Pajiba

C'mon. Old Yeller was one of the funniest comedies ever produced. "He's my dog, Paw." Gets me every time.

Dead animals..., I got nothing.

Good list, but I'd argue Artax in The Neverending Story should be on it.

1. If you didn't cry during that death you are made of STONE!

2. The horse actually did drown in the swamp. They had to get another horse to finish the movie.

Dude. Artax. Hands down.

Jesus Christ Dustin! As if yesterday wasn't heartbreaking enough around here. I'm still sweeping shards of frozen tears off the floor. Give me a few days to clean up will you.

muttleycrew, my son and I were both sobbing our way thru watching Will Smith have to kill his dog in "I Am Legend." The last tie to his family, his only friend and confidant, protector....When it's on now, I deliberately will NOT watch that part.

What about the horse Mongo punched? Did it die?

And, thanks for keeping the Kleenex company is business, Dustin. DAMN this week SUCKS!!!

Well, Dustin is a bit perverse.

What about the horse Mongo punched? Did it die?

As is Janet.

That was really funny.

Does that Ewok who got hit count as an animal though? Hmmmm...philosophical question.

I've gotta agree with Park. When I saw the scene as a child, Artax's death was HANDS DOWN the most traumatic moment of cinema I'd ever witnessed up to that point in my life.

I Am Legend was fucking BRUTAL. Not cool. I am no dog lover but those bastards had me bawling.

And yes, Artax, for the win. What the hell, Rowles? Made of stone?

Mad Max's dog in Road Warrior.

Does anyone else think "Old Yeller" here looks like he's gotten into the happy pills?

It's the least they could do.

Oh and I need to stop saying Oh.

Artax, the rest aren't even close. I am calling for an unprecedented post posting edit. As Godtopus is my witness the eloquents shall be heard!

The freaking otter in "Ring of Bright Water." My god... my childhood was singlehandedly shattered in that one scene.

I think that I've mentioned this before...but you can buy Old Yeller dog food at Kroger. Isn't it kinder just to shoot the dog rather than poison it?

I stopped watching I am Legend when it became clear that the dog was going to die.

Toots' death in "Lassie Come Home."

My keyboard's damp now, thanks.

The mother bear in "The Bear" was also pretty bad, though maybe more in a shocking way than a sad way.

no artax???

Noooo, I'd mentioned it before!

Okay, okay....we've mentioned it before, and obviously no one pays any attention!

(In Portland they call it Freddy Kroger, after they acquired Fred Meyer.)

On top o' that disrespect, it seems I've now gotta go down to Green's to buy Tetley ale, since the nearer package store was apparently just trying to get me hooked before snatching it away. Gaaaaah. No, that's okay, I came here to buy the Guinness I can even get in Wal-Mart, I didn't come here for anything special! Ooooh, got any Corona this week? Is it in season? Can ya check? Pleeeease?

Yes, there's just bizarre connotations to that dog food.

Snopes hasn't covered it yet, but the horse death has been discredited.

While Futurama is not cinema, per se, I would argue that it is possible to play an episode on a movie screen somewhere, thus making it so.

In that case, Seymour's death in Jurassic Bark is by far the saddest animal death ever. He waits for Fry for all those years, and then just closes his eyes. Boom. Cue the "We'll Meet Again" and start bawling like a bitch. It's what I do.

Do any of the rabbits actually die in Watership Down? Because I remember a lot of death, and that bloody song, and feeling generally bereft when it ended, but now I'm not sure.

I don't know, but these are some hardcore grunt bunnies here

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/03/24/the-world-must-unite-to-make-cat-sht-one-anime/

(not to be confused with Bunnygrunt)

"Charlotte's Web"--seriously, I bawl, and it's a SPIDER, ferchrissakes

Nicodemus in "The Secret of NIMH"--a brilliant mind literally crushed

Charlie in "All Dogs Go to Heaven"--Sure, he dies technically at the beginning and it's the going to heaven part that's sad, but it still scarred a whole generation

Hazel in "Watership Down"--Oh, Hazel!

Boxer in "Animal Farm"--Yeah, not a kids' movie, but holy shit. So cruel.

Oh Seymour!

That episode of Futurama absolutely broke my heart.

OK, I can't find anything that the horse playing Artax died during filming. What I find in new story archives is that the horse was chained down to a platform that slowly sank, but the horse tried to jerk up and hurt the young actor on his back. So it was the kid that was hurt and taken to hospital, not the horse.

