# Movies where the bad guys win?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 31, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197 "2001-08-31T20:55:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/1 "2001-08-31T20:55:56Z")
I hate how so many movies introduce you to these really cool bad guys, and then inevitably to teach a lesson the bad guy has to die or lose. I love movies where they actually get away with the crime, like “Quick Change” starring Bill Murray.
Got any?
DaLovin’Dj
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### Author:  [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/2 "2001-08-31T21:13:34Z")
Consider **Alien**.
What, exactly, did the alien do that was so bad? It was snatched from its nest, it killed only in self-defence but finished up floating around in Space with only a harpoon for company.
Totally unjust.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/3 "2001-08-31T21:42:28Z")
There are dozens, maybe hundreds. Like…
1. “Chinatown”
2. “The Wicker Man”
3. “The Vanishing” (Dutch version- the American version had a contemptibly happy ending.)
4. “The Omen” and “Damien: The Omen II” (Damien gets his in “The Omen 3,” however")
5. “The Last Seduction”
6. “Body Heat” (Well… ONE of the killers goes to prison, and one gets away scot-free.)
7. “Hannibal” and “The Silence of the Lambs” (Hannibal Lecter kills a host of people, and gets away.)
8. “Fallen” (despite Denzel’s best effort, the demon survives and will kill lagain)
And of course, MOST latter-day horror movies allow the bad guy to come out on top at the end. Jason Voorhees and Freddie Krueger and Michael Myers and Leatherface and the Tall Man are ALWAYS still breathing/twitching at the end. Hey, there’d be no profitable sequels if the bad guy ever REALLY lost.
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### Author:  [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/4 "2001-08-31T21:45:20Z")
**A Shock to the System** with Michael Caine - an overlooked black-comedy gem. Caine plays a businessman who
goes postal after being passed over for promotion.
Best line:
Detective: “He was your superior, wasn’t he?”
Caine: “No. He was my boss.”
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### Author:  [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/5 "2001-08-31T21:45:40Z")
I think it goes without saying that this thread could contain plenty of spoilers. Therefore, I’ll preface this post by saying that this post contains spoiler material.
I recall Keyser Soze successfully slipping away from the arm of the law at the end of **The Usual Suspects**.
At the end of **Fight Club** , Tyler Durden succeeds in his plan of blowing all up all those buildings housing the credit card companies.
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### Author:  [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/6 "2001-08-31T22:29:59Z")
For some reason, the first movie I thought of was **Kingpin.**
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### Author:  [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/7 "2001-08-31T22:42:29Z")
First one I thought of was **Unforgiven**. By his own admission William Munny was a killer of women and children.
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### Author:  [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/8 "2001-09-01T00:13:01Z")
**Se7en** – Everything happens exactly as John Doe plans.
**The Last Broadcast** – The murderer gets away with the killings.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/9 "2001-09-01T00:41:46Z")
In a way, _Swimming with Sharks_.
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### Author:  [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/10 "2001-09-01T01:14:11Z")
_A Clockwork Orange_
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### Author:  [@lucie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucie)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/11 "2001-09-01T01:21:41Z")
Brazil
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/12 "2001-09-01T01:24:06Z")
_The Godfather_
_The Last Seduction_
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/13 "2001-09-01T01:24:40Z")
Storm of the Century.
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### Author:  [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/14 "2001-09-01T01:33:33Z")
_The Conversation_
_Blow Up_
_Blow Out_
_Arlington Road_
_No Way Out_
_Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ The remake; in the original, there is still some hope.
**astorian** , I think in most of the cases you list, the villain dies at the end of each movie, only to be resurrected at the beginning of the next one. But of course, this makes the villain the star of the series, which is pretty much the same thing.
One of the things I like about “The Outer Limits” is the way that the bad guys usually win. The good guys winning is unusual.
We need movies in which the bad guys win occasionally to add to the suspense of those movies in which they don’t.
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### Author:  [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/15 "2001-09-01T01:56:59Z")
**Colossus - The Forbin Project** Scared the poo out of me as a wee lad. Just cheesy now.
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/16 "2001-09-01T02:18:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lucie \*
> \*\*Brazil \*\*
Only if you miss or disagree with the point of the movie. I don’t want to say much more without a spoiler warning, but Sam wins in the only way he can.
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### Author:  [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/17 "2001-09-01T02:43:51Z")
_The Phantom Menace_
Just enough attention is paid to Darth Maul to get you anticipating that he’ll be around at least for Episode 2. But it doesn’t work out that way. Maybe Darth Maul wasn’t willing to be in a movie called _Attack of the Clones._
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### Author:  [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/18 "2001-09-01T02:45:45Z")
Oops, sorry…darn, misread the OP and posted too quick. Was posting a movie that demonstrated the senseless distruction of a perfectly good villain.
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### Author:  [@darian00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darian00)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/19 "2001-09-01T02:50:12Z")
_Event Horizon_
_In the Mouth of Madness_
man, I wish I could remember more…
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### Author:  [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2001, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/79197/20 "2001-09-01T06:30:20Z")
_The Empire Strikes Back_…even though (most) everything turns out all right in RotJ.
I love The Outer Limits for the very reason that the bad guy wins most of the time (or they at least have the plot twist at the very end). It always makes you think, unlike shows/movies that have a feel good ending.
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