# Needless Movie/TV Deaths **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173 "2018-05-14T23:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/21 "2018-05-15T15:29:21Z")
The movie Breakdown from 1997. Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan’s car breaks down on a car trip and JT Walsh kidnaps Quinlan. It’s an interesting movie, Walsh doesn’t seem to have much motivation beyond “because he’s the bad guy” but they have a scene where they show his home and his son so they’re building something more than just some mustache twirling villain. Russell finally tracks him down and gets his wife back, vehicles crash and whatnot and it’s pretty clear that the antagonist is beaten. The good guys win and maybe the cops can come in and take him away or something… instead… they drop his semi truck right on him. Because the bad guy has to die at the end, I guess? Also in Ransom, some punks kidnap Mel Gibson’s son. Gary Sinise is the cop working with him to get the kid back until one tense scene in the middle of the movie shows that he’s in on it. We get to the end of the movie and Gibson beats up Sinise and gets his son back. Sinise is about to be taken away by uniform police so he grabs one of their guns and gets shot up for the effort. Two decent movies that I think are spoiled a bit by some kind of notion that you have to kill the villain at the end. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/22 "2018-05-15T16:08:04Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > The movie Breakdown from 1997. Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan’s car breaks down on a car trip and JT Walsh kidnaps Quinlan. It’s an interesting movie, Walsh doesn’t seem to have much motivation beyond “because he’s the bad guy” but they have a scene where they show his home and his son so they’re building something more than just some mustache twirling villain. Russell finally tracks him down and gets his wife back, vehicles crash and whatnot and it’s pretty clear that the antagonist is beaten. The good guys win and maybe the cops can come in and take him away or something… instead… they drop his semi truck right on him. Because the bad guy has to die at the end, I guess? It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, but I think you’ve grossly oversimplified the story. Quinlan is kidnapped. And not just blindfolded and driven somewhere, she’s transported in a coffin-like compartment for HOURS in the bad guy’s truck. The bad guy’s motivation was to user her to get ransom from Russell. I seem to recall Russell is somewhat well off. Russell, in the meantime, gets NO HELP from law enforcement. So he needs to track his wife down all on his own. When he finally finds his wife and they escape, the bad guy then pursues them with the intent to kill them - so that they don’t blow the whistle on him. Now, after “winning” such an ordeal, it would take QUITE a person to simply say “let’s let the authorities take over”. A trial would require Quinlan to have to recount her entire harrowing ordeal. I think Russell breaks a few laws in his pursuit. But most importantly, after the guy who kidnapped his wife and put both of them through hell, is now out to kill both of them, do you really think the “hero” would not want to seek revenge/justice at that moment ? As far as villains go, I can’t think of too many that were more “deserving”. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/23 "2018-05-15T20:02:47Z")
The death of Forest Whitaker’s character in Rogue One. He sure showed the empire by not running away from that easily escapable explosion. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/24 "2018-05-15T20:07:18Z")
Johnathan Kent in _Man of Steel._ Sure, according to canon, he’s supposed to die eventually (traditionally, from a heart attack), but he could have totally run across and into the shelter along with everybody else and not get killed by the tornado. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/25 "2018-05-15T20:51:40Z")
Almost every main character death in The Walking Dead has been needless. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/26 "2018-05-15T21:41:37Z")
Death in the real world is pretty random and needless; why should popular entertainment treat it differently? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/27 "2018-05-15T22:35:42Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, but I think you’ve grossly oversimplified the story. Quinlan is kidnapped. And not just blindfolded and driven somewhere, she’s transported in a coffin-like compartment for HOURS in the bad guy’s truck. > The bad guy’s motivation was to user her to get ransom from Russell. I seem to recall Russell is somewhat well off. > Russell, in the meantime, gets NO HELP from law enforcement. So he needs to track his wife down all on his own. > When he finally finds his wife and they escape, the bad guy then pursues them with the intent to kill them - so that they don’t blow the whistle on him. This is incorrect and gives the bad guy much more humanity than he deserves. Both the husband and wife were supposed to get into Walsh’s truck. Russell was _supposed_ to get in the truck too. And if had, they would have both been murdered. THAT was then plan. Kill them, bury them, take all their stuff and wait for the next victim. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/28 "2018-05-17T15:57:33Z")
