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.
Never saw it coming, huh?
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*.”
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.
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.
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.
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…
Lilly in The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. Sorry, just not big enough.
Matthew in Anne of Green Gables.
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.
I second the death of the woman engineer in Schindler’s list
Amon Goeth: shoot her
Engineer: <crying> but but… I am only doing my job!
Some SS-man draws his pistol and shoots her in the head …
Amon Goeth: <murmels> And I am doing mine…
I cannot get this scene out of my mind …