Yesterday I wrote a piece on my notion of a good death. One commenter rightfully pointed out the best possible death is “going down in a lightsaber fight against a Sith Lord, and then coming back as a sage spirit in the sequels but NEVER in a prequel.” Amen to that.
Well that got me thinking of the best death scenes in movies. I don’t like to use the word cinema as it seems snooty to me. Am I the only one? Anyway, what are your favorite death scenes in the movies. Here are some of my favorites in no particular order.
The Mission Opening scene where the Jesuit missionary gets sent over the falls on a cross.
Braveheart. Two scenes. First when Wallace’s wife has her throat so casually cut as she desperately searches the hillside for her husband who never comes. And of course the end when being eviscerated and tortured, Mel screams freedom. Plus, the death scene has a little person in it. Extra star just for that.
Goodfellas murder montage and Tommy getting whacked. There was nothing we could do.
The Last of the Mohicans 2 scenes. First when Heyward sacrifices himself and Hawkeye shoots him and when Uncas fights and loses to Magua but daddy takes care of business.
True Romance. Walken & Hopper. ’nuff said.
Life is beautiful when Guido marches off to be shot while still protecting his son from the horror.
American History X. The curb scene. This is remarkable for its shocking brutality.
Steel Magnolias. I like to see Julia Roberts die. I rewind. Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind. Play.
Boromir in LOTR (Agreeing with Nzie)
Anybody says Titanic and they are banned from the blog. I mean it.
Oh and the entire movie of Weekend at Bernies. The first one. After that it just got silly.
So what am I missing? What are your favorite scenes?
December 19, 2008 at 5:21 am
Moe Green getting shot in The Godfather.
Carrie killing her mother in Carrie.
December 19, 2008 at 5:21 am
How about in Braveheart when King Edward “Long Shanks” is talking to his son’s millitary advisor/boyfriend and says to him “What do you propose we do about the eh..PRESENT SITUATION” as he flings him out the window? That right there established the king as not a guy to be messed with.
Another Mel Movie, how about in the Patriot when he brings down the Brit. officer’s horse with the American flag and then procededs into a sword/bayonet/tomahawk duel?
December 19, 2008 at 7:11 am
John Merrick removing his pillows before going to bed “like a normal person” at the end of The Elephant Man.
The final frame of Gallipoli, when Mel Gibson lets out his agonised wail (Australian bias, of course).
oh, and when the Wife goes to the hiding place to find the murdered Lover in the Cook, the Thief, his Wife and Her Lover.
December 19, 2008 at 9:06 am
I have a friend who calls them “films”. I can’t help but mock someone who suggests that we should go and “see a film tonight” just because that’s somehow technically more correct.
December 19, 2008 at 10:05 am
When Butch & Sundance burst out of the cantina and fade to sepia amid the sound of a 100 rifles going off.
How about when Decker drives a shuttle down the maw of the Doomsday machine. Not a "movie", but still a great scene.
December 19, 2008 at 10:49 am
Slim Pickens riding a nuke rodeo-style into oblivion in “Dr. Strangelove.”
And Royal Tenenbaum, Who Died Tragically Rescuing His Family From The Wreckage Of A Destroyed Sinking Battleship.
December 19, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I can’t but think that your blog is going the way of last year’s onetime popular blog (I can’t recall his name now) who’s owner strayed away from Catholic issues, to personal secular issues. Needless to say, he no longer blogs on Catholic issues, and I sense your blog is going down the same path.
This type of questioning is so very inappropriate–especially during Advent–that it saddens me to read other posts extolling Hollywood renditions of death. Your cheeky posts in the past are okay, but I urge you to keep it Catholic, and offer your blog to God–keep the thoughts and questions Catholic!
Merry Christmas
December 19, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Gladiator!
December 19, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Waking Ned Devine: The old women getting knocked off the cliff in a phone booth just as she was about to call the authorities.
December 19, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Oh, lighten up, Anonymouse. I seriously doubt this blog’s going to shun Catholicism and spiral off into long panegyrations about wedding photography and buttsex. Remember Belloc:
Where’er the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s music laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so:
Benedicamus Domino!
