Greatest Death Scene of a Character in Film?

[Crankie Avalon]

I just watched "Cleopatra Jones" on DVD this weekend.

Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch) played one of the characters, "Doodlebug", a very vain drug pusher who says things like "I AM BEAUUUUTIFUL" and fusses over his hair a lot. Anyway, when he gets killed he's shot, hit with a car, and still staggering around really campily, like Redd Foxx having a heart attack. Finally, Doodlebug goes down and is a bloody mess...but, with his last bit of strength, he makes a final primp of his hair and dies.

It was hilarious!!! A great death scene.

[Cannikin]

1. Spock in ST:II of course

[aden_nak]

4. /second

It ties all of the themes laid out in the earlier parts of the movie together perfectly.

[hfojvt]

15. I thought you were talking about the way he straightened

his uniform when he stood up for the final time.
The thing I did not like about it was the whole "needs of the many" because, unlike Armageddon, there is no way for him to save himself. Kirk's line was "Scotty, I need warp power in 3 minutes or we are all dead." If Spock does not go in there and fix the warp drive, then he will be just as dead as the rest of the crew. So there is no "needs of the one" to be over-ridden by the "needs of the many". He is already in the burning building, not entering it to save others.

[aden_nak]

22. True, but it wasn't simlpy a matter of sacrificing his life.

He had to put himself through an excruciating, painful ordeal in order to make the repairs. He exposed himself to levels of radiation so extreme that they deformed his body in, well, little more than three minutes. So he paid for their lives with his own suffering.

[SaveElmer]

6. You beat me to it ...nt

[InvisibleTouch]

59. Without a doubt.

Sets the standard for "meaningful dramatic death scene," in my mind. STII also happens to be my favorite movie.

[Dukkha]

60. I'm with this too

A local theater here's showing it on the big screen again! I'm so there.

[MrScorpio]

2. Spartacus

Nuff Said

[shawn703]

3. I like the sword-fighter in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Does all the fancy moves with his swords to build up suspense, and Indy just pulls out his gun and shoots him.

[CanuckAmok]

66. Do you know the background of that scene?

They were shooting in the desert, and the scene was originally supposed to be a traditional "battle royale". But Ford had terrible food poisoning that day, and could barely stay on set long enough to roll cameras. So he and Lucas did a quick rewrite on the spot, which involved Ford being wrapped as early as possible... and the rest is history.

[saltpoint]

5. Mercutio, as he is dying, in Zefferelli's ROMEO & JULIET.

Tom Hanks gets it right also in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

[fleabert]

7. Paul Ruebens, aka Pee Wee Herman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie

ah ah ehhh ahhh ahh, kick kick kick, ahhh errrr hmmmm ah ah ahhhh.......ahhhhhhh ah er ah. thud.

:rofl:

[radwriter0555]

98. ABSOLUTELY... I must agree. The death scene I can watch OVER and over

again and STILL end up on the floor, in hysterics, giggling beyond all control!

ah ah ehhh ahhh ahh, kick kick kick, ahhh errrr hmmmm ah ah ahhhh.......ahhhhhhh ah er ah. thud.

Repeat

Oh yeah!

[Beware the Beast Man]

8. Best Left-for-dead scene is in "Revenge of the Sith."

When Obi-Wan lets Anakin/Vader burn alive on the shore of a river of lava.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

71. Indeed. That was cool. Vader was torn up quite horribly.

[Left Is Write]

121. I must say...

during the "fix up", the first words that popped into my head were, "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology..."

[realisticphish]

9. Shaun of the Dead

"sorry"

"for what?.... ahhh"

[Jokerman]

10. Cool Hand Luke

Oh wait, that was the sweatiest movie ever made.

[Coventina]

11. Have to put in a word for Boromir, in "Fellowship of the Ring"

I get choked up every time I see it.

[GCP]

23. That's a really powerful scene

Brings up images of biblical martyrs such as St. Stephen.

[leftofthedial]

61. yeah.

Boromir's death was quite amazing.

[City Lights]

62. I've gotta go with Boromir also.

I balled my eyes out the first time I saw it, and still get teary-eyed even though I've seen it numerous times.

