Best death / dying scenes in movies
 

I was watching the "Comanche Moon" prequel to "Lonesome Dove" today, and was reminded that the best death scene in a movie that I ever saw was done by Robert Duvall (as Augustus McRae) in the original "Lonesome Dove" mini-series. A runner-up for me would be James Caan (as Brian Picolo) in "Brian's Song", the early 70's TV movie about Gayle Sayers, the Chicago Bears running back. Anyone else have any particularly poignant favorites?

The one that stands out for me is from "Deliverance". The redneck that is shot with an arrow, and subsequent expiration is a classic, imo.

Not quite a classic, but Paul Reubens' death scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer that continues through the credits is hysterical.

Ray

For sheer overkill how about Sonny Corleone's in Godfather one.

Tom

Oh without a doubt the guy that Robert Duvalls charactor Blue Bonnet Spearman shoots with the shotgun right through the plank wall of the building he's hiding in. It blows the guy across the alleyway and he's laying there when his foot starts to shake a little. A very realistic experation.

Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner

I can't remember the movie but it was a mob film where they make a couple of guys dig there grave then beat them to death with base ball bats.That almost made me sick.

You're right - that one was quite exceptional. It now moves up to my No. 2 now that you've jogged my memory banks.

Casino

How about Jimmy Durante kicking the bucket in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World" :D

Zed, the "hillbilly rapist" in Pulp Fiction. We don't see him die, (although Marcellus) does shoot him with a shotgun) but his death was certain and not very pretty, to say the least, according to what Marcellus had to say about his impending fate.

We are left to our own imaginations as to the severity of his slow and torturous demise. This can be more chilling than watching a scene, no matter how well done.

The final scene in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Fuego! Fuego!

More grim (and chilling), the Kraut soldier killing the GI in hand-to-hand in "Saving Private Ryan". "Relax, give in, quit struggling."

The Blade Runner scene was fairly excellent...and it reminded me of another film that affected me in an unexpected way: Moulin Rouge! I'm no Nicole Kidman fan, but damn if she wasn't really superb in that film. Her death scene really choked me up!

How about Alec Guinness as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai? Did he intend to blow up the bridge?

Funniest-the punk (Duke, played by Dick Rude) on the floor in the convenience store in Repo Man while talking to Emilio Estavez' character, Otto.

Duke-"The lights are growing dim.
I know a life of crime led me
to this sorry fate...
And yet,
I blame society.
Society made me
what I am."

Otto-"Bullshit! You're a white
suburban punk, just like me."

Duke-"But it still hurts."

Otto-"You're gonna be all right."
(Duke dramatically & noisily dies.)
Otto-"Maybe not."

OK, another for "funniest"-
Slim Pickens at the end of Dr. Strangelove.

Yeah for me it would be Brian's Song and the actor James Caan who played Brian. There are a few more but that one I saw the year it came out and it was the only time I have ever shed a tear watching any show.

-Mike