| Film Title |
Description |
Example |
This Gun for Hire (1942)
|
The climactic finale in
which expressionless, baby-faced, cat-loving hired killer Philip
Raven (Alan Ladd in his first major role) had acquired a written
confession from the bad guys before their deaths (corrupt, double-crossing,
peppermint candy-loving fat man Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) and
wheelchair-bound Alvin Brewster (Tully Marshall) were selling
secrets about the chemical composition of poison gas to foreign
agents (the Japanese)); before expiring from gunshot wounds, he asked peek-a-boo blonde-haired femme fatale Ellen
Graham (Veronica Lake): "Did I do alright for ya?" |
|
 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
|
The death-bed scene of
patriarch Jerry Cohan (Walter Huston) with his son George (James Cagney) by his side; they spoke about the final curtain
call - George wept as he delivered the 'curtain call' on his father's life
and collapsed into his father's arms; his father asked about the number of curtain calls (the response was six) that night and what the speech was, as George told him, with a breaking voice: "...I said 'my mother thanks you,
my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you'" |
|
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
|
The hanging deaths of
three innocent men (seen in shadows), with an additional bullet
shot into each corpse to ensure their deaths |
|
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
|
The thrilling scene of the struggle on a moving train, in the platform between train cars, between Uncle Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten) - the "Merry Widow Murderer " - and his young niece Charlie (Teresa Wright), ending with Charlie's demise when he lost his balance and fell off - into the path of an oncoming train, in the exciting conclusion |
|
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
|
The death of Bernadette
Soubirous (Jennifer Jones) at the film's conclusion |
|
Laura (1944)
|
The climactic scene in
which 'Laura Hunt' murderer Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) was mortally
wounded in an exchange of gunfire with the police after he attempted
to kill the real Laura (Gene Tierney) with a shotgun in a passionate
rage in an attempted murder/suicide- his last whispered words to
Laura were: "Good-bye, Laura. Good-bye, my love." |
|
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
|
In the twist ending, Mrs.
Helen Grayle/Velma's (Claire Trevor) death by a gunshot from her
millionaire husband (Miles Mander); love-struck ex-con Moose Malloy
(Mike Mazurki) reacted to her lifeless body on the sofa: ("She
ain't hardly changed... just like always, only more fancy. Cute
as lace pants...always...") before there were two more deaths
(both Mr. Grayle and Moose shot and killed each other); detective
Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) was temporarily blinded by the first
gunblast |
|
Detour (1945)
|
The accidental strangulation
of despicable hitchhiker Vera (Ann Savage) by Al Roberts (Tom Neal)
with a telephone cord, behind a closed door |
|
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
|
An uncaring, sunglasses-wearing
Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) as she watched from a rowboat as her young,
paraplegic brother-in-law Danny (Darryl Hickman) drowned in a Maine lake, and Ellen's own suicidal
death to 'frame' Ruth (Jeanne Crain) |
|
The Big Sleep (1946)
|
The unusual death of gang boss/gambler Eddie Mars
(John Ridgely) who was compelled by Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart)
to run outside Geiger's house into gunfire from his own gang members
(who were expecting Marlowe to be fleeing after killing Mars)
- Mars shouted: "Don't shoot! It's me, Mar---" - as
bullets from Mars' henchmen meant for Marlowe hit him; a dotted-line
of bullet holes in the door signaled his murder outside; then,
a mortally-wounded Mars slowly re-entered the room and collapsed
to the floor in the front hallway |
|
Duel in the Sun (1946)
|
The shoot-out to the death
of doomed lovers Lewt McCanles (Gregory Peck) and half-breed Pearl
Chavez (Jennifer Jones) who crawled to each other and died in each
other's bloody arms |
|
The Killers (1946)
|
The execution (off-screen),
by a pair of hitman (William Conrad, Charles McGraw), of the Swede/Pete
Lunn (Burt Lancaster) who already has accepted his own sacrificial
death and fate in his dark boarding house room, rationalizing: "I did something wrong - once" |
|
My Darling Clementine (1946)
|
In the climactic gunfight
at the O.K. Corral recreation in this film, four of the Clanton
sons were killed, but Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) was also killed
when he suffered a coughing fit and was shot by one of the Clantons |
|
The Postman Always Rings
Twice (1946)
|
As the star-crossed lovers drove along the highway
and neared their home, Frank (John Garfield) asked for a long-awaited
kiss. Cora (Lana Turner) was painting her lips with lipstick: (Cora:
"When we get home, Frank, then there'll be kisses, kisses
with dreams in them. Kisses that come from life, not death."
Frank: "I hope I don't wait." Cora: "Darling."
(They kiss) "Look out, Frank!") Distracted during a
'kiss that comes from life' while he was driving, he ran off the
road, killing Cora ('with a kiss that comes from death') in a
fatal auto accident; the car door opened after the crash - Cora's
lifeless arm fell off the seat, and a tube of lipstick slowly
dropped to the floor of the car and onto the ground, recalling the scene of their first meeting |
|
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
|
The shock ending with
the suicidal death of Martha Ivers O'Neil (Barbara Stanwyck), when
she pulled the trigger herself as her husband Walter (Kirk Douglas)
held a gun to her stomach; then with her draped limply in his arms, Walter shot himself to death
|
|
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. 
