# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/41 "2021-04-04T16:42:35Z")
Blondie is “good” at what he does: hitting what he aims at. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/42 "2021-04-04T17:00:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > _Kill Bill_ > _Pulp Fiction_ > _The Hateful Eight_ What about the original Tarantino bad guy movie: Reservoir Dogs? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/43 "2021-04-04T17:05:17Z")
The cops are definitely good guys. ---
**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, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/44 "2021-04-04T17:12:50Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > What about the original Tarantino bad guy movie: Reservoir Dogs? The cops Nash and Mr. Orange are definitely good guys. I wouldn’t include it. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/45 "2021-04-04T17:19:11Z")
I would argue that Nash is really more of a prop than a character, and Orange seems to me to be a bad cop. But I see your point ---
**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, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/46 "2021-04-04T17:22:18Z")
How is Orange a bad cop? ---
**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, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/47 "2021-04-04T17:27:32Z")
Speaking of _Reservoir Dogs_, it never made any sense to me that Joe would hold a meeting with the crew in a public place like a busy diner. Everyone is going to notice six guys dressed identically, and remember them and the fact that they were with Joe and Eddie, once the news of the robbery breaks. Why hire six guys who don’t know each other and then make sure that they are recognizable as part of the same crew? ---
**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, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/48 "2021-04-04T17:27:59Z")
Well, he killed a woman and blew his cover to White. If he’d survived he’d probably be up on multiple charges. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/49 "2021-04-04T17:28:03Z")
And Mr. White has a redemption arc. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/50 "2021-04-04T17:29:22Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Everyone is going to notice six guys dressed identically, and remember them and the fact that they were with Joe and Eddie, once the news of the robbery breaks. That’s why it’s important to leave a good tip. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/51 "2021-04-04T17:29:35Z")
_The Ice Harvest_ ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/52 "2021-04-04T17:31:33Z")
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but… Orange participates in the robbery, and doesn’t reveal himself when it all goes terribly wrong. Blonde certainly doesn’t know he’s a cop. And he kills a civilian, iirc. I always took from the movie that he was part of the reason why the robbery went south. He’s just not good at his job. Maybe he sees himself as a good guy, but he’s not very good at it. But maybe that’s just me. ---
**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, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/53 "2021-04-04T17:33:12Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Well, he killed a woman and blew his cover to White. If he’d survived he’d probably be up on multiple charges. I forgot that he killed a woman. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > And Mr. White has a redemption arc. How so? He kills Mr. Orange at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/54 "2021-04-04T17:36:24Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched, but wasn’t that a mercy killing. ---
**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, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/55 "2021-04-04T17:50:53Z")
Ok, I’ll concede that Orange was not a good character. Of course, he wasn’t expecting the robbery to go wrong. Probably his best move after that would be to kill White when they were fleeing together and then alert the police. ---
**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, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/56 "2021-04-04T17:51:34Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve watched, but wasn’t that a mercy killing. No, it was revenge after Orange revealed he was an undercover cop. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/57 "2021-04-04T18:34:51Z")
_Fury_, a 1936 Friz Lang movie starring Spencer Tracy. He’s traveling across country to meet up with his fiancée and because of circumstantial evidence is arrested for a kidnap-murder. The town catches wind of it and storms the jail eventually setting fire to it and throwing in a stick of dynamite. He managed to escape though, goes back to his brothers and they cook up a scheme to indict members of the mob for murder rather than show himself. The whole town is playing dumb but between newsreel footage and testimony from his fiancée who saw his face at the jail window moments before the explosion – she doesn’t know he’s still alive – 22 members of the mob are brought to a mass trial. It’s only as the guilty verdicts are being read does he show up in the courtroom to express remorse. > “I don’t care anything about saving them. They’re murderers. I know the law says they’re not because I’m still alive, but that’s not their fault. And the law doesn’t know that a lot of things that were very important to me, silly things maybe like a belief in justice and an idea that men were civilized and a feeling of pride that this country of mine was different from all others. The law doesn’t know that those things were burned to death within me that night”. The sheriff might have been more sympathetic because he kept telling the townspeople the man he arrested isn’t guilty of anything until a trail is held, but folds when he gets word that the national guard is not on it’s way after all. During the trial he claims he can’t identify anyone on the mob, “They must have all been from out of town.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/58 "2021-04-04T18:47:38Z")
We kinda did this a couple weeks ago. > [@Good movies with bad protagonists (open spoilers)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-movies-with-bad-protagonists-open-spoilers/938357): > > The thread about The Searchers and Red River has me thinking about good movies with bad protagonists. Bad as in bad people, not badly acted or written. Most stories have main characters you can root for, even if they have flaws. But the main characters in some movies are deliberately awful. Some of these stories have hints of redemption at the end (The Searchers is like this), but occasionally there’s one where the protagonist remains horrible throughout. One such movie is In the Company of Men.… ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/59 "2021-04-04T19:16:49Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ok, I’ll concede… Well…I think the whole point is that we, the audience, are given conflicting clues to all of the “colors” of what is good and bad. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349/60 "2021-04-04T19:23:50Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Well…I think the whole point is that we, the audience, are given conflicting clues to all of the “colors” of what is good and bad. “Why can’t we pick out our own colors?” — “I tried that once, it don’t work. You get four guys fighting over who’s gonna be Mr. Black.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-there-are-no-good-guys/939349.md?page=4)