In the first episode of Orphan Black, Beth Childs makes a back-to-back entrance and dramatic exit. Never to be seen again.
Yes, that was good.
Actually, I think there were a few flashbacks shown in later episodes.
But I know what you mean.
“Fly, you fools!”
Frodo’s beatific smile as he boards the boat for Valinor.
Also: The Wizard as his balloon starts to ascend without Dorothy.
The Spy Who Loved Me: James Bond acquits himself as well as one could hope, but it’s soon clear that there’s only one sensible response to the assailants who outnumber him: skiing right off the edge of a cliff, and plummeting for a good ten seconds. Heck, make that a good twenty seconds. But then…!
I don’t know if anyone ever made a movie of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, but if so, Nora’s final exit has got to rank among the most dramatic of all.
“From below comes the noise of a door slamming shut”
The ending of one of my favorite movies, The Heiress, where Catherine (Olivia de Havilland) walks slowly up the stairs with a lit lamp while hopeful suitor Morris (Montgomery Clift) watches the light fade through the transom as he bangs desperately on the front door.
“Yes, I can be very cruel. I’ve had excellent teachers.”
Gives me the chills every time I see it.
<hits ‘like’ button>
The last shot of the first Matrix film is a good one; of course, having the right soundtrack helps.
How about more in the spirit of my OP: dramatic exits early on by the hero?
So a guy is clearly thinking of pulling a gun on Robert Redford; and Paul Newman is amiably pleading with said guy not to pull said gun, but is dismissively shoved away. Which is why he reluctantly backs off, with an “I can’t help you, Sundance.”
Columbo’s exits are dramatic by virtue of the fact that they happen over and over and over again during the course of a single conversation. “Just one more thing…”
If we should spoiler stuff, then — uh, spoilers ahead? — the ending to CLUE.
“They all did it. But if you wanna know who killed Mr. Boddy, I did: in the hall, with the revolver. Take ‘em away, chief; I’m gonna go home and sleep with my wife.”
Act III of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale: ‘Exit, pursued by a bear.’
Sheriff Bart and the Waco Kid dismount their horses to ride off into the sunset in a limo.
Leia: “I love you.”
Solo: “I know.”
The beginning to the movie Jesus Christ Superstar has the whole cast getting off of a bus. The ending has the whole cast excepting Ted Neeley (Jesus) getting back on the bus, and YVonne Elliman (Mary Magalene) pausing at the bus door, turning around, and seeing the empty cross.
Very powerful scene by Norman Jewison.
Angel. “And yet somehow, I just can’t seem to care.”
I would count all of these as great exits, even though one occurs in act one of the film:
George’s first time leaving the Silver Streak.
Kendig’s “death” at the end of Hopscotch.
The door closing on Michael and his business at the end of The Godfather.