# Great Tales of Revenge **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770 "2005-11-12T22:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/1 "2005-11-12T22:18:00Z")
Just caught the tale end of Sleepers on TV and it I thought we might compile a list of great tales of revenge. The above mentioned [Sleepers](http://imdb.com/title/tt0117665/) and [The Forgotten Beasts of Eld](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0152008691/qid=1131833644/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-7120133-2468043?v=glance&s=books) by McKillip are two of my pickes. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/2 "2005-11-12T22:46:45Z")
[The Count of Monte Cristo](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062731025/102-3855063-6897767?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/3 "2005-11-12T22:50:14Z")
The Wrath Of Khan ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/4 "2005-11-12T22:55:59Z")
Hamlet! (well, the inception, at least) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/5 "2005-11-12T23:03:29Z")
W.C. Morrow’s _conte cruel_ “His Unconquerable Enemy.” It’s about an Indian rajah who punishes a servant by chopping off his arms and legs and keeping him in a hanging cage. The servant’s revenge is rather…piquant. You can probably find it online somewheres; it was published in the 1880s. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/6 "2005-11-12T23:05:27Z")
[Here](http://www.harvestfields.ca/horror/008/190.htm), as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/7 "2005-11-12T23:13:38Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > [Here](http://www.harvestfields.ca/horror/008/190.htm), as a matter of fact. …Just… I. Whoa. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/8 "2005-11-12T23:22:48Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > W.C. Morrow’s _conte cruel_ “His Unconquerable Enemy.” > > It’s about an Indian rajah who punishes a servant by chopping off his arms and legs and keeping him in a hanging cage. The servant’s revenge is rather…piquant. > > You can probably find it online somewheres; it was published in the 1880s. For some reason that made me think of: [HOP-FROG OR THE EIGHT CHAINED OURANG-OUTANGS](http://eserver.org/books/poe/hopfrog.html) by Poe. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/9 "2005-11-12T23:23:43Z")
Poe’s **Cask of the Amontillado** is just a magnificiant example. O’Henry’s **Cisco Kid** is another example (how the movie and television version came up with the sweet gentle _Kid_ they did, I will never know). The movie **Revenge** with Antony Quinn and Kevin Kosner is a rather obvious example. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/10 "2005-11-13T02:03:09Z")
This one’s decently obscure, but [Through Darkest America](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0450421732/qid=1131846994/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-4135789-3493509?v=glance&s=books) is a really gritty and stomach-churning post-apolayptic war novel. The characters in this book live only for revenge, and their methods are always brutal. The writing is perfectly attuned to the subject matter. It’s so simplistic you almost don’t notice how gruesome the scenes are. Great stuff. There’s also a sequel called _Dawn’s Uncertain Light_, but it’s not as good. The author is Neal Barrett, Jr. Seventy years old, he’s written science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, literary novels and poetry and they’re almost all excellent. Read anything you can find by him. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/11 "2005-11-13T02:16:25Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Hamlet! > > (well, the inception, at least) Speaking of Shakespeare we could add _The Merchant of Venice_ even though it falls through for Shylock. Also the plays _Julius Caesar_ and _Titus Andronicus_ might qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/12 "2005-11-13T04:19:28Z")
The two Poe stories that have been mentioned are good ones. Then there’s “Revenge” by Bill Cosby. I probably oughta leave _The Princess Bride_ for **Inigo Montoya** to mention. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/13 "2005-11-13T04:45:04Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > [Here](http://www.harvestfields.ca/horror/008/190.htm), as a matter of fact. It’s just a [flesh wound]([http://www.rit.edu/~smo4215/monty.htm#Scene](http://www.rit.edu/~smo4215/monty.htm#Scene) 4). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/14 "2005-11-13T04:45:30Z")
**Freaks** , directed by Tod Browning. Moral of the story: don’t cross 'em. Beneath the National Lampoon-style humor, there was a revenge-based plot in **Trading Places**. \*\*Cape Fear \*\* (original with Robert Mitchum and the remake with Robert DeNiro) are about a bad guy’s revenge against a corrupt attorney and his family. The **Death Wish** series with Charles Bronson as a widower-turned-vigilante. **Sudden Impact** , with Sondra Locke as a P.O.'d rape survivor-turned-vigilante. The [made for the USA channel?] TV gothic horror flicks \*\*Buried Alive \*\* and **Buried Alive II**. Good, cheesy fun. I haven’t seen it and many critics hated it, but the movie \*\*Double Jeopardy \*\* has a revenge theme. The Japanese horror film **Audition** has a reputation of being a stomach-churning, if effective revenge tale. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/15 "2005-11-13T04:56:11Z")
And Steven Soderburgh’s **The Limey** , with Terence Stamp as a grieving father-turned-vigilante. Strangely enough, \*\*Star Wars, Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith \*\* doesn’t really qualify as a revenge tale, since the avenging party is just Emperor Palpatine on his usual power grab, and he was never an innocent unduly wronged, anyway. \*\*Jaws: The Revenge \*\* (a.k.a. Jaws 4), having a reputation for being a total crapfest, probably doesn’t qualify. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/16 "2005-11-13T05:17:49Z")
Quentin Tarantino’s **Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2** would seem to be obvious choices here. So would Clint Eastwood’s **Unforgiven**. For lighter and more animated fare, [Long-Haired Hare](http://imdb.com/title/tt0041598/) and [Case of the Missing Hare](http://imdb.com/title/tt0034585/) (both with Bugs Bunny) and perfectly contained little tales of comic revenge. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/17 "2005-11-13T05:31:48Z")
There’s that episode of South Park where Cartman’s being picked on by the older kid who swindles him out of some small amount of money and plays a couple other practical jokes, so Cartman arranges for the kid’s parents to be killed, then cooks them into a pot of chili which he serves to the kid. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/18 "2005-11-13T05:38:36Z")
[Foxy Brown](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071517/), the loose inspiration for Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” character. Here’s the [link](http://www.imdb.com/find?q=revenge;s=kw) to the IMDB page on “revenge,” with “nature-takes-revenge” an intriguing sub-list (albeit with only three titles). Hitchcock’s \*\*The Birds \*\* would be perfect in that category, but it isn’t listed. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/19 "2005-11-13T05:57:11Z")
“The Ethics of Madness” by Larry Niven, which ends in a centuries long relativistic chase in Bussard ramjets; a former madman being pursued by the man whose family he killed while mad. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/20 "2005-11-13T06:35:32Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#): > > The Count of Monte Cristo Also a novel called Revenge, by Stephen Fry, which is sort of a modern retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770.md?page=2)