# Deaths in a movie or book which stuck with you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2002, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730 "2002-08-20T12:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/101 "2002-08-27T20:35:27Z")
Oh, oh, oh! Forgot one: TV: **Buffy** - the death of Ms. Calendar. The indifferent snapping of her neck, where Angel was not even interested in feeding - amazing for TV. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/102 "2002-08-28T16:02:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WordMan \* > \*\*Book - there is a short story by Ernest Hemingway (considered one of his finest) call **The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber** that literally blew me back in my seat. I remember exactly where I was when I was reading it and just going “oh, _shit!_”. Can’t give anything away, but worth reading, and you get “I read literature” points, too! \*\* Never saw it coming, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Giselle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Giselle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giselle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/103 "2002-09-02T07:18:06Z")
Oooh, I have several of these. I agree with anyone who has mentioned Boromir’s death in **Lord of the Rings**. Having read **Les Miserables** several times, I would probably have to rank the death of Enjolras and Grantaire as the most moving scene I have ever read. All of **Saving Private Ryan** really got to me. It was just so . . . Wow. Made me more anti-war than I was already, which neither I nor any of my friends/relatives would have ever thought possible. As for theatrical deaths . . . Most of **Hamlet** really got to me. I didn’t mind that the King and Queen were killed, because their characters irritated me to no end. But Ophelia and Laertes and Polonius and Hamlet . . . So sad. And when Mercutio died in **Romeo and Juliet** , I was extremely upset. Although, for some reason, I didn’t have the same feelings about Romeo or Juliet. The two always rather irked me. Call me heartless. Heh. Last night I went to see **Aida** in Chicago and was crying through most of the second act, starting with Mereb’s death. And then Aida and Radames suffocating. There’s this smallish piece of scenery shown in the beginning. I didn’t realize it was the tomb until they were putting the actors into it, and I just said, “Oh, _Christ_\*.” ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/104 "2002-09-02T09:40:55Z")
Both kids in **Grave of the Fireflies**. Fredo’s death was harsh, but I knew eventually he was going to get it for betraying Michael, even if Fredo himself was clueless. The one that got to me, though, was Abe Vigoda’s character in the first **Godfather**. The way he knows what’s going to happen to him, makes one dignified request for his life, then quietly goes with the men who will kill him. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/105 "2002-09-02T10:05:58Z")
Geez, how could I forget Pauls Reubens protracted death scene at the end of the _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ movie? It even extended into the closing credits! The death stuck with me not because it was particularly moving, but how over-acted and spoofy it was. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/106 "2002-09-02T22:02:32Z")
The movie _Caught_ had two shocking deaths at the end. Given the mood of the movie, it seems inevitable in retrospect that it would turn out that way, but I had really gotten to like both characters. The great movie _The Man Who Would Be King_; the scene at the bridge near the end. Terrific movie: epic story, perfect casting and incredible scenery. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/107 "2002-09-03T01:52:09Z")
Okay you guys, and I’m absolutely miffed at you all! I can’t believe none of you have mentioned the black man from “To Kill a Mockingbird” He’s killed after being convicted of murder, and since he knows an appeal is useless, runs for the prison fence and gets shot… And the only time I have _ever_ cried while watching a movie was during “The Patriot” when the whole town is rounded up and put into the church… Even after one of them gives in and tells them where the revolutionaries are, they lock them in the church and burn it down… and then Mel Gibson and his son, who had fallen in love with a girl and they had made love like the night before, find the church, and the son finds out his bride-to-be was burned… Gads…☹ ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/108 "2002-09-03T14:19:45Z")
Lilly in The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. Sorry, just not big enough. Matthew in Anne of Green Gables. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/109 "2002-09-04T00:09:07Z")
Both Jacques and Enzo from **The Big Blue**. James Cole from **Twelve Monkeys**. I won’t spoil either of these, despite that you can see them coming. ---
**Author:** ![Zweistein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/54ee81/32.png) [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730/110 "2002-09-05T21:54:01Z")
I second the death of the woman engineer in Schindler’s list Amon Goeth: shoot her Engineer: \ but but… I am only doing my job! Some SS-man draws his pistol and shoots her in the head … Amon Goeth: \ And I am doing mine… I cannot get this scene out of my mind … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-in-a-movie-or-book-which-stuck-with-you/124730.md?page=5)