[Hatalles]

64. This was the first one I thought of as well...

"My brother... My captain... My king." Ah, just great. :)

[kodi]

65. its the best i have seen

i tear up each time i see it. the slow motion action has an incredible affect.

[bamacrat]

12. The woman in Vivre se vie.

at the end of the movie a guy goes to shoot her and his gun has no bullets, then his partner shoots her. she then proceeds to stumble a bit then falls. i just found the no bullets thing funny.

[Ivote]

17. Sorry All It's A Toss Up 2 Real Oldies

Both James Cagney
1: White Heat (Look Ma I'm On Top Of The World)
and
2: 13 Rue Madelaine
I told you they were oldies

[Carla in Ca]

68. Don't feel bad...

mine is Garbo in Camille. Feel better?:hi:

[Laughing Mirror]

13. when the prima ballerina Moira Shearer trips to her death

in her lucky red shoes, from the magnificent 1948 technicolor movie, The Red Shoes.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

14. The guy in Mad Mad World who kicked a bucket over a cliff.

[ronnykmarshall]

100. That was Jimmy Durante!!

[Patiod]

16. Not the greatest, but I love Doc Holliday's death scene

in "Tombstone".

[CatWoman]

18. Sonny Corleone being machine gunned in The Godfather

To this day, I hate that scene x(

[Crankie Avalon]

35. Al Pacino got machine gunned apart in "Scarface"...

...pretty gruesomely, too.

[edbermac]

113. That scene was stupid!

I don't care how coked up he was, he's not gonna stand there begging for more while 12 guys are shooting him with machine guns...

[NewJeffCT]

39. so many good deaths in those two movies

Sonny Corleone being gunend down at the rest stop...

The Godfather, Marlon Brando, going quietly while playing with his grandson...

Fredo, of course...

Michael gunning down the crooked cop in the restaurant...

All the rival crime bosses being killed while the baby is being baptized...

DeNiro getting the old Godfather in the hallway...

Apollonia being blown up in the car...

And, others I'm sure I'm forgetting.

[jakefrep]

42. That's what he got for not using exact change at the tollbooth.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

19. James Cagney in White Heat

"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"

http://www.filmsite.org/whit.html

[kwassa]

91. My fave, too.

[BOSSHOG]

20. Tommy Lee Jones in Under Siege

Took a big old kitchen knife right through the head.

[mark11727]

21. Ripley in "Alien 3"

.. backwards, into a smelter.

Just like Arnold in "Terminator II" with a thumbs-up on top.

[hfojvt]

24. "Hello Boys, I'm baaaaack"

How can you beat it, taking out an entire "death star" of vicious aliens with your death? It's "Independence Day"

[mark11727]

25. roger that.

[mcscajun]

26. Sgt. Jack Vincennes in L.A. Confidential

He's sitting at the kitchen table of Captain Dudley Smith. As soon as Smith hears from Vincennes that nobody else knows what he does (misdirection on Vincennes' part), Smith reaches into a kitchen drawer, turns and shoots him in the chest at point blank range, leaving a stunned, gaping expression on Vincennes' face. No long, drawn out gasping, no full sentences; just this exchange.

Captain Dudley Smith: Have you a valediction, boy-o?
Jack Vincennes: Rollo Tomasi.

[GCP]

27. "Time to Die" from Blade Runner

Awesome scene, also when Deckard kills the female android as she's running through a glass window. It gets me every time.

[Enraged_Ape]

29. Love that scene

The movie itself is terrific, but that last scene really makes it something special. Rutger Hauer has never been better.

[CJCRANE]

28. Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner...

The rooftop scene kneeling down in the rain opposite Harrison Ford.

[alarcojon]

52. Agreed

Gotta see that one again!

[EstimatedProphet]

69. Seconded

Wow. Just...wow.

[Midlodemocrat]

30. The guy who gets destroyned in RoboCop.

No other scene can touch that one.

