Famous Last Words: 7 Best Movie Quotes Before a Character’s Death, Ranked

Major character deaths in movies are often one of the best moments of any given story. Whether it is the hero of the tale or the main villain, the best deaths either offer a moment of catharsis or deliver a sense of great triumph. There are some cases, like Blade Runner, where it is the villain who dies, and it ends up as one of the most emotional moments of the entire movie. While this scene needs to be strong, one thing that can really strengthen it is if the person who dies delivers an incredible line of dialogue before they die. The best movie quotes before a character’s death can turn a final moment into a lasting memory that might even outlive the film’s story.

The best movie quotes before a character’s death include amazing moments of the refusal to go down without a fight, and even better, moments where the person reflects on life before finally dying.

7) “I Take Your Fu**in Bullets! Go Ahead! I’m Tony Montana.” – Tony Montana in Scarface

Scarface is a classic Greek tragedy of a man who rises to the top of the world only to find everyone gunning for him when he gets there. Of course, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) was a villain from the start, but since the film has him positioned as the point-of-view character, the movie follows him from his arrival in America to his rise up the mafia ranks. Despite his evil ways, viewers want to see him succeed.

His death scene continues the Greek tragedy, as he watches his sister, whom he loves dearly, die, and then he takes out his biggest guns and goes out in a blaze of glory. The most famous line here is “Say hello to my little friend.” However, his last quote before he dies is just as great, as he dares these assassins to hit him with all the bullets they can, as he believes he can take them all down. It was a huge triumph when showing a man living the American dream, and everything that false sense of hope brings with it.

6) “Made It, Ma! Top of the World” – Cody Jarrett in White Heat

White Heat was a mobster movie released in 1949, with the incredible James Cagney playing a ruthless gangster named Cody Jarrett. Just like Tony in Scarface, he was someone who rose to the top of the mobster world. However, this isn’t about his rise and fall. It is about his fall, as well as the Oedipal idea of a man who is willing to do anything in the name of love for his mother.

Both of those ideas play into his final scene. In White Heat, Cody gets out of prison and then reforms his gang to start his ruthless takeover attempt again. His final moment comes when the police have trapped him at an oil refinery. He stands on top of a giant petroleum tank, and the police begin shooting at him. When the tank is hit and it bursts into flames, Cody yells out his iconic final line before it explodes, claiming he finally made it to the top and that he did it for his “ma.”

5) “I Would Have Followed You, My Brother. My Captain. My King” – Boromir in The Lord of the Rings

Sean Bean has died in more movies than most actors, and it has become a meme over the years. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, he played Boromir, a proud and conflicted man who was slightly antagonistic to Aragorn, with whom he had doubts about his claim to the throne. As the movie goes on, he becomes corrupted by the One Ring.

However, he fought for Aragorn and had great shame that he let the Ring tempt him. His death remains one of the greatest of the entire franchise. Director Peter Jackson’s movie made his death better than it ever was in the book. In the novel, he said, “I have failed.” In the movie, he added more lines after Lurtz shot him down with multiple Uruk-hai arrows while defending Merry and Pippin. It showed he had faith now in Aragorn, and it made him one of the film’s most redemptive characters.

4) “Take Her to the Moon for Me. Okay?” – Bing Bong in Inside Out

It remains amazing how much Pixar is able to pull at the heartstrings in animated movies made for kids. The opening of Up left people in tears before the story even began. There was another moment in Inside Out that was just as emotional. This was a death scene of a character who wasn’t even real. Bing Bong was Riley’s imaginary friend from childhood, who now lives as a distant memory. While he was forgotten, he was still there, in the back of her mind.

However, Bing Bong had to save Joy, and he sacrificed his own life to do so. He was still with Riley, even if she didn’t actively remember, and this moment showed how sad it is when a person loses the spirit of childhood and the happiness and joy that it always brought. Bing Bong’s last line to Joy was to take care of the girl he had loved for so long. It was heartbreaking.

3) “I Was Building a House.” – Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven

The last line of Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven was actually, “I’ll see you in hell, William Munny.” This was a great line, too, but the line he delivered right before that was masterful for this complex character. In this Clint Eastwood movie, Gene Hackman played Little Bill, a lawman in a small Western town who kept order by ruthless means. In his mind, he was a good man who punished the outlaws who threatened peace in his town.

However, he was the villain in the movie, and when he humiliated one of William Munny’s friends after his death, the retired outlaw came gunning for Little Bill in revenge. The sheriff was only a man claiming to keep law and order. When Munny showed up, Bill said he didn’t deserve this because he was just building his little house. It was a great line because Little Bill still didn’t see himself as the villain. Munny’s line was also great, as he replied, “Deserves got nothin’ to do with it.”

2) “So This Is What It Feels Like.” – Wolverine in Logan

Marvel Comics fans followed Wolverine in the Fox X-Men movies from the start, and Hugh Jackman became synonymous with the role, the most popular mutant in this franchise. After two solo movies and all the team-up movies, Jackman got a chance to send Wolverine out in style with James Mangold’s Logan. This ended up as an alternate universe story where the X-Men were almost all dead, and Wolverine was left alive, protecting Professor X.

By the end, Xavier and Logan were both dead. While it seemed Wolverine was unkillable, this movie found a way since his regenerative healing factor was failing, and the adamantium poison was killing him. He sacrificed his life to save Laura, and as he lay there to die, his final quote was one of reflection, since he had never known the feeling of pain like this. It was a touching end to one of the most beloved superhero movie characters.

1) “All Those Moments Will Be Lost in Time, Like Tears in Rain. Time to die.” – Roy Batty in Blade Runner

The greatest movie quote before a character’s death came in the brilliant sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. In this movie, Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a law enforcement officer sent out to “retire” replicants, which were bioengineered humans created to complete tasks that humans no longer wanted to do. However, they were all kept off the planet, and when any returned, they had to be eliminated. This happened when a replicant named Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) returned with a few others and wanted to extend their four-year lifespans, only to find themselves hunted down by the blade runners for elimination.

Roy Batty was the villain of the movie, and he killed people before finally meeting up with Deckard for their final showdown. Astonishingly, Batty saves Deckard’s life and then delivers one of the most iconic soliloquies in cinema history when he describes everything he has seen in his four years of life. He realizes he is more human than most humans right before he dies. It was a brilliant ending, and one of the best movie quotes in history.

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