# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/21 "2006-02-27T15:25:22Z")
I have to third Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes in _L.A. Confidential_ and second Connery in _The Untouchables_. I’ll add Alec Guinness as Col. Nicholson in _The Bridge on the River Kwai_: He realizes his great mistake, is fatally wounded, and manages to fall on the detanator, destroying the bridge. Also, I’ll add (somewhat beyond the OP, but within the spirit) from _The Game_: **Do not read if you ever plan to see this movie. This really will spoil it!** Both Sean Penn getting shot and Michael Douglas leaping to his death. Of course, you see why it’s a grey area. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/22 "2006-02-27T15:38:39Z")
Those of you moved by funeral scenes may possibly find [Last Orders (2001)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253200/) with Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, Bob Hoskins, David Hemmings, Tom Courtenay and Ray Winstone, to be a substantially rewarding film. I saw it for the first time within the past year on cable and then again a few months later. It’s basically a day-long funeral and the story line and acting are superb. ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/23 "2006-02-27T16:05:26Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > 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. Beaten > [@W.H. Auden](#): > > Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, > Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, > Silence the pianos and with muffled drum > Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. > > Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead > Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead. > Put crepe bows round the white necks of public doves, > Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. > > He was my North, my South, my East and West. > My working week and my Sunday rest, > My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; > I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong. > > The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; > Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; > Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; > For nothing now can ever come to any good. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/24 "2006-02-27T16:28:03Z")
Hah! My favorite is the funeral in **the Royal Tenenbaums**. Great visual joke with the matching black tracksuits. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/25 "2006-02-27T16:50:04Z")
What? No Sonny shot on the Causeway in The Godfather? All that rage and anger. But the Don’s reaction in the funeral home tops that for emotion. The Cheifs death in Apocalypse Now. First his unbelieving action that with everything he’s been through he gets done in by “A spear,” Then his attempt to take Willard with him. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/26 "2006-02-27T16:58:02Z")
_Grave of Fireflies_ in a pretty depressing movie, there is a funeral that set me bawling for a good 15 or 20 minutes. The death of Chuckles the Clown from the Mary Tyler Moore show. I also love the dream funeral in _Heathers_. “I love my dead gay son!” _A Comedy of Terrors_ has some hysterical death and near death moments in it, and a funeral that keeps you guessing and laughing at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/27 "2006-02-27T17:04:09Z")
One of my tops was in the Illinois Shakespeare Festival a few years back. They were doing Hamlet, and in the scene of Ophelia’s funeral, the stage was set-up so that the ‘grave’ was actually something like a drawer pulled out of part of the stage. It was obvious that when the scene was over, the drawer would be pushed back in again. My assumption was that Ophelia would get out backstage. Nope. The scene ends, and Ophelia gets up and starts walking, slowly, and ethereally, off-stage. No one else looks at her… Except Hamlet. And his expression is one of horror. He’s still seeing ghosts. That, and two other moments ‘made’ the play for me. Allow me my brief hijack for the other two. One’s even death related. At the end of the play, right before the duel starts, EVERY character who has died comes out on a balcony over the stage, pale, ghostly make-up, slow movements… Staring directly at the duel as it starts. The dead watch, and wait… Made me shiver. The other was just a tiny thing, but it was incredible. When Polonius and the King ‘withdraw’ before Hamlet comes out to talk to Ophelia, the king tries to hide behind a tapestry, but it won’t come loose from the wall to cover him. He keeps tugging at it and tugging at at, and finally Polonius motions to let him try, and with a simple flick of the wrist gets it loose. The king looks at him in absolute surprise and horror, as if to say, “Oh… You’ve… Done this before, haven’t you?” It was an absolutely amazing moment in a great, great performance. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/28 "2006-02-27T17:14:24Z")
To contribute some from TV, I’ll go with both Nathan Sr.'s and Nathan Jr.'s funerals in **Six Feet Under**. Francis Conroy as Ruth, wailing at her husband’s funeral makes me burst into tears no matter how many times I see it (particularly impressive after watching some of the “making-of” specials, where they talked about how she had to do this scene over and over again, it looks just so physically wrenching). And Nate’s whole speech about death being so sanitized is appropriate when taken in context of his own funeral years later, where they just roll him into into the ground wrapped in a sheet and bury him themselves. Everyone’s reactions as they picked up the shovel was so different…Ruth and David were heartbroken, Brenda was just disgusted…well played. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/29 "2006-02-27T17:44:20Z")