John Goodman’s character on the original _Roseanne_ (I guess he got better). > [@cochrane](#): > > Capt. James T. Kirk in _Star Trek Generations_. They couldn’t have given him a more heroic death than having a bridge collapse on him?.. Agreed. And if he had to die, I would’ve loved to have had him whisper “Edith…” as his last word. Killing off Picard’s brother and nephew off-camera in the same movie was just mean. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Wash and Shepherd Book in _Serenity_. Definitely. And the arguably-needless death of a character just indirectly led to a cancellation of a TV comedy: ['Kevin Can Wait' cancellation: CBS exec reveals what went wrong](https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/05/16/kevin-can-wait-cancellation-cbs-exec-reveals-what-went-wrong/23436403/) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/29 "2018-05-17T16:50:29Z")
I saw no good reason for death of Mrs. Landingham on **The West Wing**. It didn’t further the story at all. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/30 "2018-05-17T17:02:13Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Death in the real world is pretty random and needless; why should popular entertainment treat it differently? Because one of the purposes of art is to selectively re-create and refine real life into a sequence of events that allows us, the audience, to give them some meaning? That meaning doesn’t have to be simple-minded or straightforward, it can even be that “life sucks.” But I prefer there to be some intended meaning, even when I don’t understand what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/31 "2018-05-17T17:12:16Z")
Kenny. On South Park. Multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/32 "2018-05-17T17:36:18Z")
You bastards! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/33 "2018-05-17T18:29:19Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Wash and Shepherd Book in _Serenity_. Wash had to be killed off, since the Rules of Hollywood have declared you can’t have a happy monogamous marriage. :rolleyes: Shepherd Book also died due to the Rules, which declare preachers are bad and evil. So a good preacher must die. :rolleyes: I admire Joss, but he kowtowed to the “Rules” too much there. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/34 "2018-05-17T18:33:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Shepherd Book also died due to the Rules, which declare preachers are bad and evil. So a good preacher must die. :rolleyes: “That ain’t no shepherd.” - Jubal Early ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/35 "2018-05-17T18:47:16Z")
Bambi’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/36 "2018-05-17T18:51:19Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I thought Sasha Alexander was very good in that part, and I couldn’t stand her replacement. Really?! I thought Ziva rocked out. Kate was a one dimensional Catholic school girl in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/37 "2018-05-17T21:45:17Z")
Rusty Heller (Elizabeth Montgomery) in The Untouchables “The Rusty Heller Story”. After ditching Pops Felcher’s (Harold J Stone) mouthpiece, played by the future Larry Tate (David White), she tries to play off both Pops and the Capone mob by selling them the same information (that Pops is an illegal alien). It almost works but she gets killed at the end and Mrs Felcher gets the mink coat that Rusty felt she deserved. In that era crime had to be shown not to pay but Rusty was a lot of fun that even Eliot Ness almost fell for her. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/38 "2018-05-17T22:31:59Z")
Ugarte in Casablanca. Yes, it’s sort of necessary for the plot, but I just hate to see Peter Lorre knocked off so early in a film. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/39 "2018-05-18T00:24:42Z")
Shelley Winters character in _The Poseidon Adventure_. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/40 "2018-05-18T00:31:15Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Kumar (I know that’s not the actor or character’s name) suddenly committing suicide on _House_. It’s never explained. (IRL, it’s because the actor suddenly quit the show to work for Obama) That was a deliberate choice, to show House having to accept that there are some mysteries that no amount of logic can explain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173.md?page=3)