# Movies that are actually two movies in one **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525 "2018-04-16T17:46:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/21 "2018-04-16T22:41:32Z")
**Cleopatra** is a movie about Caesar and Cleopatra followed by a movie about Marc Antony and Cleopatra; it was originally going to be two movies, but it got edited into a single film to capitalize on Liz-and-Dick mania. **The Lobster** is kind of two movies as well: one about a dystopian society, and one about rebels living in a somewhat different dystopian society. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/22 "2018-04-16T23:14:37Z")
[Moderating] Just a reminder here to be mindful of spoilers. I’m not familiar enough with most of the movies mentioned to know if any of the specific examples cited thus far count as spoilers; if any do, let me know and I’ll edit in spoiler tags. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/23 "2018-04-16T23:30:19Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Oddly enough, the other example that popped into my head was “Stripes”, which was also a basic training movie combined with a post-basic-training plot that seemed like another movie entirely. This is the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. I’ve always maintained that “Stripes” ended with the graduation scene, and was immediately followed by the inferior “Stripes II: Stripes Goes To Czechoslovakia.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/24 "2018-04-16T23:31:17Z")
_Witness_ (no spoiler needed, surely) is a lovely cultural portrait interspersed with a police crime action drama. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/25 "2018-04-16T23:32:56Z")
_Sliding Doors_? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/26 "2018-04-16T23:37:13Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Here’s an oldie, though you might catch it on TCM now and again. The 1940 film _They Drive by Night_ is ostensibly about long haul truck drivers. From the same period is _Daredevil Drivers_. Starts out following one driver and his mechanic around a racing circuit then switches gears to the ins & outs of independent bus companies competing for business. One much more ruthlessly than the other. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/27 "2018-04-17T00:03:14Z")
The first of the recent _Hulk_ movies (whichever one that was) felt like two movies. The first was Hulk vs. himself (and incidentally the US Army), and ended with the scene with the love interest in the rain. But then they decided that they needed a supervillain, and tacked on the part about his crazy dad turning himself into an elemental monster. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/28 "2018-04-17T00:09:51Z")
The classic example is Shakespeare’s _The Winter’s Tale._ The first three acts are Othello-level drama; the last two are light comedy with a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/29 "2018-04-17T00:15:32Z")
“Breaking Away” has some great scenes, but it’s obviously two incompatible screen plays clumsily spliced together. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/30 "2018-04-17T00:56:50Z")
In the same vein as _Full Metal Jacket_ is _Heartbreak Ridge_ (1986). One part training, the other part inadvertent combat in Grenada. _Saratoga Trunk_ (1945) is a now-forgotten non-classic in which Ingrid Bergman scams her late father’s relatives into paying her to leave New Orleans. The story then switches to Saratoga Springs where she goes to ensnare a rich husband. It’s like two films in one! _On Dangerous Ground_ (1951) opens as gritty urban film noir prefiguring _Dirty Harry_, but about halfway through, psycho cop Robert Ryan is sent to the snowy countryside to deal with blind Ida Lupino and her dumbass brother. Half a great film results. _Lifeforce_ (1985) is maybe three movies in one: outer space adventure, vampirism on the loose, apocalyptic horror. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/31 "2018-04-17T01:10:08Z")
TV movie, if that counts, from 2000 “Longitude” goes back and forth from John Harrison inventing the marine chronometer to find longitude at sea and Rupert Holmes in the 20th century restoring Harrison’s clocks. D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance” has four separate stories through the ages (fall of Babylon to Persia in 539BC, crucifixion on Jesus circa 7AD, St Bartholomew massacre in France in 1572 AD) and a modern story of crime). All with connecting images of Lillian Gish rocking a cradle. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/32 "2018-04-17T01:26:28Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _LooKing for Richard_ alternates between a documentary about making a film of Shakespeare’s _Richard III_, and and actual performance of _Richard III_. In my opinion, one of Al Pacino’s more interesting films. Good movie, that. > [@Shoeless](#): > > The death of R. Lee Ermey got me to thinking about how “Full Metal Jacket” is really two movies in one. The first is a basic training movie, the second is a Vietnam war movie. Neither half really seems to have much to do with the other. > > Oddly enough, the other example that popped into my head was “Stripes”, which was also a basic training movie combined with a post-basic-training plot that seemed like another movie entirely. I dunno, a lot of war movies involve a similar duality of boys in boot camp followed by men in combat, Heartbreak Ridge, Galipoli, All Quiet on the Western Front. How about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead? ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/33 "2018-04-17T01:38:55Z")
Does **Mulholland Dr.** count? The movie has two stories, but only one of them is real… ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/34 "2018-04-17T01:56:03Z")
_Prizzi’s Honor_ is a fun, wacky, mafia-themed almost-comedy romp for the first half. Then, there is a shocking mood change (one single split-second incident) and it becomes a standard, dark, gritty mafia-themed drama. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/35 "2018-04-17T02:07:28Z")
_Hancock_ is an uneven blending of two movies. Once Will Smith regains his memory of his past life, it’s an entirely different film. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/36 "2018-04-17T02:15:10Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > How about The World’s End? > > Starts off as a movie about a bunch of high school friends getting together to catch up and quickly changes theme at the mid point. I had no idea about the twist in the plot before seeing it in the theatre. My wife went WTF? and didn’t enjoy the rest of the film. I think your wife might be broken. The first half is pointless without the second half and Gary King is my spirit animal. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/37 "2018-04-17T02:25:01Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > _Hancock_ is an uneven blending of two movies. Once Will Smith regains his memory of his past life, it’s an entirely different film. Wiki says Hancock was in development hell for over a decade and Will Smith had a pay or play so at one point they said, “Do you have words on paper? Yes? Film it.” ---
**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:** [April 17, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/38 "2018-04-17T03:49:59Z")
_ **The Green Berets** _. The first half is about defending a US/ARVN fire base against the North Vietnamese. The second half is a covert mission to kidnap an NVA general. I expected the movie to end after John Wayne called in the air strike, but it just kept going on and on. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/39 "2018-04-17T08:08:41Z")
The rescuing of Han from Jabba in **The Return of the Jedi** is a complete story separate from the main plot to destroy the second death star. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525/40 "2018-04-17T10:55:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **The Green Berets** _. The first half is about defending a US/ARVN fire base against the North Vietnamese. The second half is a covert mission to kidnap an NVA general. I expected the movie to end after John Wayne called in the air strike, but it just kept going on and on. I definitely agree. The first half is the strongest and most interesting part of the film. Then the film goes on for another 50 minutes for no real reason except for maybe they thought nobody would take a 90 minute film seriously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-actually-two-movies-in-one/812525.md?page=3)