# Movies where the good guy doesn't make it \*WARNING: UNBOXED SPOILERS!\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152 "2007-04-08T02:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/1 "2007-04-08T02:35:41Z")
I can think of two movies where the good guy/main character dies before his bad guy counterpart gets his just deserts: _[To Live and Die in L.A.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090180/)_ William Petersen, whose character barely qualifies for ‘good guy’ status, eats it before he can exact revenge on the counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed his partner. _[The Departed](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/)_ Same thing. DiCaprio bites it before Damon does. I knew we hadn’t seen the last of Wahlberg. I thought both movies were good, and the ‘good guy doesn’t always win’ aspect only added to it; they were good movies nonetheless. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![TristramAiblins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@TristramAiblins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TristramAiblins)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/2 "2007-04-08T02:43:15Z")
In [Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance](http://imdb.com/title/tt0310775/) , every main character dies. The kidnapper, the kidnapped, the single father of the kidnapped, the kidnapper’s girlfriend, and the people that left the kidnapper to die after removing his kidney. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/3 "2007-04-08T02:49:08Z")
William Wallace dies in “Braveheart” before Edward Longshanks, and never sees Scotland liberated. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/4 "2007-04-08T02:52:01Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] William Wallace dies in “Braveheart” before Edward Longshanks, and never sees Scotland liberated. [/QUOTE] Yeah, how the heck did I forget that one. Good call. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/5 "2007-04-08T03:32:49Z")
Angel Heart, since Mickey Rourke is the protagonist and the “good guy” (as far as we know). One of my favorite movies! ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/6 "2007-04-08T03:43:45Z")
[Léon/The Professional](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/). You know, in as much as a professional hitman can be considered a “good guy”. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/7 "2007-04-08T03:45:39Z")
In my favorite old war movie, _Von Ryan’s Express_, Frank Sinatra saves the POWs from the Nazis and is gunned down as he is running to catch the train they also liberated. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/8 "2007-04-08T04:00:01Z")
_Brokeback Mountain_ _American Beauty_ Who said they have to be action films? Technically, the good guy also dies in _Glory_, but he really has no “bad guy” counterpart. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/9 "2007-04-08T04:08:27Z")
_The Thing_; everybody dies, hopefully including the Thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/10 "2007-04-08T04:16:01Z")
In that wonderful tribute to '60s optimism, _Night of the Living Dead_, everybody dies, including the semi-heroic black guy who is mistaken for a zombie right at the end. > [@fishbicycle](#): > > In my favorite old war movie, Von Ryan’s Express, Frank Sinatra saves the POWs from the Nazis and is gunned down as he is running to catch the train they also liberated. For a more upbeat ending to the story, read the novel (which is better than the movie anyway). I might also mention _Bridge Over The River Kwai_ as an example of a movie where the “good guys” die, but there’s a hell of an explosion that makes up for it. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/11 "2007-04-08T04:34:05Z")
Dawn of the Dead, the excellent 2004 reimagining. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/12 "2007-04-08T04:43:16Z")
It isn’t completely clear, but it can be reasonably argued that at the end of _Fight Club_, Jack’s personality is the one who dies and Tyler survives. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/13 "2007-04-08T05:19:11Z")
Gotta’ mention The Duke: \*Sands of Iwo Jima The Cowboys The Shootist \* (although we know he’s dying of cancer from the beginning) Several others I can’t think of right now. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/14 "2007-04-08T05:40:59Z")
_U-turn._ After all the guy has been through - escaping from the Russians, dealing with the mechanic, surviving the convenience store robbery, killing Nick Nolte’s character, getting away from the sheriff, and then finally killing the woman, after being pushed off a cliff and climbing his way back up - the hose in his Mustang blows out, and he dies in the desert right back where he started. One of the most nihilistic movies I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/15 "2007-04-08T06:43:08Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] I might also mention _Bridge Over The River Kwai_ as an example of a movie where the “good guys” die, but there’s a hell of an explosion that makes up for it. [/QUOTE] Now that I think of it, the movie ending is radically different from that in the novel in this case as well. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/16 "2007-04-08T07:05:22Z")
[QUOTE=Captain\_C] It isn’t completely clear, but it can be reasonably argued that at the end of _Fight Club_, Jack’s personality is the one who dies and Tyler survives. [/QUOTE] Uhm… I’d have to ask for some elaboration on that interpretation, cause I never got that vibe from the movie. In the book, Tyler is very much dead, but nobody from Project Mayhem acknowledges it, continuing to believe that Jack is Tyler and carrying on his mission, despite any arguments he makes to the contrary (Of course, at the end of the book, IIRC, Jack is in some sort of mental institution, so he could just be crazy). In Sin City, probably one of the few good guys who are actually all that good, Detective Hartigan, dies after killing the Yellow Bastard, the most obvious bad guy, while not having touched the Roarks, the greater evils who empowered YB, or Kevin, their other product. The Good Guys™ have gradually better fates the farther down the sliding scale of morality they happen to be located on. ETA: Ooh, do the Matrix movies count? Neo dies in the first film before dispatching Smith the first time, and in the last movie, I think he dies some very short period of time before the Smiths are vanquished. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/17 "2007-04-08T07:16:57Z")
Titanic - both Jack and Rose die in the movie although Rose is by then a very old woman. Robin and Marion (1976) - a retelling of the Robin Hood legend with Sean Connery and Audry Hepburn. They both die at the end. Romeo and Juliet - various versions. Crazy Mary and Dirty Larry (1974) Susan George and Peter Fonda buy it in a spectacular car and train wreck. Totally unexpected. Bonnie and Clyde - although the “good guys” part is arguable. White Heat - James Cagney and an oil tank. “Top of the world, Ma!” Again, the protagionist but hardly a “good” guy. High Sierra - Bogart loses the shootout on the mountian. Angels With Dirty Faces - Cagney again as a murderer. He took the long walk and did the right thing in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/18 "2007-04-08T07:39:40Z")
[QUOTE=zoogirl] Titanic - both Jack and Rose die in the movie although Rose is by then a very old woman. [/QUOTE] This being the only movie on the list that I’ve seen, I’ll comment here: Jack counts, because Cal outlived him by a couple of decades, Rose doesn’t, cause she outlived all of the villains in the movie, and most of the good guys too. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2007, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/19 "2007-04-08T09:14:43Z")
Samuel L. Jackson is turned into shark chow halfway through _Deep Blue Sea_. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152/20 "2007-04-08T09:44:23Z")
_The Usual Suspects_- though again, the good guy is not clear. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-good-guy-doesnt-make-it-warning-unboxed-spoilers/399152.md?page=2)