Instapundit leads me to a post on “The Top 10 Manly Movie Deaths of All Time,” a great idea which pretty much sucks in execution because the person who wrote the post must be about 22 (#9 is the cartoon Optimus in the 1986 ‘Transformers’ movie!!)
10 – Leon in The Professional (1994)
9 – Optimus Prime in Transformers: The Movie (1986)
8 – Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)
7 – The Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
6 – Bill in Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)
5 – Goose in Top Gun (1986)
4 – Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977)
3 – Nick in The Deer Hunter (1978)
2 – William Wallace in Braveheart (1995)
1 – Apollo Creed in Rocky IV (1985)
Here’s my list, which shares one with theirs:
10 – Val Kilmer in Tombstone
9 – Nick Nolte in Who’ll Stop The Rain
8 – Clint Eastwood in Grand Torino
7 – Toshiro Mifune in Throne of Blood
6 – Burt Lancaster in The Killers
5 – David Carradine in Kill Bill
4 – Robert DiNiro in Heat
3 – Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner
2 – Jimmy Cagney in White Heat
1 – John Wayne in The Shootist
It’s amusing to mine our memories of films to talk about lists like this, but lists like this matter, because in part they embody our models for behavior – good and bad – into iconic moments that we all carry around as a part of our culture.
That’s why images like this are so powerful:
Because they embody idealized behavior.
In the list I posted, all of the characters embody an idealized masculine attitude toward death – for better or worse.
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Update: It’s interesting how – in retrospect – my list is all about violent death; some senseless, some deeply meaningful. Because I certainly don;t envision my life ending in a hail of bullets (or arrows); I was planning something like a peaceful death surrounded by a large and loving family for whom I have provided and cared much of my adult life. Hmmm.
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Being 22 is no excuse for not having seen Gran Torino.
My list would have to include the death of Kowalski (Barry Newman) behind the wheel of his 1970 Dodge Challenger in Vanishing Point.
Rutger Hauer / Blade Runner: My favorite scene in one of my favorite movies of all time.
I agree, Tim, replicant Rutger Hauer’s in Blade Runner is my #1… and it is not especially violent.
How can Steve McQueen’s immortal motocycle ride from The Great Escape NOT be on either list?
I’m shocked A.L. didn’t throw that one in himself, as #1…
Steve McQueen survived in The Great Escape. In those days the studios weren’t big on depicting the heroic deaths of big name stars. The Brit actors got mowed down in droves, though.
Butch and Sundance?
How about Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad Dum (ok, even if he came back). Or Boromir. Or Theoden. I think I like Boromir out of all of them.
Would Todd Beamer in _United 93_ count?
Never mind the Terminator him(it?)self in T2, I found Miles Dyson’s death in that same movie to be a lot more manly. Especially since Dyson actually was a man.
That said, if we are counting deaths by non-human characters as “manly”, then Spock’s self-sacrifice in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has to make the list.