Oh, and the end of John Carpenter’s The Thing – where the last two humans, having destroyed the beastie and recognize the coming Antarctic storm, seal their fate by watching McMurdo burn to the ground while swapping shots of Yukon Jack. Race relations and booze, great combination!
December 19, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Captain Miller (Tom Hanks), “Saving Private Ryan”.
Mortally wounded, Captain Miller fires at a rapidly approaching Panzer with his M-1. After he runs out of ammo, he draws his .45 side arm and continues firing.
“James,earn this. Earn it.”
I’m gettng choked up just thinking about it.
They don’t make guys like that anymore.
December 19, 2008 at 1:23 pm
From the Last of the Mohicans, I would have picked when Alice Munro stepped off the cliff and fell silently to her death and the look on Magua’s face.
December 19, 2008 at 1:26 pm
A Man for All Seasons when Sir Thomas More tells his executioner: “Be not afraid of your office; you send me to God.”
December 19, 2008 at 1:29 pm
gregg,
Alice Munro killed herself when help was on it way. Probably not the best death.
December 19, 2008 at 1:47 pm
1. Richard Harris as King Richard in the fanciful death scene that opens "Robin & Marian", itself the fanciful conclusion of the Robin Hood legend with Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn & Robert Shaw.
2. Richard Harris in the non-scene of his daeth in "The Snow Goose". Anyone who saw this brilliant TV production of 1974 (?) will remember having been moved to tears.
3. Richard Boone's dying words in the later John Wayne vehicle, "Big Jake": "Jake McCandles? I thought you was dead." To which McCandles (Wayne) replies, "Not hardly."
4 "The Shootist", Wayne's last movie.
5. Bing Crosby's scene in the TV "Dr. Cooke's Garden": "You see how easy it is?"
December 19, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Those of you who like Last of the Mohicans should check out the 1920 silent version – better and more faithful to the book imo (although ’92’s music is fantastic). Also, the book is bleaker than the 1992 version. As far as Gregg’s comment goes, I think he has a point- that it’s not the best death doesn’t mean it’s not a great death scene, right?
Seconds to: Saving Private Ryan; Gladiator; The Mission (and adding: Fr. Gabriel’s death at the end); Steel Magnolias (plus points for incredible grief scene subsequently); Lord of the Rings (adding: Gandalf’s death in the Mines of Moria – I think it counts, and while its regrettable, I think also Denethor’s self-immolation; brownie points too for Theoden’s death); A Man for All Seasons.
Adding:
•Gettysburg: so many great ones to choose from, but best has got to be Gen. Armistead.
•Becket: Becket
•Dragonheart: Draco
•Against a Crooked Sky: there’s a twist to this death scene… FFF video release (small)
•All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): Paul, at the end — one of the most tragically beautiful scenes
•Man Dancin’ (recently released in US, interesting retelling of the Passion, modern day Glasgow): Jimmy, at the end
•Jesus of Nazareth: Joseph; Jesus (plus points for Mary’s beautiful, gutwrenching grieving)
•Man of La Mancha: Don Quixote (though the stage version is better, if you never leave the prison and never see a windmill, which you have to do in film but ruins the play)
•Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The way Cedric’s is handled is really well done
•The Song of Bernadette: Bernadette’s death (and her suffering – beautifully done)
•Quo Vadis: so many heroic martyrdoms, even if Robert Taylor can’t act his way out of a paper bag.
•The Robe: the very ending, where they just walk into the clouds as martyrs – well done.
•Looking for Richard (1994 docudrama – fantastic): Richard.
Okay, now that I’ve proven I love movies waaay too much, I’ll pause for now. If TV counted I’d have to include Lee’s on this season of NCIS.
December 19, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Dude. If TV counted, I’d have to throw in Charlie’s passing at the end of season 3.
December 19, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Frank and Mr. Morton from Once Upon a Time in the West. Frank for his moment of realization and Mr. Morton for the pathetic end to his morally vapid intentions.
December 19, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I second the Godfather scene in which Al Pacino’s enemies assume room temperature while he stands up in his nephew’s baptism. (BTW that part of the movie is not a jab at the Catholic Church, it’s a statement of irony in the values of the mob.)
How about the Black Knight scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
December 19, 2008 at 3:07 pm
King Leonidas in 300
Dusty Miller in To End All Wars
Old Yeller