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Movies That Kill Off the Main Character

Flicka

One Too Many
Messages
1,165
Location
Sweden
I've never seen The Great Gatsby, only read it, but to me it ended the only way it could.

I love movies with tragic endings. I think I've mentioned before how I felt about Pan's Labyrinth - horrible, but perfect ending. Dangerous Liasons could not possibly end without people dying. Of course my love for tragic endings isn't limited to films - I love the ending of All Calm On The Western Front and the ending to Koestler's Darkness At Noon is absolutely perfect.

Isn't life a tragedy of sorts? After all, it always ends with the main character dying.
 

Yeps

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,456
Location
Philly
There are stories I can think of **cough*** harry potter ***cough*** in which the dramatic arc all but demands that the main character dies. When it doesn't, and some sort of deus ex machina prevents it, it is extremely frustrating and can completely ruin a story*.








*okay, Harry Potter was well and ruined before she didn't kill him off. But his death could have at least partially redeemed it. A moment of heroic sacrifice could have been the redeeming act of true maturity bringing the drawn out coming of age story to an end. Instead we just kept dealing with whiny kids, even in the epilogue in which they had whiny kids of their own. Bah. [/rant]
 
Messages
10,931
Location
My mother's basement
It's not certain that he dies though. It's left to the imagination, is it not?

It's so strongly implied that neither I nor anyone with whom I've discussed the film had any doubt of it. "He went out on his own terms," is how one friend put it.

A great performance by Mickey Rourke, by the way.
 
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Messages
13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Weekend at Bernie's :p lol
can't get any deader than that!

movieplotstrue-weekend-at-bernies-590x350_fullsize.jpeg
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
Cold Mountain and Atonement both have the main character(s) die at the end. And they're both utterly heartwrenching. I can't watch either one again.
 
Messages
13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Two Robert Duvall movies.

The Great Santini -- When his jet fighter develops a mechanical failure, LTC Bull Meecham, instead of ejecting, goes down with his plane to avoid it crashing into a residential area.

Colors -- Hodges, the veteran cop to the hot-headed rookie played by Sean Penn, is killed in a shootout.
 
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