I was reading the thread Eastwood fans: Which is the best Clint Eastwood movie?, ; there were quite a few votes for Unforgiven. I thought that was a terrific movie, and particularly enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t a typical “good guys vs. bad guys” western; every main character in the movie was despicable in his own right, it was just that Gene Hackman was “more bad” than Clint Eastwood. The fact that we are able to root for the “not quite as bad as the other guy” guy is what made it the best picture of the year and one of my favorite westerns ever.
Any other movies you can recommend that have no “good guys”?
The Good the Bad and the Ugly. The name might have you beleiee otherwise, but don’t forget Clint kills three bounty hunters in the very beggining just so he could have Tuco all to himself.
Basically, everybody’s a fuckup. The main characters are incredibly close-minded and selfish, and then the biggest supporting character is a fucking scumbag through and through. It’s a really good film, but not what you’d call ‘the feel-good movie of the year’ or anything.
If you read “L.A. Confidential” you would agree that their are no good guys, but in the film, the three principal characters (White, Exley, and Vincennes) are all flawed in some way, but they are all ultimately revealed to be good guys at heart.
I don’t know. Depend on who you consider the “main characters”. I had a bit more sympathy for the Iranian couple then for the girl and the cop, even though the Col. was an asshole at times.
The Iranian wife and kid were most sympathic, the Col. slighlty less so, the girl not much at all(Damnit, just take some responsibility instead of blaming everyone else!) and the cop got what was coming to him.
I don’t know. Depend on who you consider the “main characters”. I had a bit more sympathy for the Iranian couple then for the girl and the cop, even though the Col. was an asshole at times.
First thing to pop into my mind was “Once upon a time in mexico”.
None of the main characters were “good”, the only one who can even be considered relatively good was El Mariachi, and even he was a badass in desperado.
One of my favorite movies, despite that fact that every character in it is a scumbag. It’s a mark of how well the movie succeeds that we find ourselves rooting for some of these guys to make a sale… even though we know that would entail some innocent person getting scammed.
I’ve never been a Jack Lemmon fan, frankly. I always thought he was a one-note, overrated actor. But he was brilliant in this film- first, he shows us Sheldon Levine the Sad Sack Who Can’t Make a Sale But Desperately Needs To He makes us pity that guy and root for him. But when Sheldon finally thinks he’s made a sale, Lemmon quickly shows us what a bastard Sheldon must have been when he was on top of the game.