# Favorite death/funeral scenes from movies, stage, & tv **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193 "2006-02-26T17:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/1 "2006-02-26T17:41:14Z")
The title pretty much says it all. What dramatic depictions of death or ritualized grieving most affected you? I’m not looking for comic depictions, like the infamous “I love my dead gay son” from _Heathers_; I’d prefer moments that were played “straight,” as it were. My personal top five, in no particular order **Spock’s death in _Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan_.** Two reasons here. First, it doesn’t pussyfoot around with the fact that Spock is so grieveously, disfiguringingly wounded that even simple talking is horrendously painful; I hate death scenes that are done all pretty-pretty. Second, this is probably the last time in William Shatner’s career that he underplayed a scene. **The surviving companions grieve for Gandalf in _Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_.** Gandalf’s death should have come as a surprise to me because, though I’d read _The Hobbit_ and seen the Rankin-Bass cartoon, I’d never actually made it through the book. But I could tell that he had to be removed from the scene, plot-wise, because he was a crutch for Frodo and Aragorn and had to be removed so they could stand on their own. That said, the simple, wordless, quiet grieving on the slopes of the Misty Mountains was simply beautiful. **Boromir’s death in the same movie**. This one I didn’t see coming nearly as clearly. It affects me because Boromir was the most-clearly-drawn of the Fellowship (after Frodo, anyway), and I was both appalled by his betrayal of the Bearer and completely understanding why he did it. The fact that he so quickly recognized the depth of his transgression and immediately set out to atone for it–along with his valiant, hopeless battle against the Uruk-Hai–made me love him again. And his deathbed confession to Aragorn, begging him to save Minas Tirith from Sauron, is just wonderful. **George’s wake in _Aspects of Love_**. Probably the least-well known entry on my list, this is from the only Andrew Lloyd Webber musical worth watching since _Evita_. The song his best friend/mistress sings in honor of George: > [@](#): > > “If death were given a voice > That voice would scream through the sky > ‘Live while you may, for I am coming’ > So hand me the wine and the dice: > I want my carnival now > While I have thirst and lust for living” is what I’d like sung at my funeral. Hopefully, like George, I’ll have not one but two hot babes mourning me at the same time. _Tasha Yar’s death and memorial service in ST:TNG “Skin of Evil”_ \*\* I’m in the minority here, I know, in that I preferred Tasha’s “redshirt” death to the later one where she consciously sacrifices herself to fix the time stream. Either way she died doing her duty, thinking about the safety of others; and in the impotent rage the bridge crew showed at the briefing immediately afterwards–along with Picard & Data’s quiet exchange at the memorial service afterward–put the lie to any notion that her death was meaningless. Next? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/2 "2006-02-26T17:49:36Z")
Favorite death scene (and still world champion): Cody Jarrett (played by James Cagney) in **White Heat**. Even has the best exit line: “Made it Ma. Top of the world!” Actually many 30s gangster movies had great death scenes, and always with great lines. “Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?\*” is another great one, as is Cagney’s death at the end of **The Roaring Twenties** and in **The Public Enemy**. Mrs. Langahan’s death in **The West Wing** was pretty effective, especially so despite the fact it happened off stage. The death of Cyrano on stage. \*Do I really have to identify the source? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/3 "2006-02-26T18:11:36Z")
Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes in _L.A. Confidential_ has to be one of the most chilling such scenes. You can almost see the light go out of his eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/4 "2006-02-26T20:34:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > \ > Mrs. Langahan’s death in **The West Wing** was pretty effective, especially so despite the fact it happened off stage. > \ I think you’re looking for Mrs. Landingham ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/5 "2006-02-27T00:33:02Z")
My vote is the funeral scene in **Four Weddings and a Funeral**. The reading of the poem by John Hannah was the most powerful one in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/6 "2006-02-27T00:52:25Z")
Mozart’s funeral from _Amadeus_ is a biggie, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/7 "2006-02-27T01:12:50Z")
I’m partial to the New Orleans street parade funeral from the James Bond flick **Live and Let Die**. Or the funeral of Sam’s mother in **Brazil** where he knocks the casket over and his mothers body (which had years of botox and plastic surgery) spills out like mushy jello. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/8 "2006-02-27T01:18:33Z")
One of my favorites from stage is Javert’s suicide from _Les Miserables_, especially the technical aspects (i.e. him jumping off the bridge by the bridge jumping off of him). From movies one of my favorites is the death of Dennis Hopper’s character from _Blue Velvet_- so anticlimactic, just one shot and he’s dead. The john shot by Trixie in the first episode of _Deadwood_ (based on an actual incident) was also well done as was the death and all leading up to it of the minister with the brain tumor on the same series. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/9 "2006-02-27T01:20:43Z")
Also from TV: the death of Diana Muldaur’s evil lawyer character on _LA Law_ (she fell down an elevator shaft) and for Amanda Donohoe’s character’s inability to keep a straight face while relaying it to a group of German clients (“und… gefallen… shplat… hahahaha!”). And of course the swordsman’s demise in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/10 "2006-02-27T01:26:43Z")
Scattering Donny’s ashes in _The Big Lebowski_. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/11 "2006-02-27T02:02:08Z")
