I was watching Once upon a time in mexico and one of the things that annoyed me a little is that Seyma Hayek has third billing or so but is only in the movie for roughly 10 minutes.
But it also made me think. Aren’t there movies where the main character is only seen in flashbacks(not counting sequels where that characte died in the previous movie) because he/she is dead when the movie starts? *Citizen kane * is the only movie I can think of off the top of my head. Laura kind of fits the bill, for the first half anyway. However, I can’t think of any others.
Billed as starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan, even though Meg Ryan’s character is actually dead at the outset of the acutual movie and is only portrayed through the (wildly conflicting) descriptions about her last moments from her fellow soldiers.
Does The Big Chill count? You don’t actually see the dead guy ever (although I understand it was supposed to be Kevin Costner, and they just cut him out altogether.) Not sure if he counts as the main character, but he is the reason for the entire movie, I suppose.
Most of the movie Gandhi is a flashback. At the outset we see him assasinated, then it goes back to his early career in South Africa, and moves forward to his death again.
I heard once(not sure if it is accurate or not) that the Prince of Wales was interested in playing the character of Lord Louis Mountbatten, last British governor of India. Mountbatten was Charles great-uncle, and he was very fond of him, before Mountbatten in turn was assasinated.
I think we should eliminate a lot of the biographical movies too otherwise this thread would have a huge amount of movies to include. (Just one that came to mind was Oliver Stones’ “The Doors” in which Jim Morrison, the main character is dead).
I think “Sunset Boulevard” is something you were looking for. William Holden’s character is dead at the very beginning of the film and he tells the entire story in flashback.
I’m not sure if that really counts. At the beginning you see the old man, who then “remembers” omaha beach, 1994, but everything focuses on Miller for the entirely of the movie and then at the end, it goes back to the present day and the old man is revealed to be Ryan.
What’s even wierder is that he’s remembering things that he wasn’t privy to for 90% of the film. He didn’t see Miller land on Omaha beach. He didn’t meet miller until they ambushed the Half-track in the field.
On the other hand, *Lawerence of Arabia * works for the most part.
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