Top 10 Most Shocking Assassinations in Movies

“Gandhi” (1982)
Richard Attenborough’s three-hour biopic about the famed Indian independence leader begins at the end of the story. Its opening is a chilling and suspenseful sequence. We follow a man, Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse, as he makes his way toward Gandhi’s home. Even if we know how this is going to turn out, watching the man nervously make eye contact with his conspirators as he worms his way through the crowd is anxiety-inducing. Because the audience largely knows about Gandhi’s assassination, the decision to open the film with that scene catches us off guard. His tragic end is never too far from our minds.

“Hoffa” (1992)
The thing about Jimmy Hoffa is that, while we all know what happened, we don’t actually know how it happened. The Teamsters leader who ran afoul of the Mafia most likely met his end at their hands. Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” had its own theory (xref). However, the 1992 movie about Hoffa presents an incredibly dramatic take on his murder, placing it in the parking lot of a diner. Played by Jack Nicholson, Hoffa is gunned down in slow motion as his bodyguard, played by Danny DeVito, watches in horror. His face as he tries to rear up on his assassin is creepy in a way only Nicholson can manage. The assassins get extra horrible style points for the James Bond-esque disposal of the body.

“The Parallax View” (1974)
This paranoid political thriller was originally going to be based on the JFK assassination. Instead, they went with a fictional figure whose death more resembled Robert Kennedy’s. “The Parallax View” opens with the assassination of a senator during a speech at Seattle’s famous Space Needle. Though his assassin is dressed as a waiter, the police end up chasing the wrong one. The spectacular sequence ends in true Hitchcockian fashion, with the presumed assassin fleeing to the top of the building and falling to his death while the real gunman goes free. It’s a thrilling scene that sets you up for the movie’s various questions about who’s really running things.

“Gangs of New York” (2002)
The streets of 19th Century New York City are the battleground in the violent power struggle between clans of Catholics and Protestants. As Bill the Butcher’s enemies attempt to diminish his violent influence over the city, the new sheriff, Monk McGinn, challenges Bill — not to fight, but to settle their differences the democratic way. But his name is Bill the Butcher, not Bill the Discusser. McGinn soon eats his words, and Bill’s club — he’s murdered right in front of dozens of witnesses. True to form, Daniel Day-Lewis wrings the moment for all it’s worth.

“The Dark Knight” (2008)
District Attorney Harvey Dent openly wages war on the mob. However, the Joker is the one who comes calling. In this unforgettable sequence, his evil plot against Gotham City begins. The targets are several of the city’s leading criminal justice figures, including Dent, Police Commissioner Loeb, and Judge Surillo. He memorably saves the mayor, Anthony Garcia, for later (xref). As the chaos unfurls between three separate locations, the movie cross-cuts, building the tension to a fever pitch. Clues as to what’s about to happen come too quick to truly put together. Even as Judge Surillo’s car goes up in flames and Commissioner Loeb is dying from his poisoned glass, you barely have time to prepare for the next hit.

“Inglourious Basterds” (2009)
This alternate history war epic by Quentin Tarantino ditches the historical record for a more satisfyingly violent end to a monster’s life. Two separate revenge plans against Hitler and his commanders converge at a cinema in 1944 Paris. Because of the whole historical angle, audiences were probably expecting the dictator to escape the trap at the end. That would not be a bingo. As a fast-burning nitrate film fire ravages the cinema, the titular American commandos open fire on Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and the theater full of Nazis. It’s an almost operatic level of violence. Given that it’s, well, Hitler, it’s a thrilling scene of retribution.

“JFK” (1991)
The events of November 22, 1963 have been dissected over and over. Images from it are part of American cultural memory. Movies like “Jackie” have tried to demystify it by putting us right in the center of the action (xref). Oliver Stone’s paranoid conspiracy movie makes us relive the tragedy of that day as experienced by the people who weren’t there. Then, it hones in on the moment Kennedy died through the use of the real-life video footage of the assassination. Kevin Costner’s district attorney forces us to really look at the footage. And look again, and then again, and keep looking until we understand his point. The movie won an Oscar for its editing. It’s not hard to see why.

“Milk” (2008)
In 1977, the gay rights activist and first openly gay man elected to public office in America, Harvey Milk, was gunned down in his office by a political rival, Dan White. Milk’s assassination, along with that of Mayor George Moscone, are dramatized to shattering effect in Gus Van Sant’s 2008 biopic, “Milk.” Van Sant’s camera doesn’t shy away from showing us the reality of that moment. For as romantic and idealistic as Harvey Milk is shown to be, his death plays out with shocking clarity. Only his last moments, as he looks out at the opera house that he loved so much, are gentle. And then, White delivers his last bullet.

“Malcolm X” (1992)
Like many of the entries on this list, Spike Lee’s biopic has to make the gravity of a historical event feel like it’s happening again. But even knowing how Malcolm X’s life ended can’t prepare you for the horrifying sight of the charismatic leader being gunned down in front of his wife and children. The scene descends into chaos. One gunman is even chased down by a mob. Meanwhile, we’re left with his wife Betty Shabazz, played by Angela Bassett, as she cradles Malcolm's head. It’s an overwhelming climax, making the historical reality into something that feels urgent and tragic.

“The Manchurian Candidate” (1962)
Long before she was the plucky amateur detective in “Murder, She Wrote,” Angela Lansbury was a movie star who plays the diabolical Eleanor Iselin in this 1962 thriller about brainwashed POWs. She’s a senator’s wife who’s hired an assassin to take out her husband’s political enemy. Little did she know they’d send her own son for the job. This doesn’t deter her one bit. However, in the movie’s climax at Madison Square Garden, her son turns his gun on her and her husband instead. It’s one of the greatest and most shocking endings of all time.