15 Movies You Forgot Are Really Just One LONG Flashback

When Does The Movie Start? An old man named Paul Edgecomb lives in a nursing home. While watching the classic movie Top Hat, he becomes unusually emotional. When Does It Flash Back? Paul tells a female companion that the film reminds him of his time working as a prison guard on Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death row. This leads to the flashback, which depicts how a prisoner named John Coffey, who appeared to have some sort of magical healing powers, changed not only life in the prison, but also Paul's life personally. How Does It End? Paul reveals that Coffey healed one inmate's pet mouse, which is still alive decades later. More shockingly, he reveals that Coffey healed him, as well. He's 108 years old and, far from seeing longevity as a gift, he views his elongated existence as a curse. After all, he is doomed to watch everyone around him perish.

When Does The Movie Start? An elderly veteran, James Ryan, walks through a cemetery. When Does It Flash Back? After coming across the tombstone he's looking for, Ryan is overcome with emotion. He begins reflecting back on the efforts of Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and his platoon to locate and rescue him during WWII. After much heavy combat, they do indeed find him, but Miller is fatally wounded in the process. His final words are "earn this," which he directs at Ryan. How Does It End? The older Ryan cries at the gravesite, asking his wife if he's been a good man. Decades later, he's still trying to make sure he's earned the sacrifices that were made for him. The film ends with him saluting Miller's tombstone.

When Does The Movie Start? Gordie Lachance is reading a newspaper article. It's about a man who was fatally stabbed in a restaurant. When Does It Flash Back? He sees that the deceased, Chris Chambers, was his childhood best friend. This leads him to reminisce about an incident from their youth where they and two friends journeyed to a remote location in order to view the corpse of a deceased boy who'd gone missing. How Does It End? Gordie, it turns out, is writing about this episode, which ended when the boys made an anonymous call to the police, alerting them to the location of the boy's body. Reflecting back on Chris - and his demise attempting to break up a fight - spurs him to walk away from the typewriter, go outside, and play with his son. His life was clearly changed by this incident from his past.

When Does The Movie Start? A feather floats through the air, landing in the hand of Forrest Gump as he sits on a bench at a bus stop in Georgia. When Does It Flash Back? A stranger sits down next to him. He offers her a piece of chocolate, compliments her shoes, and then says he can probably remember his own first pair of shoes. Thus begins him recounting the story of his remarkable, eventful life. How Does It End? After detailing his meeting with important political figures, a literal run across the country, and a romance with his true love Jenny that leads to her becoming pregnant, Forrest sees their young son off as he boards a bus for the first day of school. Jenny is no longer alive, but the boy is a piece of her that remains. Looking down at his feet, he spots the feather resting by his shoe. The wind picks it up and carries it off.

When Does The Movie Start? Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, violently dispatches a bunch of goons on a highway overpass. They're formidable foes, yet no match for him. When Does It Flash Back? After we watch this ballet of violence, Deadpool addresses the audience, as he does throughout the film. Recognizing that we want to know where he came from and how he got his abilities, he describes himself by saying, "I may be super, but I'm no hero." He then begins telling the story of his life, beginning with a cancer diagnosis. How Does It End? Deadpool's past and present collide, as he finally gets bloody revenge against Ajax, the demented doctor who claimed to have a cure for Wade's cancer but really injected him with a serum designed to turn on any mutant genes he has inside him. He also reconciles with his fiancee Vanessa, whom he left in an attempt to shield her from seeing him become sick.

When Does The Movie Start? A mysterious criminal named Keyser Soze shoots criminal Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) and sets fire to the cargo ship where they've just carried out a criminal act. When Does It Flash Back? Only two survivors make it through the ordeal. One of them is Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), and he's grilled by US Customs agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) about what happened and who Soze actually is. Kint begins to relay the story of how a group of criminals was assembled to work for this unseen figure. How Does It End? At the end of his wild tale, Kint makes Kujan believe that Keaton was the mastermind behind the whole operation. He then walks out of the police station. Kujan notices that names and details in Kint's story seem to have been drawn from objects around the room. That's when the realization strikes - Kint is Soze, and he's just let a criminal get away.

When Does The Movie Start? Led by Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton), a group of explorers goes deep-sea diving, hoping to find a priceless diamond called the Heart of the Ocean, which they believe rests somewhere within the sunken remains of the Titanic. When Does It Flash Back? After they only find a drawing of a woman inside the ship's safe, that now-elderly woman, Rose, is brought in for consultation. She recounts her ill-fated voyage on the titular vessel, as well as the great love she found with a young man named Jack. He perished when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. How Does It End? When her tale wraps up, Old Rose reveals she still has the diamond, which was part of the necklace she wore at the time. Brock and crew want it, but she tosses it over the side so they can't get it. The Heart of the Ocean is returned to its namesake.

When Does The Movie Start? The Narrator (Edward Norton) is strapped to a chair inside a darkened building. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is holding a gun in his mouth. When Does It Flash Back? He tells us that there's a truck in a parking garage, armed with explosives. Tyler has rigged a number of buildings around them to blow up in an act of domestic terrorism. Then he recalls that the entire situation has something to do with a woman named Marla. This causes him to flash back to how he met her, how Tyler ended up in his life, and how he got into his current predicament. How Does It End? The story of the Narrator/Tyler leads to a surprise revelation that they're the same person. The Narrator has had a psychotic break, unknowingly creating an alter ego for himself. Unfortunately, he realizes this a little too late as the bombs explode, bringing multiple skyscrapers to the ground as he and Marla watch helplessly.

