How often have you been watching a film and as you’re following the story, you see how influential the lead character is, or maybe it’s one of the supporting characters, and then BAM!, their character either dies or is killed off suddenly? I know that film makers often do that for shock value and to throw a curve ball at the audience that they weren’t expecting. Sometimes the death of this character is necessary for the film’s storyline to logically play out. Either way, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of ten of these characters that probably threw most of us for a loop when they bought the farm. In the comments section, please provide more that you felt should have been on the list or make corrections if you wish. There’s no rank order here. Enjoy. WARNING: This list is chock full of spoilers if you haven’t seen the films listed.
What’s the mark of a successful action movie hero? Being able to establish the strength and presence of your character early in the film, and, love or hate Steven Seagal, in his movies over the years, especially the early ones, he’s been able to do this. As Lt Col Travis, leader of a US Army Special Forces Team tapped to take a major commercial airliner back from a vicious group of terrorists hell bent on forcing a chemical called “DZ-5” down our American throats, Seagal was as convincing as any of his prior characters before this. When it was in theatres, no one knew what was about to happen and most of us was prepared to see Seagal kicking some terrorist butt in the skies for about an hour and a half once his team got up there. But the makers of this film wanted the audience to feel as helpless and worried as the people aboard the plane because once they got up there and are attempting to sneak onto the plane through the cargo area, things go terribly wrong. Sgt “Cappy” Matheny, played by veteran actor Joe Morton, is seriously injured. This causes a Dr. Grant, played by the infallible Kurt Russell, who was supposed to stay put, to have to board to help lift him into the plane. The 747 pulls up though, putting too much stress on the boarding sleeve. Unable to board the plane, Colonel Travis sacrifices himself when he closes the 747′s hatch, just as the sleeve breaks and he is thrown from the F-117 to his death miles and miles to the earth below. The devastation in the faces of the team members after losing Seagal’s character was unforgettable but it was awesome to see them rally together for the rest of the movie to save those on board and the American Eastern Seaboard for that matter.
I’ve watched this movie as an adolescent boy, a teenager, and a grown man and every time I do Angie Dickinson’s brief time in it leaves a powerful sexual impact on my “urges”. Before we even have time to admire Dickinson’s alluring beauty in this film, she is torridly slammed through three sex scenes so hot it’ll burn your eyes to watch them. As Kate Miller, she’s playing a housewife that is receiving therapy from New York psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott, portrayed by Michael Caine. Kate winds up going to a museum where she has an unexpected flirtation with a mysterious stranger. Kate and the stranger half-flirt, half-stalk each other through the museum until they finally wind up outside, where Kate joins him in a taxi. I always thought the music during this sequence was great. They immediately begin to have sex in the cab, and continue at his apartment. Hours later, Kate awakens and decides to discreetly leave while the man is asleep. Kate sits at his desk to leave him a note and finds a document indicating that he has contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Mortified, she leaves the apartment but on the way out realizes that she has left her wedding ring on the stranger’s nightstand. When she returns to retrieve it, the elevator doors open on the figure of a tall, blonde woman in dark sunglasses wielding a straight razor. Kate is slashed to death by this creepy killer in the elevator. From here, the female lead is abruptly turned over to the only witness to this heinous act, actress Nancy Allen portraying call girl Liz Blake. The rest of the movie is very good indeed but when it first came out, I’d imagine there wasn’t a man in the audience who wasn’t heartbroken to see Dickinson’s character killed so quickly because they were hoping to see her in more sexual forays during the movie.
This is one of my favorites on this list. Samuel Jackson is one of my favorite actors of all times due to the conviction with which he delivers his performances. There’s always a razor sharp edge and believability to them; I know; this is what actors are supposed to do but he’s better at it than a lot of his peers. As Russell Franklin, Jackson is portraying a corporate executive sent to a top secret island facility called “Aquatica” to determine if financial backing for this facility’s mission should continue. At this location, they are using great white sharks in a series of experiments to come up with a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. A series of accidents after collection of a brain sample from one of the creatures allows the sharks to engineer an escape and flood the internal structure, allowing them entry to target the humans within it. The team of scientists have to escape the sinking research centre and avoid being killed, without allowing the sharks to reach open water. All hell is breaking loose after the lead scientist loses an arm to one of the sharks and is killed. The team is starting to panic and turn against each other when Franklin, in classic hardcore Jackson style, takes control of the situation. Yelling out that he’s been in this situation before and purportedly has seen worse. As calm is being restored to the situation, Franklin says “…now you’ve seen how bad things can get and how quickly they can get that way. Now we’re not going to fight any more.” Movie goers are getting the feeling that everything may just be okay. Then suddenly one of the sharks spring from the water and takes Franklin into its mouth. To make things worse, once it swims away, another arrives and together they bite him in half. Michael Rappaport, portraying Tom “Scoggs” Scoggins, reaction to this is quite terrifying. Voice trembling, he says “…oh my god did you see that? They ate him. They just ate him….” The reason I liked this one so much is his character’s death was actual proof of what he just said to them moments beforehand.
