"Val Kilmer was robbed of an Oscar."
He was truly robbed. The death scene he does is I think the finest piece of film acting I've ever seen. It gets me every single time.
Now that you've prompted me to reply I will say that one of the most powerful scenes in movies to me is the Scarlett O'Hara "I'll never be hungry again!" scene right before the intermission in Gone with the Wind. I think GWTW is one of the very best "translations" of a book to a movie, to me it was just as I pictured it in my mind. And that scene in particular was very strong. And I must say that even though all the leads were excellent Olivia DeHaviland made the movie, along with my beloved Leslie Howard.
For all time my favorite movie is "The Leopard", another excellent book to movie. A bit obscure, but finally available on dvd. Burt Lancaster and a truly excellent international cast, including Alain Delon for the gals and Claudia Cardinale for the guys. The best scene in that is the big party scene, which was filmed with Sicilian locals as the extras and truly conveys what a fun but exhausting experience an "all nighter" must have been in days gone bye.
Only one better death scene....Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. They play an older married couple who are still very much in love. There's a shoot-out and she picks up a rifle when he gets in trouble. It looks like he's ok at the end but then he sits on a log by the stream, opens his coat and we see the blood. The series of looks that these two actors exchange as they wordlessly acknowledge everything, with Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" in the background, is about the best forty seconds ever put on film.