There’s Something About Harry. Only, no flashbacks.
Also, how about the husband in Charade? Not the main character, but a main character.
The character of David Stephens, played by Chris Eccleston, is dead by the time the film begins. The rest of the film is played in flashback.
“The Man Who Never Was”…the character was dead and fictional…
You know, it’s been a long time since i last saw the movie (which i loved, by the way), but i’m not really convinced that he’s already dead at the beginning. Was there anything definitive to suggest that he was dead, or could it be interpreted that he was just thinking or dreaming, and it wasn’t a flashback?
I might have to watch the movie again, just to check it out.
And i loved Ewan MacGragor in that film.
Do time paradoxes count, as in Twelve Monkeys?
For the sake of arguement, I’ll say no.
But that was a kewl movie, nonetheless.
Amadeus (if one accepts that Mozart himself is “the main character”).
Jacob’s Ladder.
IIRC, although we see athletes running along the shore during the opening credits, the first real scene in Chariots of Fire is at Harold Abrahams’ funeral, and Eric Liddell had died decades previously.
[nitpick]
Unless my memory is way off, doesn’t Citizen Kane start with a shot of the gates of Xanadu, then the camera goes to Kane’s deathbed, shot of his lips saying “Rosebud”, then the globe drops to the ground?
If so, then unless one of the most famous single-word phrases in movie history came from beyond the grave, wasn’t Kane still technically alive at the beginning?
[/nitpick]
Almost any vampire film ever made.
If we’re going by the dead in the first scene scenario, I’d nominated Drowning Mona.
In the opening scene, Bette Midler is killed in a car crash. The rest of the movie shows exactly why pretty much everyone in the town wanted her dead.
Veronica Guerin starts with the murder of the eponymous character.
Barney Quill, Anatomy of a Murder.
Dr. Zhivago. The film begins with Zhivago’s half-brother Evgraf telling the story of Zhivago’s life to Zhivago and Laura’s daughter Tanya.
IIRC (and it’s been a long time for me as well) he begins the movie in the bathtub, and you get the impression he’s simply thinking. The reveal at the end is that he’s dead in the same tub.
Not really the same thing, but I have to mention the late, great, series “Police Squad!” (which turned into all the Naked Gun movies, but was much better).
Each week, in the very brief opening scene the famous guest star would appear, and be killed before the opening credits were over.
Naturally, the rest of the episode would then make no reference at all to the intro 10-second death scene, and would not include the guest star (of course not, they’re dead!)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
Did “Things to do in Denver when you’re dead” start with a dead guy?
I am surprised we have got this far without mentioning Laura. One of the most famous films with title character already dead . Or so we led to believe.
Actually, I believe I mentioned it on the first post. It doesn’t count because about halfway through the movie you find out she’s not really dead.
***I * ** knew where you were going, Ferrous, and I thought it was hilarious. Don’t ever change.
Having seen this film ten or twelve times, I can’t believe I forgot it for this long - The Crow.
Yes , sorry about that I wasn’t paying attention.