This is one of the oddest entries on the list without a doubt. The character of Harry Mention in this film is a Southern drifter who has a malicious penchant for stirring up trouble. While visiting his old acquaintance Gideon, played by Paul Butler, he exercises a strange and powerful effect on Gideon and his family. This becomes intensified when Gideon suffers a stroke. During this time, Harry’s influence on the two sons eventually causes a violent confrontation between the two of them. Harry had been trying to get the younger one to join him and his friends on the road. However, following this sequence, the younger son chooses to stay at home. When Harry comes back to the house to collect some things, he slips on some marbles belonging to Gideon’s grandson and dies. Now I’ll admit, while this is a sudden death, it’s not as jarring as some of the others on this list. What is odd about it though, is how long Mention’s dead body is allowed to stay in the exact same spot on the floor where he died during the movie. A true must see.
This is another one of my favorites for two reasons. The first being that the movie launched the career of one of the greatest actors of all time, at least to me, that person being Laurence Fishburne. I’m going to explain the second reason in a moment. Jamaal Wilkes, who had a brilliant real life NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, was portraying a star teenage basketball player nicknamed Cornbread who had a bright future ahead of him. He was about to become the first guy from their neighborhood to go to college on an athletic scholarship. He was also a local hero to two neighborhood kids named Earl and Wilford. Wilford was portrayed by a very young Laurence Fishburne and even at this age, you could see hints of how great of an actor he would become. After a pick-up basketball game ends because of a heavy rain, all the kids run to the local store to wait it out. All the kids eventually leave, except for Cornbread, Earl and Wilford. Earl and Wilford get into a playful argument about how fast Cornbread can run home. It is decided that Cornbread should make it home in 25 seconds, so he runs off, after buying another soda for himself. Unbeknownst to all of them, an assault suspect is in the area, and is dressed similarly to Cornbread. The police are hot on the suspect’s trail, but lose him in the rain. As the police are coming out of an alleyway, they see Cornbread running by and mistake him for the suspect they’re looking for. Cornbread is shot in the back, and dies in the middle of the street. The coroner’s inquest is hampered by severe police intimidation, and no one knows anything about anything, except for Wilford, who becomes a man on the witness stand by telling exactly what he saw, in graphic detail. The other reason I like this entry so much is because during the trial of the officers involved in this shooting, you never quite know which way the judge is swinging. After Cornbread’s father breaks down with sadness while being questioned on the witness stand, the judge is visibly moved and makes it clear from that moment on that he is seeking the truth in this trial and is also demanding it from everyone being questioned thereafter.
“I ain’t got time to bleed.” Portraying elite special forces team member and vietnam veteran Blaine Cooper, Jesse delivered this line to us after Blaine had been hit in an exchange of fire with a guerrilla unit that had kidnapped a presidential cabinet minister in Guatemala. In a movie armed to the teeth with muscle, intensity, true grit, testosterone, and flying bullets, Jesse Ventura playing this character fit right in. Using his modded M134 mini-gun nicknamed “ol’ painless”, Cooper is mowing down the enemy with ease and giving the team that “unstoppable edge”. When this movie first came out, once the Predator began his attack, we were sure this juggernaut soldier was going to be one of the last standing, helping ol’ Arnie fight the hunter from another planet. Shockingly, he was the first to go, split open by a Predator laser round from behind, deeply affecting his vietnam veteran buddy Mac, played by veteran actor Bill Duke. In one awesome display of firepower and determination in this film, after another member is killed, following Mac’s lead, the team members rush to a clearing and open fire in a desperate bid to hit their new, and much more deadly, enemy. By the time they’re done, this area of the jungle is literally obliterated by their ammunition. After reconning the area following their outburst, they’re all disheartened to learn that “they hit nothing”.
“Can you count sucka’s? I say the future is ours. If you can count.” By bellowing out this question at the top of his lungs, the exalted leader of New York’s largest, strongest, and most vicious gang, the Gramercy Riffs, quieted the immense crowd of gang members that he’d called to a park to propose taking over New York City if they all worked together instead of against each other in this 1979 gangland classic. He also points out that collectively, there are 60,000 of them and “there ain’t but 20,000 cops in the whole damn city…….can you dig it?” For things to unfold in this movie the way they did, Cyrus’ character couldn’t have lived and yet, when Rogues gang leader Luther pulls a handgun that he snuck into the gathering and shoots and kills Cyrus while the other gang members are cheering him on, it does take you by surprise, if you’ve never seen the movie before. Luther uses the immense and diverse backdrop of the crowd to pull this off without being seen and then in the midst of the chaos, because the Warriors are their archrivals, he screams out “The Warriors did it!!!! The Warriors did it!!!!! They shot Cyrus!!!!” The truce is instantly broken and the Riffs are out for revenge. The rest of the movie involves the Warriors getting out of the city and back to their native Coney Island as all the other gangs are on the hunt for them. To me this is one of those movies that never gets old. It’s as entertaining to me now as when I first saw it. It was developed into a major video game for the Sony Playstation and is a definite must see.