When Does The Movie Start? Elderly publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane is on his deathbed. He holds a snowglobe in his hand, which falls to the ground after he utters his final word: "Rosebud." When Does It Flash Back? Reporter Jerry Thompson is assigned to interview Kane's associates to learn more about him and hopefully discover what "Rosebud" refers to. This leads to a full accounting of his life, which is alternately troubled and glorious. How Does It End? Thompson never does unravel the mystery of Rosebud. However, back at Kane's estate, workers are clearing out his belongings. One of them finds a sled used by Kane as a child. He throws it into an incinerator, and as it burns, the audience can see the word "Rosebud" emblazoned on it. For all his wealth, the thing that brought Kane his only true happiness was the memory of sledding as a boy.

When Does The Movie Start? Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) receives a package from Wayne Enterprises. Inside is a photographic plate, taken during WWI. It shows her standing together with four men. When Does It Flash Back? Seeing the plate causes Diana to remember her life over the past several decades. She recalls her training in Themyscira, her romance with Captain Steve Trevor, and her battle with a German officer named Ludendorff who is the personification of Ares, the God of War, and therefore an enemy of her people. How Does It End? With Ludendorff defeated and Steve unfortunately perishing in his plane during the encounter, the film returns to present day. Diana composes an email to Bruce Wayne, thanking him for sending the plate to her. One of the men in it is Steve, so the emotional significance of the gift now makes perfect sense.

When Does The Movie Start? Two men - photographer Adam and oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon - find themselves chained inside a strange room. On the floor is a corpse and a bag containing two hacksaws. Each of them also finds an audio cassette, suggesting that they need to do something horrific in order to survive. Either way, it looks like they'll have to cut through their own feet if they want to escape. When Does It Flash Back? Dr. Gordon identifies the perilous situation as the work of a deranged psychopath known as the "Jigsaw Killer." He knows this because, several months before, he was questioned by police, who believed he might be the psycho after a personal belonging was found at a crime scene. We then see how he helped the police by interviewing the only surviving victim of Jigsaw, who was then captured but later escaped. How Does It End? Gordon saws off his own foot and flees. The corpse in the room awakens to reveal it's really the Jigsaw Killer. He electrocutes Adam, shuts off the lights, and closes the door. He has successfully carried out another elaborate trap.

When Does The Movie Start? The spirit of Lester Burnham floats in the sky above a suburban neighborhood. We don't see him, but he's talking to us. When Does It Flash Back? Lester flashes back to himself waking up one morning. He states that he's 42 and "within a year, I'll be dead." He then details his unhappy marriage, his infatuation with a teenage girl, and the all-around mid-life crisis he endures during that year. How Does It End? Lester is murdered by his neighbor, fulfilling the promise he made at the beginning. American Beauty then returns to his floating spirit, as he talks about the lessons he learned from the past 12 months. He even acknowledges finding beauty in the world, despite all the ugliness he's seen and caused.

When Does The Movie Start? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is being deposed, thanks to his former colleagues suing him, claiming he stole their idea. When Does It Flash Back? Zuckerberg offers testimony as to his version of the events that led to the social media site's creation. It begins with him getting dumped by a girlfriend. How Does It End? After giving his account, a young defense attorney advises that he should settle with the opposing parties, as even his own testimony makes him look bad. She leaves, and he sends a friend request to the girl who broke up with him, repeatedly refreshing the page to see if she's accepted it. Clearly, a part of him has never gotten over her.

When Does The Movie Start? Iron Man suits are exploding in their cases as Tony Stark begins to tell a story in voiceover. When Does It Flash Back? Fumbling his words, Stark says he wants to start again. Iron Man 3 then jumps to 1999, where he meets scientist Maya Hansen. She has developed an experimental procedure that could hold the key to helping people recover from severe injuries. Both are offered jobs at a think tank run by a sketchy scientist, but Stark turns it down. How Does It End? The movie shows his battle with a nefarious figure called the Mandarin, who has been committing a series of terrorist bombings. An actor has been hired to be the public face of the villain, but Aldrich Killian - the scientist Stark rebuffed years before - is the actual culprit. Stark gets an assist from Pepper Potts who, wearing an Iron Man suit of her own, delivers the fatal blow to Killian. The post-credits scene reveals that the entire film has been Stark telling the story to Bruce Banner in a therapy session, and Banner has fallen asleep during it.

When Does The Movie Start? Barry (Tom Green), a goofball college student in his eighth year at the University of Ithica, gives a campus tour to a group of prospective students and their parents. He makes up random facts about the buildings. When Does It Flash Back? Bored by Barry's inane ramblings, one of the visitors asks if anything "cool" ever happens on campus. That's when he launches into the tale of his friend Josh, who accidentally mailed a videotape to his girlfriend. On it was footage of him cheating on her. He then embarked on a 1,800-mile journey in an attempt to mitigate the damage. How Does It End? Barry wraps up his story by explaining what happened to the movie's various characters. He wins over the crowd, with all the high school students vowing to enroll in the college. He even wins over one of the mothers, with whom he ends up feverishly making out.