What are your favorite poetic and sad deaths onscreen?
The ones that pop in my mind are John Coffrey electricution in The Green Mile and how the power surge went off, William Wallace's torture before his death in Braveheart, the last 15 minutes of the Last of the Mohicans, Danny Vinyard getting shot in the bathroom in American History X, McCraffey's funeral in Backdraft

Very much agreed.

Hah! You know what this reminds me of for some reason? When Torvil and Dean died at the end of Bolero and triggered such an onslaught of Poetic deaths (on ice) that the judges started getting too depressed and they had to make dieing in the routines illegal.

I'll have to think about this one...I've seen alot of death scenes.

Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. The final battle between Luke and Darth Vader still chokes me up even though i've seen it hundreds of times.

rutger hauers death in blade runner, willem dafoe getting shot in the back, dying on his knees in platoon.

ohh that was a good one.

With the pidgeon/dove and the light shining? That scene was seriously rich in religious imagery.

Paris Hilton in House of Wax :wink:

The end of Glory comes to mind. Especially in light of Trip's earlier comments about what he's fighting for. I cried.
I liked when Kevin Spacey was killed in L.A. Confidential too. He had come to talk in confidentiality not realizing who he was speaking to was in on it. After the shot you see this slow realization, and in his dieing words he says the one thing he knows could expose them without them knowing it. Pretty damn beautiful death scene.

I will think of alot more soon.

Richard Jordan's death in Gettysburg. He played Confederate General Lewis Armistead. He didn't die in the movie but was mortally wounded. When he was laying on the field he was told his old friend from the Union Army Winfield Scott Hancock was also shot and he said "No! Not....both of us.....not....all of us....." It's a very powerful scene.

I'm starting to pull together clues here. Termi, are you an American history buff? :grin:

Yep...especially the Civil War. I'm making my 5th trip to Gettysburg next month :grin:

Yeh, even I haven't seen Burns Civil War from front to back. :wink: And I know about your trip. This is increbible. I don't know why it took me this long to pick up on it. You got any good book and movie recommendations?

Lester in American Beauty was pretty poetic, with the smile on his face and everything.

Randy Quaid in Independence Day. ( talking out the first ship and what was his line as he always thought he was taken by them before )

Well, "The Killer Angels" is highly recommended. It's what the movie Gettysburg was based on. Also, "Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee" is another good read. As far as movies, i take it you've seen Glory. Other than that, i recommend Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. And i do definitely recommend Ken Burns Civil war if you have the time on your hands to watch it. Nothing explains and brings to life the Civil War any better. April, 1865: The Month That Saved America was another great documentary. It tells of critical decisions that were made that ended The Civil War. It also discusses the Lincoln Assassination. Speaking of the Lincoln Assassination, TNT had made a great movie on that a couple years back about it. I think it was called "Booth" or something like that. I'd love to find it on DVD but haven't been able to yet.

I agree with those, another one for me would be in Road to Perdition when Hanks kills Newman.

Termi, thanks! I copied them and pm'ed them to myself so that I'd have them on store for the summer.

check your pm in a minute

The execution at the end of Breaker Morant was sad.


The killing of Billy at the end of Peckinpah's Pat Garret and Billy the Kid was a powerful metaphor for the corporatization of America and the death of the individual.


Arguably the saddest cinematic death of them all was Chris Walken at the end of The Deer Hunter.

"The trees."

Bang.

Also

Terminator in T2

and

Obi by lowering his saber to Vader in Star Wars - this has to be the #1, IMO

OH!!! I almost forgot Andersonville! A hidden gem of a movie. It's about the notorious Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Such a sad an moving film.

There was a scene in Last Samurai when Cruise's brother in law dies at the hands of the British. Very moving.

Also, I agree with Vader's death in Return of the Jedi
Spacey's in American Beauty
Two Socks in Dances With Wolves

How about Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in Alien 3? It would be more poetic if I didn't hate the movie so much.

Oh, To Live, When Gong Li's daughter hemorhages to death during childbirth because all the doctor's were in jail. With Li there clutching her and begging for help. I probably cried at least the first three times I saw it.

Or when her and the little boy are assassinated by the gang boss in Triad at the end, on the island. That was harsh too.

Everytime I watch Boyz n the Hood (a film I regrettably left off my top 100 of all time), Ricky's (Morris Chestnut) death scene breaks my heart into a thousand pieces. In my opinion, John Singleton single handedly won the best Director Academy Award with that scene. Too bad the Academy disagreed.

Danny Vinyard in American History X is tough to watch.

Willem Dafoe in Platoon is heart breaking.

Virtually the entire final scene of Glory kills me everytime I watch it.

Tom Hank's death at the hands of Jude Law in Road To Perdition (another film I should have had on my top 100) is not only heart breaking, but shocking.