Death and war go together like fish and water. Death is the de-facto purpose of war, to create death and casualties (preferably on the other side). Consequently, there's a lot of character that end up dying in war movies. Trying to find the best death scenes of all time was a difficult task, but what follows are, at least, some of the all-time great death scenes in war movies.
Tom Hanks' Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan is the heart of the film. An infantry captain leading a squad to rescue Private Ryan, he's also the moral conscience of his unit. Stoic and reserved, yet brave when necessary, Hanks is the everyman of the "Greatest Generation" that fought in World War II, a metaphor for idealized American character. We know little about John H. Miller, which is just a bit more than the men that serve under him know. We know he is from Iowa, that he is married, and that he is a high-school English teacher. When John H. Miller dies at the film's end, he leans in towards Private Ryan and says, "Earn this!" At that moment, he is not just telling Private Ryan to earn it, but everyone in the audience. He's not so much telling Private Ryan to earn it, as much as telling subsequent generations of Americans to earn it. It's a great death, for a great character, in a great film.
The first half of Full Metal Jacket is entirely spent in boot camp and the dehumanization process that recruits undergo to become Marine combat killers. One by one, the Marine Corps inducts, processes, and trains these men, turning them out the other end, as if a factory, as killing infantrymen. Except there's a problem in the factory cogs, one of the products gets stuck in the wheels; that sticky mistake is Private Pyle, a recruit that can't run, march, or clean his weapon properly. The gunnery drill sergeant makes the platoon pay for Private Pyle's failure, and in turn, the platoon makes Private Pyle pay. Something has to break. The film's first half finishes with Private Pyle finally becoming an infantry combat killer. Unfortunately, he becomes a killer in the training barracks and not in Vietnam. After his murderous rampage, Private Pyle considers what he's wrought, puts the barrel in his mouth, and pulls the trigger. It's a disturbing end to a disturbing scene of a disturbing movie.
In Platoon, Sergeant Elias (William Dafoe) is abandoned by his squad leader, the cruel and sadistic Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) for threatening to report his murder of civilians. The entire platoon is extracted by helicopters as they see, far below, Sergeant Elias running through the jungle, pursued by a small army of Vietcong forces. Sergeant Elias has been abandoned, purposefully left behind. When Sergeant Elias falls dead, shot multiple times, it's with his hands held high in the air as if Jesus, Elias' death being a symbol of the loss of innocence and morality in the war in Vietnam. It plays especially well in slow motion with a full scale orchestra providing the soundtrack.
Randy Shugart and Gary Gordon are famous in the Army. Both of them Congressional Medal of Honor winners, they were Delta Force members deployed to Mogadishu when they made their infamous choice that would cost them both their lives and secure their place in military history.
On board a helicopter hovering above the crash site for a downed Blackhawk helicopter, they know there is an injured pilot on the ground. From their vantage point, they can also see a crowd of thousands of Somalis streaming towards their location. They also know that backup will not be arriving soon, if ever. They can stay on board the helicopter and have the pilot below them get killed or, if you're Randy Shugart or Gary Gordon...you ask for permission to fast rope to the ground to protect the pilot, even knowing it will be just the two of you against an entire city, and even knowing it will likely cost both of you, your lives.
Gives special meaning to the phrase, "No one gets left behind!" It's courage on a scale I can't fathom or wrap my head around. High praise to Ridley Scott for bringing this tale to life.
Like a lot of young men, Paul had stirring feelings of machismo about the idea of entering the first World War. He imagined himself performing courageous acts, and of bringing valor and honor to his family and country. What he finds though is the horrific, cruel trench warfare of the first World War. There is no glory, no honor, only silent and perpetual suffering and then death. At the film's end, having learned his brutal lesson, he see's a butterfly and reaches out to touch this small thing of solitary beauty in what is otherwise an entirely harsh and horrific landscape.
Bam! He extended himself out of cover just a bit too far and Paul is shot dead by a sniper's bullet.
And that brings us to the end of one of the best all time war films.
Bruno is a child of privilege. The son of a Nazi commander at a concentration camp, Bruno makes friends with a Jewish child his age on the other side of the razor wire, a prisoner at the camp. Attempting to help his friend find his father, Bruno dresses in ragged clothes as a Jew, and sneaks into the camp, where shortly thereafter, Bruno and his friend are both herded into the shower area where they're asked to take off their clothes...well, you know the rest of the story about the gas chambers. A cruel story about a cruel chapter in history.
