# Movies that start in the middle or end of the story. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854 "2011-02-27T23:09:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/21 "2011-02-28T05:45:35Z")
Sunset Boulevard, Forrest Gump, Evita. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/22 "2011-02-28T05:46:07Z")
_Boiler Room,_ a great and underrated film. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/23 "2011-02-28T06:02:18Z")
The Spencer Tracy film [The Power and The Glory](http://www.allmovie.com/work/128278) from 1933 is one of the first major Hollywood films to utilize flashbacks extensively in telling the story. It was one of the first screenplays by [Preston Sturges](http://www.allmovie.com/artist/preston-sturges-113144)and is considered an influence on **Citizen Kane.** ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/24 "2011-02-28T06:10:25Z")
**500 Days of Summer** does not show said days in order. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/25 "2011-02-28T06:19:02Z")
> [@Heyoka13](#): > > Recall Marian King in Psycho. You assume she is the main character, and then, poke, poke, poke, she is dead and the movie is about Norman, Norman Bates. > > (and kind of his mother too) 😕 \*\*Psycho \*\*doesn’t start in the middle or end of the story. It’s completely linear. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/26 "2011-02-28T06:21:33Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > Pulp Fiction. And _Reservoir Dogs_. And _Kill Bill_, to an extent. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/27 "2011-02-28T06:24:47Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > 😕 \*\*Psycho \*\*doesn’t start in the middle or end of the story. It’s completely linear. It’s not a movie that starts in the middle of the story, but it is a story that starts in the middle of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/28 "2011-02-28T06:34:58Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Grave of the Fireflies – starts with the main character dead. Most of the story is about before his death. This is the first one I thought of. I thought that this beginning robbed the story of a lot of its potential emotional impact because what happens to them is not a surprise. How about Donnie Darko and The Butterfly Effect? Or does timetravel rule them out? Slightly off topic, but if we think of TV shows instead, every episode of **Southland** starts with a scene from near the end and circles back later. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/29 "2011-02-28T06:38:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > \*\*Annie Hall \*\*-- the first line is “I broke up with Annie today.” **Annie Hall** does fit the OP’s question, but that isn’t the first line. In fact, that line isn’t in the film at all. It opens with Woody (Alvy) talking to the camera: “There’s an old joke…” He then goes into a somewhat rambling monologue. Toward the end he pauses and says, “Annie and I broke up.” Not necessarily that day, mind you. Then it jumps around from Alvy’s childhood to present day, making occasional forays into fantasy. So I guess you could say it starts in the middle, but a little hard to pin down the amount of time the film covers. That’s part of what made it an interesting movie, and one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/30 "2011-02-28T06:48:53Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > > 😕 \*\*Psycho \*\*doesn’t start in the middle or end of the story. It’s completely linear. > > It’s not a movie that starts in the middle of the story, but it is a story that starts in the middle of the movie. Hah! Nicely done. You gotta love how much Alfred enjoyed messing with the audiences expectations. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/31 "2011-02-28T07:42:21Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > _Boiler Room,_ a great and underrated film. Excellent film, def underrated. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/32 "2011-02-28T08:11:38Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Grave of the Fireflies – starts with the main character dead. Most of the story is about before his death. _American Beauty_ has the same set up, now that I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/33 "2011-02-28T08:23:28Z")
I think a lot of the examples here only appear to be in medias res: a quick short scene that happens at the end of the story, and then the main story begins. Imho, this just pays lip service to the idea rather than actually doing it. True in medias res incorporates the backstory into the main story, usually as lines of dialogue or a flashback. For example, in House of Flying Daggers, the story begins after the death of the leader of the rebels, and at the end, it is revealed how the death affected what happened in the story. In the Godfather, the story of Vito’s rise to power is not told until the 2nd film. In medias res is pushed onto generations of writers as “good writing,” when actually it means “avoid bad writing.” For example, in the film Die Hard, the story begins with the already veteran cop with a failing marriage. In medias res means to avoid telling the story of Willis’ childhood, joining the police force, meeting/marrying a woman, etc. ---
**Author:** ![drillrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@drillrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drillrod)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/34 "2011-02-28T08:24:29Z")
The first movie that came to mind was _Fight Club_. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/35 "2011-02-28T09:54:37Z")
The movie \*Predators \* starts off with a shot of one of the protagonists falling from the sky, then a chute opening and him landing in the jungle all WTF. Most movies would have shown how the various humans would have been kidnapped, put in stasis, outfitted, then dropped on the game preserve planet, but in this one never go into it. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/36 "2011-02-28T10:04:15Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > The movie \*Predators \* starts off with a shot of one of the protagonists falling from the sky, then a chute opening and him landing in the jungle all WTF. Most movies would have shown how the various humans would have been kidnapped, put in stasis, outfitted, then dropped on the game preserve planet, but in this one never go into it. Oh I should have quoted the post about in medias res. The OP is actually asking for examples where the a brief shot of the ending is showing in the beginning, which should not be confused with in medias res. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/37 "2011-02-28T10:06:53Z")
The first example that popped into my head was American Beauty. But, the opening shot of the theatrical release (the daughter and the neighbor making a video) is not the climactic ending. The original ending was actually of the daughter and the boyfriend in court, accused of killing the father, with the video as evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/38 "2011-02-28T10:54:07Z")
Moulin Rouge! starts with the line “The woman I love is dead”, and then goes back to tell the story of their meeting. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/39 "2011-02-28T12:17:54Z")
Plenty of films do this. _Sunset Boulevard_, _D.O.A._ (both versions IIRC), _Forrest Gump_, the list is really long. In part, it’s because you can start with a teaser or some action. Or you can engage the audience interest with a puzzler – how did they get in _this_ situation?. And it gives a plausible excuse for voice-over narration that might seem intrusive otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-start-in-the-middle-or-end-of-the-story/572854/40 "2011-02-28T12:23:35Z")
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