A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

In the stomach-turning "puppet-marionette" death scene, puppet-master Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) manipulated troubled teen dreamer Phillip Anderson (Bradley Gregg) like a human marionette. Freddy used the ripped out muscle tendons from the length of both of his hands and legs as the control chords.

During the nightmare, the adolescent was lifted from his bed by the sinews, and walked out of his room, apparently sleep-walking, into the hallway (the boy's nickname was "The Walker"). He was led to a window in the bell tower of the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital where he was a patient.

Freddy, laughing maniacally as a giant puppet-master looming above the building, let Phillip teeter there on the edge of the window ledge. He then slashed through the bloody sinews, causing Phillip to frantically fall to his death from the tower, as the other teen patients witnessed his horrible demise.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

In "The Dick Cavett Show" television sequence, Dick Cavett (Himself) was interviewing guest Zsa Zsa Gabor (Herself), while disturbed and institutionalized teen Jennifer Caulfield (Penelope Sudrow) was watching and nodded off to sleep.

In her nightmarish dream, the show host was abruptly transformed into Freddy. Following his inquisitive request ("Can I ask you something?"), he slashed at Gabor with the exclamation: "Who gives a f--k what you think!?"

The picture turned to static and snow, and Jennifer walked toward the screen to adjust the static-rendered picture and change the channel, hearing "One, two, Freddy's coming for you..."

Suddenly, two arms (composed of wires and TV parts) ripped through the sides of the wall-mounted TV, grabbed her by the shoulders, and picked her up.

Freddy's plastic-shrouded head grew and stretched out of the top of the set, with a rabbit-ear antenna mounted on top.

He taunted the screaming teen:

This is it, Jennifer. your big break in TV. Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!

He then brutally and forcefully rammed her head face-first into the screen, causing an explosion of glass and sparks.

No Way Out (1987)

Susan Atwell's Murder

In this suspenseful political thriller, the major twist was that Pentagon naval attache Lt. Cmdr. Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner), while innocent of murdering high-class mistress-escort Susan Atwell (Sean Young), was really a KGB sleeper agent named 'Yuri' who had infiltrated the Pentagon. Farrell was gathering intelligence from Atwell (since she was also the mistress of Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman)) when she shockingly turned up dead.

The murder was committed during a jealous rage by the suspicious Brice who brutally slapped Susan Atwell when questioning her about another lover, and accidentally killed her. When Brice struck her after she called him a "pig," she toppled backwards from her upstairs balcony onto a glass dining room table on the first floor.

In one of the last startling scenes in the Secretary's office, Brice's scheming, yet loyal aide Scott Pritchard (Will Patton) committed suicide (he shot himself in the head) when his superior shifted the blame from himself, and tried to make him the fall guy in the murder of Atwell (Brice was planning to argue that Pritchard was jealous of his relationship with Susan).

The Princess Bride (1987)

In the fantasy film's infamous wine-poisoning "battle-of-wits" death scene, brilliant Sicilian kidnapper Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) was given a choice between drinking from two wine goblets by black-masked and garbed Westley/Dread Pirate Robert (Cary Elwes). One of the cups purportedly contained a dissolved dose of an odorless, tasteless iocaine powder - "among the more deadly poisons known to man."

It was part of a contest to decide the fate of kidnapped and blindfolded Princess Bride/Buttercup (Robin Wright). Westley proposed:

All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink and find out who is right and who is dead.

Although Vizzini cleverly switched the goblets, thinking he could fool Westley when his back was turned and looking away, it was in vain.

While he laughed about and explained his cleverness after drinking from what he thought was the safe goblet, Vizzini suddenly fell dead and slumped to his right:

Let's drink. Me from my glass, and you from yours. (Both drank for their goblets.) You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. (He laughed boisterously.)

It was afterwards revealed that the black-garbed man had dosed both drinks (and he was immune to the killer powder anyway), as he told the Princess Bride:

They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder.

The Princess Bride (1987)

The nefarious, sadistic, six-fingered Count Tyrone Rugen (Christopher Guest) was crowd-pleasingly revenge-killed by seemingly-defeated Spanish swordmaster Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin).

After Inigo had subdued all of the Count's guards, he challenged the Count to a sword duel, by repeating his familiar phrase:

Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die!

But the Count fled down the hallway.