All apologies Jay. I meant on another thread at another time. But I should have paid you due respect. Won't happen again. Sir, yes, sir!

It's been pointed out to me that it's Disney Old Yeller food. I guess the dog doesn't die in the revamped version. But Disney dog food?

I've never seen the movie for Where the Red Fern Grows because I hated the book so very very much that had I been aware, in 7th grade, that there WAS a movie I probably would've gotten my hands on every copy in the immediate area and burned them to a lump of plastic giving off enough toxic fumes to make every baby in the surrounding neighborhoods grow a second nose. There are simply no words to describe the contempt that I have for that book and it's cheap attempt at sentimentality by killing off those two dogs. It's a terrible terrible book even BEFORE the dogs get killed off and why they keep telling children to read it I will never know. God forbid one of my children's teachers ever assigns them that book because I will send in a note saying that our religious beliefs mean we prohibit our children from reading pat and trite literature that is sure to upset them unnecessarily and that they will be reading the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder series instead, where death actually means something other than "the book had to end and this brutal and traumatic death scene means you'll remember the book FOREVER instead of forgetting it like all the other shitty books you read as a kid."

Wooo… didn't know I had that in me. Carry on.

I second the Project X comment. Bluebeard tapping on the glass for the cigarette. Rough.

I think the only one of these I've ever seen is I Am Legend. No wait, I've seen Bambi too.

I don't do well with animals dying in movies.

Holy cow. I will never again watch that Futurama episode. I had to leave the room so my boyfriend wouldn't see that I was sobbing. (I'm in veterinary school and not even desensitized by a cartoon dog's death.)

Anyways, the one that got me when I was a little tyke was the death of Antie in 'Honey, I shrunk the Kids.' So sad. I think of that every time I squish an ant in my apartment.

They still sell smallpox blankets too.

Yup, Artax. It's his HORSE for fuck's sake and no slightly weird looking luck dragon is going to take his place. Yes, I know it's all back and better and stuff at the end but that doesn't wipe out the sheer tragedy of that moment.

Also, as a kid Bambi totally convinced me that there are people going around randomly shooting kids's parents. Thanks for the anthropomorphizing, Disney.

*whispers* Littlefoot's mom in The Land Before Time.

to this day I cannot watch that movie without sobbing through three quarters of it.

Yup, your memory's good. The General was pretty nasty--I think his death stands out for me because it was pretty brutal--and Hazel does die of old age, but the way it's presented is really heartwrenching.

I watched it about a year ago, and it'll be a good long time before I do that again.

Alternate title: 5 Movies to Never Watch Ever

I'm lucky enough to have completely forgotten most of my childhood experiences so, while I know that I've seen Bambi, I can't remember the scene in question. Though, thinking about it now I'm picturing a waterfall. Was there a waterfall? No, wait, don't tell me! That's the sort of thing I must have repressed for a reason.

came into the living room I was sobbing and snotting all over the place.

And this was before school! My mom said I couldn't watch it after that.

OMG Jess, I didn't even think about Antie.

Poor lil guy

Seymour's death in Futurama has got to be one of the worst. After it ended, I just sat there for 5 minutes in disbelief. Then I bawled.

The dog technically doesn't die, but the kid's pet in Tsotsi. (SPOILERISH)

The kid's father gets drunk, and when the dog won't stop barking, the father slams his booted foot on the dog's back, and you can actually hear the snapping sound. Not even Bambi compared to that display of cruelty. Damn near made me sick.

Littlefoot's Mum!

Yep yep yep.

Ducky remains my fave. The rest of the series does not exist.

i know this not a movie death it happened in the real world . i want to add Keiko the whale from Free Willy to that list.

The shark in "Jaws."

What ... you guys LIKED Chief Brody?

Runner-up: The alien in "Alien."

Charlie in "All Dogs Go to Heaven"--Sure, he dies technically at the beginning and it's the going to heaven part that's sad, but it still scarred a whole generation.

Anytime I hear that name, I hear it in that little orphan girl's voice. This movie fucked my shit up. My favorite uncle looked and sounded exactly like Charlie, but you know, human. He too, was also a crook and kind of an addict. If his name was Charlie, that movie would be damn close to an autobiography. I was convinced that he would die and not go to heaven unless he wore the watch that I got out of my Burger King kids meal, and I would get hysterical if I ever saw him without it. He actually kept it for while. It's not like he could sell it.

