# movies where the bad guy wins **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2002, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471 "2002-12-13T08:43:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [January 23, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/101 "2003-01-23T19:22:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MyFootsZZZ \* > \*\*Didn’t the fist version of “Body Snatchers” end with the guy yelling at the camera to run for the hills, or something like that? > > Didn’t everyone die in ‘Night of the Living Dead’? \*\* No, Judith O’Dey survived. Yes, the first version of IotBS ended that way - and the remake _started_ that way, with the same actor repeating the line. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/102 "2003-01-23T20:52:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MyFootsZZZ \* > \*\* > Didn’t everyone die in ‘Night of the Living Dead’? \*\* Depends. I think in the original, only ben survives and is shoot at the end by zombie hunters who see him through the window. In the Remake, Barabra survives and manages to make it to the zombie hunters camp. ---
**Author:** ![robkenny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@robkenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robkenny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/103 "2003-01-23T21:05:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PatrickM \* > \*\*In the original “Rocky” movie, Apollo Creed does in fact beat Rocky Balboa on points in a split decision and so Apollo keeps the heavyweight boxing championship. \*\* Apollo Creed could hardly be considered the “bad” guy in this movie. He gave a shot to an unknow fighter. Rocky had great respect for Apollo. Plus Rocky “won” because he went the distance with Apollo - something no one else had done - thus proving he “wernt just another bum from the neighborhood”. Rocky won the clasic battle of man against himself. The fact that Apollo wins the decision is inconsequential. I think you missed the whole point of this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/104 "2003-01-24T01:20:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnugTheJoiner \* > \*\* > > What about ROSEMARY’S BABY? Mia couldn’t escape the forces of evil and had Satan’s kid after all. On the other hand, the baby’s half hers, and she loves him–so is there maybe a note of hope at the end that he’ll take after her? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part? \*\* I was going to say that. Rosemary loving the baby just makes the Devil’s job easier. Kind of like the end of the novel 1984. For my contribution, how about Bambi Meets Godzilla. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/105 "2003-01-24T16:44:51Z")
**Primal Fear** most definetly. Though I was beginning to see what was going to happen in the end, it still was a bit of a suprise. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/106 "2003-01-24T17:18:39Z")
Birth of a Nation. I mean sure Mr Griffith portrayed them as Good guys but I can hardly think of the Clan as anything but Villians. Watching them overthrow the legislature after they removed the right to vote from the former slaves and riding many out of town … Damn they sure aren’t heros in my book ---
**Author:** ![RandomLogick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@RandomLogick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLogick)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/107 "2003-01-25T02:10:06Z")
I don’t know if anybody has said this but no one will probably read this anyway so it doesn’t matter. In _U-Turn_, everybody dies (mostly). That’s just as bad as having the “bad guy” win. That was, I must say, the most messed up movie I have ever watched. ---
**Author:** ![Misha77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Misha77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misha77)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/108 "2003-01-25T03:30:48Z")
**In the Company of Men.** Aaron Eckhart’s character does not get what he deserves, which makes the movie more disturbing but less violent. **Swimming with Sharks.** Kevin Spacey was great in this. It’s an interesting movie – it’s hard to keep the audience on Frank Whaley’s side when he’s rubbing salt into Kevin Spacey’s wounds. But still, I wish that Frank Whaley’s character never would have given in to Hollywood’s heirarchy. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/109 "2003-01-25T04:01:00Z")
**Unforgiven.** Clint Eastwood starts as a reformed former gunfighter, and by the end of the story, he’s a heartless murderer. A very tragic movie. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/110 "2003-01-25T04:57:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\ ***Unforgiven.** Clint Eastwood starts as a reformed former gunfighter, and by the end of the story, he’s a heartless murderer. A very tragic movie. \*\* I think it can be persuasively argued that Little Bill was the real bad guy, although William Muny was undoubtedly bad as well…though I don’t know if you can say he really wins anything. The real winner was the Schofield Kid…he walked away from the life. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/111 "2003-01-25T12:56:30Z")
My vote goes to **In the Mouth of Madness** – pretty much the ultimate “bad guy wins” movie. Hell, it isn’t just that the “bad guy” wins, it’s that pure, ichor-laden, unspeakable EEEEEEEE-VIL wins. Normally I would find this to be kind of a downer of an ending, but considering the cynical, satirical nature of that film, it seemed somehow appropriate. One of John Carpenter’s most underrated movies, IMHO (and a great, darkly funny performance by Sam Neill). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/112 "2003-01-25T14:08:13Z")
I’ll cite Kind Hearts and Coronets. Exactly how many people does Alex Guiness play in it? ---
**Author:** ![Kyuzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@Kyuzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyuzo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/113 "2003-01-25T16:44:31Z")
Actually, to those who said Ocean’s Eleven, at the end of the movie, when Clooney, Roberts, and Pitt’s characters are driving away, you see two of Benedict’s guy’s follow them. They don’t show it, but it seems clear to me that Benedict gets all of them in the end. So, if you consider him the good guy, he wins. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/114 "2003-01-25T17:21:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by qts \* > \*\*I’ll cite Kind Hearts and Coronets. Exactly how many people does Alex Guiness play in it? \*\* He plays all eight members of the D’Ascoyne family. However, the bad guy doesn’t win in that movie. Louis Mazzini was arrested on charges of murder. Assuming they’ve gripped him for the murder of his relatives, he sets about writing his confession in his cell - said confession forming the narrative of the movie. In the end, it turns out that it _wasn’t_ the murder of the D’Ascoynes he was arrested for but rather a murder he ddin’t commit, and so they release him… … leaving his written confession to eight murders in his cell … ---
**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:** [January 25, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/115 "2003-01-25T17:23:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyuzo \* > \*\*Actually, to those who said Ocean’s Eleven, at the end of the movie, when Clooney, Roberts, and Pitt’s characters are driving away, you see two of Benedict’s guy’s follow them. > > They don’t show it, but it seems clear to me that Benedict gets all of them in the end. So, if you consider him the good guy, he wins. \*\* Sorry, Kyuzo, but nobody gets Ocean. If they had, they wouldn’t be making Ocean’s Twelve. ---
**Author:** ![August](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@August](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/116 "2003-01-26T14:00:06Z")
Memento Gosford Park The Usual Suspects In all of these the murder(s) are commited and the guilty escape. ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/117 "2003-01-26T14:57:35Z")
Can’t believe no one mentioned: “The Usual Suspects” D. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/118 "2003-01-26T17:06:08Z")
Actually, **The Usual Suspects** is mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/119 "2003-01-26T20:07:58Z")
As for Night of the Living Dead, there’s a movie called Return of the Night of the Living Dead, where nobody wins. Right at the climax, they just blow the whole city up and everyone dies at the end. ---
**Author:** ![FranticMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c68b51/32.png) [@FranticMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FranticMad)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471/120 "2003-01-26T20:20:00Z")
The Long Good Friday A brilliant film starring Bob Hoskins in the performance of a lifetime. Wonderful accents. Twisty but coherent plot. There are no good guys in this film. Love it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guy-wins/142471.md?page=7)