Juice has become a very popular “’hood movie” crime drama and was about the lives of four high school age young men in Harlem: Raheem, Q, Bishop, and Steel. While the movie itself centered around Q, portrayed by Omar Epps, and his efforts to become a successful young DJ back then, the clear leader of this bunch was Raheem. Though Raheem had his own issues to deal with like any young man in the hood, such as baby-mamma drama, he would break up fights amongst them, protect the group from rivals, and be the voice of reason when bad or destructive ideas would pop up amongst the group. Unfortunately for his character, he was an advocate for the idea that would lead to his demise. Against Q’s better judgement, they had decided to rob Old Man Quiles’ store. In the heat of the moment, Bishop, portrayed by the late Tupac Shakur, shot and killed Quiles basically for nothing. After they got away from the store and to a safe haven, Raheem mandated that the gun used to kill Quiles be put away and demands that Bishop give it to him. A scuffle ensues and Bishop shoots and kills Raheem. The rest of the movie is quite harrowing as Bishop descends further and further into darkness as he continues to use this gun to kill other key characters in the film.
First there was Apollo Creed himself, then there was Mr. T’s Clubber Lang, and then in Rocky 4, along came 6 foot 8, 260 pound Ivan Drago from Russia to be the antagonist in the Rocky fighting drama franchise. Portrayed by Dolph Lundgren, Drago was a powerhouse Russian fighter knocking out contenders left and right in a bid to dominate the heavyweight fighting class. Creed, motivated by patriotism and an innate desire to prove himself, is desperate to step back into the ring in an exhibition bout against Drago. A press conference is held to publicize the bout. It begins on affable terms but the mood quickly changes when Apollo is accused of being a “has been” by Drago’s manager, who suggests Creed shouldn’t even be in the same ring with Drago. Apollo becomes livid. Apollo sets the match between himself and Drago in Las Vegas. After Creed does some trademark sticking and moving, Drago manages to catch him off-guard with devastating punches that quickly turns the tables late in the first round. Apollo is in dire straits as the first round ends. The commentators and audience are visibly shaken by what they’ve seen. Rocky and Duke plead with him to stop the fight. Apollo refuses to do so, and tells Rocky not to stop the fight no matter what. The second round starts just as the first ended. Rocky attempts to throw in the towel but despite Duke’s begging, Rocky honors Apollo’s wish. It turns out to be a tragic decision, as Drago kills the former champion with a devastating hook. Drago displays no sense of remorse, commenting “if he dies, he dies”. Saddened by the death of Apollo Creed and infuriated by Drago’s cold indifference to it, Rocky comes to the decision he must avenge his death by agreeing to fight Drago in his home country.
Portraying an upbeat and quick witted best bud to Will Smith’s Steven Hiller, Harry Connick Jr. appeared to be complementing the lead role quite nicely in this action sci-fi powerhouse from 1996. “Let’s kick the tires and light the fires.” When Wilder said this in the movie, it gave you the sense that both he and Hiller would make a great tandem in turning the tide on the alien menace that came to exterminate us and rape the planet. Surprisingly this wasn’t to be. Wilder lost control after a failed retaliation on one of the home ships as he was being pursued by an alien fighter. Despite Hiller trying to talk him through the situation, he and his aircraft are blown to bits by the alien. Along with him went a movie’s worth of cool one liners that could have come from the Wilder character but it opened the door to Hiller’s pairing with David Levinson, played by the incomparable Jeff Goldblum, in the final leg of the movie.
Probably Drew Barrymore in Scream???
no no no no
crap…….when i read the list title, i thought — yo—drew barrymore in "scream" like 7 min into the flick.
*then*
i read the list title, one more time.
and i was soo happy when i didnt see her name.
why?
please tell me how drew barrymore, in "scream", is even *kinda* sorta influential.
she's only "influential" in that — if that one scene wasnt there, we'd have to sit through 7 more minutes of previews.
I thought she was brilliant in that. But not influential.
That's just a cameo.
Agree, Drew Barrymore in Scream
And Roy Scheider in Marathon Man? What an omission!! He steals the show ! Forget Dustin Hoffman or Laurence Olivier: Roy Scheider is the lead actor until he dies…
Watch Deep Blue Sea again, if you ever get the chance. The FX are really obvious when Sammy boy dies.
