# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/21 "2005-11-13T08:44:58Z")
Moby Dick,though you have to see the John Barrymore silent movie version to get the full flavor ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/22 "2005-11-13T12:06:03Z")
**The Boondock Saints** was about two guys from the mean streets getting revenge on mobsters, pimps, drug dealers, et cetera for making life so crappy for them. Also The boys avenge Rocco’s death at the end by executing Papa Joe with style right in the middle of a packed courtroom. **Leon** , aka **The Professional** is mostly the tale of Mathilda trying to get revenge on the corrupt cops who killed her brother. From the world of books, Tom Clancy’s _Without Remorse_ is considered one of his best. It’s also a revenge tale that I won’t spoil for those who haven’t read it. Fredrick Forsythe’s brilliant _Avenger_ hinges on a similar premise. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/23 "2005-11-13T13:05:26Z")
_The Ring_ and _The Grudge_ could arguably be called revenge movies, though the revenge-takers don’t seem to be too particular about who they get. _Christine_ has a fair amount of revenge in it, with the car getting back at the gang members that trashed her. ---
**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 13, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/24 "2005-11-13T13:52:15Z")
The Punisher & Batman. In fact, any superhero out to avenge the death of a loved one. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/25 "2005-11-13T14:07:29Z")
Ultimately _The Shawshank Redemption_. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/26 "2005-11-13T18:40:10Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > 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. They hardly came up with that idea on their own - there’s an ancient Greek story that Atreus killed his brother’s son, cooked him, and served him to his brother. The brother (Thestes, I believe) then cursed Atreus’ family, which according to myth, resulted in the Trojan war and the rather unfortunate fates of most of Agamemnon’s family. Man, the Greeks knew how to tell a good story. \ ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/27 "2005-11-14T02:02:02Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > They hardly came up with that idea on their own - there’s an ancient Greek story that Atreus killed his brother’s son, cooked him, and served him to his brother. The brother (Thestes, I believe) then cursed Atreus’ family, which according to myth, resulted in the Trojan war and the rather unfortunate fates of most of Agamemnon’s family. > > Man, the Greeks knew how to tell a good story. > \ And Shakespeare used the same cannibalism motif in **Titus Andronicus** , already mentioned upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/28 "2005-11-14T16:35:01Z")
[Revengers Tragedy](http://www.tech.org/~cleary/reven.html) by Thomas Middleton. The modernised film version [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286921/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286921/) is also well worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/29 "2005-11-14T16:37:42Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > And Shakespeare used the same cannibalism motif in **Titus Andronicus** , already mentioned upthread. Yes but did any of them have the audacity to cast the story with 8 year old boys? I think not! ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/30 "2005-11-14T16:50:46Z")
Also, there’s the story about how my friend Mike played a practical joke on my other friend Mike of some description, so then Mike gagged him, duck-taped him to a chair and left him in the back of a darkened auditorium for several minutes. Heh. Good times. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/31 "2005-11-14T17:21:06Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > > [@NinjaChick](#): > > > > They hardly came up with that idea on their own - there’s an ancient Greek story that Atreus killed his brother’s son, cooked him, and served him to his brother. The brother (Thestes, I believe) then cursed Atreus’ family, which according to myth, resulted in the Trojan war and the rather unfortunate fates of most of Agamemnon’s family. > > > > Man, the Greeks knew how to tell a good story. > > \ > > And Shakespeare used the same cannibalism motif in Titus Andronicus, already mentioned upthread. Yebbut did anyone then cry in front of Radiohead then get called a crybaby? I don’t think so. Cartman for TEH WIN!!!1! ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/32 "2005-11-14T17:53:27Z")
The story that immediately came to mind was The Count of Monte Cristo but I have a couple others: Marv’s story in Sin City was a pretty good revenge story. Tombstone was a pretty good revenge story. Doc and Wyatt killed every cowboy in sight after Morgan was killed. They may have been headed down that path anyway though… I know this wasn’t really the focus of the movie, but in The Usual Suspects, Verbal tells Kujan the story of what Kaiser Soze does to his family then to the guys who tried to take his territory, then to the families of the guys to tried to take his territory. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/33 "2009-12-03T14:15:45Z")
_Memento_ is all about the protagonist’s (probably mistaken, or at least misdirected) drive to get revenge for the death of his wife. The writer’s vengeance against his captor/tormentor at the end of Stephen King’s _Misery_ is particularly sweet. The plot of _The Incredibles_ is largely driven by Syndrome’s desire for revenge. _Gladiator_. 'Nuff said. An evil black dragon tries to get revenge on Vaarsuvius for the death of its child in the webcomic _The Order of the Stick_, but the Elven wizard turns the tables on it… spectacularly. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/34 "2009-12-03T14:38:14Z")
Stephen King’s CARRIE The Vincent Price movie THEATRE OF BLOOD (one could also throw in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, but not DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN.) The Levite’s Concubine War that takes up the last part of the Book of Judges The Book of Revelation The Book of Esther ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/35 "2009-12-03T14:51:59Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > …Just… I. Whoa. :eek: Yep!!! ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/36 "2009-12-03T14:58:34Z")
_Revenge of the Zombies_. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/37 "2009-12-03T15:52:30Z")
**Oldboy** is a quintessential revenge movie. Almost everything pales in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/38 "2009-12-03T16:17:55Z")
It’s weird…so far today I’ve seen something like three well-known posters who should probably know better rezzing old zombie threads. I was trying to read all the links and wondering why I kept getting 404s, then I saw the date of the post. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/39 "2009-12-03T16:24:33Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > …\*\*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 attorney is not corrupt. The psycho has no reasonable justification to seek revenge. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-tales-of-revenge/330770/40 "2009-12-03T16:44:53Z")
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