# Movies that tell you what's going to happen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262 "2016-06-01T23:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/21 "2016-06-02T05:50:05Z")
_Tangled._ Flynn Rider starts out by narrating, "This is the story of how I died." ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/22 "2016-06-02T05:51:00Z")
Liam Neeson’s oft quoted/parodied “I have a particular set of skills” monologue in _Taken_ pretty much lays out what he’s going to do for the rest of the film. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/23 "2016-06-02T12:49:58Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also the names of the 12 bars of the “Golden Mile” in The World’s End basically outline the entire plot. Simon Pegg loves to do this. In _Hot Fuzz_, he has them discuss the first four victims and during the discussion, the motives for their murders are all mentioned. In _The Usual Suspects_, Mr. Kobayashi hands out packages to the group. The order in which they get the packages is the order in which they die. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/24 "2016-06-02T13:30:45Z")
_Cabaret_. Each of the musical numbers reveals the intent of the scene that follows. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/25 "2016-06-02T13:45:19Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > At the beginning of **Shaun of the Dead** , Ed says this while suggesting they get drunk to help Shaun get over Liz: > > “Bloody Mary first thing, bite at The Kings Head, couple at The Little Princess, stagger back here, back at the bar for shots.” In _ **The Sixth Sense** _, the kid kind of gives everything away when he says “I see dead people.” During the filming of _ **Goldfinger** _, Sean Connery objected to having Q point out all the features of the Aston-Martin in the workshop; he felt they should come as a surprise to the audience. One of the producers (probably Cubby Broccoli) overruled him, saying “First tell them what you’re going to do, and then do it!” After seeing the finished film, Connery had to admit he was wrong and Broccoli was right. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/26 "2016-06-02T13:48:26Z")
Heaven on Their Minds , the first song in Jesus Christ Superstar, kind of gives away the plot for those who didn’t know 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:** [June 2, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/27 "2016-06-02T13:50:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Sunset Blvd._ begins with the narrator face down and fully dressed and dead in a swimming pool. (Not a spoiler because it is literally the first scene in the movie.) Reminds me too of _ **Double Indemnity** _, which was on TCM a couple of weeks ago. You know almost from the start that Fred MacMurray is going to end up dead, either in the hospital or in the gas chamber. Both films were directed by the great Billy Wilder! ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/28 "2016-06-02T13:58:57Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > I suppose you could say that the original _The Producers_ lays out the entire film within the first few minutes when Wilder’s Leo Blum tells Mostel’s Max Bialystock the whole premise. Not sure if they did this in the stage play or the film version of the play, I haven’t seen either. I have to ask… How do you know this if you haven’t seen either? :dubious: 😕 \*\*Max \*\*does indeed tell \*\*Leo \*\*how he expects things to go (one of the funniest scenes in the movie); of course, they don’t exactly turn out that way! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/29 "2016-06-02T14:01:33Z")
What about D.O.A.? Film noir classic where the first scene is Frank Bigelow at the police station reporting his own murder? From the beginning you know he’s been poisoned and he’ll find out who did it. Again, that’s not a spoiler. It’s the first scene. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/30 "2016-06-02T14:04:28Z")
Yes, Leo was the first to mention the possibilities of “creative accounting,” but it was Max who really jumped on the idea (and on Leo as well). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/31 "2016-06-02T14:22:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > How do you know this if you haven’t seen either? :dubious: 😕 I believe he is talking about not having seen the Broadway musical (2001) and subsequent movie (2005), both of which were based on the original (non-musical, and IMHO far superior) movie (1968). ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/32 "2016-06-02T14:26:47Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > I believe he is talking about not having seen the Broadway musical (2001) and subsequent movie (2005), both of which were based on the original (non-musical, and IMHO far superior) movie (1968). There’s a second movie?!? Good Lord, why even bother?!? :mad: :smack: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/33 "2016-06-02T14:31:40Z")
Not a movie, but in an early chapter of the final book in Doug Adams’ “Hitchhiker” series, **Mostly Harmless** , Arthur Dent idly reads a novel which has the whole plot-line hashed out in a paragraph. Arthur throws it away in disgust. The vague description of the plot of _that_ book however is also the plot of **Mostly Harmless** (which many Doug Adams fans threw aside in disgust after reading.) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/34 "2016-06-02T14:37:06Z")
Do backward narrative movies count? Like Pulp Fiction and Go? These movies tell you where they end up and the movie is about how they get there. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/35 "2016-06-02T14:42:31Z")
Ooh, ooh! Just thought of another. In Run, Lola, Run we know how the movie will end and spend the whole time trying to get to an alternate ending, which we also know. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/36 "2016-06-02T14:59:37Z")
IIRC, in _Topkapi_ they go over the entire plan for stealing a jeweled knife. It goes off as discussed (with one small problem :)). _Rififi_ (which I haven’t seen) also should have a similar scene. Both were directed by Jules Dassin. As a matter of fact, an explanation of what is going to happen would be required in any caper flick. In _The Stunt Man_, Chuck Barton goes over every aspect of the final stunt with Cameron beforehand. It happens exactly as Barton tells him; the suspense is that Cameron isn’t sure that it won’t be deliberately sabotaged. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/37 "2016-06-02T15:15:30Z")
One minute into Annie Hall is the line “Annie and I broke up.” ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/38 "2016-06-02T15:24:19Z")
In **Iron Man** the terrorists give away the entire plot after kidnapping Tony, but only if you speak Urdu. In the original **Total Recall** Arnold is half sedated when the dream techs ask him what kind of fantasy he wants. He tells them, and that is the exact plot of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/39 "2016-06-02T17:50:38Z")
Of the ones I’ve seen, I’d say the scene in True Lies and the description in Shaun of the Dead and are the closest to what I’m thinking of. True Lies is just one scene, but it’s literally spelled out. Shaun of the Dead is some clever word play, but does basically tell you the whole structure of the movie. I don’t think movies told in flashback, or movies where the ending is revealed early on qualify, since usually there’s plenty of mystery in how you get there. And, of course, the chorus at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet. Did that sort of thing used to be more common in theater? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262/40 "2016-06-02T18:30:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I have to ask… > > How do you know this if you haven’t seen either? :dubious: 😕 > > \*\*Max \*\*does indeed tell \*\*Leo \*\*how he expects things to go (one of the funniest scenes in the movie); of course, they don’t exactly turn out that way! ☹ I’ve seen the original 1967 _The Producers_ several times. I’ve never seen the stage play version of _The Producers_ that came out last decade or the movie version based on that stage play that came out in 2005, so I don’t know if these latest versions differed from the original version. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-tell-you-whats-going-to-happen/756262.md?page=3)