During their final encounter, the Count noted that Inigo had "an over-developed sense of vengeance. It's going to get you into trouble some day." Even when pierced with the Count's sword, the bloody and wounded Inigo repeated his phrase a few times - and retaliated against Rugen. He told the Count as he held his sword-point at his throat and slashed both of his cheeks:

Offer me money!... Power, too! Promise me that!...Offer me everything I ask for!

When Rugen was subdued and replied: "All that I have and more. Please...Anything you want!", Inigo growled as he made a final thrust to fatally stab Rugen in the stomach, completing his life-long desired vengeance:

I want my father back, you son-of-a-bitch!

Robocop (1987)

Good-guy Detroit Officer Alex J. Murphy (Peter Weller) - in the line of duty in the dystopic city - suffered a prolonged, horrifying torture/murder delivered by a drug gang that was led by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), in an abandoned steel mill.

When Murphy insulted Boddicker: "Buddy, I think you're slime," his gang laughed in unison. Boddicker responded: "See, I got this problem. Cops don't like me, so I don't like cops." Murphy's right arm was held down by Boddicker's foot, and his hand was mercilessly blown off with a shotgun - as the villain joked about the mutilation: "Well, give the man a hand." The sadistic gang leader then told his thugs: "He's all yours."

Then Murphy's entire arm was blasted away - followed by a non-stop volley of gunshots into his body by the sadistic group. Miraculously still alive, Boddicker executed Murphy with a blast to the head.

Cop Murphy's Brutal Murder

Later in the film, the recently-deceased cop was transformed into a half-human, half-robot super-cop, known as Robocop ("The Future of Law Enforcement").

Robocop (1987)

# 49

In the famed Melting Man death scene, bad guy Emil Antonowsky (Paul McCrane) drove a large truck-van directly at Robocop ("Now, I've got ya"), but was tricked when the robotic police enforcer shot his windshield, spun away, and he crashed into a gigantic tank labeled: TOXIC WASTE.

Acid Bath Death and Body Splattering

From its back doors, the van spilled out gallons of toxic waste with the melting and liquifying driver. He gasped for breath as he crawled to his feet, noting his clawed hands and disintegrating flesh. He staggered around, moaning piteously: "Help me!"

His gory death occurred when he stepped in front of Clarence Boddicker's (Kurtwood Smith) speeding vehicle -- his body splattered explosively across the hood and windshield, obscuring the driver's view and causing him to crash upside-down.

Robocop (1987)

One of the most notable scenes was a product demonstration of the robotic ED (Enforcement Droid Series 209) - 209 prototype. It was a giant, awkward, top-heavy, self-sufficient, law enforcement robot for "urban pacification" - heralded as "a self-sufficient, law-enforcement robot" and "the hot military product for the next decade."

During the experimental demonstration (of a simulated arrest and disarming procedure) in the boardroom, ED-209 gave a warning when a gun was threateningly pointed at it by innocent opponent Kinney (Kevin/Ken Page):

Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.

But it malfunctioned, stepped forward, growled, and warned: "You now have 15 seconds to comply," even when the gun was surrendered. After a countdown, it killed the man with a violent volley of shots, claiming it was now authorized to use "physical force" according to Penal Code 1.13, Section 9.

Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) shouted for assistance to the hapless volunteer: "Somebody want to call a god-damn paramedic?"

The OCP (Omni Consumer Products) head of the board (Dan O'Herlihy) was upset by the failed robot, and spoke harshly to OCP Senior President Dick Jones (Ronny Cox):

The Old Man: "Dick, I'm very disappointed."
Dick: "I'm sure it's only a glitch, a temporary setback."
The Old Man: "You call this a glitch!! (pause) We're scheduled to begin construction in 6 months. Your 'temporary setback' could cost us 50 million dollars in interest payments alone!"

The Untouchables (1987)

In a tense formal dinner scene in Brian De Palma's crime film, gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro) gave a speech about teamwork (and his love of baseball) to his well-dressed associates seated around a circular table, as he walked behind them and ominously wielded a baseball bat:

A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms... Enthusiasms...What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?...Baseball. A man, a man stands alone at a plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork... Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don't field, what is he? You follow me? No one. A sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I'm goin' out there for myself. But, I get nowhere unless the team wins.

All the thugs responded: "Team!" He then brutally bashed in the brains of one of his thugs with a baseball bat, hitting him four times from behind.

The man slumped over dead onto the white tablecloth as blood drained from his head, and the camera pulled back in an overhead shot.