Citizen Kane (1941): Sure everyone knows that Rosebud is a sled now, but that's a twist ending. The best part of the script is that the whole story revolves around finding out what Rosebud is and then slowly gets away from it as we become wrapped up in the unfolding of Kane's life. When we finally discover what it is, you have to take a beat to let it sink in. That's a great twist, because it so much doesn't alter the core of the film or is used as some big shock. What it does is make you reevaluate your perception of Kane as a person and gives you the key to unlocking what has been built as an enigmatic and cryptic person.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962): "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) is a US Senator who made his name and fame on shooting legendary outlaw Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin). When he attends the funeral of an old, broken down bum the press starts sniffing around and Stewart reveals what truly happened. He was a greenhorn lawyer come out west who ran afoul of Valence. Valence himself is on a collision course to a showdown with local rancher Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). Doniphon's second destiny is to marry pretty waitress Hallie (Vera Miles). She takes a liking to the stubborn Stoddard who refuses to leave town and is going to have a duel with Valence even though he can hardly fire a gun. Valence plays with Stoddard like a cat with a mouse, but is shot to death in the end. Stoddard's star is launched as killing Liberty boosts the territory's quest for statehood. The near death experience makes Hallie realize that she loves Ransom and marries him. Doniphon's life spirals out of control. Drunk and surly, he goes to Stoddard and reveals that he shot Valence from a nearby dark alley more for Hallie's sake than his and it cost him the only thing he truly wanted in life. Wayne gives a great performance and crafts a deep, believable character that you first kind of don't like and then really feel for.
Charade (1963): Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are two of the most beautiful people of all time and have great chemistry in this murder mystery. Hepburn's husband is murdered and shifty associates come around looking for money he has hidden away. Grant aides her, but he's not the person he says he is. Or the other person he says he is. Or that guy either. Hepburn seeks help from a special agent played by Walter Matthau, but is he who he says he is? Turns out that Matthau was one of her husband's crooked associates and Grant was the real special agent Matthau was pretending to be.
Chinatown (1974): Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private detective in Los Angeles in 1937. He's hired by who he believes to be the wife of Hollis Mulwray to track him as she believes he is having an affair. Mulwray is the head of the water and power department. Gittes gets pictures of the man with a young woman and a scandal erupts. Gittes meets the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) and realizes he was duped in order to get at Hollis. Matters become more complicated when Hollis turns up dead and Gittes links the crime to illegal dealings in the department. Gittes gets closer to Mrs. Mulwray and her father Noah Cross (John Huston). In the end Gittes uncovers much more than he bargained for as events come to a head in the one place he hoped he would never have to go back to-Chinatown. Hollis was not having an affair with the young woman he was seen with, she is the daughter of Mrs. Mulwray from being raped by her father. You don't see it coming, because they don't build it like there's going to be some great twist. Then when they deliver it, it's straightforward and easy to understand. They also package it into a great, iconic scene with Nicholson slapping Dunaway back and forth hard with her screaming "my sister, my daughter, my sister, my daughter."
Dressed to Kill (1980): Kind of a rip-off of Psycho from Brian DePalma, but I like it. Michael Caine is a therapist who has a knife stolen from him by a patient who needs his signature to get a sex change operation. He then uses the knife to kill another patient (Angie Dickinson). A hooker sees the murder and becomes the next target. It turns out the doctor is also the supposed transsexual. Plus, when you think the movie should be over, DePalma throws in one last curveball at you. Very stylish and highly controversial when first released.
Shattered (1991): Dan Merrick (Tom Berenger) is a successful architect who has a horrible car accident with his wife (Greta Sacchi). His face is completely destroyed and he suffers from amnesia. He tries to resume his old life, but things don't seem right to him. He runs into a private investigator (Bob Hoskins) that he had hired to look into an affair his wife was having. He now hires him to help figure what is going on in his life and what his wife is up to. This is one I don't think a lot of people will be familiar with, so I'll save the ending. It has that old school film noir feel to it, almost crossing over to Hitchcockian. The ending hits you out of nowhere, but then your brain starts putting all the pieces together and it fits.
Dead Again (1991): Kenneth Branagh plays a private detective charged with protecting and finding the identity of a woman with amnesia, Emma Thompson. During hypnosis sessions with Derek Jacobi, Thompson's character relives a past life where Thompson was a musician married to a brilliant composer in Branagh. She's murdered and he's accused of it. For the grandiose Branagh as director and star this is a zesty little murder mystery with a clever twist. Again, you might not be familiar, so I won't reveal.
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