[Crankie Avalon]

33. Peter Weller as "Murphy"...

...yeesh, now I'm thinking of how that hand got blown off. :scared:

[Midlodemocrat]

36. No, the guy in the toxic waste who was hit by the car.

[Crankie Avalon]

37. Ow, now I remember...

...helluva movie. Dick Jones got it pretty good, too, in a funny but not gruesome way..."Dick, you're fired..."

[WeRQ4U]

102. You beat me too it....

He just EXPLODES! That was sick.

[Jessica]

31. Road to Perdition had a couple good ones ....

The scene in the rain & then at the end.

[Marnieworld]

32. Mo Green in the godfather

simple and yet poetic violence. Then again the whole ending sequence was a bloody cinematic ballet.

[Midnight Rambler]

81. Personally, if I was picking a scene from The Godfather

I'd go with Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey

[Marnieworld]

90. So many wonderful deaths in The Godfather

It's so hard to pick just one.

[Catchawave]

115. LOL....

However, Fredo and Sonny's deaths were the saddest for me.

[Taverner]

34. The first girl in "Suspiria"

Dario Argento knew how to stage the most operatic deaths....hung from the ceiling, after bursting through a glass window...

[jonnyblitz]

94. i love Dario Argento and have yet to see that particular movie

It's on my list..

[xmas74]

96. You must see it.

One of the best films of that genre.

[jonnyblitz]

97. i was turned on to him by Independent Film Channel

I saw Tenabrae (?) and another one that i can't remember plus a documentary on Argento. i was transfixed but it all! I have heard all about Suspira and a friend of mine picked up the dvd in some bargain bin not knowing anything about the movie but i never got around to watching his copy...I will eventually or just buy it and get all of his other ones too!. I also belong to a Dario Argento tribe on tribe.net.

[xmas74]

101. I love his movies.

He's brilliant. He is excellent at setting the mood.

[jonnyblitz]

110. and his death scenes ARE very intense

which is what you want for a horror flick. you are so right about his ability at setting the mood. :thumbsup:

[xmas74]

111. can we start our own Dario fanclub here?

Sounds like we have a few.

[xmas74]

95. Another Argento fan!

That was a great scene. I love that movie.

[TK421]

112. That movie is a classic...real creepy

[Lannes]

38. King Kong

[mcscajun]

44. Awwwwwww....the poor guy.

;(

And I don't mean the pilot.

[Twillig]

40. Andrew Robinson's Great Deaths

First runner up goes to his('Scorpio's) death in Dirty Harry. I love how he chuckled as he went for his gun, undoubtably 'feeling' lucky without actually being lucky.

But the winner is from Hellraiser:


'Jesus wept.'

[central scrutinizer]

41. Old Yeller

or Charles Bronson in The Magnificient Seven

[northzax]

43. hmm, for cinema verite, I think you have to go with

John Kennedy in a Zapruder Film...


sorry, poor taste, but it's been that kind of monday.

[HeeBGBz]

45. The the DoT official in Volcano

Who jumps from the subway train into lava carrying the downed subway driver.

[kwassa]

92. I used to live in that neighborhood destroyed in the movie

It is kinda fun to see your neighborhood destroyed with special effects. A volcano erupts in my local park, between the Page Museum and LACMA.

[DerekG]

46. Robert Shaw in JAWS

The most gruesome death scene in a PG movie, bar none.

[VOX]

47. Edward Woodward and Bryan Brown in "Breaker Morant"...

When the firing squad kills those two, you really *feel* the loss. And the horrible injustice.

"Shoot straight, you bastards, don't make a mess of it!"

[necso]

56. "Shot. Tomorrow. Dawn."

Or so I seem to remember.

[Hardrada]

48. Best Theatrical: Jose Ferrer as Cyrano De Bergerac

in 1950's movie after Roxanne realizes he has been her poetical platonic lover all those years!
Also the deaths of five of the Seven Samurai in Kurosawa's classic. Also
The people killed on the Odessa Steps in Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Classic sequence
And I shouldn't forget the end of The Lady from Shanghai when the not-so-loving couple shoot each other down in the hall of funhouse distorting mirrors (I'm aiming at you, lover.).

