The movies' greatest death scenes

[Actor]

My nominations in alphabetical order:

• Alien - the alien pops out of the guy's chest.
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - the beast grabs a cop by the head, tosses him in the air and swallows him. There's a similar scene in Jurassic Park, but this one came 40 years earlier and IMHO the scene in JP is an homage to this one.
• Bonnie and Clyde - the wages of sin is to be machine gunned by Texas Rangers.
• Conan the Barbarian - Schwarzenegger decapitates James Earl Jones.
• Dr. Strangelove - the pilot rides the H bomb.
• The Godfather - Sonny ambushed at the freeway.
• Jaws - the opening scene where the shark eats the girl. This one has more impact than the one where the shark eats the boat captain because by then we've seen several people get eaten.
• Lawrence of Arabia - the execution of Gasim.
• Once Upon a Time in the West - the bad guy shoots a child.
• Psycho - the shower scene.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark - the villain explodes.
• Star Wars - Darth Vader kills Obi Wan Kenobi - or does he?
• War of the Worlds(1953) - Three guys wave a white flag at the martians and get cremated for their efforts.
• White Heat - James Cagney "Made it Ma! Top of the world!"

My own pick is Phycho.

What are your noms/picks?

[jpolzfuss]

Some more:

• Once Upon a Time in the West - father standing on his son's shoulders in order not be hung...
• Blade Runner - Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) dies with a pigeon in his hands
• The Wild Bunch - complete movie ;)
• Jinrō - Fuse killing his girl-friend
• Starship Troopers - several "bugs eating/killing humans" scenes
• Léon - complete movie ;)

[BK]

Films that I remember vividly( Not in any order ) :

• King Kong - Kong falls off Empire State building
• Bridge On the River Kwai - bridge gets blown up
• Scanners- exploding head
• Platoon - William Defoe gets gunned down by the Viet Cong
• Dirty Harry - villain pleads for mercy but gets what he deserves
• Fist of Fury - Bruce Lee jumps into a hail of bullets
• Friday the 13th pt1,2,3 3D - grisly death round every corner
• Titanic - Dicaprio drowns
• Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid - freeze frame at the end
• Predator - alien setting off self destruct timer
• 007-Diamonds Are Forever - one villain turns into a fireball, the other gets thrown overboard with a bomb tied around his crouch. :lol:
• 007-Goldfinger - Girls dies with gold paint all over her body, Odd Job gets electrocuted, villain gets suck out of his private jet.
• Vanishing point - the famous ending
• Gran Torino- Clint is not invincible after all
• Scarface - Tony Montana fights to the end
• Saturday Night Fever - Bobby slips and falls
• Cross of Iron - graphic depiction throughout
• Terminator - Cyborg gets crushed and killed
• Midnight Cowboy - Ratso scene at the end

Bill

[Actor]

King Kong, Platoon and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are particularly good additions to the list.

Midnight Cowboy is a good choice because it is dramatic, whereas most of the others are sensational. From my own list Lawrence of Arabia is the only dramatic one. I think there is a movie called Camille, which I have never seen, that a lot of people would include. Other dramatic rather than sensational scenes I would include:

• Citizen Kane - "Rosebud."
• Old Yeller - The dog has to be put down.

[Charlie Blackfield]

'Great' may be the wrong expression for it, but there's a hilarious death scene in Charlie Chaplin's 1916 short 'Burlesque on Carmen' where Charlie kills Carmen and then himself (or does he?!).

[Claus]

Dreyer's "Joan of Arc" with Maria Falconetti slowly bending her head as the flames engulf her.

The killing of the woman and kid in "Mad Max", done with so little shown, yet so effective.

"The Red Shoes", Moira Shearer's final dance....

[carllooper]

2001: a Space Oddysey - as HAL dies - his circuits being unplugged - he sings a song from his "childhood".

The Wizard of Oz - the two witches, the first by the landing thump of Dorothy's house, and the second by water.

[CHAS]

The Exterminator (not to be confused with Cameron's film) -- the famous decapitation scene of the GI by the Viet Cong

Love and Bullets (1979) - an obscure (and not that good) Charles Bronson film. The ending scene showing him driving off as a "coffin bomb" detonates in Rod Steiger's mansion behind him was the best part of the movie (and the only part where Bronson actually smiles)

Apocalypse Now - loved the editing on the Willard-killing-Kurtz scene

El Cid - the final battle when Charlton Heston's body is propped up on his horse and he ends up killing the lead villain

Death Wish II -- the famous "Do You Believe in Jesus" scene...

[Actor]

Apocalypse Now - loved the editing on the Willard-killing-Kurtz scene

In Apocalypse Now Willard killing the girl in the boat so he can continue his mission.