Does any of the Kenny deaths from _South Park_ count? 😉 On the TV show _Homicide Life on the Street_ detective Steve Crosetti comits suicide. Because it’s a suicide the department wouldn’t have an honor guard for him. Before the funeral detective Frank Pembleton, who could be considered a real hard ass, says he won’t go to the church. He is harrased by the other officers for this. They had a New Orleans style procession with a sax player walking in front of the hearse with all the cops in regular clothes following behind. As the procession went past the police station there was Pembleton in his dress uniform with his white gloves giving a crisp salute. Gets me every time I’ve seen it. On the same series there was an episode where a 10 year old boy gets accidentally shot at a mall. He is brain dead and after agonizing over it, his parents decide to pull the plug and have his organs removed for transplant. They showed his parents crying holding him in their laps when the shut the machine off. The tone goes to a flatline and he died in their arms. All the episodes of Six Feet Under started with a death. (Except the second to last episode where Nate and Brenda’s baby is born.) Some were funny, some silly and some sad. The series finally had flash forwards to all of the cast members dying one by one. That was unexpected and quite a nice bit of writing. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/30 "2006-02-27T18:11:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [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. Which leads to one of the great movie lines…after the running “It’s a good day to die” line, and we’re starting to buy into woo-woo Native American mysticism grandfather opens his eyes, shrugs, and says “sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/31 "2006-02-27T22:01:37Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > 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. It would have been for me too, except there was a gaggle of teen girls shouting, don’t do it, wake up!! at our showing :mad: Third to the funeral in the **Four Weddings and a Funeral**. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/32 "2006-02-28T01:18:37Z")
From Shakespeare: at the end of _Henry VI_, Richard kills one of his rivals. At the beginning of _Richard III_, he not only attends the man’s funeral, but tries to seduce his widow. [It’s not a comedy! Shakespeare plays it completely straight!] In the Laurence Olivier movie, the widow spits in his eye. He calmly wipes his face, turns toward the camera, smiles, and says, “I’ll have her.” And the really scary thing is, he does. The Al Pacino movie _Looking for Richard_ does a good job of explaining how and why Richard succeeded. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/33 "2006-02-28T04:45:01Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Third to the funeral in the **Four Weddings and a Funeral**. And a fourth; it gets to me every time without fail. Even just reading the poem above made me tear up yet again. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/34 "2006-02-28T05:39:46Z")
[quote] **Marley23** : 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.{/quote] Zeffirelli version: Just after Romeo dies from taking the poison, we see Juliet’s fingers move. She quickly regains consciousness. When she sees Romeo’s body and kisses him, her anguished cry of “Thy lips are warm!” is memorable. There are a couple of cheerful moments at funerals that I like to remember: 1. In _The Big Chill_ when one of the deceased’s friends plays “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” on the organ. (The death was a suicide.) 2. On Mary Tyler Moore at the funeral of Chuckles the Clown when he was, I think, dressed in a peanut costume in a parade and got shelled by an elephant. Mary got a case of the giggles during the funeral and couldn’t suppress them. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/35 "2006-02-28T08:13:45Z")
Heather’s death in [Highlander](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091203/). We see that Connor hasn’t gotten older at all, while Heather, who walks uphill into the scene, is white haired and lined with age. Cut to hut interior. Connor is sitting up in bed with Heather’s head in his lap. She asks, “Tell me a story, Connor.” He starts to set the scene, looking into the past of the many years they’ve shared together. Then he realizes that she has died, his voice breaks, and he begins to cry. In the next scene, we see her grave, marked with his sword, in the foreground. In the distance we see the hut burning as Connor walks away and doesn’t look back. In the pilot episode of Firefly, the Alliance agent getting shot killed the last doubts about whether I would like the series. Any other movie or TV series I can think of would have had a tense stand-off, negotiation, back and forth dialog. Nope, Mal just shoots the bugger mid-stride and tells the others to throw the body out. Yes! ---
**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 28, 2006, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/36 "2006-02-28T08:54:02Z")
Another one…Winston the pilot in _The Mummy_. Helfdane in _The 13th Warrior_: “I have run about as far as I care to…today, was a _good_ day!” Actually, both of those deaths were off-screen, and only one included something resembling a “funeral.” But still…they worked great. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/37 "2006-02-28T09:07:11Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [hijack]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] Something _very_ similar happened to me. The first time I watched _Mrs. Miniver_ someone at Bravo screwed up, and the screen went to white as Kay and Carol were driving home from the garden party, at night, in the middle of the air raid. I found that incorrect ending stunning for a WWII flick and fully agreed with all the awards afforded the director and cast. Only much later did I see the saccharine ending and wish Wilder had made the film I originally “saw”.[//hijack] As for the OP: > [@](#): > > I have a message: Lt. Col. Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/38 "2006-02-28T09:08:23Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Another one…Winston the pilot in _The Mummy_. > > Helfdane in _The 13th Warrior_ Good choices. In the same style: Willem Dafoe’s death in _Flight of the Intruder_ “Do it, Sandy. Do it now. I’d do it for you.” and then the slow shot of the Skyraider rolling in. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/39 "2006-02-28T12:38:49Z")
Spock and Donny have been mentioned, only other death/funerals I can think of is Arnie’s demise in T2, thumbs up to the end before we see his vision going as he melts. Hey, I liked it! The death of Leon in the self named film is great too, for the expression on Jean Reno and Gary Oldman’s faces alone. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193/40 "2006-03-06T09:19:24Z")
Tommy’s death (“Oh n–”) and Jimmy’s reaction to the news in **Goodfellas**. The first time I saw **The Dresser** , when Sir collapses after the final curtain call, even though he got up a moment later, I knew it would have to end with him dying. Every aspect of his life, not to mention Norman’s, was melodramatic; it couldn’t just end with them taking the train to the next engagement. He had a great last line, too. “_My Life_ [the title of his autobiography] will have to do.” And since ST: TNG has already been mentioned, Lal’s death in _The Offspring_ never fails to make me tear up. Also touching was Data’s perfectly-in-character reaction: “I have incorporated her memory banks into mine.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-death-funeral-scenes-from-movies-stage-tv/346193.md?page=3)