Also, no mention of Psycho? Not even an honourable one?
what you meant to say is , dont ever watch deep blue sea again , its crap and the storyline and FX are even crapper ….
storyline was crap but fx were cool enough. mebbe you got mixed up with jaws 4 revenge or jaws 3d eh?
yeah where's psycho? but great list:)
Is it impossible to put the titles of the movies covered before the list starts??
There are plenty of spoiler warnings. You knew the risks. They can't tailor for everyone's inability to handle this.
What? Who's talking about spoiler warnings? Of course even the biggest moron would be aware of "the risks" clicking on a list such as this one. What I'm talking about is the possibility of adding a simple list of the movies covered at the top so one might choose which ones to read and not to read.
As it is now I won't read the list because I don't know what characters in which movies that will be revealed to die quickly. Only a complete moron or someone without the slightest interest in movies would read this list without knowing what movies that are in it.
sooo…… you want a table of contents?
@Richard: "As it is now I won't read the list"
——-im thinking a *****-ton more people wouldnt read the list if they could all just view what the entries are. the point of this is to find out what things are included, and why. there are more than a handful of people that scroll down quick to see whats included. thats why there are identifiers next to the numbers. stop and read it, or dont.
Was that a joke from your side? If I scroll through the list to see what movies are covered I will also clearly see which character in the movie it is that dies an early death. How on Earth does that help? Don't tell me you're implying that I only read the really big font which only mention the name of the actor since I really can't see how that would help.
So no, once more, only a moron or a person without the slightest interest in movies would read a list of spoilers without first knowing what movies are going to be spoiled.
@Richard: "Was that a joke from your side?"
uh…..yeah.
certianly was dude.
calm yourself down.
i mean — dont get me wrong, i think a table of contents is stupid, but i see where youre coming from.
a couple things.
–what prompted you to write this reply. b/c there isnt an angle i can see where that isnt a joke.
*and*
–your sentence here: @Richard: ""So no, once more, only a moron or a person without the slightest interest in movies""
dude, look…… its not all absolution—- i am a long way from fitting into either one of the categories. not moron. i do have a great interest in movies. and i dont give a ***** if the spoiler is revealed to me. i'm much more impressed with the story, character development, plot nuiances, role depth, cinematography, etc etc etc. i didnt enjoy the crying game any less, even though i knew the twist befoe i walked into the cinema. in fact, sometimes its more interesting to me to see how the other characters react to both — the fact that they dont know the twist before hand, and react to how/why/etc the twist takes place in the first place. both of which are parts of character depth, but played by actors that obviously know what's going on.
there isnt one single movie ive paid to see simply because i knew there was a twist/death/whatever, but i didnt know who or what. twists are fun, but i'm not gonna judge a production on being surprised for 45 seconds. a lot of people agree with you and not me, but i dont hear many calls for a table of contents.
Looking at the scoring system for posts it seems people are leaning towards your way of reasoning rather than mine.
While the story development isn't the only aspect worth watching a movie for it still is kind of a big deal and a sudden and early character death is a part of that. As someone who watches movies several times I still enjoy that first run the most because you have no idea what will happen. For the same reason I'll never understand people who look up the story in advance or watch a trailer (I have never in the past 10 years watched a trailer from beginning to end).
So for me I can't see how it would be such a big deal to put a small list in the beginning (maybe you could be forced to press a button to view it) so I had the possibility of going "Oh I was about to watch that movie; better not learn what's going to happen in advance."
Reading through the #1 list with Steven Segal (who I'd never watch anyway) it seems that just about half the movie is explained in detail and it is even mentioned that no one expected him to day at all. Good thing then that I wasn't going to watch that movie anyway, don't you think?
i'm much more impressed with the story, character development, plot nuiances, role depth, cinematography, etc etc etc.
I was pretty impressed by the part where Angie Dickinson gets “torridly slammed”.
I figure, even if you had a “pre-list” list of all the movie titles only, that would still spoil it for you, because even though you might not know exactly what main character was going to unexpectedly die early, you would still know that some main character was going to unexpectedly die early. So that key element of surprise is still going to be ruined for you. So, because I am such a nice, thoughtful, and caring kind of guy, I’ve decided that I am not going post all of the movie titles for you here in this comment. I had actually typed them all out, but then thought the better of it and deleted them. Trust me, it’s for your own good. You can thank me later.
A table of contents wouldn't include the character who's going to die, it wouldn't include an outline of the movie plot and it certainly wouldn't include a detailed *****yzes of the scene in which the person dies. See the difference or do you need a color coded chart?
He specifically said that you wouldn't see which character would die. So your whole "See the difference or do you need a color coded chart?" comment is really just showing that you didn't pay attention to the points he was making. The point being that even IF the details aren't revealed, you're still seeing which movies are included and the element of surprise is taken away by knowing from the beginning that A MAIN CHARACTER will die. Especially in movies that have a small cast, this could still very well be a spoiler, so a table of contents could actually defeat its own purpose.
