Part 1
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Part 1 |
 are
the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films |
Greatest Movie Death Scenes
(chronological by film title) - Part 1
Intro | Part
1 | Part 2 | Part
3 | Part 4 | Part
5 | Part 6 | Part
7 | Part 8 | Part
9 | Part 10
Part 11 | Part
12 | Part 13 | Part
14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
| Film Title | Description | Example |
The tense sequence of 'Little Sister' Flora (Mae Marsh) being chased by 'renegade negro' Gus (Walter Long) into the woods and jumping to her death - this sequence was later referenced in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), when Alice Munro (Jodhi May) suicidally stepped off a cliff to refuse villain Magua's (Wes Studi) beckoning Also, the reenactment of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (Joseph Henabery) by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play |
 
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| The unforgettable death scene as sensitive and frail teenage Cockney waif Lucy Burrows' (Lillian Gish) brutal father Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp) broke down the closet door as she cowered and twisted to avoid him - and later received the fatal blows |
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Nosferatu (1922, Ger.) Eine Symphonie Des Grauens (A Symphony of Terror/Horror) |
The scene of the approach of rat-like vampire Count Orlok (Max Schreck) to the bedroom of possessed, awaiting female victim Ellen Hutter (Greta Schröder) who had read in his book that "Deliverance is possible by no other means but that an innocent maiden maketh the vampire heed not the first crowing of the cock - this done by the sacrifice of her own bloode"; the vampire's shadowy approach came up the stairs and his elongated hand reached out to her bedroom door and toward his stalking subject; she clutched at her left breast in fear and collapsed back onto her bed, as the shadow of Orlok's hand covered her heart when he entered the room; he then began to suck blood from her neck; he was tricked by her into overstaying his welcome when a rooster crowed, signaling dawn and the beginning of daylight; he was exposed to the sun and died in front of her window, grasping his chest, and disappearing in a small wisp of smoke |
  
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| The inevitable deaths of two ex-friends, McTeague (Gibson Gowland) and Marcus (Jean Hersholt), under the harsh sun in Death Valley as they greedily fought to the death; McTeague was the survivor of the fight, although he was left handcuffed to his dead foe; he attempted to free a bird, but it perished quickly, and the lone, doomed man was left to die, last seen in an extreme long shot |
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La Passion de Jeanne D'Arc (1928, Fr.) |
The wrenching burning execution at the stake, martyred death of persecuted Jeanne d'Arc (Maria Falconetti) with her shaved head and a look of forgiveness and pity directed at the gawking onlookers |
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The Wind (1928) |
The nightmarish scene of naive bride Letty's (Lillian Gish) near-rape by amoral salesman Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love) and then her shooting of him at point-blank range - setting up the film's dramatic finale in which she buried him in the sand during a windstorm | 
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Applause (1929) |
The heartbreaking ending in which fading and "washed-up" burlesque star Kitty Darling (Helen Morgan), the ailing, self-sacrificing mother of convent-bred 17 year-old daughter April Darling (Joan Peers), suicidally poisoned herself and slowly died in her dressing room, as April vowed to take her mother's place by forcing herself to go out and dance sordid burlesque in front of leering, middle-aged men (and vowed to give the crowd their 'money's worth': "I'll show them"), after telling her mother: "Nothing matters now but you, Mommy. We'll always have each other. Nothing is ever going to separate us again" |  
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| The death of German soldier Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres) by a sniper's bullet as he reached from a trench for a beautiful fluttering butterfly | 
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| Gangster Cesare Enrico 'Rico' Bandello's (Edward G. Robinson) death and final words: "Mother of Mercy! Is this the end of Rico?" |
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The Champ (1931) |
The melodramatic, tear-jerking
death of boxer Andy "Champ" Purcell (Wallace Beery) in
the locker room, after taking a savage (ultimately fatal) beating
in a match, with young son Dink (Jackie Cooper) at his side |
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| The death (offscreen) of vampire Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) as Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) drove a sharp, pointed wooden stake into his undead heart |
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| The scene of the Monster's (Boris Karloff) killing of young Maria (Marilyn Harris) by tossing her into a lake, thinking mistakenly that she would float like flower petals |
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The scene of gangster Tom Powers' (James Cagney) bandaged dead body's special delivery to his home - after he had been kidnapped from the hospital and killed by rival gangsters - propped up like a wrapped mummy at the doorstep of his mother's (Beryl Mercer) house; he fell forward face-first (while a scratchy phonograph record played an upbeat tune on the soundtrack) in the final horrifying scene |
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A Farewell to Arms (1932) |
The quintessential deathbed scene in this tearjerker was one of the most romantic and sad ever filmed; British nurse Catherine Barkley (Helen Hayes) died in her hospital bed in a maternity ward in Switzerland after her baby died -- with loving World War I officer and ambulance driver Lt. Frederic Henry (Gary Cooper) by her side kissing her and professing his love ("I'll never stop loving you"); her prolonged tearjerking death ("Oh darling, I'm going to die. Don't let me die! Take me in your arms! Hold me tight! Don't let me go...In life and in death, we'll never be parted...I believe it and I'm not afraid") coincided with bells ringing to declare the Armistice; after she died, he carried her in his arms to the window and affirmed: "Peace, peace" - as white doves flew into the air and the screen faded to black |
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Introduction: Deaths in film scenes can be either cool, teary, metaphoric, grisly,
scary, bloody, amusing, violent, transcendental, unforgettable, spectacular,
frightening, funny, or shocking. The victim's death may be well-deserved,
accidental, expected, sudden, or intentional. Some effective death scenes
even occur off-screen. Other
areas of this website have death scenes also, such as 
- Entries in Total Film Magazine's article (July, 2004 issue), 50 Greatest Movie Deaths (with ranking number #), based upon the results of a non-scientific poll taken from interviews with film critics ranking the most highly-rated death scenes in cinematic history. Although
there were some excellent and well-deserved choices in the Total
Film list, there are many other great death scenes that were among
the missing death scenes in Total Film's honored list
of "cinema's best daisy-pushers" and "drop-dead moments" that are included in this list. 