Charlotte's Web! Charlotte's Web!

I watched I Am Legend on DVD. I cannot stand watching animals die on screen and ended up crouching in the kitchen going "lalalalalala" so I wouldn't have to see or hear that dog die. I'm sure there was an easier solution, but I just panicked. Luckily no one was home to see me acting like a loony.

and also in free willy 3 a couple of willy's podmates i don't know if they were his brother, sister or mom from the second movie but he did chase after whalers for their deaths.

whoa - wait a minute... Where the Red Fern Grows was not trite. It was a great story about how you need to work long and hard to achieve what you want in life. And how many of us can say we have friends, canine or otherwise, that would lay down their lives for us? I remember reading that book in one afternoon - I got sent home sick and so had the whole day to read it. My dad came home to find me bawling in my parent's bed, absolutely traumatized. You want trite? Try Babysitter's Club...

I refuse to watch Old Yeller because I KNOW I will have my heart kicked in.

Artax's death; Lawdamercy, that messed me up.
Also- Black Beauty, and that Xmas movie where the momma donkey dies keeping her baby warm during a blizzard in Bethlehem. Christ that was hard to watch.

I've got one that hasn't been mentioned yet: Dar's dog in Beastmaster. The Juns are torching his village and slaughtering every single person, and Dar gets knocked unconscious. His dog single-handedly (or single-mouthedly, as it were) drags his unconscious body away from the fire and the carnage. A Jun shoots an arrow into the dog's side, but the dog yelps and determinedly continues to drag him to safety. When Dar wakes up, he's been saved, but his dog has succumbed to the wound.

Oh, and here's another one that's somewhat similar. At the end of Heavy Metal, Taarna is battling that evil dude with the rotating blade hand, and just as he's about to finish her off, her trusty flying mount (I don't know the name of the creature, but I thought he was very cute and enjoyed imitating his sound) - thought dead - grabs him on the ankle with its last bit of strength to save her. Then the evil dude puts the rotating blade right into the creature's neck, but it's just enough of a distraction for Taarna to prevail.

Is it obvious that I'm a big fantasy nerd?

One more - horrible movie, but very effective sequence. In The Fly 2, Martin Brundle's boyhood dog-friend is subjected to genetic testing and comes out of it a disfigured, miserable creature. Brundle's caretaker promises that they will put the dog to sleep, but years later Brundle finds the dog is still the subject of experimentation and is in constant agony. Brundle is forced to euthanize the dog himself.

Local colloquialism.

I'm just upset that I've so far failed to find, if it even still exists, the KFC on Burnside near a Fred Meyer, so I still don't know where Jello got attacked! Must keep searching.

Also, thanks a LOT Dustin... as if we don't still have a brick of dread and depression in our chests from yesterday, now you gotta go cut into us again with this morbid topic?

It's hard enough focusing on work (like, really, I couldn't give a flying fuck about how desperate you are for a quote, ok? Have some goddam perspective. You not getting a number within 20 minutes is not going to be the end of the world...) without now having to keep from remembering all the fluffy wuffies who are no longer with us (cinematically speaking).

Holy Jesus, I was scarred by I Am Legend. I was watching it with my friend in the back of the theatre, and when Sam died I didn't just cry- I bawled. For the rest of the movie. I'm talking about those giant, messy sobs that you do after your mom dies. I was wailing at the top of my lungs, to the point where someone got an usher and asked me to step outside so I could compose myself. I still can't watch that movie.

The fact that I had a German Shepherd at the time didn't help anything either. When I got home that night I curled up on the floor with him and sobbed hysterically for like an hour, telling him how much I loved him and I'd never let any vampires hurt him.

I'm a pussy, you don't have to tell me twice.

And now, just thinking about it has gotten me so upset that I've called both my dogs to sit on my lap (and I have a full-grown yellow Lab and a full-grown German Pointer, so it's getting a bit hard to breathe).

Jaci That's just awesome, I laughed out loud reading your story. Breathe!

Mufasa in Lion King? Come on! That was the most fucked up thing I had ever seen, and I bawled for about three days straight. Fucking Disney traumatizing everybody for life. Like Bambi wasn't enough.

Recent enough that it's probably still there then, but I'm sure the phone booth isn't.

