# Movies where the main character doesn't survive? (unboxed SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849 "2004-05-18T21:33:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/21 "2004-05-19T01:23:50Z")
\*West Side Story \* (It half fits the OP). _2001: A Space Odyssey_, if you assume Frank Bowman or HAL is the main character. _Defending Your Life_ ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/22 "2004-05-19T01:33:02Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Jesus Christ in “The Passion of the Christ” 🙂 I only saw it 1 time, but i’m certain Jesus Christ was alive at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/23 "2004-05-19T01:33:03Z")
Most movies staring Charleton Heston ---
**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:** [May 19, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/24 "2004-05-19T01:40:38Z")
Most older gangster pictures: **Little Caesar The Public Enemy The Roaring Twenties High Sierra The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond White Heat** Shakespeare, of course: **Hamlet The Scottish Movie 😉 Julius Caesar Romeo and Juliet King Lear** **42nd Street** (maybe) Versions of **Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy** (though I guess he died early on), **The Creature from the Black Lagoon**. **The Comic** ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/25 "2004-05-19T02:47:42Z")
“Beethoven” (the Tom Hanks film with the St. Bernard. The dog dies.) “Psycho” (One of the most shocking ever, since the “heroine” is murdered halfway through the film.) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/26 "2004-05-19T02:53:41Z")
_Jaws_ _King Kong_ Most of _The Dirty Dozen_, and at least half of _The Magnificent Seven_ (and , of course, the superior _Seven Samurai_) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/27 "2004-05-19T02:55:12Z")
Actually, now that I think about it, I believe that most of _The Dirty Dozen_ survived, but you get the point. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/28 "2004-05-19T02:56:43Z")
_House of Sand and Fog_. Almost everyone dies in that movie. Chilling movie. _Untamed Heart_. I’m a sap – cried like a baby as the credits rolled on that one, with Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” playing in the background. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/29 "2004-05-19T02:57:15Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > “Beethoven” (the Tom Hanks film with the St. Bernard. The dog dies.) Beethoven is indeed about a St. Bernard, however it doesn’t die and Tom Hanks isn’t in the movie. You’re thinking of _Turner & Hooch_. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/30 "2004-05-19T03:12:48Z")
Bruce Willis in _The Sixth Sense_ ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/31 "2004-05-19T03:20:17Z")
> [@Tiramisu](#): > > Beethoven is indeed about a St. Bernard, however it doesn’t die and Tom Hanks isn’t in the movie. You’re thinking of _Turner & Hooch_. :smack: Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/32 "2004-05-19T04:35:12Z")
There’s always _Love Story_, and since dogs were mentioned, _Old Yeller_. A better movie would be _Sunset Boulevard_. For that matter, there have been quite a few ghost movies where one of the main characters has been dead since before the movie started. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/33 "2004-05-19T04:52:53Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > _Bambi vs. Godzilla_ Not according to the sequel. Other movies… Somewhere in Time Drowning Mona The Trouble with Harry ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/34 "2004-05-19T14:15:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Damn you, Spoke! And you even got The Cowboys, which was my second answer! When John Wayne dies, it sticks with you. I was also trying to think of a movie where Clint Eastwood dies, but couldn’t come up with one. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/35 "2004-05-19T14:40:51Z")
Clint Eastwood dies… Great Plains Drifter??? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/36 "2004-05-19T14:53:21Z")
_Sommersby_ We saw _Sommersby_ and _Untamed Heart_ (both of which Mr. S picked out) in close succession, and then we went to see _The Piano._ When Ava went over the side of the boat,I told Mr. S, [spoiler]“If she dies, you’re in big trouble!” Fortunately I did not have to kill him.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/37 "2004-05-19T14:53:39Z")
> [@andymurph64](#): > > Clint Eastwood dies… > > Great Plains Drifter??? You mean **High Plains Drifter**. And Clint Eastwood rides off at the end. Although since he is (implicitly) the ghost of a sheriff who gets killed in a flashback scene, it is an arguable point. Two more: **Patton** (Though he doesn’t get killed on screen, just in narrative.) **Lawrence of Arabia** ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/38 "2004-05-21T01:02:07Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > You mean **High Plains Drifter**. And Clint Eastwood rides off at the end. > > Although since he is (implicitly) the ghost of a sheriff who gets killed in a flashback scene, it is an arguable point. Reminds me of _Pale Rider_. Isn’t he a ghost in that one, too? In the same genra, how about _Shane_. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/39 "2004-05-21T01:03:12Z")
Or _genr **e** _, even. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849/40 "2004-05-21T19:25:26Z")
> [@SlickRoenick](#): > > I only saw it 1 time, but i’m certain Jesus Christ was alive at the end. THat brings up an interesting question. If the main character dies but is alive at the end regardless, does that fit the op, or do they have to stay dead? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-main-character-doesnt-survive-unboxed-spoilers/245849.md?page=3)