Second best death scene?

[The Grumpy Celt]

.. always downplaying the health risks of strapping oneself to missiles :\

Funny, my Dad rode an atom bomb out of a plane like it was a bronco bull all the way down. But he was Jewish and so insted of "yahoo" it was "ohveh" to ground zero.

....Actually, I would like to nominate Slim Picken's death scene in "Dr. Strangelove" as second best death scene.

 

[Hypersmurf]

While they won't make the "Best Death" table, there were a few good ones in MacGyver.

For example, there was Murdoc having a building fall on him.
And there was Murdoc getting blown up by dynamite.
And there was Murdoc falling off a mountain.
And there was Murdoc getting electrocuted and drowned.
And there was Murdoc getting blown up with his own grenade.
And there was Murdoc getting dragged into a river by a falling elevator.
And there was Murdoc driving a burning jeep over a cliff.

Those were all pretty cool.

-Hyp.

 

[KnowTheToe]

What about Angel Eyes and Tuco in THe Good, The Bad and The ugly. That whole final battle is legendary.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Funny, my Dad rode an atom bomb out of a plane like it was a bronco bull all the way down. But he was Jewish and so insted of "yahoo" it was "ohveh" to ground zero.

....Actually, I would like to nominate Slim Picken's death scene in "Dr. Strangelove" as second best death scene.

Ohveh!!! How did I forget Slim's classic ride to oblivion?


The more I think of it, great as Boromir's death was, best ever it aint.

 

[Hypersmurf]

What about Angel Eyes and Tuco in THe Good, The Bad and The ugly. That whole final battle is legendary.

Well, Tuco doesn't die.

But absolutely. My favourite seven-minute gunfight ever.

-Hyp.

 

[driver8]

Although you wouldn't expect it from a britcom, one of the best is from the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth.

I second this, it fitted the series perfectly, capturing the futility of WWI, and freezing like that was perfect, without being overly maudlin.

I also liked Kirks death in Generations; cheesy but I liked his last words: Oh My.

 

[RedShirtNo5]

Most of the ones I would pick are already up. So I'll just add:

Samuel Jackson in Deep Blue Sea.

-RedShirt

 

[argo]

Dude, you can't talk about B5 death scenes without talking about

Spoiler

Marcus Cole, now how cool was that death.

And If were doing Farscape then we have to do

Spoiler

Zahan: the most emotional farewell possible to one of the finest ladies imagineable

not to mention

Spoiler

Crais: "I'm in your heart... and I'm about to squeeze" Now thats how to die!

And moving away from Sci-Fi I'm suprised nobody has mentioned Butch and Sundance yet, I mean, that was the mother of all guns 'a blazing death scenes: "... oh good, for a second there I thought we were in trouble" And thanks to those two crazy gringos we got more such million-bullet deaths like the ends of Extreme Prejduice and Way of the Gun (the last one in particular has some of the best gun scenes in cinematic history period).

Oh yeah, love a good death scene.

 

[rurbonas]

Here's a few I'd nominate (probably full of spoilers, read at your own risk):

For emotional impact: Gérard Depardieu's Cyrano in "Cyrano de Bergerac".
- I defy anyone to actually watch this film and not feel at least a little bit of a lump in their throat as Cyrano delivers his last dozen or so lines.

For combining brilliant direction, fantastic subtext and an involved audience into a single moment: Seiji Miyaguchi's Kyuzo in "The Seven Samurai".
- I hope I'm not mixing up character names here. I'm talking about the master swordsman who gets gunned down near the end of the village siege.
- Kyuzo was probably the character that made the biggest impact on me as I watched this film. If you haven't seen it, the duel scene he's involved in near the beginning and the scene where he goes (alone) into the woods to retrieve the enemy's guns were just so cool. His death at the hands of a bandit sniping from inside a nearby hut instantly made me hate the villains that much more. The direction was perfect; the surrounding chaos suddenly stopping with the sound of a single shot magnified the impact of this character's death tenfold. The new vs. old imagery hidden in the swordsman being brought down by gunpowder was fantastic and made this one of the only scenes in the film that I watched on its own.

For making you wish you wore a diaper: Janet Leigh's Marion Crane in "Psycho".
- Come on. It's iconic for a reason.
- The first death scene from "Jaws" could probably fit into this category as well, and probably deserves a nomination.

For showing the consequences and bringing things around full circle: Joe Pesci's Tommy in "Goodfellas".
- Probably my favorite movie, this one has many great death scenes (especially as Jimmy cleans up after the Lufthansa heist) that aren't on anyone's list yet, but Tommy's is special. Tommy, Jimmy and Henry go through the entire movie living by the sword, so when Tommy dies by the sword on the day of what should have been his greatest triumph, Scorsese gives the viewer a sense that the characters are not living in a vacuum; that they reap what they sow.
- Granted, this movie's based on real events, so that helps, but facing characters with the real fallout of their actions is something I wish I saw in more movies (I'm looking at you, Quentin). One movie that featured two (almost three) great death scenes that probably belong on this list is "Road To Perdition". This movie's newer, so I won't spoil exactly whose deaths, but if you're looking for an enjoyable movie with some deaths that have impact, check it out.

Those are the heavier death scenes I'd pick. Just to fill out the list (and add some humour, if that's possible on a list of death scenes) I'd add Bobby's death in "Batman" and every rogue soldier Sean Connery offs in "The Rock" (especially the guy who gets hit with the air conditioner).

Whew. That post was a lot longer that I had anticipated. I wonder if anyone's actually read this far down...

 

[Staffan]

Babylon 5, last episode of season 3, on Z'Ha'Dum. You know who I'm talking about (don't want to spoil it).

Many people have mentioned Babylon 5 death scenes. However, none have so far mentioned my favorite, also in season 3 but somewhat earlier:

Spoiler

Lord Refa getting beaten to a pulp by angry Narns in the caverns beneath the surface of Narn, interspersed with a gospel singer singing "And the rock cried out, no hiding place."

Gives me goosebumps, that one does.

And the sinner's gonna be running,
with the knowledge of their fate...