Arzette: I should be thanking you!
Crowdee: Mmcaaw, no, you gave me the courage to face my greatest fear. You pushed me to...push him (Cornrad) off.
Crowdee: Mmcaaw, no, you gave me the courage to face my greatest fear. You pushed me to...push him (Cornrad) off.
How are you fallen from heaven, O Shining One, son of Dawn! How are you felled to earth, O vanquisher of nations!
Happy trails, Hans!
—John McClane as Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi Plaza, Die Hard
Now, I gotta pause this because I gotta ask, how many times have you seen this shot in a movie? Way too fucking much. It was one of the biggest clichés of the time. What happened at the end of Batman? The Joker falls, same shot. What happens at the end of Dick Tracy? Big Boy falls, same thing. But Turtles III takes this cliché to a new level. I mean, a whole new level.
—The Angry Video Game Nerd reviewing the third Ninja Turtles movie
He met his doom!
Lou: He fall down and go boom!
All: And he never looked better in his life!
Lou: He fall down and go boom!
All: And he never looked better in his life!
—Abbott and Costello meet Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)
Looks like the Duke... has fallen from grace.
—Hawke, Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assassin
He had no head for heights.
— James Bond, For Your Eyes Only
"Exit Gaston" (To the tune of Gaston's narcissistic introductory theme.)
All: No one flies like Gaston!
All: No one cries like Gaston!
All: No one falls to the ground and then lies like Gaston!
Gaston: "And especially as I'm exsanguinating -"
All: Nobody dies like Gaston!
All: No one flies like Gaston!
All: No one cries like Gaston!
All: No one falls to the ground and then lies like Gaston!
Gaston: "And especially as I'm exsanguinating -"
All: Nobody dies like Gaston!
"VILLAIN JOB: Crave control of universe, keep nose in air, be either huge or emaciated, collect mortal souls, perish by falling."
— "Sum of Their Parts"
, a fun little analysis of Disney Animated Canon character tropes.
, a fun little analysis of Disney Animated Canon character tropes.The Falling Villain:
At the end of virtually every action-adventure movie, the villain must fall from a great height onto a hard surface. If possible, the villain should crash backward through a plateglass window and land on an automobile.
At the end of virtually every action-adventure movie, the villain must fall from a great height onto a hard surface. If possible, the villain should crash backward through a plateglass window and land on an automobile.
"It seems to be considered cinematic to see a character plunge to their doom, with an optional scream of rage or fear. Variants on the theme include landing on an interesting object or landscape feature, or tumbling forever into a void. We'd urge film makers to use restraint on this overused category now. If someone is shot, do they really need to stagger towards the nearest railing and topple unconvincingly over it?
— Movie Deaths Database, "Falling"
, "Falling"Young Cesare, I heard him say. Could not be killed by man. So I tossed him through the air. To see where he might land.
Cesare, Oh Cesare. A man of great depravity. He thought himself immortal. 'Til he had a date with gravity.
Cesare, Oh Cesare. A man of great depravity. He thought himself immortal. 'Til he had a date with gravity.
—Ezio Auditore, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, describing the ending of the previous game.
Whoo, you know he dead.
—James Carter, Rush Hour
Damn! He ain't gonna be in Rush Hour 3!
—James Carter, during the Hilarious Outtakes in Rush Hour 2
Geez, gravity apparently has a grudge against Disney villains.
—A Youtube comment on a video chronicling most of the Disney villain defeats.
.Nitti: I said your friend died screaming like a stuck Irish pig. Now you think about that when I beat the rap.
[As Nitti walks away, Ness grabs him and shoves him off the roof.]
Nitti: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Ness: Did he sound anything like that?!
[As Nitti walks away, Ness grabs him and shoves him off the roof.]
Nitti: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Ness: Did he sound anything like that?!
—Eliot Ness, The Untouchables
Now that's... a whuppin'.
— Capt. James West, Wild Wild West
Bungee jumping without a bungee. That could be dangerous.
— Donatello, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, on Walker's demise.
Shame old Gershel can’t float like when he was a young Fella.
— Rucks, Bastion
Gunn Sarr: What's the tally of challenges?
Cato: Twenty-five dead and one missing, sir.
Gunn Sarr: Oh, come on, Cato. Don't quibble. Marquin fell backwards off the cliff.
Cato: Yes, sir.
Gunn Sarr: So he's dead. Like, you can't say someone's missing as such. Not when they've taken a dive into a bottomless gorge.
Cato: No sir.
Gunn Sarr: So, it's twenty-six dead.
Cato: The Council ruled it was twenty-five, sir, and one missing.
Gunn Sarr: Twenty-five men lie dead who tried to stand against me. And one, if he's not still falling, is no more than a greasy spot on the rocks, right?
Cato: Twenty-five dead and one missing, sir.
Gunn Sarr: Oh, come on, Cato. Don't quibble. Marquin fell backwards off the cliff.
Cato: Yes, sir.
Gunn Sarr: So he's dead. Like, you can't say someone's missing as such. Not when they've taken a dive into a bottomless gorge.
Cato: No sir.
Gunn Sarr: So, it's twenty-six dead.
Cato: The Council ruled it was twenty-five, sir, and one missing.
Gunn Sarr: Twenty-five men lie dead who tried to stand against me. And one, if he's not still falling, is no more than a greasy spot on the rocks, right?
— Blake's 7, "Power"
"Bad guy falls to his death because showing him die in any other way would be too gruesome for a kid's movie" cliche
"Geese Howard. He's the big boss of South Town, and he's the rival of Terry Bogard. Falling off of buildings is his thing."
Cindy: What'd you do with Sully?
Matrix: I let him go.
Matrix: I let him go.
— Commando
[after the villains are sucked into the sky by a tornado and land smack-bang in their own prepared graves]
Pugsley: Are they dead?
Wednesday: Does it matter?
Pugsley: Are they dead?
Wednesday: Does it matter?
"On top of that, [Clayton's death is] a rather brutal take on the greatest foe of every Disney villain: Gravity. Disney, much like Enrico Pucci, is absolutely obsessed with gravity judging by how often it takes out the big bads of their films. From the very start with the Evil Queen in Snow White to several Renaissance villains like Frollo and Gaston, that thing that dropped an apple on Newton’s head seems to have it out for Disney villains. The thing is, we usually don’t see the splat, we don’t see the actual moment of death. Some of them you can even pretend they survived with some injuries if you’re feeling overly nice (Gaston was actually supposed to survive his fall originally). Here though? Clayton is completely and unambiguously fucking dead, his neck snapped by his own wrathful arrogance being combined with gravity."
—Michael Ford, discussing Clayton's death scene
Clayton's death scene