The 10 saddest deaths in movie history
Death is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean cinema has to make it so difficult to stomach the demise of some notable characters in the most heartbreaking of fashions.
At least one key figure in the story meeting their end before the credits come up is part and parcel of filmmaking, and killing somebody off under whatever circumstances the key creatives see fit can be anything from violent and gruesome to outlandish and hilarious.
However, some deaths linger in the memory long after the film in question fades to black, and in some cases, a lifelong inability to shed that initial devastating impact. Going down in history as iconic is one thing, but enduring as a moment etched into the mind never to be forgotten is something else entirely.
Apologies for any residual trauma that’s about to be dredged back up and shoved to the forefront, but the following ten deaths are the saddest the medium has to offer, with each of them barely capable of being witnessed – or revisited – without at least one tear rolling down the cheek.
The 10 saddest movie deaths:
10. Thomas J. Sennett (My Girl, Howard Zieff, 1991)
A coming-of-age story ostensibly marketed as a children’s film, the fact My Girl earned a mammoth $121 million at the global box office helps explain why so many people were left distressed forevermore by the heart-wrenching fate that befell Macaulay Culkin’s Thomas J. Sennett.
The fact he was the world’s favourite child star at the time didn’t do anybody any favours, either, with his allergy to bees resulting in a pained “oh no” before he was overcome by a swarm while searching for the lost mood ring of Anna Chlumsky’s Vada Sultenfuss.
His glasses plummeting to the ground in agonising slow motion, coupled with Chlumsky’s devastating performance standing in front of his open casket during the haunting funeral scene, and her anguished cries of “he can’t see without his glasses!” is one of the main culprits behind an entire generation’s lingering trauma.
9. Rosie Betzler (Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi, 2019)
An offbeat comedy in which writer and director Taika Waititi plays Adolf Hitler as the scenery-chewing and exceedingly hammy figment of a child’s imagination didn’t seem as though it had much interest in reducing audiences to a pile of emotional rubble, making the fate of Scarlett Johansson’s Rosie Betzler hit ten times harder.
Her staunch opposition to the Nazi regime – a sentiment her son Jojo didn’t exactly share based on the time he spent with the party’s leader inside his own mind – manifested itself in the most tragic of fashions as her membership of the resistance proved to be her undoing.
Whimsically following a butterfly into the town square, Jojo clutching the dangling legs of his hanged mother – with a “Free Germany” message still stuck to her leg – before tying her shoelaces came completely out of the blue from a narrative perspective, making it all the more jaw-droppingly cruel.
8. Mufasa (The Lion King, Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994)
For decades, Disney’s animated classics have been the source of widespread emotional manipulation, with memorable characters and catchy songs often being undercut by a haymaker launched squarely into the feels with the unbridled power of a champion boxer.
James Earl Jones’ gravitas had already elevated Mufasa to iconic status, but it was his death that became seared into the minds of viewers everywhere. In addition to the betrayal at the hands of his scheming brother Scar, son Simba’s earlier ‘I Just Can’t Wait to be King’ ditty takes on a whole new meaning when his old man is found lying limp having saved his life from a rampaging herd of wildebeest.
Simba trying to wake Mufasa up to no avail stings just thinking about it, with the youngster instantly wracked by the crushing realisation that even as it relates to anthropomorphised animals, an insatiable hunger for power can often leave a trail of bodies in its wake.
7. John Coffey (The Green Mile, Frank Darabont, 1999)
Cinema’s gentlest giant meets one of the medium’s most tear-jerking demises in Frank Darabont’s classic prison drama, with the sheer reluctance etched onto the face of Tom Hanks’ Paul Edgecomb adding further emotional heft to a scene that’s difficult enough to stomach as it is.
Tears glisten in the eyes of Michael Clarke Duncan’s John Coffey as he takes pelters from the gathered crowd who believe him to be guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted, with his lingering fear of the dark creating a sinking hole in the pit of the stomach when he begs not to have his face covered.
A good, honest, and kind man being sentenced to death for trying to help people to no avail is hard enough to swallow, and the assembled prison guards were a million miles away from being the only ones openly weeping by the time that fateful switch gets flipped.
6. Marley (Marley & Me, David Frankel, 2008)
As a general rule of thumb, dogs don’t die in movies. Considering the various trailers and TV spots for Marley & Me painted the picture of a quaint comedy with a plum role for the titular canine companion, it was reasonable for anyone unfamiliar with John Grogan’s 2005 memoir of the same name to expect a happy ending.
Having made a monumental impact on the lives of Owen Wilson’s John and Jennifer Aniston’s Jenny Grogan, watching Marley enjoy a lengthy and exuberant existence only exists to turn the final moments of the film into an emotional roller-coaster that careens off the tracks and plunges headlong into emotional annihilation.