[Mojambo]

74. Very good call on Ferrer. n/t

[markus]

49. Um, can't remember movie; guy who commits suicide twice

Some french film. He moves into the apartment formerly occupied by a woman who commits suicide, and is taken over by her spirit or the spirit that drove her to suicide.

Tries to kill himself. Fails. Drags himself back up the stairs to the garrett apartment to try again.

What the hell was that movie?

[nuxvomica]

50. The Tenant?

A Roman Polanski film starring Roman Polanski.

[markus]

88. That's it

Actually, I thought it was the funniest death scene I'd ever watched, but I have an, um, unusual sense of humour.

[Feron]

51. Richard III

is full of great death scenes.

Runner up: Darth Vader's death in ROTJ.

Best TV death: Sherry Palmer of 24

[Aristus]

53. Sgt. Elias in "Platoon".

Dying to Samuel Barber's 'Adagio'. What a way to go.

I read where Willem Dafoe triggered his "hits" and they didn't go off, but Oliver Stone was so moved and convinced by the excruciating death scene that he left the gaff in the film.

[gmoney]

54. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Gigli

...or is that just wishful thinking on my part? I didn't make it through a half hour...

[lpbk2713]

55. Bonnie & Clyde

[arwalden]

57. Misery! When Kathy Bates' Character Has Her Head Smashed By James Caan...

Great revenge-scene and death-scene combined.

[sakabatou]

58. Makoto Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin

[CanuckAmok]

63. Sean Connery in "The Man Who Would be King".

Also, Edward Woodward in "The Wicker Man", and Margaret Hamilton in "Wizrd of Oz" (how can a women in thick green makeup sinking through a hole in the stage floor be so terrifying?!).

Honerable mentions to Vasquez and Pill Paxton in Alien2 , Michael Ironsides in "Total Recall", and Kowalski in "Vanishing Point".

[VOX]

82. "And old Danny fell, round and round, like a penny whirligig..."

"...twenty thousand miles, for it took him half an hour to fall."

So says Michael Caine's character in MWWBK. What a great movie.
Good call, CA! :thumbsup:

[mitchum]

67. William Holden and the gang in "The Wild Bunch"

[enigmatic]

72. I'll second that one..

The last shoot-out was pure visual poetry..

[Robeson]

83. Yep, that gets my vote.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

70. I have a lot of favorites, but I've got to go with

Boromir's noble death from LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, and Denethor's death from ROTK.

[Mojambo]

73. Glenn Ford as Pa Kent in Superman

He buckles over and mutters "Oh No." and then dies.

The way he delivers that line totally and fully conveys his sorrow, not in the fact that he is dying, but that he is dying so suddenly that he won't be able to say good bye to his wife and son.

Really well played, and frankly the highlight of the entire film, IMO.

[texas1928]

75. Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan.

That was a powerful scene.

[6000eliot]

76. Thelma and Louise

[SCDem]

106. I refuse to believe she died!

[arwalden]

114. Just LIke In The 1950's Serials.. They Jumped Out At The Last Minute

... and landed safely in some bushes. Then they crawled over and hid behind some rocks, where they discovered a small abandoned cave in the side of the cliff. There they waited until the coast was clear. Later they were hitchhiking and got a ride Mexico.

Our story picks up there. "Thelma & Louise II: On The Run!"

[Midnight Rambler]

77. Marvin in "Pulp Fiction"

"Oh man, I just shot Marvin in the face."

[Kire]

78. there should be a spoiler warning on this

Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential -- I just remember the way his eyes just went cold and blank, I was convinced. (all the guys in 'the usual suspects' deserve mention, too)

Wilem Dafoe as Bobby Peru in 'Wild at Heart' = definitely the most creatively graphic death scene.

"Things to do in Denver when you're dead" was chock full of 'em.

[elperromagico]

79. Colonel Nicholson in "The Bridge on the River Kwai."

A commando team has arrived to destroy the bridge the Colonel worked so hard to build. Nicholson uncovers that the bridge has been mined and traces the cord to the plunger.

When he's informed of the commando team's mission, he goes apeshit. "BLOW UP THE BRIDGE?!? BLOW UP THE BRIDGE?!?" This man has become so caught up in his sense of honor and duty that he's forgotten that he's building a bridge to aid the enemy.