So what we need is a Table of Contents for alist of movies in which a major character dies early but that doesn't actually reveal that a major character dies early.
Maybe that could be done in the quantum universe…
…but in this universe; where regular rules apply I find nothing weird in wanting to know what movies in which a main character will die without knowing the story, the person or the scene in which it happens.
And by some Godly gesture those are the EXACT same thing I wrote in the comment you just quoted. Do you also need a color coded chart?
It's weird with some people; they somehow manage to say that you didn't pay attention to a post but really it was just themselves who didn't pay attention. My reply was a summarization of what I would and wouldn't learn from a Table of Contents. As for the specifics of that summarization please read the post you just replied to. The element of surprise would in no way or form be taken away which is exactly what I just wrote above. Read kid; read.
Yes, I would like a color coded chart. A pie chart preferably using pink, gray, and diarrhea-brown colors… with a legend explaining what every color is before I look at the actual colors… and perhaps a map like they have in video games (with the bright pixelated colors) with a key that explains an additional key that explains what is on the map before I look at the map… and perhaps footnotes but please include a header that explains the footnotes before I read the footnotes. And maybe two professional letters of recommendation telling me what I should read. And perhaps two letters of recommendation for each prior recommendation that would recommend me to read the recommendation that recommends reading which headers that explain only the interesting footnotes that will allude the key that deciphers the video game maps that will show me the legend that describes the color coded pie chart that refers to the best parts of the table of contents that determines the highest-quality parts of contents of this list BEFORE I read the actual list…or rather the one or two sentences within one or two items of this one or two pages (yes these lists take up roughly one to two pages using standard format on Microsoft Word) that I may be interested in reading.
If you have such a strong aversion to movie spoilers (whether it be story line, plot twists, the elements of surprise or what have you) that you can't even sit in the movie theater for the ten or fifteen minutes of previews, then obviously you shouldn't have even bothered to attempt to read the list. Even if by some magic, your sole opinion tipped the scales and we suddenly had a table of contents before each list, you do realize you would *still* have to scroll down past those items you don't want to peruse to get to what you do want to read thereby indadvertedly reading or seeing things that would ruin your movie surprise experience? ….and to this problem would be the solution of links embedded in the table of contents jumping you to specific items you want to read….and to which again I say: this list is still barely two pages long. Either read it or don't. Comment if you did. Don't comment (e.g. complain) if you didn't.
"Strong aversion" to movie spoilers? No not really; though I love arguing. Previews at the cinema are either teasers, for movies I would never dream to watch or something I close my eyes for so it won't spoil anything.
And no a ToC still wouldn't spoil anything about the story, what character is going to die and how they are going to die; it would just reveal that in those movies at one point a main character is going to die.
And no a ToC still wouldn't spoil anything about the story, what character is going to die and how they are going to die; it would just reveal that in those movies at one point a main character is going to die.
Yes, we get that. And we have unanimously decided that your last sentence there is reason enough to NOT provide you with a ToC. I would think that you would be more appreciative of us doing your thinking for you. We are saving you from yourself, Richard. Be thankful.
You could always do what I did. Look at the movie title above the picture (and yes the character) and then decide that if you haven't seen the movie then you don't read the rest of the text. Unless you have a superb memory, I would question that you would even remember the name of the movie let alone the character name once you have gone onto another list. Or maybe that is just me….
Drew Berrymore in Scream comes to mind.
Sad to see influential characters die easily. Mentioning it, how about a good line?
Man: Woah! That man is so cool! He's the best in the movie! (while watching the movie)
man 2: yeah, cool.
Man: Wooh yeah that's right kill the baddies!
Man 2: didn't ya see the sniper?
Man: Holy S***!!!!
Man 2: SHAME, the man died, tsk tsk.
Man: SO, am I going to cheer the main character? See, he hides in the corner!
Man 2: that's why sometimes not all cheer for the main char.
Though, cool list btw. ^^
One of the most famous & obvious one not appearing on the list is Janet Leigh in Psycho.
I always thought Psycho was the first and best example of a lead character being killed early. Drew Barrymore in Scream also seemed a bit of a shocker to me. There are probably hundreds more but I can't think of them.
a twist on "influential" and for that matter "early" — vincent vega (travolta in pulp fiction)
sitting on the john — *****ty way to die.
he was influential, but i think its more noteworthy that the death helps establish the proper timeline.
it helpes audiences follow the plot (which jumps around a little), and with a few key scenes, the chopped up plot timeline becomes more linear, and more clear (should you be one of those people who were confused).
actually, he was killed while coming out of the bathroom. after being pumped full of lead he fell into the bath tub.
true that. (obviously)
i, personally, dont want to die anywhere near a porcelain *****er
well, how about the chief dying by virtue of being thrown off the roof in the departed? i think thats a winner.
