# Movies where the title character isn't the main character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782 "2010-12-30T02:19:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/1 "2010-12-30T02:19:56Z")
With Tron Legacy out I’ve been thinking about the original. The movie is called Tron, yet the Tron character doesn’t get that much screen time. Flynn/Clu get much more screen time. Hell, Boxleitner in general doesn’t get that much screen time. There are two main problems to be resolved. Flynn getting the evidence that he created the popular games instead of Dillinger, and the MCP, who Tron is programmed to stop, but doesn’t make any headway until Flynn is sucked into the computer. So, did they call it Tron because it’s a cool name for a movie? Was Boxleitner going to be the star but then the studio execs decided to make Bridges the star of the movie? Also, can you think of other movies where the character whose name appears in the title actually isn’t the star or main character of the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/2 "2010-12-30T02:25:51Z")
Tom Conti plays Col. Lawrence in “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” A prominent role, but the main character is David Bowie. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/3 "2010-12-30T02:27:16Z")
“Saving Private Ryan” Matt Damon played Ryan, but Tom Hanks was the main character. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/4 "2010-12-30T02:30:11Z")
Any remakes of Shakespeare’s **Julius Caesar**. \*\* **The Trouble With Harry** ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/5 "2010-12-30T02:31:32Z")
Star Trek III: the search for Spock is Nimoy light. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/6 "2010-12-30T02:34:37Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Also, can you think of other movies where the character whose name appears in the title actually isn’t the star or main character of the movie? Lots of James Bond movies ( **Dr. No, Goldfinger, Octopussy** ) should qualify. I’m more interested in movies where the title character never even appears as a character, like Hitchcock’s **Rebecca** , Oliver Stone’s **JFK** , and Christopher Guest’s **Waiting for Guffman**. (Has there ever been a movie made of **Waiting for Godot**?) ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/7 "2010-12-30T02:36:09Z")
_The Third Man_ isn’t the main character, as he’s dead at the start of the movie. Not really, but he doesn’t show up until quite a ways into the film. The eponymous _Alien_, arguably, is not the star unless you’re rooting against humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/8 "2010-12-30T02:36:49Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I’m more interested in movies where the title character never even appears as a character… There’s **Chasing Amy,** Amy only appears in an anecdote. Two from the Coen Brothers: Waring Hudsucker appears only very briefly in _The Hudsucker Proxy,_ and _The Big Lebowski_ is not Jeff Bridges but the other guy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/9 "2010-12-30T02:39:40Z")
\*\*Henry and June \*\*half-qualifies; June barely appears and the movie is more about Henry and Anais. And not to trip Godwin’s Law here, but most movies with “Hitler” in the title don’t have Adolf front and center. \*\* MacArthur’s Children\*\* didn’t have MacArthur in it at all. Or his literal children, if he had any. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/10 "2010-12-30T02:41:49Z")
“The Thin Man” in the original movie wasn’t William Powell, but he became associated with the title so much that subsequent movies cashed in on the title. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/11 "2010-12-30T02:43:32Z")
I wasn’t in **That Thing You Do** , and neither were any of you… ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/12 "2010-12-30T02:48:28Z")
Bubba Ho-Tep is only on screen a little bit at the end. Elvis is the main character. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/13 "2010-12-30T02:51:20Z")
There’s a movie called **The Dirty Sanchez** that… Oh never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/14 "2010-12-30T02:56:26Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I’m more interested in movies where the title character never even appears as a character \*\*Edward, My Son \*\*[with Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward,_My_Son) ---
**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:** [December 30, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/15 "2010-12-30T02:58:04Z")
The monster movie **Gorgo** would give the impression that Gorgo is the monster terrorizing London. He’s not. I can’t tell if Gorgo gets more screen time, but the memorable monster isn’t him. **Bend it Like Beckham** only has a cameo of David Beckham. Cookie is dead in **Cookie’s Fortune**. **[Where’s Marlowe?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118150/)** doesn’t have Marlowe in it (it refers to Philip Marlowe). **To Wong Foo Fu Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar** doesn’t have either of the characters in the titles. Harvey isn’t the main character of **Harvey** – he’s not even shown on screen (except in a portrait) **Dr. Strangelove** gets only a scene or two in the movie named for him. Bill only appears in a small portion of **Kill Bill**. The Bride of Frankenstein only has a small role in the movie (I’m talking about Valarie Hobson, not Elsa Lanchester, but Lanchester only appears in two scenes). Liberty Valence isn’t the main character in **The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance** ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/16 "2010-12-30T03:04:35Z")
**Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia**. Sr Garcia was dead and buried throughout the film. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/17 "2010-12-30T03:07:09Z")
**The Lord of the Rings** , aka Sauron, has almost no screen time at all; his only major scene is the first movie’s prologue, and from then on he’s just a giant blazing eye on top of some kind of Minecraft-shaped tower. **Dr. Strangelove** doesn’t appear in his movie at all until the third act, and he’s not even a pivotal character (although Peter Sellers’ two other roles are more significant.) ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/18 "2010-12-30T03:13:39Z")
**Rosemary’s Baby** is never visible onscreen, although one might make an argument that it’s a pretty central character and it is often onscreen but not visible. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/19 "2010-12-30T03:21:55Z")
**The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada** \*\* Happy Birthday Wanda June\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782/20 "2010-12-30T03:25:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **To Wong Foo Fu Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar** doesn’t have either of the characters in the titles. Actually, Julie Newmar has a cameo at the end. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-the-title-character-isnt-the-main-character/565782.md?page=2)