Some of my favorite scenes in movies are what I call “walkaways.” A walkaway is when a major protagonist walks away from his/her work/life at the end of the movie, and the movie ends on a down (elegiac, depressing, defeated, etc.) note. A walkaway is NOT a getaway (see The Shawshank Redemption, The Town, Mud). Sometimes a walkway follows a Pyrrhic victory, but it typically follows a defeat/loss or a terrible realization.
Also, in a walkaway, the character is going AWAY from something more than he/she is going TOWARD something else. So, I don’t think the final scene of The Graduate is a walkaway. Sure, it seems to end on a down note, but notice that Ben and Elaine are laughing and smiling as they run away from the church and get on the bus. Yes, ultimately they both experience a moment of clarity while “The Sound of Silence” plays, but they are escaping to build a new life together. This is what they want.
Here are some of my favorite walkaways in films I’ve seen. As usual, this doesn’t mean I think each movie is a great movie (though some of them are), but rather I think the walkaway was perhaps the optimal ending to the story the writer/director was trying to tell. Also as usual, my list is alphabetized and not rank-ordered.
Body of Lies
After almost getting killed, CIA agent Roger Ferris has had enough of the CIA and its “body of lies.” He quits the CIA to begin a new life (hopefully) with his new girlfriend. While this seems somewhat positive, his boss Ed Hoffman tells us the truth: “Buddy’s done. He’s all by himself.” A former CIA agent all by himself in Jordan where he’s got many enemies? He’s in for a rough ride. Kudos to Ridley Scott showing CIA’s spy satellites zooming out from Ferris as “If the World” by Guns n Roses kicks in.
The Constant Gardener
The wife of British diplomat Justin Quayle has been murdered. He eventually finds out who did it and why, helping to tell the truth about what she found to the world. And then he has a UN aid plane drop him off where his wife died so he can sit and wait for his murderers to arrive.
Five Easy Pieces
This is the earliest film on this list, and it somewhat sets the standard for walkaways. Bob Rafelson ends the movie expertly. Robert and his girlfriend Rayette stop at a gas station. Rayette wants some money to guy some coffee, and Robert just hands her his entire wall and then goes to the bathroom around the corner. About a minute later, Robert comes out of the bathroom, gets into a logging truck, and rides away with the driver. Robert’s last lines are: “All I got is what I’ve got on. . . . No, that’s okay. I’m fine. I’m fine.” Then the truck pulls out of the lot, revealing Rayette walking around the gas pumps waiting/looking for Robert. And in an expert move by Rafelson, the stationary camera holds the truck driving down the road and Rayette wandering around the gas station all in one long shot as the credits start to roll.
The Insider
I think this is Michael Mann at his best. CBS Corporate has screwed over the 60 Minutes crew and Lowell Bergman especially. (Bergman also was betrayed by his colleague Mike Wallace.) Eventually Bergman gets his story broadcast on 60 Minutes as originally planned. In the final scene, Bergman walks away from Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes and leaves the CBS building for an uncertain future. Mann brilliantly shifts to slow motion just as Bergman clears the revolving door and the closing music starts.
Michael Clayton
Michael Clayton is a corporate “fixer” who helps his law firm get their clients out of sticky situations. He sold out a while ago. After he realized that he was complicit in his friend’s murder, he works to stick it to the big, bad corporation who had his friend murdered and attempted to murder him. After the climax (the confrontation between Michael Clayton and Karen Crowder [with The White Shadow intervening]), Clayton passes information/documents on to the authorities and simply walks out of the hotel/convention center. He gets in the first taxi he sees and simply says, “Give me $50 worth. Just drive.” And then he proceeds to stare directly into the abyss of what his life has become as the credits roll. So, rather than show the cab driving away, the camera stays directly on Clayton to capture his facial expressions, likely an homage to Ben and Elaine at the end of The Graduate.
Point Break
You all know the story of EFF BEE EYE agent Johnny Utah going undercover to solve the cases of a chain of bank robberies. (I once thought that this was Kathryn Bigelow’s directorial debut, but it was actually her fourth film, a full decade after her 1981 debut with The Loveless.) Okay, after Bodhi and some of his gang get away, Johnny Utah tracks him down at Bells Beach, Australia where Bodhi is surfing in the middle of the “50-year storm.” Ultimately, Utah lets Bodhi go, presumably off to surf to his death. Then, Utah basically says “fuck it, brah,” tosses his badge away in the water, and then walks away down the beach in the rain. Only Bigelow makes a somewhat odd decision to stay in front of Utah the entire time, so he is walking toward the camera in the rain. I’m not sure it works that well.
Primal Fear
(This clip actually doesn’t show the very last scene that I’m talking about but the one just before it) Arrogant and somewhat morally corrupt Defense Attorney Martin Vail chooses to defend altar boy Aaron Stampler after he is charged with murdering an archbishop. Near the end, after Vail essentially gets his client off, Vail finds out the hard truth about Stampler. Upon this realization, he walks away from the holding cell, through the courtroom, and into the lobby. He sees the throng of media outside the doors and then chooses to walk out a side door and into oblivion.
The Prime Gig (sorry, no video)
Pendleton Wise works in a low-rent boiler room pushing crap investment schemes on unwitting civilians. He then joins a new crew; hijinks ensue. At the very end, Penny realizes that he has just been bamboozled in a long con. He goes back to his crappy apartment, which he shares with his disabled friend. Not able to tell his bud the truth, he simply leaves money on the coffee table and walks away down the sidewalk. Kudos to the director Gregory Mosher for keeping the camera on Penny all of the way down the sidewalk.
Traitor (sorry, no video)
Counterintelligence agent and devout Muslim Samir Horn puts his life on the line and infiltrates a terrorist organization. Horn eventually accomplishes his mission, but with high costs to him and while being pursued by FBI agent Roy Clayton. Clayton confronts Horn beneath the L tracks in Chicago. They get a bit theological, and Horn basically says, “I’m done. I’m out.” And off he goes.
Zero Dark Thirty
(This video only shows a few seconds of the very end.) You know the story. CIA agent Maya has devoted all of her life since 9/11 to hunt Osama Bin Laden. Seal Team Six do their job, and Maya confirms the identity of the corpse. After a hard cut, we then see Maya boarding an empty military transport plane. The pilot comes back to tell her she must be quite important to get a ride all by herself. He asks her where she wants to go. She doesn’t even know what to say. All that she has obsessively worked on for several years is over, and she’s got nothing to do and no place to go. It is clear that Maya is totally spent and has nothing deeply meaningful in her life anymore. Her entire identity had been wrapped up with this one task, which is now over. After she buckles in, the camera just pushes in on her face. As Alexandre Desplat’s “Maya on Plane” begins, she starts to cry. (Look, I really like Argo, but I definitely think that Boal, Bigelow, and Ellison should have won the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture.)
Motion Picture Man 