Spoiler Warning: The following contains spoilers for Drive-Away Dolls, now playing in theaters
Drive-Away Dolls is a goofy good time, with the new film by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke tracking the cross-country adventures of Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan). While the film is largely rooted in their friendship and burgeoning romance, there’s also an undercurrent of a thriller thanks to the criminals hunting down the pair. This gives the film a lethal edge that steadily ratchets up over time, with multiple characters not making it to the ending of Drive-Away Dolls.
The film’s brutal edges lead to some pretty deadly moments, with plenty of close calls even for the characters who survive the film. This extends to Curlie (Bill Camp) and Senator Channel (Matt Damon), who both suffer serious injuries across the course of the film but don’t seem to actually die on-screen Here are all the confirmed deaths of characters from Drive-Away Dolls, ranked in terms of brutality.
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3 The Chief Goes Down Suddenly
The Chief Is Played By Colman Domingo
The Chief is the leader of the criminals who appear in Drive-Away Dolls. Hired by Senator Channel, Chief is sent on the hunt for the briefcase containing a replica of Channel’s genitalia. Largely removed from the action, Chief sends his henchmen Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C. J. Wilson) to do the leg work while he initially remains in Philadelphia. After discovering that Jamie and Marian have arrived in Tallahassee though, Chief is quick to join the situation. Although he initially seems in control of the situation, he’s caught by surprise when Flint snaps and guns him down.
Chief is an interesting figure within Drive-Away Dolls primarily in how he compares to the rest of the characters in the film. A professional who rarely raises his voice, Chief’s attempts to complete his assignment from Senator Channel quickly derail thanks to the chaos of the world around him. The Chief’s death is sudden but not necessarily too brutal. He takes bullets to the chest and seems to quickly expire, likely suffering only a little before dying. It’s harsh, but far from the most brutal kill in the film.
2 Arliss Is Betrayed By His Partner
Arliss Is Played By Joey Slotnick
Arliss suffers a very similar fate to Chief, ultimately gunned down by Flint. However, Arliss’ death comes with some additional elements that make his demise more harrowing than Chief’s. Arliss spends much of the film grating on his partner. Their bickering serves as a surprising contrast to the prickly but genuine friendship between Jamie and Marian, and is even suggested to have taken a sexual turn similar to the relationship upgrade that the two young women experience. This proves to be the thing that dooms Arliss.
While Chief tries to interrogate Jamie and Marian, an argument breaks out between Flint and Arliss, with the latter trying to reassure his friend that what happened on the road was perfectly alright. Furious, Flint ends up shooting Arliss in the gut before turning to Chief. While Chief dies quickly, Arliss collapses after a single shot to the gut. This suggests that Arliss might not have died immediately, and instead painfully bled out on the ground. It was only made worse that it came at the hands of someone he clearly saw as a partner.
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1 Santos Has Drive-Away Dolls’ Most Brutal Death
Santos Is Played By Pedro Pascal
Santos is only in the opening scenes of Drive-Away Dolls. Cornered by a villainous bartender and his criminal contacts, Santos tries to fight back, but things quickly take a a dark turn for the man. Santos takes a cork screw to one side of the neck and then a pen, leaving him stunned and screaming. After that, Santos gets his eyes gouged out by the bartender while one of his criminal compatriots arrives with a hacksaw to behead him. It’s a surprisingly similar death for Pedro Pascal’s Drive-Away Dolls character that Pascal’s Obyern suffered in Game of Thrones.
Santos has the most brutal death in Drive-Away Dolls. On top of being stabbed and mutilated in an alley, his body is then reduced to pieces. His head even ends up rolling across the street at the conclusion of the movie, a final inglorious touch for Santos. Although Santos’ fate is gruesome, it does a great job of establishing the stakes of Drive-Away Dolls, ensuring the film never loses sight of the danger that Jamie and Marian have unknowingly found themselves in.
Drive-Away Dolls
- Director
- Ethan Coen
- Distributor(s)
- Focus Features
- Writers
- Ethan Coen , Tricia Cooke
- Cast
- Margaret Qualley , Geraldine Viswanathan , Beanie Feldstein , Pedro Pascal , Colman Domingo , Bill Camp , Matt Damon
