20 Most Iconic Movie Deaths Of All Time

3. Sergeant Elias - Platoon (1986)

Quint Jaws Death
Orion Pictures

Oliver Stone's Best Picture-winning Platoon was the first Hollywood movie to be directed by an actual veteran of the Vietnam War, with Stone's real-life experiences heavily influencing the story and resulting in one of the greatest war movies ever made. Arguably the most famous image is the death of Willem Dafoe's Sergeant Elias Grodin, which was used as the basis for both the poster and the home video packaging of the movie.

After being shot by Tom Berenger's detestable Sergeant Barnes in an attempt to cover his tracks, Barnes tells the rest of his squad that Elias was killed by the enemy. As the soldiers are extracted from the battlefield, Elias emerges from the trees with a number of Vietnamese soldiers hot on his tail.  As Adagio for Strings swells in the background and the scene plays out in slow motion, Elias fights to his last breath despite having a back full of bullet holes, raising his arms to the sky before collapsing in a heap as his comrades helplessly watch on.

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