I think Wez from Mad Max 2 getting squished between two large vehicles should be somwhere on teh list.
In The Grifters, Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is arguing with his mother (Anjelica Houston), when she takes a whack at him while he’s holding a glass of water. The glass shatters and one of the shards imbeds itself in his throat, slowly killing him.
The look of shocked surprise on both John Cusack’s and Anjelica Houston’s face is so real, I almost believed they weren’t expecting it. And dying by a freak accident paradoxically made the movie more like reality.
Mel Gibson in Braveheart.
“But the single greatest death in cinematic history has to be Lila Crane in Psycho.”
Yeah, except her name was “Marian Crane.”
My vote goes to:
“No! Be careful with that wate…AHHH! I’m melting, melting. My beautiful wickedness…I’m melting…melting…mel…”
The Wiched Witch of the West, of course.
Another late nominee.
The big bug’s death in Meet the applegates.
Gets crushed by a giant computer, the the nuclear power plant explodes with him in it.
DAMNNED memorable.
King Kong falling off the Empire State Building! (1932)
King Kong falling off the World Trade Center! (1977)
Father Merrin falling down the Georgetown stairs in “the Exorcist.”
While not technically a death scene, Becky Driscoll turning to the “other side” in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” (1953)
The death of Nancy’s mother (Ronee Blakely) in the original “Nightmare on Elm Street.”
Carrie’s mother (Piper Laurie) being cruxified/ impaled by flying kitchen utensils in “Carrie.” (For that matter, the deaths of everyone at the prom in “Carrie.”)
Can you tell i’m a horror movie junkie?
Frank (Henry Fonda) in Once Upon a Time in the West – as he drops he finally realizes who Harmonica (Charles Bronson) is and why he’s come to kill him. Absolutely fantastic.
Neo (Keanu Reeves) in The Matrix – a “death” to be sure, but quite a good scene.
Nameless Bar Patrons and proprietor in Near Dark – surely Bill Paxton’s (as Severen) greatest screen moment: after watching horrified as his waitress (Jan King) has her throat cut and blood drained into a mug by Jesse (Lance Henriksen) and one of his customers strangled to death by Bill Paxton, the bartender (Thomas Wagner) fumbles with a shotgun and just can’t get it loaded. Bill Paxton jumps up onto the bar, his face dripping with blood and says, “Havin’ a little trouble with your hog-leg there?” then slits his thoat by kicking him with his boot spurs. Classic.
Bull Meecham (Robert Duvall) in The Great Santini
Doc Holiday killing Johnny Ringo in Tombstone
How about the 250 best movie deaths?
The Joker, Tim Burton’s Batman.
“hehe-haha-hehe-hoho-hehe-haha-hehe-hoho…”
Late here, but I just saw the thread. Nobody mentioned Dangerous Liaisons, (the 1988 film) with the Vicomte de Valmont’s poignant demise in his duel with Danceny. Simply the best ever, and the motivation and consequences of that death made it even better.
Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie, I felt a sense of satisfaction when Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn) from ‘Ghost’ was impaled by the broken window falling on him. Karma and all that.
You know, I was considering starting a separate thread on “most cathartic deaths” where the villain/bad guy/creep who has been the epitome of dastardly for over 90 minutes finally gets his/her comeuppance in a hugely satisfying way.
But since this thread already has quite a bit of that tied in with the deaths already mentioned, I support instead the increase to 250 (a la IMDB’s greatest movies) for the list we’re building here.
I just know we’ve omitted some biggies, but I have refrained from going wild in posting all the ones I can come up with. OTOH, some already posted would not make it to my own “top 100” list. So stretching this out makes much better sense IMHO.
Love this thread!
Even if they don’t make the top 100, I have thought of some great death scenes…
The Matrix:
Agent Smith's "death" of blowing up
Ravenous:
Banjo chase music before Toffler's death...
Cleaves...we were waiting for it...
Major Knox "Good gracious."
The Two Towers:
Uruks near Fangorn...nice head on a stick...
Haldir...that was a tear-jerker...
The Crow:
all of them, but especially the end guy & chick...
Flight of Dragons:
Smurgle's death still gets the tears going...
Cannibal the Musical:
Lucky Larry(lightning)
Swan(let's build a snowman!)
Bell(bloody determined bugger)
Frenchy(great character, cute death...)
Logan's Run:
Box... "Fish. And plankton. Sea greens and protein from the sea."
American Psycho:
Paul Allen...strangely funny...Well, bookwise, he did really die. Admittedly this doesn’t come across quite as clearly in the movie, but IIRC the movie never indicates that he didn’t.
Bruce Willis takes this guy out in “Last Man Standing”, guy gets shot through the saloon doors and does a double back roll in the dust. It’s a killer death by shootout.
And to seem less like a gun wound crazy fan guy, I’ll also throw in Ralph Macchio in “The Outsiders” as one of the more touching death scenes. Second to Roberto Benini in “La Vita i Bella”.
My 3 cents.
One I don’t think has been mentioned: The Princess Bride
Inigo Montoya: Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father: prepare to die. Now, offer me money.
[slices Count Rugen’s cheek]
Count Rugen: Yes.
Inigo Montoya: Power too. Promise me that.
[slices Count Rugen’s other cheek]
Count Rugen: All that I have and more. Please…
Inigo Montoya: Offer me everything I ask for.
Count Rugen: Any thing you want.
Inigo Montoya: I want my father back, you son of bitch.
[stabs and kills Count Rugan]
Selma off Dancer in the Dark
Satine off Moulin Rouge
Muffassa off the Lion King
Im a sucker for soppy death scenes…so shoot me
(I apologize in advance for the use of humour)
Most of my favorites have already been mentioned, but here’s a few more :
Frank Poole in 2001:A Space Odyssey - though I suppose it’s what happens to the body that’s more memorable than the death itself, so maybe that doesn’t count.
Harry Lime in The Third Man - grasping for the light.
I don’t recall his name, but the soldier at the end of All Quiet on the Western Front
Cyrano de Bergerac (the Gerard Depardieu version)
Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket
Cassiel in Faraway, So Close!
Nicky (Christopher Walken) in The Deer Hunter
And did I miss it, or has no one mentioned Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera yet? That’s gotta be one of the greatest ever.
The name to #76 from Ran is Lady Kaede.
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Arnold’s death in Terminator 2. “I cannot self-terminate.”
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Wilson in Cast Away. “Wiii-hiii-hiiilsooon”