Then there's a statue in Holland you should never go near.
thanks for the heads up — im going there soon, and i happened upon it without knowing, i probably had a heart attack/
*****ty way to die… tell me about it.
One of my favorite movies… It has a lot of those jump-a-little-in-your-seat type moments (even if you´ve seen it many times). Vega´s death was one, the guy who gets brain bits all over the car is another (not really an influential character but still a shocking moment). Great bloody movie.
yeah, i actually think the plotline being all out of order added to that jump-in-your-seat effect. some people say its overrated, but i always thought it got the fair amount of acclaim.
Hey what's up guys im a big fat douche. Any comments you post are wrong and i will correct them with sub comments. Also im a virgin. Hardcore.
Oliver, it's good to know you've got my back. But, given your situation, could you watch my back from the front?
what about Obi-Won Kenobi dying in Star Wars 4? Sure it was at the end of the movie, but it was the start of THAT trilogy. He could have kicked much more Imperial ass but noooooo, Luke had to go and get coached by some 900 year old midget…
nice idea but, most of these movies are quite high on the crappinessmeter. anyways, janet leigh from psycho is a no brainer. guy pearce in the hurt locker, liam neeson in gangs of ny maybe could be a nice addition too. and if its early in the movie then orson wells in citizen kane
here's another example (although its a little stretch, and may get caught in semantics)
dr malcom crowe — bruce willis….the "i see dead people" movie
talk about early on? he's dead 1 second into the movie — you still havn't even gotten your popcorn and m&m's yet.
some (perhaps a lot), people may have not caught it right away, but others (like my girlfriend, who immediately noticed the use of red around his character) — leaned in to me within 15min, and said …..do you think the doctor dead?. — these scenes make no sense unless theres something else going on.
man you must've been *****ed off especially with that movie…….lucky i dont have that problem , usually my girlfriend leans in to me after 50 mins and says "do you know what is going on?" ……….
never watch "lost highway", "mulholland drive", or "eraserhead" with this girl.
and yanno — there are points where i would have been *****ed. i was actually *****ed for 13 minutes or so. then it occured to me — (especially after i had a similiar thought) – i can sit and try to find all the instances of red things. it was like a game.
ah. now i know who writes all these smart comments.
Who taught you to read?
the book fairy
haha. true that.
I noticed you used a strange word there. "girlfriend" What means girlfriend? Is it when you put a plastic bag in between the couch cushions?
your other comments were dumb….
but this…
*this* is *****ing funny.
thumbs up
Bruce Willis was dead???????
God idea for a list , but the movies on here all pretty disappointing . A lot are pretty obvious cheesy action for high school boys .The rest are pretty obscure (well to me at least) . I'd like to see no.4 though because Danny Glover is cool (and they all wearing old school style bluesman suites in the pic) . As for no.8 i hope im never unlucky enough to see that it sounds like the usual dog***** "gangsta " crap . I dont watch "gangsta" movies , gangster -yes ,gangsta no….. Ive lost friends over this…
I was watching "burn after reading" last night ,and was surprised (not dissapointed) to see brad pitts character get his skull plugged so early in the movie . His character sucked balls.
haha brad in burn after reading was cracking!! but the film was oh not so family viewing types….i still remember how embarrasing it was when i decided to rent out his movie for a family get together..eeps!
God idea for a list? I can't decide if that's a typo or a compliment to the author. Someboydy once started a post with, "Grate idea…" I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Re "Burn After Reading": Bluesman, if you're gonna suck balls, you gotta get your skull plugged. So you don't waste so much…
What's a "gangsta" movie? And how have you "lost friends" over it?
I still remember watching Executive Decision years ago and suddenly saw Steven Seagal dying, flying off in the air. All through the movie, i thought that he might come back and help the hero in killing all the idiots who could not shoot straight. But alas, he did not return. I always wondered why was he in the movie, except for his name and to ger money from the producers, along with to have his picture on the poster to draw stupid viewers.
But what about BUBBA in FORREST GUMP? Though i remember he was in the ‘irritating actor’s list’, was sad to see him killed in action. Though not early, he too died halfway in the movie.
Guy Pearce as SSGT Matt Thompson in "The Hurt Locker" was what 1st came to my mind. Not really because he was an influential character but because he was one of the few cast members I had heard of. I expected him to make it a little longer then 5 minutes into the film. Great movie though.
How about the youngest brother from the move 4 brothers?
movie
I never considered Drew Barrymore's character to be influential in Scream. Just a famous actress making a cameo and being killed.javascript: postComment(0);
Vin diesel as caparzo in Saving Private ryan..'tis sad to see my favorite fast n furious star go down half way the movieee
i know it was sad to see him die half way , i wish he would've gone out first by being shot in the dick or something on the beach…….