Like Pink Hulk, I avoid most movies involving animals as central characters unless and until I know for certain there are no deaths. I just can't handle it.

I carry a special loathing for classic Disney because I have wondered ever since seeing Old Yeller (some thirty years ago) what kind of trauma old Walt suffered as a child that made it necessary for so many Disney movies to include the death of an animal.

Disney-esque movies like Where The Red Fern Grows (I also was forced to watch the movie with my fourth grade class, like most of the rest of you) fall into the same category of "no way in hell I am watching that, I'd rather watch an Adam Sandler movie".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr4QBZfjtqs&feature=player_embedded

Finding Nemo - his mom and all of his brothers and sisters are eaten by the barracuda. And so he is named Nemo because that's the name his mom wanted.

*sniff*

The mom and all the eggs in Finding Nemo; when Marlin goes back into the little grotto and is calling her name...you get the feeling that he would have been sad about the eggs, but the loss of his wife is just unbearable. Oh, man. I saw that in ninth grade and was a little panicked.

And this doesn't really count, because he doesn't die, but I always bawl at the scene in Homeward Bound when they leave Shadow behind because he tells them he's too tired to go on. And then they're all in the backyard and Peter is staring, waiting for his dog to come home, then finally accepts he won't. They all turn away...but then over the ridge comes Shadow, muddy and weary and limping but still making his way towards his boy...oh my God, I'm sobbing, like, right now. I haven't seen this movie since elementary school and I'm still slayed.

Geetch, I teared up just reading your post.
It is not time for me to be hormonal, what gives?

The little mouse in The Green Mile and the wolf in Dances With Wolves both have me sobbing hysterically.

There's a movie version of Where The Red Fern Grows? So not watching that. That is one of the most depressing books of all times. And I'm not inflating my childhood memories, because I didn't read the book until after I was eighteen. A friend found out I hadn't and was all, "READ NOW." So I did. And then I asked her, "Why do you hate me?"

There's a Family Guy episode that spoofs Old Yeller (I mean, of course there is, because that show has spoofed every other show/movie that has ever existed)...I think Old Yeller doesn't take a phone message for Lois or something...anyway even that stupid ass fake cartoon Old Yeller makes me sad when it comes on. That movie seriously traumatized me as a child. You know what, fuck that shit. Why do children's movies need to be about death? That makes me think of the Where The Wild Things Are post from yesterday. Why do stories geared towards children have to serve this purpose of dragging them towards adulthood? Son of a bitch. Now I'm pissed off. My hypothetical children are NEVER watching Old Yeller.

I cry every single time an animal dies in the movies. It doesn't matter if it's animated or not, but the HBO special about Barbaro---now that's freakin' sad.

Mighty Joe Young's family.

Oh, crap. Dian Fossey's best gorilla friend in Gorillas In The Mist. That sucked.

When those bastards blow up the killer rabbit with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Bawl like a babby, I does.

Dumbo's mother. She's condemned to die for protecting him. You don't see her die but there's this scene where he goes to see her for one last time. She's locked up in cart with only a small barred window so they can't see each other but she reaches out her trunk to touch him, knows it's him immediately and proceeds to caress him and rock him...their goodbye in that movie puts me into fits of sobbing.

the Kraken.

how about the mother pigs in babe Raksha in junglebook and in the book Akela the leader.

Ahahaha babby. I will gladly be your babby.

i don't feel "retcon" is the proper term for what futurama does, rather all the zipping back and forth in time tends to flesh out what we already thought we saw but doesn't (normally) change the continuity.

seeing seymour waiting for fry and getting pizza scraps from mr. panucci made me love on my own (16year old)mutt a little more.

and this will sound so cheezeball, but when i realized seymour actually DID get fry back, I FUCKING GUSHED.

***also, the chicken that was killed during cracker's "date" in pink flamingos.***

Ah. I see that Jess mentioned the ant. Kudos!

Anybody can make a dog's death sad. An ant's death — now that's an accomplishment.

I is.

Oh damn this list...

Seriously, Artax and Littlefoot's mom. Long, miserable, drawn out horrible childhood traumas. Remember how friggin' slowly Artax went down and how hard Atreyu begged him to survive? Good Lord, that ripped me apart.

