Written by Mr. Mouseburger 27th Feb 2006
Kindly submitted by Ray
Kindly submitted by Max Schwab
One of the most memorable movie deaths ever! Kong is a pilot of a bomber command operating out of Burpelson Air force base. To the horror of the Americans, the General [Jack D Ripper] in charge of this base has gone insane and ordered his bombers to attack the USSR.
Through some nice Cold war dialogue, this attack been foiled with bombers having either been recalled by the Americans or shot down by the Soviets. There is one exception though; Major Kong's plane has punched through the Soviet air defences and is heading towards its secondary target.
There is some momentary hope when the release mechanism for the bomb fails, but Kong climbs in to the bomb bay then onto the bomb and manages to get the release mechanism to work manually and both he and the bomb falls to earth, with Kong riding the bomb like a cowboy on a bucking bronco, right up to the point of the flash.
Was the suicide intentional? I saw no real motive aside from pure insanity as he was perfectly happy simply dropping the bomb until the mechanism failed. Kong got killed trying to release the bomb and couldn't get off fast enough would this maybe be self-sacrifice? If not I still believe that this may be a "blaze of glory," if still stupidity death
Well, i think that in the terms of reference for suicide, Kong's actions fit best. It is sheer bloody mindedness that gets him killed (i.e. he will drop that bomb, no matter what). Self sacrifice does not seem to sit that well with me, as he is neither giving his life to save another's life or to hinder the progress of another. You could argue that dropping the bomb will ultimately save lives, but i think that is more a political debate, rather than about the movie.
"Blaze of glory" is interesting though - i always tend view blaze of glory deaths as ones where the protagonist is usually armed with guns of swords and knowing that they are going to die, determines to take a few people with him - a very western/ war film style of death. I will include Kong i think, as this is certainly a flamboyant way to meet your maker
Mouseburger
Classic death.
Wa-hoo!
and archtype should Goody (Major), even though this site isn't updated very much..
It updates a bit, just doesn't get announced all the time.
Would he be a goody, even though this is a satire?
There were no good guys in that movie. He was a minor bad guy, just like everyone else.