Halfway’s pushing it. More like a fourth of the way through. The only scenes before that are D-Day, the whole letter ordeal, and Tom Hanks assembling his team.
Alfred Molina as Satipo in Indiana Jones Raiders of lost ark…. ’tis was sad to see my favorite ock go down in the first ten minutes of zee movieee
Janet Leigh in "Psycho" is a crazy omission.
But I think an interesting alternate choice would be Vanessa Redgrave in "Howards End." Although she has very limited screentime in the first act, the (metaphorical) ghost of her character looms throughout the rest of the film.
How about a top ten half baked spoilers of all time? the 6th sense… He see’s dead people.. fight club.. The biggest fight you’ll have is with who you see in the mirror.. titanic.. The ship may sink (?) but its not who survives.. but what.. Close encounters of the 3rd kind.. May contain aliens.. terminator salvation.. Maybe machines can have a hart.. harry potter.. he may destroy his nemisis have children and send them to hogwarts some 20 years later :p
No Optimus Prime? When he died, it was such a shock. I know it`s only a cartoon, but when I saw Transformers The Movie at the Pictures and Optimus Prime dies, I was so upset, I cried. And I`m not ashamed to admit it either.
But he was later resurrected in the latest movie no?..c'mon don't be a cry baby …get over it
serious , you seemed pretty cool but thats lame dude……………wussy…..
I was only 6 for God`s sake. And is it just ME, or is the new Transformers a load of *****? The "New and Improved," Megatron looks like a cheese grater. And where the hell are Grimlock and the Dinobots?
oh ok i thought you meant like now ,with the new movies . hahaha sorry .
The new movies? You are kidding. There so *****, it`s unreal. Do you know my favourite character is Optimus Prime and Starscream? "Oh, how it pains me to do this!" It pains me to watch that crappy film.
ok ya 't happens sorry happend with me too when i was 6 o 7 when watching super human samurai syber sqaud when servo was in trouble i was always like it's d end f the world chweh!
I liked this list. Not all the movies with these characters moved me, but it was a neat idea for a list. I actually thought of Dune…where both the Duke Leto and Duncan dies. Loved both those characters.
forgot about that one. that would have been a great addition!
What about Harold Perrineau in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet?! Mercutio is one of the best characters ever written in my opinion, and his death begins Romeo's (and Juliet's) demise.
Hardly unexpected though, considering the play has been widely read and performed for centuries.
Aye, but the title is Influential characters who die early – And Mercutio fits this to a tee.
My first thought for this list was of course Janet Leigh in Psycho. That’s a glarring omission.
My second thought was Jeff Bridges in Tideland. I kept thinking he’d come back to life. That was a real shocker.
Then there’s Ciaran Hinds in In Bruges. Ok not influential but how could you get such a fine gorgeous actor to be in your film just to kill him off so quickly? He even made a hot preist and I’m just not that into men of the cloth.
I kind of wish that Colin Farrell had bit the bullet early in that one. Not sure what it is but I can't stand him. Apart from that, "In Bruges" was a great flick.
Roger Hill in the the warriors is classic. Also like the addition of "the body." And wait for it, Deep Blue Sea, a true cult classic…..among the best of its kind. Good list I might say. thank you DarrienB!!!
What about Donny from the Big Lebowski? Not of the influence, ei? Well, maybe not, but I sure was sad… His name is Donny Kerabatsos!
that doesnt happen early in the movie…
I can't really think of any movies but I can think of an example from a tv show The Wire. I thought Stringer Bell was very influential to the episodes and it was a big surprise when he was killed off. But I only got into the show and watched all the seasons on dvd after they aired, so maybe at the time it didn't have such an impact as people wouldn't have known if another season was coming.
Also from tv shows, Lost had some influential characters leave the series early on, which didn't quite complete the storyline, but then the whole show had too many derails to be complete anyway.
So I was the only one expecting this list to be about characters in books, instead of mostly mediocre and forgettable films, huh.
Nope. Title didn't say nuthin' 'bout no movies.
title didn't, but film is mentioned 4 or 5 times in the introduction.
Didn't read the introduction. Went straight to your comment.
which one?
ahh,…either way sometimes you get complacent and just assume everyone's read the whole damn thing —
Very surprised that Janet Leigh in 'Psycho' wasn't at the top of the list, let alone completely absent. Not only is it one of the most famous and referenced bait and switches in cinemtaic history, but it has a huge impact on the viewer when it flounts cinematic convention by dispensing of the (extremely well developed) protaganist early in the movie.
Ditto!
I know this is gonna sound stupid but…Mufasa in The Lion King?
The wife from ‘Up’ too… What a sad way to start a movie!
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They’re probably not seen as influential though
Well if it weren't for the wife the old dude would never had moved his house , she was the base of the story . Cool move .