**Camille** ’s death at the end of the movie by the same name, played by **Greta Garbo**. Considered by some as one of the best death scenes ever. Watch her eyes roll back into her head! You go, girl! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/12 "2006-02-27T02:03:38Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > One of my favorites from stage is Javert’s suicide from _Les Miserables_, especially the technical aspects (i.e. him jumping off the bridge by the bridge jumping off of him). There was a (TV?) movie version awhile back with John Malkovich as Javert that had an interesting version of this scene (I’m not a big a big Le Mis affectionado, so I can’t say if it completely violates the spirit of the story or was too cheesy or it pales in comparison to other versions—but it sure was striking.) It’s shot from behind as Javert (I think with his own “voiceover”), carrying a bunch of weights/shakles, calmly walks into the river, the weight keeping his feet firmly on the bottom even after he’s chin-deep in the water, and he just keeps walking…until the water reaches the brim of his tophat, which lazily floats off his now submerged head. :eek: Yow. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/13 "2006-02-27T02:25:47Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes in _L.A. Confidential_ has to be one of the most chilling such scenes. You can almost see the light go out of his eyes. Exactly. It’s an amazing piece of acting, and despite repeat viewings, I’m at a loss to explain it. Since I mentioned this in another thread, I think the eulogy and funeral from _Malcolm X_, which has Ossie Davis reading the eulogy he actually gave at Malcolm X’s funeral, is extremely moving. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/14 "2006-02-27T03:03:25Z")
Favourite death scene, Duke in _Repo Man_: Duke: The lights are growing dim Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am. Otto: That’s bullshit. You’re a white suburban punk just like me. Duke: Yeah, but it still hurts. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/15 "2006-02-27T06:39:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Since I mentioned this in another thread, I think the eulogy and funeral from _Malcolm X_, which has Ossie Davis reading the eulogy he actually gave at Malcolm X’s funeral, is extremely moving. [hijack]True story: When I saw this movie in theaters I was struck by the uniqueness of the filmmaking. You saw the “get your hand out of my pocket” moment, then the gunshots, Malcolm is hit and falls backwards, men rush him with guns, then there is total darkness, but you hear the chaos and screaming even though there is nothing on the screen. There were just for nanoseconds at a time little 2 frame moments of a woman’s face or an assassin tackled or whatever, but otherwise darkness, until midway through Ossie Davis’s eulogy when the film stopped altogether. That’s when we realized it wasn’t meant to be artistic- the light bulb in the theater’s projector was flickering out. Too bad, because it was really effective![/hijack] Whether you want to count it as a death scene or not could be debated, but Grandfather (Chief Dan George) going to the mountain top to die at the end of _Little Big Man_ is one of my favorite death scenes in any movie. In the movie he ends up not dying and simply coming back home, giving a great matter-of-fact comment about his wife and her clan’s tendency to copulate with horses on the way; in the book, he does die while he’s up there. I’m not sure why the change. Sean Connery has a good death scene in _The Untouchables_. Lord Yabu’s seppuku is a highlight of the miniseries _SHOGUN_, especially since the actor who played him was mostly a light comic actor compared on imdb and other sources to “The Oliver Hardy of Japan” (he had a Laurel he frequently co-starred with). The death scenes in Baz Lurhmann’s _Romeo & Juliet_ differed from other filmed accounts in that Juliet and Romeo saw each other for an instant before dying. I found it effective (in a wildly hit & miss movie) but others understandably didn’t like it. John McEnery’s death scene as Mercutio in the Zeffirelli movie was better staged and acted than the title characters imho. Two British monarchs with great on-screen death scenes: Richard Harris as Richard the Lionheart in _Robin & Marion_, refusing to lie down or admit he’s going to die just because there’s an arrow penetrating his lung, and Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I standing up for as long as she can in the final episode of _Elizabeth R_. A particularly chilling sequence of death scenes: Magda Goebbels two-staged poisoning of her children (first giving them sleeping potions, then breaking the cyanide caps in their mouths) and the homicide/suicide with her husband (in this version Goebbels [consentually] shoots her and then himself, though accounts of the actual incident vary) in [Der Untergang](http://imdb.com/title/tt0363163/). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/16 "2006-02-27T06:51:22Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The death scenes in Baz Lurhmann’s _Romeo & Juliet_ differed from other filmed accounts in that Juliet and Romeo saw each other for an instant before dying. I found it effective (in a wildly hit & miss movie) but others understandably didn’t like it. Can you describe this a little further? I can’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/17 "2006-02-27T07:06:42Z")
In the play, Romeo dies from taking the poison before Juliet wakes up. In Luhrman’s version Juliet wakes up right after Romeo drinks the poison, but before he collapses. Just before he does, DiCaprio manages a perfect expression of shock and realization at the mistake he’s made. For me, it was one of the few good points of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/18 "2006-02-27T07:12:39Z")
I could’ve sworn something equivalent (but less dramatic) happened in the Zeffirelli version, but maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps they’re just off by milliseconds. ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/19 "2006-02-27T08:42:01Z")
Seeing Darth Vader (or his suit, depending who you ask) go up in flames on that pyre sent me into paroxysms of grief when I first saw _Return of the Jedi_ at age 14. Even after I got the video, I saw it dozens of times before I stopped welling up at that scene. Once in a while it still gets me. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/20 "2006-02-27T13:27:19Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > **George’s wake in _Aspects of Love_**. Probably the least-well known entry on my list, this is from the only Andrew Lloyd Webber musical worth watching since _Evita_. > > Next? You mention _Evita_ and don’t mention the opening funeral scene? :smack: Evita Evita Evita Oh what a circus. Oh what a show. Argentina has gone to town Over the death of an actress called Eva Peron. Since we’re mentioning ALW, I like Grizabella’s death scene at the end of _CATS_, where she goes to the Heavenside Layer on a tire. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193.md?page=2)