Just as the train's whistle can be heard in the distance, approaching the bridge, Nicholson realizes his mistake. "What have I done?" he says, and races toward the plunger. Before he can get there...

BOOM... A mortar hits only a few feet from him. The shrapnel sends him to the ground. He slowly rises, in a daze, and walks a few feet before falling right on the plunger. The bridge explodes and the train crashes into the river.

Melodramatic? Certainly. But I love it.

[elperromagico]

80. I'd also add Joe Gillis in "Sunset Boulevard,"

not because of the way he dies (he's shot in the back and falls into the pool), but because we knew that it would happen when we saw him being fished out of that pool at the beginning of the film.

[Greyhound]

84. Jean Reno in The Professional

But Spock and Rutger Hauer were the first I thought of.

[GregW]

120. Yup! The shot to the back of the head at the end of Leon was excellent

... excellent cinematography that is.

[kaitykaity]

85. Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment.

I still cry.

:cry:

[Skittles]

86. Ruth in Fried Green Tomatoes

guaranteed high on the blubber-meter

[hyphenate]

87. Love a few of these

But I'm surprised that no one said the death of the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark when they open the Ark of the Covenant. They got exactly what they deserved, and that makes that scene SO fulfilling!

[Burma Jones]

89. Rosebud..........

Charles Foster Kane

[TK421]

93. Braveheart- the scene where Longshanks throws Phillip from the tower

I could watch that over and over, and it never stops being funny

[Crankie Avalon]

99. Howzabout that big death scene in "The Passion of the Christ"?...

...seemed like it took up the whole frigging movie. ;)

[ronnykmarshall]

103. House of Wax

I hear that when Paris Hilton's character get killed the audience breaks into cheers.

[CBHagman]

105. That's the only cheerful item on this whole thread!

:-) You've restored my faith in my fellow Americans.

[WeRQ4U]

104. Mickey dies in Rocky III

A touching scene in a horrible and oddly homoerotic film.

[kwassa]

107. Big Pussy Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos"

[Catfight]

108. Princess Bride, when the dude dies in the middle of a laugh. nt

[SmokingJacket]

109. Godard's Breathless:

when the main guy gets shot at the end and his girlfriend (Jean Seberg) walks over and looks at him totally dispassionately. WOW!

[Modem Butterfly]

116. Everybody in the movie Ghost Ship

Criminently what a piece of crap movie that was. But it had really, really good death scenes. Just in case someone is hard up at the video store, I don't want to play spoiler. But man oh man, the first few minutes of the movie are an absolute thriller.

[HeeBGBz]

125. That was a badass twangggg

That made me jaw drop a bit.

[dback]

117. Oh, come on!! Janet Leigh in "Psycho," people!

That's one of the all-time greats. Not to mention Margaret Hamilton in "The Wizard of Oz."

Others I especially like: Ruth Gordon's last lines in "Harold and Maude," Olivia DeHavilland's last lines in "Gone With the Wind," the expression on Kevin Spacey's face in "L.A. Confidential," Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy," Sal Mineo in "Rebel Without a Cause," (and James Dean's anguished reaction), James Mason in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Treat Williams marching into the belly of the plane in "Hair," and Andie Macdowell's almost unbearably lovely final moments in "Unstrung Heroes."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

118. The Skulls

When people are watching in the tape how that guy ACTUALLY died.

[WeRQ4U]

119. El Guapo gets shot in the back in "El Diablo" by Anthony Edwards

Lou Gosset says:
"Damn Boy... You shot him in the back"

Edwards says:
"His back was to me."

[Left Is Write]

122. That girl who did back handsprings out the window in

"The Girl Most Likely To..."

[GregW]

123. The scene in "Strange Days"

Where the woman being strangled is wearing a SQUID deck so that she can experience what the killer feels as he strangles her wearing his own SQUID deck so he can feel what she feels.

(Sounds recursive, eh?)

[WeRQ4U]

124. Hispanic Transient (I think) gets eaten by Zombies in "Dawn of the Dead"