Jason
Thank GOD Dumbo's mom didn't die. I could barely take it when she rocked him in her truck through the bars of her "prison." Any death after that would have sent me right over the edge. I was very happy to see her waving that hanky from the nice car.
I love Dumbo to death, but that is a seriously fucked up movie. I hate the pink elephant scene, especially when the elephant made of elephant heads is stalking forward.
Does it make me a racist if sometimes I sing the song the crows were singing (I be done seen 'bout everything when I seen an elephant fly)? Does it matter?

of those I've only seen Legend and Bambi.

I saw Bambi when I was 4-5 and I have since refused to watch it again because of the death scene.

and Legend... I think I cried well in to the next 3 scenes that came after. I have had 4 German Sheppards, 2 of whom died because of being run over....

But nothing for the unicorn in plain ol' "Legend"?

Just for the record - much like Mr. Jingles - Artax did come back to life at the end of the movie. Horrible scene, yes, but it wasn't the end of Artax.

Artax and Old Yeller are the only ones I cried about as a child.

Artax is the only one I cry about now.

I don't watch any horse movies because they ALWAYS die.

The saddest animal death for me was on Meerkat Mannor -we bought season 1 because we really liked the show and how cute it is. Then on one fateful episode, an older meerkat freaks out and transfers a bunch of babies out to the desert instead of safe in the den. and one of the tiny babies gets left out in the hot sun, forgotten about, and you actually watch it die... out there... alone.

I saw Phar Lap when I was little. It was about a race horse (Phar Lap) who gets poisoned and dies in the arms of his jockey (or stable boy?). The man was the guy from Man from Snowy River. I wept so hard my face was swollen for a long time.

I third Project X, but it was Goliath who died wanting the cigarette with his hand pressed up against the glass. It reminded me of when Spock died in the Wrath of Khan. We watched Project X at every slumber party for months. Traumatizing.

Got a couple, neither of which are from films, but they were both pretty damn sad.

Firstly: Wander's horse, Agro, from the PS2 game Shadow of the Colossus.

For the entire game, it’s just you and your horsie, wandering around this lonley environment, and he’s everything you’ve ever dreamed of in a digital representation of a Horse (you also dream about that, don’t you?). He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s agile, he’s loyal, he’s brave, he always comes when you call, and he as an absolutely fabulous black mane.

Then, in order to reach the final Colossi, you have to traverse an old stone bridge over a deep chasm. About halfway over, the bridge starts to collapse. Agro runs, leaps over the last gap, almost makes it, but then starts to slide down the falling stone towards the gaping abyss. Instead of taking you with him, he bucks, throwing you forward to safety, and he tumbles down the chasm alone.

First time I ever felt any empathy for a computer game character.

He comes back later in the game, broken leg and all, but by then you’ve been transformed into a tiny horned baby and you’ll never remember your horse or what you went through.

Also; I always felt bad about killing those poor Colossi, even from the first one. There was just something so majestic about them. And why was I killing them? To save my girlfriend (natch). Seemed like a bit of an unfair deal to me.

Secondly: The Dog from Fable 2.

I just finished playing the main storyline, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to carry on.

Basically, you play the entire game with a dog companion. He finds treasure for you, he helps out in fights, he plays fetch with you, you can feed him treats, you can pat him, you can buy collars and accessories for him, and you can train him to do tricks. He’s a cool dog, and he’s linked to your personality type. If you play the game as a ‘good’ character, over time he gets healthier and fitter looking with a shiny golden coat, if you play as an ‘evil’ character, over time he gets scraggly and mean looking with a dark black coat.

Then, right at the end of the game, he takes a bullet for you and dies. (Spoiler)

Here’s the kicker; they then give you a choice whether or not to bring him back to life. You can revive all of the people that died in the game, except your family and your dog. You can revive only your family and your dog. Or you can do neither and receive some cash.

I chose to revive everyone else (Altruism, it’s not just for suckers anymore!) in the hopes that I’d find another dog at some point. But no. No more Dog.

Damn games, making me care about pixels.

Also: I’d promised the wife that the dog wouldn’t die. Now she won’t speak to me and refuses to play any more games with me.

I’m Lonely.

Mufasa. The Lion King. I still can't deal with his death.

i know i'm all late to the party and whatnot, but seriously?

no artax?

i made the mistake of watching that scene on youtube the other day. after 30 seconds, i was bawling over again.

you have to fight!

gah!

WHAT????
No My Dog Skip????????
You must be joking!!!!!
I had to hide from my 6yr old at the end of that!