Old Yeller. The puppycide takes place off screen, but that doesn't make it any less heartbreaking. Look at that doggy face. Go ahead. Every time I do, my throat closes a little.
Brian's Song. Maybe it's a Chicago thing, but the short life of Brian Piccolo, like Walter Payton, has the power to make grown men cry. I know that I once welled up in a bank when the theme was played on the Muzak overhead. The death scene has James Caan as Brian, acknowledging that he has lost his brave battle with cancer by saying, "Can you believe this?" and then closing his eyes. The movie ends with a voice over: "Brian Piccolo died of cancer at the age of 26. He left a wife and three daughters. He also left a great many loving friends who miss and think of him often. But when they think of him, it's not how he died that they remember - but how he lived."
The Godfather. Thinking of James Caan, he also had a very famous death scene in the causeway. Sonny, Sonny, Sonny, your temper always got the best of you!
Bonnie and Clyde. Oh. My. God. It's so violent, so inevitable, so awful. It begins with Clyde looking up at the birds and suddenly knowing what it means. His eyes lock with Bonnie's, and she realizes it, too, and looks at him with such love. Then the shooting starts. It's hard to describe how jarring this scene is upon first viewing (or how liberally Coppola borrowed from it for Sonny's murder in the causeway).
Psycho. Speaking of iconic death scenes, who can forget Janet Leigh's beautiful, horrified face as she tries to defend herself from mother's knife in the shower?
