| Film Title |
Description |
Example |
The Big Heat (1953)
|
The car bombing (with
a blinding explosion outside his house) that killed Police Sergeant
Bannion's (Glenn Ford) wife Katie (Jocelyn Brando) instead of himself as he tended to his
young daughter
Debby Marsh's (Gloria Grahame) moving death
scene, after being shot twice in the back by gangster Vince Stone (Lee Marvin); her head was cradled in her mink coat by Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) as they talked about his murdered wife Katie (Jocelyn Brando), with Debby's peacefully-spoken final words as she died: "I like her...I like her alot." |
|
From Here to Eternity (1953)
|
The unnecessary death
of soldier Pvt. Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt (Montgomery
Clift) - shot by a nighttime patrol as he returned to the base following
the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 |
|
 Shane (1953)
|
The scene of Frank Torrey's
(Elisha Cook, Jr.) brutal death in a showdown with black-clothed
evil gunman Jack Wilson (Jack Palance) as he was hurtled backwards
onto a muddy street; also the fatal shoot-out between Shane (Alan
Ladd) and Wilson, leading to Shane's wounding and the final ambiguous
shot of the title character slumped on his saddle as he rode off
on his horse toward the mountains - to die? |
|
Dial M For Murder (1954)
|
The exciting and tense
scene of wealthy Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly) - while being strangled
- reaching backwards to search for a weapon
to defend herself and kill hired assassin Captain Lesgate (Anthony
Dawson) by stabbing him in the back -- with a sharp pair of scissors |
|
A Star is Born (1954)
|
Norman Maine's (James
Mason) off-screen suicidal death by walking into the ocean |
|
Les Diaboliques (1955, Fr.)
# 19 
|
Long-suffering, enslaved
and invalid widow Christina Delasalle's (Vera Clouzot) death from
a heart attack when watching her husband Michel Delasalle (Paul
Meurisse) rise zombie-like from the bath where
she thought he was dead from drowning - and his removal of fake white
covers from each eyeball |
|
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
|
The famous explosive, nihilistic/apocalyptic ending
in which femme fatale Lily/Gabriel Carver (Gaby Rodgers)
opened the "great whatsit", a leather-strapped, metal-lined
Pandora's Box that incinerated her in a powerful nuclear explosion
|
|
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
|
The frightening murder
scene in which wife Willa (Shelley Winters) was knifed in an A-frame
bedroom by her terrifying newlywed husband - Preacher Harry Powell
(Robert Mitchum), and the haunting discovery of her 'burial' corpse
sitting underwater in the Model T with her long hair tangled and
interwoven in the reeds |
|
Love Me Tender (1956)
|
The death of farm boy
Clint Reno (Elvis Presley) -- considered shocking by fans at the
time since this was Elvis' first picture -- with a superimposed,
ghostly close-up of Elvis as Clint crooning "Love Me Tender"
as his family slowly walked away from his grave |
|
Moby Dick (1956)
# 30
|
The death by drowning of Captain Ahab (Gregory
Peck) as he summoned the whale ("He beckons") while
lashed by harpoon ropes to the side of his nemesis while threatening
("From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit
my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale") |
|
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
|
British Colonel Nicholson's (Alec
Guinness) exclamation: "What have I done?" when realizing
his aid to the enemy, as he fell mortally wounded onto a dynamite
plunger and blew up the bridge he had spent months building for the Japanese |
|
Old Yeller (1957)
|
The death (off-screen)
of Ol' Yeller as young Travis (Tommy Kirk) was forced to euthanize
the rabid dog (trapped in a barn) by shooting it with a rifle |
|
Paths of Glory (1957)
|
The executions of scapegoated,
blameless French soldiers: Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker), Arnaud
(Joe Turkel), and Private Ferol (Timothy Carey) - filmed subjectively
from behind the firing squad |
|
Throne of Blood (1957, Jp.)
|
The memorable graphic,
shocking death of ruthless feudal lord Gen. Taketori Washizu (Toshiro
Mifune), shot by arrows by invading samurai - the final arrow pierced
him through the neck and caused his eyes to fly wide open |
|
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 
