# Movie where main character is dead before the movie begins(SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278 "2004-02-15T01:23:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/21 "2004-02-15T07:29:13Z")
> [@raizok](#): > > How about my buddy Steven Segal in\* Executive Decision\*? Huh? Have I been whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/22 "2004-02-15T08:26:47Z")
How about **Fallen** , in which we find out that Denzel Washington’s character is dead and a demon is inhabiting his body? And every vampire movie, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/23 "2004-02-15T10:59:03Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > How about **Fallen** , in which we find out that Denzel Washington’s character is dead and a demon is inhabiting his body? How about not? Washington isn’t possessed until the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/24 "2004-02-15T11:42:34Z")
No, **gobear** ’s right–Denzel’s character is dead at the moment of the movie start. The whole movie’s a flashback after the opening narration: “This is about the time I almost died…” With the end being the twist about whose narration it really is, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/25 "2004-02-15T13:30:00Z")
> [@raizok](#): > > How about my buddy Steven Segal in\* Executive Decision\*? Does it count if only his career is dead? ---
**Author:** ![JRootabega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@JRootabega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRootabega)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/26 "2004-02-15T13:51:29Z")
Beetlejuice? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/27 "2004-02-15T15:18:04Z")
_Point Blank_ (1967)and _High Plains Drifter_ both feature main characters who are essentially ghosts come back to avenge their own murders. I suppose _Rashomon_ might count since one of the main characters is the murdered husband, who tells his tale from the dead. When the film starts the two travellers are discussing the central ambush/rape/murder that has already happened before the movie starts. In the 1946 and 1964 versions of _The Killers_, the central character is murdered in the opening moments. Each man’s story is then played out in flashbacks. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/28 "2004-02-15T17:39:16Z")
> [@Drastic](#): > > No, **gobear** ’s right–Denzel’s character is dead at the moment of the movie start. The whole movie’s a flashback after the opening narration: “This is about the time I almost died…” With the end being the twist about whose narration it really is, of course. I’ll take your word for it. I haven’t seen the movie since it was in the cinemas, so it’s more than likely I forgot a minor detail somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![mug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@mug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mug)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/29 "2004-02-15T17:40:05Z")
Does it count if he doesn’t _realize_ he’s dead? **The Sixth Sense** ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/30 "2004-02-15T17:45:13Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > I’ll take your word for it. I haven’t seen the movie since it was in the cinemas, so it’s more than likely I forgot a minor detail somewhere. GoBear is 100% on this one. It was the big twist of the whole flick. _T-i-i-i-ime is on my side!_ ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/31 "2004-02-15T21:55:49Z")
_A Perfect World_. The movie opens with a shot of Kevin Costner lying peacefully in a grassy field. Then they flash back to show you how he got there. The movie closes with a shot of Kevin Costner lying peacefully in a grassy field…but shown from a different angle, so you can now see the bleeding bullet hole in his chest. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/32 "2004-02-15T22:04:58Z")
_Lawrence of Arabia_ begins with Lawrence’s death on a motorcycle (you see him mount the cycle but never hear him speak) then the narrative begins as admirers and detractors discuss him at his funeral. As memory serves, _I, Claudius_ begins with Agrippina and Nero looking at the dead body of Claudius, whom they have murdered, then finding his autobiography, which tells the story from a generation before his birth to his death. (At the end Claudius’s spirit has a discussion with the Sibyl in which the future for most of the characters and the Empire is discussed.) ---
**Author:** ![Intent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5e9695/32.png) [@Intent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intent)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/33 "2004-02-16T04:19:58Z")
The Others Titanic Ghost ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/34 "2004-02-16T05:17:22Z")
> [@mug](#): > > Does it count if he doesn’t _realize_ he’s dead? **The Sixth Sense** That’s an obvious one, but it works. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/35 "2004-02-16T05:20:30Z")
> [@mug](#): > > Does it count if he doesn’t _realize_ he’s dead? **The Sixth Sense** But he wasn’t dead at the beginning of the film. He died at the end of the first scene. Depending on how far into the movie we can do this, there’s also _What Dreams May Come_ and _All Dogs Go to Heaven_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/36 "2004-02-16T05:26:28Z")
Grave of the Fireflies. Like American Beauty and Sunset Boulevard the dead character is actually narrating the opening lines. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/37 "2004-02-16T05:30:28Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > 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 don’t know why we have to exclude these movies based on this. Not all biographical movies adopt this format. For example, in _Chaplin_, starring Robert Downey, Jr, the main character is old but not dead. In that spirit, i offer _Immortal Beloved_, starring Gary Oldman as Ludwig von Beethoven. Also: Ken Loach’s _Land and Freedom_, starring Ian Hart. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/38 "2004-02-16T14:12:14Z")
> [@Ferrous](#): > > Well, crap. You make a lousy straight man. 😉 > > See, someone was supposed to come in and say, "Huh? The main character in _Escape From New York_ wasn’t dead. 😕 " > > And then I, shaking with glee, would say “Snake Pliskin? I _thought_ he was dead…” > > Bwa ha ha! I kill me. > > Yeah, it’s a long way to go for a lame joke, but such is my life. 🙂 > > Okay, I’ll shut up now. Thanks for sharing 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/39 "2004-02-16T14:29:31Z")
One of my favorite movies of all time, actually: _Shallow Grave_ ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278/40 "2004-02-16T15:03:11Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > One of my favorite movies of all time, actually: > > _Shallow Grave_ Um, did i miss something the three times i saw that movie? Which main character is dead at the start of the film? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-where-main-character-is-dead-before-the-movie-begins-spoilers/229278.md?page=3)