# Movies where there are no good guys **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 3, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349 "2021-04-03T21:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/21 "2021-04-04T01:19:36Z")
What about the Kid? And there was nothing wrong with Lauren Graham’s character besides bad taste in men. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/22 "2021-04-04T02:12:11Z")
Being John Malkovich. With the possible exception of the title character. Starship Troopers. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/23 "2021-04-04T02:39:04Z")
Most classic Gangster films had no good guys. Some include _The Public Enemy, Little Caesar,_ and _Scarface._ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/24 "2021-04-04T02:47:52Z")
_Whatever Happened to Baby Jane_ ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/25 "2021-04-04T03:13:29Z")
That movie about Keyser Soze? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/26 "2021-04-04T03:15:13Z")
You mean _The Usual Suspects._ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/27 "2021-04-04T03:17:55Z")
Mel Gibson and cast. > **[Payback (1999) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120784/)** > > Payback: Directed by Brian Helgeland. With Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, David Paymer. After a successful heist, Porter is left for dead. Once he recovers, he seeks vengeance and wants his share of the money. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/28 "2021-04-04T03:23:35Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You mean _The Usual Suspects._ Yeah, the title was escaping me. I suppose the cops were not exactly bad guys as such, but they were not notably good either. I just thought of Léon: The Professional. Everyone was an asshole in that movie. Just like Dr. Strangelove, or A Clockwork Orange. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/29 "2021-04-04T03:24:29Z")
_Unforgiven_ ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/30 "2021-04-04T08:22:19Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Everyone was an asshole in that movie. Just like Dr. Strangelove… Oh COME ON!!! Merklin Muffley! An Asshole? He was trying to calm Dimitri! Mandrake? Having maybe a slightly tougher time trying to bring GR to his senses? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/31 "2021-04-04T09:50:52Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Christopher Walken carried a watch up his ass for two years just so he could return it to little Bruce! What does it take to impress you? Seriously, though, I’d say that the Bruce Willis character is as close as the film gets to a “good guy”. Yes, he kills his opponent in a boxing match - by accident - and he executes a man who came to murder him, but he also goes back into a dungeon of horrors and rescues the guy who was just trying to kill him, simply because it’s the right thing to do. What more do you want from him? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/32 "2021-04-04T09:56:15Z")
**The Ref** , maybe. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/33 "2021-04-04T13:10:34Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That movie about Keyser Soze? For the last time, _there is no Keyser Söze_! ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/34 "2021-04-04T15:04:48Z")
Fight Club? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/35 "2021-04-04T15:18:26Z")
The Mel Gibson movie _Dragged across concrete_ seems like it was made deliberately to win this thread. The “protagonist” is established early on as a crooked cop, and a massive racist (although the latter is possibly not deliberate). He chases down the perpetrators of an armed robbery / kidnapping and everybody, including “protagonist”, tries to take the money from the robbery and kill everyone else, even when the killing part is wholly unnecessary. I would say “spoilers” but, \*spoiler\*, the movie is an absolute turd that makes you somehow hate Gibson and Vince Vaughn even more than you did already. So I doubt anyone will mind the plot spoilers. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/36 "2021-04-04T15:41:28Z")
Let’s not confuse good with nice. For example, someone mentioned _The Hateful Eight_ above, and I’d argue that Kurt Russel’s character John “The Hangman” Ruth was a good guy, but he was a bounty hunter, chasing down violent criminals and returning them to justice to face their day in a court of law, and he was as hard and mean as he needed to be to do his job. There’s direct on-screen evidence that, under the right circumstances, John Ruth was a polite, affable man, if a bit rough-hewn around the edges. He warms to “Oswaldo Mobray,” Tim Roth’s character’s cover identity, and treats Major Marquis, Sam Jackson’s character, as a respected professional colleague after his professional paranoia is satisfied. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/37 "2021-04-04T15:47:38Z")
Well then let me clarify with my example. Mel Gibson was trying to take the money \*home\* and kill the perps so that he could not be exposed. He would absolutely be the villain in another movie, but in this one, everyone was equally the villain. Neither “nice” nor “good”. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/38 "2021-04-04T16:26:05Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_ Well you’re 66% right. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/39 "2021-04-04T16:35:28Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Also, I’m trying to remember if anyone in _A Simple Plan_ would count as good. Billy Bob Thornton’s character is definitely portrayed as good-hearted, but simple minded and easily influenced by others. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/40 "2021-04-04T16:38:15Z")
While Blondie is less bad than Tuco or Angel Eyes, at the beginning he still kills three other bounty hunters so he can collect the reward on Tuco himself. And he repeatedly enables the murderer Tuco to escape justice, and defrauds the law by collecting the reward and then allowing him to escape. He’s hardly “good”; the title is ironic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349.md?page=3)