# Hollywood films where the Americans lose **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468 "2019-08-10T18:50:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/61 "2019-08-15T12:43:29Z")
Also, if we allow films where \*both \*the US and the USSR (or other evil superpower) lose: _Colossus: The Forbin Project_, where the defense computer systems of both nations become sentient, connect, and subjugate all of humanity. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2019, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/62 "2019-08-15T13:12:45Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s quite a number of movies where the terrorists /bad guys actually win/accomplish what they set out to do in the final part even if the heroes survive until the end. Another one like that is “Arlington Road”, in which the anti-government the right-wing militia not only succeeds in blowing up a bomb in the FBI headquarters, but also successfully deflects all suspicion onto their patsy, and effectively rides off into the sunset to start over with a whole new plot. > **[Arlington Road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_Road)** > > Arlington Road is a 1999 drama film directed by Mark Pellington and starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and Hope Davis. The film tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film was heavily inspired by the growing concern in the 1990s regarding the right-wing militia movement, Ruby Ridge, the Waco siege and Oklahoma City bombing. > Ehren Kruger w... ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/63 "2019-08-15T14:14:55Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Also, if we allow films where \*both \*the US and the USSR (or other evil superpower) lose: _Colossus: The Forbin Project_, where the defense computer systems of both nations become sentient, connect, and subjugate all of humanity. If you’re going with those criteria, then _Terminator 3_. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/64 "2019-08-15T16:29:25Z")
How about Escape from LA? Snake Plissken plunged the United States and the rest of the world into a medieval level of power technology. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/65 "2019-08-15T16:47:33Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > It’s a fantastic (and eerily prophetic) book, as well. > [@terentii](#): > > _ **Red Alert** _? As I recall, it bore little resemblace to Kubrick’s movie. No. **Kropotkin** and I were both referring to _The Quiet American_, by Graham Greene, which was made into a movie of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/66 "2019-08-15T17:48:48Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > No. **Kropotkin** and I were both referring to _The Quiet American_, by Graham Greene, which was made into a movie of the same name. Oh. Well, that’s very different. Never mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/67 "2019-08-16T21:07:22Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I know this is the traditional perspective on how The Day of the Rangers went down but considering that the Somalis went back to what was left of their homes with about 4,000 casualties, I’d say it was an absolute curb stomping by the US forces. I have said it before and I will say it again: they didn’t lose, they left. As I recall from the book, Super Six Four pilot Michael Durant was returned intact after a general explained to the Somalis that if he was not returned in pristine condition with the quickness, not a single stone would stand upon another stone in Mogadishu. Black Hawk Down tells the story of how these soldiers were caught off guard and under-prepared and still handed the whole city its ass. Hence why the locals don’t refer to it as “the day we beat the Rangers”. This is such jingoistic nonsense. They left while shooting behind them, you know, like during a retreat. I would love to know where the 4,000 casualties figure came from I can find nothing close to that. How many were civilians, the shooting began in a crowded market. The Americans instigated the attack so are responsible for the loss of innocent life. Les Aspin the Sec of Def stepped down because of this. It changed the course of US foreign policy in Africa for a decade. Let’s say the Durant story is true, what kind of John Wayne bombastic nonsense is that? Americans leveling a city is a win for SNA. If this operation WAS so much win, why not do it again and again right after? Heroism can be found in defeat, Dunkirk is a great example of that. Black Hawk Down qualifies here. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/68 "2019-08-16T21:16:35Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > How about Escape from LA? Snake Plissken plunged the United States and the rest of the world into a medieval level of power technology. And all these years later I’m still not sure how we were supposed to think he was the good guy. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/69 "2019-08-22T01:10:56Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > The Quiet American, 2002, an underrated and under-appreciated film, portrays Americans in Vietnam as “losers,” that is, evildoers. Many of the above mentioned films, e.g. those about Custer and the Alamo, are more of the “we lost the battle but we won the war!” type, and so I’d suggest not really “Americans as losers” films Good Morning Vietnam had a similar take on the Americans in Vietnam. Not the movie as a whole, but when Adrian find out that his buddy is actually working for the VC, and the buddy screams out about the American atrocities and how “You’re the enemy!”. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468/70 "2019-08-22T03:07:27Z")
Has Red Dawn (1984) been mentioned? The coda (and its certainly an unreliable narrator) says the war ended like all wars do…but “our heroes” have had the utter shit beat out of them by the end. > [@](#): > > And all these years later I’m still not sure how we were supposed to think he was the good guy. Best. Ending. Ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-films-where-the-americans-lose/838468.md?page=3)