*movie
not influential? hell, her death is the reason everything happens. UP. amazing movie.
You didn't even mention the most obvious one: Janet Leigh in Psycho!
R. Lee Ermey as the Drill Sargeant in "Full Metal Jacket"????
this list should be renamed to 10 b grade actors who thankfully die early.
Great list…the sharks in Deep Blue Sea were mako sharks though, not great whites.
Also, armadillotron, I cried when Optimus died as well. I cry in everything though, haha.
Cass
good list
What happened to R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket?
yeah that movie with steven seagul was so strange. i was bored through the rest of it without him.
Is it actually possible to be more bored WITHOUT Steven Seagal than WITH him?
Better list than yesterday's! Very interesting, I never thought about that before.
Sargent Apone in aliens its a great character too
Burgess Meredith (Mickey Goldmill) in Rocky III
James Caan (Sonny Corleone) in The Godfather
How about John Wayne in "The Cowboys"?
Terrible list riddled with omissions!
The Samuri Husband in Rashoman? You know, just one of the most influential Japanese flicks ever? Wait, Steven Fatass Seagal is more important…..
Izo in Izo? Wait, that's right, foreign flicks don't even appear in this Hollywood list nonsense.
Janet Leigh in Psycho? Probably the most influencial movie death ever, but I guess Deep Blue Sea was a much more important movie ><
Orson Welles in Citizen Kane? Oh yes, you had to leave this one out to make room for the cinematic delight that is Predator! Great call!
The 'Tapeworm' in Irreversible? See it and you'll know why.
R. Lee Emery in Full Metal Jacket? I can't even come up with an excuse for this miss. It's an 80's Hollywood flick, so it should be right down the LM alley.
The name of the list should be '10 Movie Deaths I Enjoy'. Once again a crappy opinion based list with little research or objectivity. LV, you let me down on a daily basis now
i agree on rashomon. that was the underlying plot of the movie. same with psycho and full metal jacket (but the death is not influential in what happens in the plot thereafter, technically speaking. the second half would have been the same even if he hadn't died, but an honorable inclusion i'd say.)
Private “Pyle” was equally influential and died seconds after Ermey.
Kevin Costner in “The Big Chill”? LOL
And then there’s “Godfather III” where Sofia Coppola wasn’t killed off soon enough and Duvall was killed off before even making it to the screen.
Sonny Corleone?
Haha! A Steven Seagal movie? Seriously?
A similar list from last week with some of the titles named in the comments:
http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2010/09/03/unex…
Hahaha – I'm sure that Sam Jackson requested the early death scene in Deep Blue Sea – then you went and ruined it for him DarrienB – you reminded everybody that he was in that piece of *****. Not that it didn't have some cinematic value – as a camp comedy.
I can imagine the pre-production meeting for Executive Decision……
"How can we save this movie? make it a notch above the usual Seagal save the world crap?
"I know, I know – kill him off in the first 15 minutes. Sure fire treatment, guaranteed to work."
There are a few movies on the list that I haven't seen and I might check out. Just hope they are better than the ones I have seen. Notable omissions are being well-covered in the comments. Thank goodness.
Samuel Jackson: "I AM SICK OF THESE M'F'ING SHARKS IN THIS M'F'ING SEA!!!"
A death out of left field was Vicennes(Spacey) death in LA Confidential. It was towards the end but still so sudden as Samuel Jacksons.
Also, how about Deniro in 15 Minutes
No zombies? I mean they die for a bit?
zombies! They get killed again dont they?
I'd like to add Forest Whitaker as Jody in "The Crying Game."
Has anyone mentioned Janet Leigh yet? (snort-giggle-snort)
But seriously, I haven't seen anyone mention Patrick Swayze in "Ghost." Or is this list just for people who die and have the good manners to go away and not bother the living anymore?
Really surprised no one mentioned Liam Neeson in Gangs of New York! The leader of one of the gangs and father of the protagonist and yet he makes it all of 10 minutes into the movie.
Plus it was a great movie unlike some from this list.
Oh one that comes to mind is when goose died in ahh crap I can’t remember the name it was with Tom Cruise. Anywho that was sad.
Top Gun…. but Goose dies past the midway point almost closer to the end of the movie. Good pick though, very influential character for sure.
Ahh yes that’s it.
Now WHY exactly did youput number 1. first, and number 10. last? I know it sounds more reasonable that way, but this makes it seem less like a countdown – almost like you'd tell the best one first, and all the others are just extra, that you don't mind reading.
Tom Skerritt in the original "Alien" movie. You think he's the lead in the picture right up until the alien eats him up.
Huh? Cracked rip off?! Sorry Listverse, this was it. I'm leaving, I can't believe you actually did this. Good bye :'(
Good riddance. We shall survive
I’m glad you said that, because I was starting to get a little panicky.
So long. Write if you find work.