Throne of Blood - Washizu's Final Stand

In the spectacular ending of Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, Washizu(Toshiro Mifune) gets his comeuppance. Shot by his own archers, he stumbles forward before being shot in the neck. He slowly descends the stairs and dies, collapsing dramatically on the fog-soaked ground. One of the most memorable and greatest deaths ever in the history of film.

• The famous arrow scene near the end was in fact done with real arrows. That is, the arrows hitting the wooden planks were not done with special effects, but rather choreographed with archers. Mifune waves his arms to brush away the arrows sticking from the planks, indicating to them that he wanted to go in that particular direction. The real arrows were included to get Mifune's facial expressions of real-life fear, which is exceptionally hard to imitate. Of course, the arrows that hit the Mifune character were bamboo fakes.