Movie Breakups: A Montage (VIDEO)

Breakups on the big screen don't differ much from those in real life. The dumper usually starts off gently, easing into the bad news with four simple words: "We need to talk."

But it's the dumpees' larger-than-life reactions on screen that set these splits apart. After all, how many breakups end with well-aimed punches and dramatic screaming?

Watch New York magazine's Vulture video to see the big screen's best breakup scenes, from the most anguished ("Brokeback Mountain") to the most iconic ("Gone With The Wind") to the funniest ("Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby").

Comments

[Chaz2150]

01:05 AM on 02/19/2012

"First Wives Club" where the husband wines and dines his wife, has a nite of sexual bliss and then asks for a divorce so he can marry his wife's therapist! That is downright tacky

[pjeannie]

12:45 AM on 02/19/2012

You forgot Glodie Hawn in Private Benjamin when she leaves the groom at the alter....best break up scene ever !!!

[mamacolucci]

07:27 PM on 02/18/2012

In "An Unmarried Woman", Jill Clayburgh gets dumped by her husband after they have lunch in New York City. He walks away and she promptly vomits in a garbage can. I believe this was the most realistic breakup scene....Why is it called a broken heart? Because broken stomach ( butterflies, nausea, pain) doesnt sound as good?

[mkbconley]

06:44 PM on 02/18/2012

Does anyone else hate the way they jumbled this video together? I lost interest halway through and it wasn't even 2 minutes long. I expected a lot more than this. Just sayin'.

[ae12wrangell]

04:24 PM on 02/18/2012

How about 'Kramer v Kramer' Meryl Streep v Dustin Hoffman?

[mcc1cam]

11:31 PM on 02/18/2012

It was in that disjointed, awful video...look again.

[Dan Crabtree]

04:15 PM on 02/18/2012

Redford and s_Striesand "The Way We Were"...buy far......

[knowcomment]

02:05 PM on 02/15/2012

I prefer Steve Martin's breakup with Kathleen Turner in The Man With Two Brains. "Into the mud, scumqueen!"

And how he "remembers" to slam the Murphy bed his cheating girlfriend and her lover are in as he leaves, in The Lonely Guy.

[MichaelMcKLA]

01:34 AM on 02/15/2012

I did not watch these breakup scenes because, frankly, I don't give a damn.

[Dream Machine]

12:44 AM on 02/15/2012

Swingers --- Mikey Phone Call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0PUrNwvvBk

painful on so many levels

[punknoir]

10:54 PM on 02/14/2012

These all pale in comparison to Bogart sending Mary Astor over for murder in The Maltese Falcon. Now THAT'S a breakup scene.

[dillingham]

10:41 PM on 02/14/2012

It's not you it's me.

[cdchicago]

09:45 PM on 02/14/2012

Tie for 5! "Star Trek: First Contact" I think "she" was broken up than he was. Literally...

[cdchicago]

09:44 PM on 02/14/2012

1. "Casablanca" - Rick is a fictional character and still hurts me. 2. "When a man loves a woman" - I have rarely seen anguish like that Andy Garcia is amazing in this film. Meg Ryan is shreds. 3. "Manhattan" - Worse than braking up is the constant, "what the heck could I have done?" in your head 4. "A unmarried woman" - never has a man looked more like an idiot then when Michael Murphy literally throws away Jill Clayburgh to have affair with some unscene admin assistant. The break up last the entire movie and apparently after her all too soon demise. 5) "Death Becomes Her" - best comical break up...

[octavia1]

10:42 PM on 02/14/2012

The Casablanca breakup is the best one of all. I cry hysterically every time at the airport scene in Casablanca.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEWaqUVac3M

[Phil Lunney]

09:03 PM on 02/14/2012

When I saw Gone with the Wind in the theater 40 years ago, after 4 long hours, the only redeeming scene in the movie was Clark Gable walking out the door at the end saying " Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn". As far as I am concerned, keep the rest of the movie.

[ae12wrangell]

04:19 PM on 02/18/2012

I agree. The book, and movie, are completely centered on Scarlett O'Hara. But, if you research movies about the Civil War, GWTW comes up. Why? Its all about romance, Scarlett, and her 3 marriages

[Susan1964]

07:07 PM on 02/18/2012

A lot of people totally miss the symbolism in "Gone with the Wind" and think of it as just a romance movie. Scarlett O'Hara is a symbol of the South during the Civil War era. Genteel and idealistic, full of pride and unwilling to accept that their way of life was indeed "gone with the wind". Plus, it's just a breathtaking piece of film for the era. Some depictions in that movie were scandalous back in the day so it's amusing in retrospect. Plus, Vivienne Leigh was so beautiful.

[mcc1cam]

11:33 PM on 02/18/2012

You really don't get the film...

[cmalloy]

08:40 PM on 02/14/2012

Albeit not the funniest scene, I'm glad they added The Jerk... I'm picking out a thermos for you!