell - Mister Roberts. Powell goes out on top as a supporting player, as a doctor in a war time comedy.

[speedracer5]

I thought Bogart went out well with "The Harder They Fall."

I know that "Xanadu" gets a bad rap for being terrible, especially considering it is Gene Kelly's last film; but I don't care, I LOVE "Xanadu" and I like that Gene went out basically playing an older version of his character from "Cover Girl."

[CinemaInternational]

Two-Faced Woman, Gvarbo's final film, is nothing major, but better than its tattered reputation.

However, Her Cardboard lover, was a pretty sad final film for Norma Shearer.

[CinemaInternational]

I thought Bogart went out well with "The Harder They Fall."

I know that "Xanadu" gets a bad rap for being terrible, especially considering it is Gene Kelly's last film; but I don't care, I LOVE "Xanadu" and I like that Gene went out basically playing an older version of his character from "Cover Girl."

I thought Xanadu was charming, and I loved Kelly in it, although I did have to wince at one or two of the outfits he had to wear in the "All Over the World' scene.

[LawrenceA]

Welcome to Mooseport is a poor final outing for Gene Hackman.

How Do You Know is a pretty lackluster final film for Jack Nicholson unless he ever does another, which is seeming less and less likely.

Network is an amazing send-off for Peter Finch.

Ralph Richardson going out with an Oscar nomination for Greystoke was a nice way to end things, even if the movie isn't spectacular.

Christopher Lee's final onscreen feature performance was as Saruman in one of the Hobbit movies, which is a good, memorable way to bow out, particularly given what a fan he was of the property.

Henry Fonda's last theatrical film was On Golden Pond, which is a terrific final role.

[EP Millstone]

I'm not a John Wayne fan. But I am a fan of his cinematic "ride into the sunset": The Shootist. IMO, it's the best tribute to a movie star -- while he was still living -- that I've seen.

Soylent Green, to me, is not a great movie. But it gave Edward G. Robinson a great and beautiful and poignant send-off.

Although I'm sorely tempted to pun The Phynx Stynx, I actually like it, because of the star-studded cast. For Leo Gorcey, it was a lackluster "dead end" to his long movie career. At least he got to be reunited with his long-time sidekick Huntz Hall.

Peter Sellers should have quit while he was ahead with Being There. Unfortunately, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu was his filmic finale.

Targets should have been Boris Karloff's valedictory movie. But, the dedicated trouper instead "soldiered on" to appear in four El Stinko Mexican turkeys, released after his death.

Moe Howard ended his long career with Dr. Death: Seeker of Souls, which, unfortunately, did not feature any pie-fights.

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (AKA Mad Wednesday) is not a grand finale to Harold Lloyd's career. But neither is it an embarrassment.

For me, the final shot in The Unholy Three (1930) is very touching: Lon Chaney waving good-bye to his character's love interest but also -- unknowingly -- to the audience and his fans.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

The version of Orwell's 1984, released in 1984 was Richard Burton's final theatrical film. The film was OK but Burton looks so old and weary in it.

[Arsan444]

Ingrid Bergman gave her best performance in my opinion in Autumn Sonata.

[Dargo]

Not mentioned as of yet.

Good: Charles Laughton / Advise & Consent

Bad: Errol Flynn / Cuban Rebel Girls

[LostHorizons]

What about the other side of the wind for Orson Welles? I feel like that immediately fell out of public consciousness after being released. It was cobbled together for the notoriety of being a “new Orson Welles film.”

[BunnyWhit]

Good:
Randolph Scott is great in his final film, Ride the High Country (1962).

I think William Holden went out well with S.O.B. (1981).


Not good:
It's too bad Lucky (2017) was Harry Dean Stanton's penultimate film because he was fabulous in it, but unfortunately he went out instead as the sheriff in Frank and Ava (2020).