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1. Captain John H. Miller (Saving Private Ryan)
Tom Hanks' Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan is the heart of the film. An infantry captain leading a squad to rescue Private Ryan, he's also the moral conscience of his unit. Stoic and reserved, yet brave when necessary, Hanks is the everyman of the "Greatest Generation" that fought in World War II, a metaphor for idealized American character. We know little about John H. Miller, which is just a bit more than the men that serve under him know. We know he is from Iowa, that he is married, and that he is a high-school English teacher. When John H. Miller dies at the film's end, he leans in towards Private Ryan and says, "Earn this!" At that moment, he is not just telling Private Ryan to earn it, but everyone in the audience. He's not so much telling Private Ryan to earn it, as much as telling subsequent generations of Americans to earn it. It's a great death, for a great character, in a great film.
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2. Gomer Pyle (Full Metal Jacket)
The first half of Full Metal Jacket is entirely spent in boot camp and the dehumanization process that recruits undergo to become Marine combat killers. One by one, the Marine Corps inducts, processes, and trains these men, turning them out the other end, as if a factory, as killing infantrymen. Except there's a problem in the factory cogs, one of the products gets stuck in the wheels; that sticky mistake is Private Pyle, a recruit that can't run, march, or clean his weapon properly. The gunnery drill sergeant makes the platoon pay for Private Pyle's failure, and in turn, the platoon makes Private Pyle pay. Something has to break. The film's first half finishes with Private Pyle finally becoming an infantry combat killer. Unfortunately, he becomes a killer in the training barracks and not in Vietnam. After his murderous rampage, Private Pyle considers what he's wrought, puts the barrel in his mouth, and pulls the trigger. It's a disturbing end to a disturbing scene of a disturbing movie.
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3. Sgt. Elias (Platoon)
In Platoon, Sergeant Elias (William Dafoe) is abandoned by his squad leader, the cruel and sadistic Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) for threatening to report his murder of civilians. The entire platoon is extracted by helicopters as they see, far below, Sergeant Elias running through the jungle, pursued by a small army of Vietcong forces. Sergeant Elias has been abandoned, purposefully left behind. When Sergeant Elias falls dead, shot multiple times, it's with his hands held high in the air as if Jesus, Elias' death being a symbol of the loss of innocence and morality in the war in Vietnam. It plays especially well in slow motion with a full scale orchestra providing the soundtrack.
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4. Shugart and Gordon (Blackhawk Down)
Randy Shugart and Gary Gordon are famous in the Army. Both of them Congressional Medal of Honor winners, they were Delta Force members deployed to Mogadishu when they made their infamous choice that would cost them both their lives and secure their place in military history.
On board a helicopter hovering above the crash site for a downed Blackhawk helicopter, they know there is an injured pilot on the ground. From their vantage point, they can also see a crowd of thousands of Somalis streaming towards their location. They also know that backup will not be arriving soon, if ever. They can stay on board the helicopter and have the pilot below them get killed or, if you're Randy Shugart or Gary Gordon...you ask for permission to fast rope to the ground to protect the pilot, even knowing it will be just the two of you against an entire city, and even knowing it will likely cost both of you, your lives.
Gives special meaning to the phrase, "No one gets left behind!" It's courage on a scale I can't fathom or wrap my head around. High praise to Ridley Scott for bringing this tale to life.
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5. Paul (All Quiet on Western Front)
Like a lot of young men, Paul had stirring feelings of machismo about the idea of entering the first World War. He imagined himself performing courageous acts, and of bringing valor and honor to his family and country. What he finds though is the horrific, cruel trench warfare of the first World War. There is no glory, no honor, only silent and perpetual suffering and then death. At the film's end, having learned his brutal lesson, he see's a butterfly and reaches out to touch this small thing of solitary beauty in what is otherwise an entirely harsh and horrific landscape.
Bam! He extended himself out of cover just a bit too far and Paul is shot dead by a sniper's bullet.
And that brings us to the end of one of the best all time war films.
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6. Bruno (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas)
Bruno is a child of privilege. The son of a Nazi commander at a concentration camp, Bruno makes friends with a Jewish child his age on the other side of the razor wire, a prisoner at the camp. Attempting to help his friend find his father, Bruno dresses in ragged clothes as a Jew, and sneaks into the camp, where shortly thereafter, Bruno and his friend are both herded into the shower area where they're asked to take off their clothes...well, you know the rest of the story about the gas chambers. A cruel story about a cruel chapter in history.