# Great Dramas w/ Homeless Protagonist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 8, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621 "2021-04-08T20:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/41 "2021-04-15T15:30:12Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > It’s unclear whether the punk band in _Green Room_ have homes to go back to, but they are on a shoestring couch-surfing tour that seems to have been going on way too long. _Blue Ruin_ from the same writer/director (Jeremy Saulnier) also features a homeless protagonist, and has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/42 "2021-04-15T16:23:18Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Titanic - Jack Dawson won his ticket in a card game and specifically tells his dinner companions that at the moment his “address” is HMS Titanic. For another Best Picture Oscar winner, I think the main character in Slumdog Millionaire was homeless during some of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/43 "2021-04-16T00:51:11Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” Sure, great film, but quite the ultimate rating you gave, there. Isn’t Matthew McConaughey supposed to be sorta quasi-homeless, or something, in a whack of his films? Edward Murphy in _Trading Places_. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/44 "2021-04-16T04:14:54Z")
When I was working with homeless men, one of them had a great dane. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/45 "2021-04-21T09:13:25Z")
Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/46 "2021-04-21T10:57:08Z")
> [@HelenGawn](#): > > Thank you! De nada. (What did you think of the ending?) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/47 "2021-04-21T13:53:51Z")
_The Maxx_ ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/48 "2021-04-21T22:47:26Z")
Well, my Top 10 is Harry and Tonto, La Strada, Nashville, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,Network, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Battle of Algiers, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Woman Under The Influence, Buffalo '66 It was recommended by my Sociology professor, and I think all the movies I love are social somehow - either social commentary, or social literally, with a focus on characters. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/49 "2021-04-22T01:20:00Z")
Not ‘great’, more ‘not bad’ - [The Terminal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminal) - set in an airport with a man [Tom Hanks] is essentially stateless, being refused entry to the US and unable to return home to his made-up former Soviet country. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/50 "2021-04-22T14:17:51Z")
If you like the lower class British drama of _Shane Meadows_ then **Dead Man’s Shoes** has a former soldier who, returning to his home town, camps out at a derelict farm. I found it entertaining and watchable. Calling it great is possibly a stretch. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/51 "2021-05-04T03:54:07Z")
Sorry, I haven’t been back to the thread. It was powerful. Ever since, I try to say hello or at least make eye contact with every homeless person I pass in the street. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/52 "2021-05-04T17:11:04Z")
How were you received? ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/53 "2021-05-05T01:53:20Z")
Friendly to enthusiastically the vast majority of the time. At worst I’m ignored. John Prine was right; say “Hello in there” (but in a way less snarky-sounding). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/54 "2021-05-05T01:58:10Z")
Of Mice and Men. Itinerant workers. Also the two Cannery Row books cover a group of homeless men quite a bit. They made a film, and yes, the Guys were covered, although Doc was the primary. A few other Steinbeck books, too. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/55 "2021-05-05T02:26:46Z")
With Honors - Bunch of Gen-X hipsters take in a homeless Joe Pesci: > **[With Honors (1994) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111732/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_65)** > > With Honors: Directed by Alek Keshishian. With Joe Pesci, Brendan Fraser, Moira Kelly, Patrick Dempsey. Convinced his thesis will have him graduate with honors from Harvard University, a stuffy student finds himself at the mercy of a homeless man's... And given today is May the 4th: > **[Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/)** > > Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope: Directed by George Lucas. With Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing. Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's... Other than Han and Chewie living in the Falcon, the rest of the cast are basically homeless for most of the film. Lukes home on Tatooine was torched by stormtroopers. Leia’s world was blow’d up. Does Obi Wan have a “place” or is he just a drifter? ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/56 "2021-05-05T05:55:21Z")
A Streetcat Named Bob. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/57 "2021-05-07T03:15:57Z")
Most people seem more impressed with Grave of the Fireflies than I was. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/58 "2022-01-16T20:21:47Z")
Nick Nolte plays a homeless guy in _Down And Out In Beverly Hills_ > **[Down and Out in Beverly Hills](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/down_and_out_in_beverly_hills)** > > Unlucky and homeless, Dave (Nick Nolte) decides to call it quits, and so sneaks into a stranger's backyard and tries to drown himself in the pool. However, Jerry's plans are stopped by the pool's owner, white-collar businessman Dave (Richard... Another vote for _Emporer Of The North_ > **[Emperor of the North](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1162563-emperor_of_the_north)** > > A legendary hobo, A No.1 (Lee Marvin) is renowned for his expertise in riding the rails for free, but he meets his match with Shack (Ernest Borgnine), a fierce railroad conductor who mercilessly kicks stowaways off of his train. Joined by brash young... ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/59 "2022-01-16T20:46:43Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Down And Out In Beverly Hills This is a remake of _Bondu Saved from Drowning_ which also fits into this thread. There is another remake called _Bondu_. Here are links to them: > **[Boudu Saved from Drowning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudu_Saved_from_Drowning)** > > Boudu Saved from Drowning (French: Boudu sauvé des eaux, "Boudu saved from the waters") is a 1932 French social satire comedy of manners film directed by Jean Renoir. Renoir wrote the film's screenplay, from the 1919 play by René Fauchois. The film stars Michel Simon as Boudu. > Pauline Kael called it, "not only a lovely fable about a bourgeois attempt to reform an early hippie... but a photographic record of an earlier France." > Bourgeois Latin Quarter bookshop owner Edouard Lestingois rescues ... > **[Boudu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudu)** > > Boudu is a 2005 French comedy film directed by Gérard Jugnot. It is a remake of Jean Renoir's 1932 film, Boudu Saved from Drowning. > > This article related to a French film of the 2000s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621/60 "2022-01-16T22:29:23Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > A Streetcat Named Bob. Good choice. Cathy Come Home is a famous (in the UK) film about homelessness. In the Pursuit of Happyness the protagonist is homeless for large parts of the movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-dramas-w-homeless-protagonist/939621.md?page=4)