# Best stories in which the bad guys win **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591 "2010-06-09T23:21:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/141 "2010-09-12T13:23:39Z")
[Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) has the following timely article; [6 Movies That Didn’t Realize They Let The Villain Win](http://www.cracked.com/article_18733_6-movies-that-didnt-realize-they-let-villain-win.html). ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/142 "2010-09-12T13:39:15Z")
**Miracle on 34th Street**. Seriously. Study the subtext, people! All right, I’m kidding. I came to say **The Usual Suspects** but several people beat me to the punch. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/143 "2010-09-12T16:11:37Z")
You know, the greatest trick Santa ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/144 "2010-09-12T22:44:57Z")
**La vita è bella, Life is Beautiful.** Yes, the bad guys won. FUCK 'EM. Dad won too. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/145 "2010-09-13T12:51:01Z")
Altman’s _The Player_. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/146 "2010-09-14T00:15:29Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > [@Quartz](#): > > > > How about _Kind Hearts and Coronets_? > > Conwsidering that the protagonist had written out a confession of his crimes, and left it where it would be found, probably not. The original English version of the film at least leaves this an open question, with a slim chance that the Duke will be able to scoot back into the gaol, retrieve his memoirs and escape punishment. The altered American version actually shows the memoirs being discovered. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/147 "2010-09-14T22:57:58Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > _The Omen_ > > Original baby dies. > Babysitter dies. > Mom dies. > Photographer dies. > Dad dies. > > In the end Damien walks home happy and free with a political powerhouse. He wins in the original and in the first sequel, but loses big time in the third movie. Doesn’t really qualify as “best” but Cruel Intentions 2 ends with the bad guys winning. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/148 "2010-09-15T14:56:08Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > **La vita è bella, Life is Beautiful.** > > Yes, the bad guys won. > > FUCK 'EM. Dad won too. The bad guys did NOT win in _Life is Beautiful_. Yes, Guido dies, but he also saves his son, and his son does not lose his faith in the goodness of the world. Guido, Aslan, and I all call that a win. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/149 "2010-09-15T21:17:59Z")
I nominate Alfred Noyes’ _The Highwayman_. Sure the main character is, after all, a highwayman, and so perhaps he isn’t THAT good, but he seems noble. And Bess certainly counts as good. And Tim the ostler and the redcoats are major dicks. The first time I read it and got to the “Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky, With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!” part I thought, “Highwayman ‘bout to open a can of whoopass!” Then it ends the way it does and I went, “Huh?” ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/150 "2010-09-16T17:07:58Z")
While the “best” tag may be debatable, all of the _Phantasm_ movies end with the bad guys winning. I’ll also nominate John Carpenter’s _Prince of Darkness_ and _In the Mouth of Madness_. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/151 "2010-09-16T17:34:40Z")
_[Surveillance](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409345/)._ A fantastically twisted, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes gut-busting hilarious, often _Silence of the Lambs_ level disturbing, little flick I just caught on cable the other night. Jack recommends. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/152 "2010-09-16T17:51:07Z")
\*Elmer Gantry \*by Sinclair Lewis In the Song of Fire and Ice series, it looks like quite a few bad guys, Littlefinger, i.e., are coming out ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/153 "2010-09-16T18:13:46Z")
_Twin Peaks_. Poor, poor Agent Cooper. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591/154 "2010-09-17T01:12:43Z")
I guess it might not count, being a dramatised historical event, but _A Bridge Too Far_ would meet the “best stories” requirement – and is a personal fav movie. Most of _Operation Market Garden_ succeeded, but seeing as how this story is focused on the British Airborne (and the drive by XXX corps to relieve them), which did not succeed, and the Arnhem force lost 80% of its 10,000 troops (1,500 killed, 6,500 captured) I think it meets **Skald’s** OP… and I think we can call General Bittrich and the 2nd SS Panzer Corps “bad guys” for this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-stories-in-which-the-bad-guys-win/542591.md?page=7)