Wow!! Great input from everyone!! I am really enjoying this chat.. even if the subject is usually one that folks find LESS than enjoyable. ha. I appreciate everyone receiving my original post in the spirit I meant it.. as I was a bit worried folks would find it too "off-putting" a topic to embrace with much discussion. So thanks everyone for getting into the spirit!
Mr. A.. I really enjoyed the Blade Runner clip..(score yet ANOTHER point for SCI-FI in this thread,ha) I need to see that film all the way through sometime. I don't know why, exactly.. but I have never been able to get through it all the way from start to finish, though I have tried on more than one occasion. It is filled with some really amazing images.. and the story and characters are intriguing too. I need to give it a better shot than the hit and miss way I have approached it in the past, I know.
And THANKS for chiming in ChiO! And by the way.. ha.. The Sixth Sense is just about at the absolute TOP of my "scary-movie-o-meter" in terms of what I will let myself watch, HA. But I DID finally let myself start watching it once.. and then I was hooked. And to be honest.. it is NOT as scary as I thought it was.. I just had trouble with some of the images in it.. they were quite frightening! In fact.. the first time I watched it.. I almost DIDN'T. ha. Because I nearly turned it off several times, but I just kept coming back to it because I wanted to see what was going to happen to the little boy. But THEN it ended up not even (really) being about HIM (at least not as much as I thought at first) but more about Bruce Willis. ha. And once I figured how his character and his situation fit into the story, ha. I really found a LOT more to like about It all, by the time it was all over. (The second time I watched it.. I REALLY liked it a lot.. but boy, it just took me a LONG while to get there)
And thanks for the list of "Death Is..." too . Very nicely put. And I especially was glad to see you fit Gun Grazy in there.. I was struggling to figure out how that ending could fit into my different categories.. and it just kept getting "mushed" together with multiple layers (because it isn't all one reason or another that they end up where they do) But I like how you worded it.. just right.
Miss Maven.. RE: Schindler's List.. War Casualties indee!! Oh that POOR sweet girl in the red coat. AGH!! She nearly breaks your heart as you see her walking along.. and then later on when you see the coat again. OH dear me. That film still just weighs me down to even think of it. I remember watching it a long time ago.. on VHS. (I am so glad I did not go to the theater to see it) It was just so emotionally disruptive for me to watch it all.. I had to keep turning it off.. and I would get up.. go get a drink of water.. or step outside for some fresh air.. fold the laundry. whatever. and give myself a break.. and then a little while later I would come back and watch some more. I think I must have interrupted myself at LEAST five or six times for those little "emotional break" moments. If I hadn't.. I don't think I EVER would have been able to endure the whole thing all at once. Very devastating.
Masha.. ha.. NO chance on me seeing Heathers, I am pretty sure.. but thanks for the warning all the same.
I am intrigued by the "Shakespearean" twist angle that you mentioned in the other film. I looked it up and read a synopsis.. Ha.. it sounds like a play within a play.. within a play!
Mr. Movieman.. thank you for bringing up THE LETTER!! Watching Bette just empty out that gun there under the moonlight. That is a great opening.. (ha.. opening.. Letter.. silly me!)
Jackie.. thanks for the links on The Burmese Harp. I looked at the trailer and you have me hooked. I will hope to get to it soon.. not sure when, but will definitely make a point of it, if I can.
And WELCOME to the chat, Miss G.. very happy to see you here, little darlin'!! What a great addition.. the "UNSEEN" dead. All the titles you listed are PERFECT examples too. (HEY.. we are back to Gone With the Wind.. where this whole chat started, even) And YES.. Tom Doniphin.. woo hoo. That is terrific. He is a great example.. the way it all starts and ends with his death.. but all that happens in between is the REAL story. So yes.. we need to add another category
#15 THE UNSEEN DEAD for characters who have "unseen" deaths, but their loss makes a huge impact on the story (or even CREATES the entire story) Very good.
Meanwhile.. I thought of two more:
#16 Natural Disaster and/or Acts of God For films like.. A Night To Remember (or the aforementioned Titanic.. I think Lucky brought that one up) and stories like The Hurricane or The Rains Came and San Francisco, too.
And for all you "Rhoda" fans out there (and you know who you are, ha)
#17 Divine Retribution. (because sometimes someone is SO rotten.. only GOD can take care of them.)