# From relative prosperity to total humiliation in films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 26, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726 "2022-03-26T00:02:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/41 "2022-03-27T04:44:32Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > I think it’s safe to say that women often feature prominently when a man goes down the tubes. But as Archie Goodwin says in _Some Buried Caesar_: “I’ve never seen a man get put on a train to hell by a woman who didn’t already have a ticket in his pocket, or was at least fiddling with the timetables.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/42 "2022-03-27T04:47:03Z")
Nice way to bring in a Archie quote. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/43 "2022-03-27T05:21:09Z")
And the movie he starred in, “The Way of All Flesh”, is the only lost Oscar-winning movie, except for a few known extant minutes. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/44 "2022-03-27T12:29:20Z")
And then, there’s [this guy.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087561/) ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/45 "2022-03-27T12:41:16Z")
Washizu in Kurosawa’s _Throne of Blood_ went from successful general to (king? emperor?), and due to his own scheming and crimes, was murdered by his own soldiers. This movie and any other filmed versions of Macbeth will of course follow the same tragedy arc. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/46 "2022-03-27T15:02:59Z")
Isn’t that a strong part of the plot of _A Star is Born_? The one character descends from movie (or music) star to suicide while his wife becomes a major star. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/47 "2022-03-27T17:51:47Z")
Ray Liotta in _Goodfellas_ might qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/48 "2022-03-27T20:36:26Z")
_Kongo_ (1932) – “Dead Legs” Flint (Walter Huston) rules like a god over an African territory, plotting a years-in-the-making revenge on the dude who crippled him. Things do not work out well for him. _Heroes for Sale_ (1933) – Depending how one interprets the story, this may be an exceptional case where the protagonist’s self-infliction of humiliation and poverty (and child abandonment) comes more as a willful choice than a consequence of his actions. _Detour_ (1945) – Pianist in a dive club – perhaps not exactly “prosperous,” but hey, it’s a living - hitchhikes cross country and makes some incredibly poor choices leading to his humiliating and convoluted doom. _Inside Straight_ (1951) – Ruthless businessman makes and loses a fortune several times by being a prick, but he winds up broke and a total chump. _Blackbeard the Pirate_ (1952) - Robert Newton (“Arrg, Larceny above all!”) is awesomely piratical as he drinks, quips, rolls his big eyes and repeatedly bests his foes only to wind up shot, stabbed and buried up to his neck on a beach facing an incoming tide. If only he’d been a nicer pirate…. _Elevator to the Gallows_ (1958) – Maurice Ronet clips his boss so he can be with the boss’ wife Jeanne Moreau, but he forgets his grappling hook at the scene of the crime. He goes back for it, but gets trapped in an elevator. Needless to say, he’s later busted. _The Graceful Brute_ (1962) – Japanese black comedy about a family of grifters scammed by the title character (gorgeous Ayako Wakao), who’s also grifting. Need I add, all are pwned at the end? _Space Amoeba_, a.k.a. _Yog, Monster from Space_ (1970) – Space amoeba come to conquer earth, taking the forms of a giant turtle, giant crab and giant cephalopod which terrorize a remote island in the Pacific. How much humiliation common planet-conquering space amoeba “feel” after failing is open to debate. _The Counselor_ (2013) - Lawyer Michael Fassbender involves himself in a Mexican cartel drug deal and lives to regret it (unlike most of the rest of the cast). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/49 "2022-03-28T01:15:14Z")
There was that guy who gave up a steady job in building demolition so he could stake his entire life savings on a singing frog… ---
**Author:** ![InfraBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infrablue/32/6366_2.png) [@InfraBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfraBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/50 "2022-03-28T04:37:13Z")
> **[One Froggy Evening](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Froggy_Evening)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > One Froggy Evening is a 1955 American Technicolor animated musical short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn. The short, partly inspired by a 1944 Cary Grant film entitled Once Upon a Time involving a dancing caterpillar in a small box, marks the debut of Michigan J. Frog. This popular short contained a wide variety of musical entertainment, with songs ranging from "Hello! Ma Baby" a... ---
**Author:** ![InfraBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infrablue/32/6366_2.png) [@InfraBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfraBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/51 "2022-03-28T04:44:13Z")
Woody Allen’s _Blue Jasmine_, in which Cate Blanchett plays a Manhattan socialite who winds up on a public park bench after her pyrrhic victory against her philandering husband, played by Alec Baldwin. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/52 "2022-03-28T05:12:41Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > Washizu in Kurosawa’s _Throne of Blood_ went from successful general to (king? emperor?), and due to his own scheming and crimes, was murdered by his own soldiers. This movie and any other filmed versions of Macbeth will of course follow the same tragedy arc. Been too long since I’ve seen _Throne of Blood_ to comment on that specific film, but I wouldn’t say that _Macbeth_, generally, fits this thread. Macbeth dies, but he dies a king, and he dies in single combat with a worthy foe, refusing to flee or attempt surrender. He’s neither humiliated, nor demoted in station. (Although, I did see one version where, as soon as Macduff’s “from his mother’s womb Untimely ripp’d,” line, Macbeth just turned and bolted off stage. Funny, but also a betrayal of the character.) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/53 "2022-03-28T14:47:01Z")
**Cruel Intentions** and **Dangerous Liaisons** , which are based on the book _[Les Liaisons dangereuses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Liaisons_dangereuses)_ , show Sarah Michelle Geller and Glenn Close go from queen bees to utter humiliation. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/54 "2022-03-28T14:54:22Z")
Will Smith in The Oscars. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726/55 "2022-03-28T15:17:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Been too long since I’ve seen _Throne of Blood_ to comment on that specific film, but I wouldn’t say that _Macbeth_ , generally, fits this thread. Macbeth dies, but he dies a king, and he dies in single combat with a worthy foe, refusing to flee or attempt surrender. He’s neither humiliated, nor demoted in station. King Lear would be a better example. He goes from being King, to being a retired King living the good life supported by his daughters, to his daughters gradually taking everything away from him, so he ends up destitute and insane, and eventually dies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-relative-prosperity-to-total-humiliation-in-films/961726.md?page=2)