Although he doesn’t exclusively work within the genre, Martin Scorsese is most commonly associated with gangster movies. And his movies that aren’t about gangsters still tend to contain a lot of violence. Scorsese depicts violence bluntly, with a bleak realism, and sometimes uses it to break narrative convention, unexpectedly interrupting character arcs.
Since the beginning of his career, Scorsese hasn’t been afraid to kill off major characters in the middle of his movies. From mob hits to grisly accidents, there have been some unforgettable death scenes across Scorsese’s impressive filmography. So, here are The 10 Most Shocking Deaths In Martin Scorsese Movies, Ranked.
Billy Costigan in The Departed
Scorsese’s first movie to win Best Picture, The Departed is a cat-and-mouse thriller in which a rookie cop named Billy Costigan goes undercover with an Irish mob in order to figure out the identity of the boss Frank Costello’s rat in the Boston police. In the film’s finale, Costigan learns that the rat is Colin Sullivan
Rather than killing Sullivan or running off with his money in true Hollywood fashion, Costigan nobly wanted to take Sullivan in and do things by the book, so he arrested him and they started heading back to the station. However, as they emerged from an elevator, Costigan was shot in the head. The happy ending was very abruptly thrown out the window.
Sport in Taxi Driver
It’s entirely possible that Travis Bickle didn’t survive the climactic shootout in Taxi Driver. The movie tells us that Travis survived and escaped prosecution, instead being celebrated as a hero, and Betsy even came back into his life. This is all too perfect to not have happened in Travis’ head as he died. But since he didn’t die on-screen, it doesn’t count.
There are many shocking deaths during this gunfight, but the most shocking has to be the first one. Travis arrives at Sport’s brothel and talks to the pimp outside. Sport makes fun of Travis and flicks a cigarette at him, prompting Travis to pull out a gun and shoot him dead.
Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York
As the story of how America was born, Gangs of New York is definitely Martin Scorsese’s most ambitious film. And its climactic set-piece fits in with this grand scale by including everything but the kitchen sink. The New York City draft riots break out, and soldiers from the Union Army are sent in to control them.
At the center of all this chaos, Amsterdam Vallon finally faces off against Bill the Butcher. During their fight, a giant piece of shrapnel puts Bill out of commission. This allows Amsterdam to complete his emotional journey and find some closure by killing Bill with his father’s knife.
Stacks in Goodfellas
Before his breakout roles in Jurassic Park and Pulp Fiction, Samuel L. Jackson played the minor, but memorable role of Parnell “Stacks” Edwards in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Tommy and an associate go over to Stacks’ apartment to take care of him.
Henry explains in voiceover that Stacks was supposed to get rid of the van that was used in the Lufthansa heist, but he got high instead and the job was never done. So, as Stacks is getting ready to go out with the guys, Tommy puts a gun to the back of his head and squeezes the trigger, spraying Stacks’ brains all over his bed.
Johnny Boy in Mean Streets
The ending of Mean Streets is staggeringly bleak. Following on from an earlier scene in which Johnny Boy pulled a gun on Michael when he asked him to pay back the money he owed him, Michael pulls up alongside Charlie’s car and his henchman Jimmy opens fire.
Charlie and Teresa definitely survived, because they’re seen being taken away by paramedics, but it’s insinuated that Johnny Boy didn’t make it. If he was alive on the scene, then the paramedics would be tending to him. The point that Scorsese makes here – and it’s the point that he makes in all of his crime movies – is that a life of crime can only end one way.
Captain Queenan in The Departed
Martin Sheen’s portrayal of Captain Queenan in The Departed was really sweet. He wasn’t a tough-as-nails renegade; he was just a good man who wanted to protect and serve the people of Boston. In one pivotal scene, Frank Costello’s rat Colin Sullivan has Captain Queenan followed to a rendezvous with Billy Costigan, the undercover cop he’s been trying to identify.
When Queenan and Costigan see Costello’s men heading into the building, Queenan sends Costigan to leave via the fire escape while he stalls the gangsters. They grab Queenan and drop him from the building. As we see Costigan hurrying down the fire escape into a nearby alley, Queenan’s body flies past him and splatters on the ground.
Jimmy Hoffa in The Irishman
The films of Martin Scorsese are known for their brilliant uses of music to convey a cinematic point. However, in the director’s most recent film, The Irishman, the most intense sequence is completely devoid of music. After Frank Sheeran is tasked with killing Jimmy Hoffa, one of his closest friends, he travels up to do it in total silence, giving an eerie realism to the proceedings.
Even though the movie was based on true events (well, “true” as recounted by Sheeran), there’s a sense that Frank could change his mind and not kill Jimmy, because of the intimate friendship we’ve seen them develop. But as Jimmy enters the house, panics upon seeing the place empty, and goes to leave, Frank simply shoots him in the back of the head and promptly leaves.
Nicky Santoro in Casino
Everything comes crashing down for Nicky Santoro in a big way towards the end of Casino. After Sam narrowly escapes death by a car bomb, he suspects Nicky of planting it. This, paired with his ongoing legal troubles, lead the bosses to decide to whack him. So, Nicky and his brother Dominick are driven out to a cornfield in Indiana under the pretense of a standard meeting.
When they get there, they’re held down and beaten with baseball bats. After being beaten half to death, the brothers are stripped down to their underwear, covered in quicklime, and buried alive in the cornfield.
Colin Sullivan in The Departed
After Billy Costigan was shot in the head trying to bring him in, it seemed as though Colin Sullivan was going to survive The Departed. In a sense, Sullivan was the bad guy of the story (although it’s a little more ethically complex than that), so it was a shame to see him win.
Fortunately, in the movie’s final scene, he returns to his apartment to find Sgt. Dignam wearing plastic covers on his shoes. Colin accepts his fate, and Dignam shoots him dead. Dignam didn’t even know Costigan, but as one of the few characters in this movie with strong moral fiber, Dignam still felt the need to avenge his wronged brother-in-arms.
Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas
It’s clear why Tommy was whacked. On top of killing a made man, which is strictly prohibited, he was a dangerous liability. But his death scene is so piercingly effective that it still comes as a surprise.
Tommy is led to believe that he’s becoming a made man. He’s driven to the initiation ceremony and excitedly enters the room. However, the room is empty, and Tommy has a half-second to realize that the rug’s being pulled out from under him before he’s shot in the back of the head and his body collapses to the floor, gushing a pool of blood.