History Main / DramaticDrop

* A slight variation occurs in ''ThePrinceOfEgypt''. During the plague of the Death of the Firstborn, we see a young boy carrying a jar of presumably water into his home. He gets through the door, we hear a loud exhale, and then the sound of the jar shattering. All we see is the boy's hand sticking out from the doorway.

* In ''TheHuntForRedOctober'' a high-ranking Soviet politician has a cup of tea in his hand when he reads a letter in which Ramius announces his intention to defect. He very carefully tries to put the cup down, but his hand is shaking so much [[DoubleSubversion it falls over anyway]]. Then he mobilizes the entire Soviet navy to sink the renegade submarine before it reaches America.
* In {{Gran Torino}}, Walt drops his glass when he sees [[spoiler: Sue come back into her house bloody and beaten from being kidnapped and raped by Spider's gang.]]
* In {{Critters}} when the mom spots a crite outside she drops her tray breaking many dishes and teacups
* In {{The Usual Suspects}}, Agent Kujan drops his coffee cup when he realizes that he [apparently] [[spoiler: let Keyzer Soze walk out the door after having him in the police station for several hours spinning his yarn.]]

->--'''DaveBarry'''

* A bar patron in ''TalladegaNights'' dropped his beer the second that Jean Girard introduces everyone to his "husband".

* When the death of [[TheFlash Bart Allen]] in in the DCU was announced to Robin (Tim Drake) via cellphone, he drops the phone in shock. There's no dialogue on the page and if the audience hadn't known exactly what had been happening in the DCU of late you probably wouldn't realise why (it was pretty safe for them to assume everyone who read ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' might well have known about events in TheFlash, but still possible that somebody could pick up the issue for the first time and wodner why Tim was dropping the phone and looking so depressed).

*** Furthermore, she's the very first person to have an interest in his book.

* When [[spoiler: Henry Blake's death is announced]] at the end of the third season of [[{{Mash}} M*A*S*H]], a nurse is heard dropping a scalpel amidst the shocked silence in the operating theatre. This was a case of ThrowItIn. The actors had [[EnforcedMethodActing not been told prior to filming]] what would happen, [[spoiler: they expected Radar to announce that Henry had made it back to the States safely]]. The actress' reaction in the first take was genuine, and the director decided to keep it in later takes.

* In ''[[HarryPotter Deathly Hallows]]'', Hermione dumps a whole armload of basilisk fangs to kiss Ron after he finally earns his RelationshipUpgrade by showing concern for the Hogwarts house-elves.
** Also, in ''[[HarryPotter Philosopher's Stone]], Minerva [=McGonagall=] dropped the books she was carrying when she learned the Golden Trio knew about the Philosopher's Stone being kept inside Hogwarts.

* The last 30 seconds of an episode of ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' has Delenn dropping a snow globe which shatters at her feet.

* In {{Smallville}}, Lana once dropped her phone when she received a message that [[spoiler:brainwashes her into [[CurbStompBattle beating the living daylights out of Chloe]]]].

* In the ''{{WesternAnimation/Arthur}}'' episode "Bleep" when DW is in a store she sees a mother arguing with her son and when she tells him he can't go to a concert he swears and the mother drops the glass she was holding in shock. Later she repeats the word to Arthur to ask what it means he drops his model plane. She gets the idea that this is some kind of magic word that makes people drop things.

* ''{{Cars}}'': Chick Hicks' forklift pit crew's mustache grilles upon seeing how Guido can change all four of Lightning [=McQueen=]'s tires in four seconds.

* A less dramatic, but memorable example occurs during a lecture by LRonHubbard on the events of [[ChurchOfHappyology OT III]]. When he gets to the part about how [[EvilOverlord Xenu]] used his last moments in office (he was about to be forcibly "un-elected") to "goof the floof," an attendee can be heard dropping their pencil, apparently in shock. Hubbard comments on this:

* Felicia Hardy drops a jar of face cream when she hears the [[spoiler: body of Michael Morbius]] has been found in an episode of the 90s {{Spider-Man}} AnimatedSeries.

* ''{{Cars}}'': Chick Hicks' pit crew's "mustaches."
* A bar patron in ''TalladegaNights'' dropped his beer the second that Jean Girrard, a race car driver, introduced everyone to his husband.
* At one point in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' trailer, Bane collapses most of a football field in the middle of a game. A single player makes it to safety in the endzone, then looks back on the gaping hole in the ground, dropping the ball in shock.

* On ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Sam drops a cup of coffee when [[spoiler: his father dies suddenly as part of a DealWithTheDevil.]]

* In ''OrderOfTheStick'' this is [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0810.html Malack's reaction to seeing Nale]].

* In ''TheHuntForRedOctober'' a high-ranking Soviet politician drops his drink when he reads a letter in which Ramius announces his intention to defect. Then he mobilizes the entire Soviet navy to sink the renegade submarine before it reaches America.

Drop What You're Doing is kind of a step-sib to DroppedGlasses and SlowMotionDrop. Something very startling or utterly shocking is announced or discovered - and the person encountering the shock literally drops what they're holding in astonishment. It most often falls [[SlowMotionDrop ...and falls...]] and [[DramaticShattering shatters at their feet]] - an aural punctuation mark to the bewildering announcement.

* Fittingly enough, [[FiftyTwo Renee Montoya]] dropped her pack of cigarettes when she learned that her mentor [[TheQuestion Vic Sage]] was dying of lung-cancer.

* Fittingly enough, [[FiftyTwo Renee Montoya]] dropped her pack of cigarettes when she learned that her mentor [[TheQuestion Vic Sage]] was dying in lung-cancer.

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