Comedies in the 1980s were just built differently. Sure, there are plenty of examples of movies that have been reevaluated for their questionable humor in more modern times, but one thing even the controversial ones did well was their over-the-top endings. It became a staple of the genre in the decade to end in the most ridiculous ways. Here is our list of some of our favorite examples of such endings. The list is hardly exhaustive, that would be impossible, but if you’re looking for a good ’80s comedy to watch with one of your subscription services, these are all great choices.
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, is an action movie as much as it is a comedy. Well, it’s also a musical, but the purpose of this list it’s an action movie. The car chase at the end of the movie is legendary. Dozens, if not hundreds, of cars were trashed while shooting the scene, and it’ll forever go down as one of the most famous car chases in Hollywood history.
Bill Murray) spends most of Caddyshack at war with the gopher. Sure, he finds some time to get wasted with Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) and do a quick loop with the priest, but mostly it’s about the Vermin Kong. In the end, he blows giant holes all over the course in one last desperate attempt to take the gopher out, but the rodent prevails, and Danny’s putt falls into the cup. Everyone but Judge Smails (Ted Knight) and Carl is happy.
Ghostbusters imagined how to end their movie, they couldn’t have known how iconic it would become. The only thing funnier might have been a 500-foot-tall zombie of John Belushi, but they found another way to fit him into the movie as Slimer.
Chevy Chase character to prove that he was the biggest jerk in the room, and National Lampoon’s Vacation is no exception. On one hand, you can’t really blame Clark for losing it, after the disastrous drive cross country ends in an empty Wally World parking lot because the park is closed. Buying a gun (real or not) wasn’t the right answer, but it sure was funny, especially with John Candy as the hapless security guard.
Dangerfield’s hilarious quotes are quite as ridiculous as his dive, the Triple Lindy, that he does at the end of the movie. The faces he makes alone make it worthy of inclusion here. Something like that could only be “learned” on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
go on that adventure through time and ultimately bring back half a dozen historical greats for their final presentation. Party on, dudes!
Tom Hanks has one of his best meltdowns. The escalation in the movie just keeps growing and growing until their nice, suburban street is left in literal rubble.
popcorn scene at the end of Real Genius is, for lack of a better word, genius. Not only is it a great prank to pull on the main character’s annoying professor, but they actually used real popcorn!
Who Framed Roger Rabbit “ridiculous” when the whole movie is meant to be pretty darn absurd. Still, we couldn’t leave it off the list, either. It’s when we find out that Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) was a toon (and why he never blinked) when he melts into ink and dies.
one dark comedy, it’s the “comedy” part that hits the hardest.
iconic Kurt Russell quotes. Still, will we ever find out what happened with Wild-Man? Where’s the sequel??
what it could have been. The original ending (and the ending in the play) saw Audrey getting eaten by the plant, and Seymour, realizing that a corporation wanted to sell more plants, tries to kill the plant. He fails, and the plants propagate worldwide and become forces of massive destruction, including Godzilla-like moments where they destroy buildings. Oh, what could have been had test audiences not hated it!
Val Kilmer’s first movie, and will always be one of his best roles, and the ending, including the bar fight underwater, is a big reason why.
mentioned at the end, and even without it, the pirate ship qualifies the movie for this list.
Tom Cruise) in Risky Business, and wow, did it take until the last moment for things to do so. If only his mom hadn’t noticed that crack in her crystal…
Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline. Palin’s character running over Kline’s with a cement roller is the reason it’s on this list and one of the things that make it a true classic.
John Hughes classic.
intended to be an action movie starring Sly Stallone in the lead. Instead, we got one of the funniest movies of the 1980s with Eddie Murphy playing the cop from Detroit avenging his friend in L.A. The shootout at the end seems kind of out of place, and it’s a wild shootout, until you realize the movie’s origin story.