Recovering from one near-fatal incident was a borderline miracle in itself, but a second proves too much for old Marley, who ends up being euthanised as John – and everybody else – helplessly watches on.
5. Artax (The NeverEnding Story, Wolfgang Petersen, 1984)
Sure, Artax is brought back to life in the end when Fantasia is recreated at the end of the movie, but countless first-time viewers of The NeverEnding Story would have been completely unaware of that fact, guaranteeing that the hard-hitting fantasy tore an innumerable volume of hearts to shreds.
In fairness, Wolfgang Petersen’s literary adaptation had already outlined that it was darker than the average family-friendly fantasy long before that point, but Noah Hathaway’s Atreyu being forced to watch on as he fails to prevent Artax slowly sinking to a sludgy demise retains the power to reduce even the hardiest to a blubbering wreck.
Atreyu screaming Artax’s name as his equine compatriot’s inevitable doom sweeps over him is agonising, to say the least, with the pristine white horse quite literally drowning in a pit of despair, a sentiment shared by the audience.
4. Bruno and Shmuel (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Mark Herman, 2008)
Endings don’t come much bleaker that of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, with the moving friendship created under the worst possible circumstances between Asa Butterfield’s Bruno and Jack Samuel’s Shmuel barely conceivable in its tragedy.
Although the film itself did come in for some criticism for being exploitative, manipulative, and overly melodramatic given its setting, the final scene is nothing short of brutal. Bruno opts to assist Shmuel in tracking down his father – who, of course, isn’t “missing” at all – only for the two to be corralled into the gas chamber of a concentration camp.
Telling the story through the perspective of two kids created an inevitable sense of emotional investment, to begin with, and the culmination of their bond unfolding under the most wicked and depraved means is unforgettable in the worst possible way.
3. Leslie Burke (Bridge to Terabithia, Gábor Csupó, 2007)
The marketing campaign for Bridge to Terabithia was so misleading that the filmmakers actively distanced themselves from it, with director Gábor Csupó saying, “We don’t really think that it’s an appropriate way of selling the movie,” before issuing an ominous warning: “If they are anticipating a Harry Potter movie, then we are in trouble.”
Based on the trailers, potential paying customers had been conditioned to expect a sweeping fantasy from the creator of Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys that saw Josh Hutcherson’s Jesse Aarons and Anna Sophia Robb’s Leslie Burke transported to a fantastical kingdom full of various outlandish creatures. However, unless they’d read the book, a gut-wrenching shock was in store.
Not only is the kingdom of Terabithia entirely imaginary and used by the characters as a way to cope with the trials and tribulations of their formative years, but Leslie dies by drowning midway through the movie, pulling the rug from under anyone unfamiliar with Katherine Paterson’s novel.
Even though it happens off-screen, Jesse’s initial state of denial – coupled with the gradual acceptance as he sprints over to Leslie’s house and sees emergency vehicles gathered outside – is borderline ruinous on the soul, especially when he holds himself directly responsible and becomes wracked with intense guilt.
2. Brooks Hatlen (The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont, 1994)
Whereas the main storytelling thrust of The Shawshank Redemption focuses on Andy Dufresne’s continued protestations of his innocence and desire to escape his incarceration at any cost, the suicide of Brooks Hatlen hits even harder because he takes his own life for the exact opposite reasons.
Having spent so long behind bars that he’s become institutionalised beyond repair, Brooks even considers murdering a fellow inmate in an effort to prolong his sentence after discovering he’s being released. Cast out into a world he doesn’t recognise and instantly accepts he won’t be able to get to grips with, the elder statesman of Shawshank sends a letter to his friends on the inside before killing himself.
With a 50-year sentence under his belt, the montage of Brooks struggling with such alien concepts as packed streets, busy roads, and even working as the bagger at a grocery store encapsulates his status as a man out of time. He’d been imprisoned for so long that he never wanted to leave, and in his view, he took the wisest option. For anyone watching, though, floods of tears were shed.
1. Ellie Fredricksen (Up, Pete Docter, 2009)
Continuing Disney and latterly Pixar’s reputation for using animated family films to wreak havoc on the emotional fragility of millions, Up didn’t even need a single word of dialogue to tell one of the most emotionally damaging love stories in cinema history in the space of a few minutes.
The core concept of “old man ties balloons to his house and sets off on an adventure” is undeniably fun, but it’s the motivation behind Carl Fredericksen’s bold call that made the lasting impression. Spending his entire life with friend/girlfriend/wife/soulmate Ellie, anyone who claims they weren’t even the tiniest little bit distraught by her passing is either dead on the inside or a bold-faced liar.
