# Best Movies with Redemption Themes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 29, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910 "2003-11-29T14:37:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Skip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skip)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/21 "2003-11-30T14:29:20Z")
Cool Hand Luke: Just when it seems ole’ Luke has been broken by The Man he redeems himself and becomes a legend.
---
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/22 "2003-11-30T16:37:59Z")
My favourite Evil Character who achieves redemption : Darth Vader.
---
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/23 "2003-11-30T18:47:23Z")
Two of my favorites: [Sunrise](http://imdb.com/title/tt0018455/) (1927), about a man who tries to mruder his wife, then regrets it and has to win back her trust; and [Rain](http://imdb.com/title/tt0023369/) (1932), about a prostitute who . . . well, I don’t want to give away the plot, but it’s a great film (probably Joan Crawford’s best performance).
---
### Author:  [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/24 "2003-11-30T22:35:02Z")
It’s a made-for-TV movie, but I nominate **Purgatory**. It was made a couple of years ago, with Randy Quaid, Sam Shepard, and Eric Roberts. It’s set in 1800’s Old West and it’s got quite a lot of fire and brimstone.
---
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/25 "2003-12-01T00:31:55Z")
Just thought of a couple more:
**The Longest Yard** (Burt Reynolds) Football player convicted of throwing a game for gamblers leads a team of inmates to victory in a game against prison guards, in spite of demands by the warden that he throw the game.
**The Apostle** (Robert Duvall) Duvall’s character redeems himself from an act of violence by starting a small church in a rural community.
---
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/26 "2003-12-01T00:36:52Z")
Oh yeah, and how about **The Bad News Bears**? Walter Matthau finds redemption in coaching little leaguers.
And speaking of sports movies, there is of course **Rocky**.
---
### Author:  [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/27 "2003-12-01T01:38:59Z")
Kuzco in _the Emperor’s New Groove_.
Somebody already mentioned _Jerry Maguire_ but it’s worth repeating.
For the traumatic event/redemption category, the first ones that come to mind are _Enough_, _Double Jeopardy_, and _Empire of the Sun_.
---
### Author:  [@burntsand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burntsand)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/28 "2003-12-01T03:52:57Z")
It’s a trilogy, and not one movie, but how can we leave out Max Rokitanski?
In **Mad Max** , he’s a good cop who’s pushed over the edge by the murder of his wife and child.
In **The Road Warrior** , he’s an amoral drifter who’s looking out for number one, but redeems himself through an act of self sacrifice.
And in **Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome** , he’s a hero who saves a group of children and brings new hope for the future.
---
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/29 "2003-12-01T13:15:35Z")
In **O Brother Where Art Thou** , the three main characters find a musical redemption.
---
### Author:  [@mfreyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mfreyman)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/30 "2014-04-28T20:36:54Z")
Best Redemption Movies ever - hard to find, but worth it. Both are so amazing.
1. Spitfire Grill
2. Bella (excellent story, well written, great acting, may have to watch it twice to fully appreciate it as it flashbacks and symbolism that you may not fully understand the first time. Every scene has significance toward how it ends the way that it does.
Both movies would be appropriate to watch with ages 13 and up. No violence in either.
---
### Author:  [@danhanegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danhanegan)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/31 "2014-04-29T03:14:01Z")
**Minority Report** , I hesitate to say much about the plot in an effort to avoid spoilers, but this is one of my favorites. Some of the special effects are cheesy, but the emotions resonate.
---
### Author:  [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/32 "2014-04-29T03:47:50Z")
How about _Schindler’s List_? Schindler goes through quite a change over the course of that film.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/33 "2014-04-29T03:59:40Z")
_Lilo and Stitch_
---
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/34 "2014-05-01T14:23:40Z")
The Phantom of the Opera is redeem through Christine’s love, and agrees to let her go.
---
### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/35 "2014-05-01T17:35:23Z")
**Cinderella III** , in which the slipper is magically made to fit Anastasia, Cinderella’s stepsister (it’s a long story) but when she’s about to wed the prince, she says, “I…don’t” because she realizes that what she’s doing is wrong.
---
### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/36 "2014-05-01T18:51:26Z")
I’d say between 50-75% of all martial arts films are about redemption; the rest are about revenge and there’s plenty of overlap.
My favs:
Hero
Fearless
Unleashed
Pretty much all Jackie Chan movies
Enter the Dragon
Warrior
Crippled Avengers
Chinese Super Ninjas
Shaolin vs. Ninja
etc. etc. etc.
---
### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/37 "2014-05-01T20:19:47Z")
Speaking of martial arts movies, The Magnificent Seven, a remake of The Seven Samurai has a redemption theme centering around Robert Vaughn’s character. I always liked him, and wish he wasn’t shilling for ambulance chasers, but I guess he needs the work.
---
### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/38 "2014-05-01T20:43:36Z")
_Thor_. The scene of him quietly and happily making breakfast for his friends gets me each time.
---
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/39 "2014-05-01T20:48:07Z")
**Warm Bodies** - the redemption of zombies.
---
### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910/40 "2014-05-05T13:43:37Z")
Zombies are beyond redemption; at least not without a case of air freshener.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movies-with-redemption-themes/215910.md?page=3)