# Movies with no bad guys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826 "2018-05-08T20:13:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/41 "2018-05-10T19:52:42Z")
How many of you were taught the narratives of story telling in high school? It was drilled into us. To quote from [Wikipedia on Narratives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)): In works of narrative, conflict is the challenge main characters need to solve to achieve their goals. So, of the 4 main types of conflict for a good narrative: Man against man Man against nature Man against self Man against society Once I think of movies of any type except “man against man” a whole bunch of movies come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/42 "2018-05-10T23:28:32Z")
Yes, but even when the primary conflict is (say) Man Versus Nature, there are often secondary conflicts which often involve other Men. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/43 "2018-05-11T01:10:42Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Sticking just to Oscar winning movies… > > Shakespeare in Love Lord Wessex has Kit Marlowe killed, thinking him Shakespeare, because Shakespeare was sleeping with Viola. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/44 "2018-05-11T02:03:20Z")
All is Lost Flight of the Phoenix 127 Hours ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/45 "2018-05-11T02:47:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Lord Wessex has Kit Marlowe killed, thinking him Shakespeare, because Shakespeare was sleeping with Viola. No- for a while, Shakespeare THINKS that’s what happened, and he blames himself for getting Marlow killed. But it turns out Marlow was killed in an unrelated barroom brawl. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/46 "2018-05-11T08:37:48Z")
How about _American Graffitti_? Bob Falfa is kind of the Bad Guy from out of town, but he’s a minor character. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/47 "2018-05-11T12:30:52Z")
My Dinner With Andre ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/48 "2018-05-11T17:37:06Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > Flight of the Phoenix There were desert bandits in the original **Flight of the Phoenix** who picked off the crash survivors who left the camp. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/49 "2018-05-12T01:26:25Z")
Alive ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/50 "2018-05-12T02:13:10Z")
The Incredible Shrinking Man Airplane ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/51 "2018-05-12T04:01:00Z")
_Fail Safe_? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/52 "2018-05-12T05:28:23Z")
The Poseidon Adventure Twelve Angry Men ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/53 "2018-05-12T13:53:57Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The Poseidon Adventure > Twelve Angry Men No and no. From Wikipedia on _[The Poseidon Adventure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poseidon_Adventure_(1972_film))_: “The S.S. Poseidon, an ocean liner slated for retirement, is on her way to Athens. Despite protests from the captain, who fears for the ship’s safety, the new owner’s representative insists he go full speed to save money, preventing him from taking on ballast.” There’s also the officer who tells people to stay put in the dining room, which doesn’t go well for those who decide to stay put. _Twelve Angry Men_: There’s some clearly bad men in that room. In particular Juror 10 (played by Ed Begley in the original movie) is one nasty jerk. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/54 "2018-05-12T19:37:29Z")
Bull Durham is a famous defiance of many baseball movie tropes, in particular the concept of good guys and bad guys. There’s no huge “underdog comes back to win” story or anything like that… it’s about baseball, sex, and life. Finding Nemo doesn’t really have any antagonists. Everyone who tried to eat the heroes was just hungry. The dentist and Darla were both just ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![edspellman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@edspellman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edspellman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/55 "2018-05-12T23:28:49Z")
My Dinner with Andre, no bad guy at all ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/56 "2018-05-13T00:13:00Z")
Comedies, biopics, and character studies often don’t have bad guys. Here are some that don’t fall into those categories: Once Sideways (yeah, the two main characters are a couple of schmucks, but they’re not movie bad guys) Rain Man Cinema Paradiso Bull Durham (already mentioned by **ekedolphin** ) Chan Is Missing Lars and the Real Girl (sort of a comedy, I guess) Pieces of April You Can Count on Me Manchester by the Sea The Sweet Hereafter ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/57 "2018-05-13T16:40:00Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > _Fail Safe_? That’s an interesting one, given the subject matter. I don’t think the scientist character who insisted the US take the unexpected opportunity to launch a full-scale attack on the USSR was a bad guy, but he was certainly advocating an extremely destructive course of action when others were attempting to prevent any escalation. Oh, and thanks for the answers everyone 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/58 "2018-05-14T16:33:21Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > The thread title is “Movies with no bad guys.” The op asks for “movies with nothing but good guys.” They are not the same thing. Tru dat. Take _The Big Chill_. It has no bad guys, but pretty much all the characters are dicks. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/59 "2018-05-14T16:44:38Z")
The lead character of _Rain Man_ commits blackmail and kidnapping, plus he’s an asshole to everyone he meets, how is he not a bad guy? (Yes, I know, by the end he learns to not be such a jerk…) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826/60 "2018-05-14T17:07:21Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > The lead character of _Rain Man_ commits blackmail and kidnapping, plus he’s an asshole to everyone he meets, how is he not a bad guy? (Yes, I know, by the end he learns to not be such a jerk…) I think of a bad guy as an antagonist; someone whose role is to present an obstacle and moral motivation to the protagonist. In this sense, he’s not a bad guy. He’s a terrible person whose purpose in the story is to learn how to be a decent human being. In other words, a bad person isn’t necessarily a “bad guy.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-no-bad-guys/813826.md?page=4)