# Movies with 'Quitting a Job' as the Main Theme **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003 "2019-04-24T17:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/21 "2019-04-25T00:11:11Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > Lost In America Good choice. > [@](#): > > You may not use that word. It’s off limits to you! Only those in this house who understand “nest egg” may use it! And don’t use any part of it, either. Don’t use “nest.” Don’t use “egg.” You’re out in the forest you can point, “The bird lives in a round stick.” And and and you have “things” over easy with toast! ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/22 "2019-04-25T01:20:35Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Mary Poppins is there at 3 and its been years since I’ve seen it but does Mr. Banks quit his job at the end? Otherwise I can’t think of any quitting possibilities in the story I remember. Mr Banks is fired from his bank after his son Michael caused a run on the bank by yelling for the bank to give him his money back. (He had a tuppence piece he wanted to give to the old bird lady, played by Jane Darwell in her last role.) Anyway, Mr Banks acts like that’s the best thing that could happen to him, and goes away dancing and singing and telling jokes. One of the jokes causes the president of the bank to die laughing (and levitating like Uncle Albert). Somehow this makes the president’s son decide all is forgiven, and he rehires Mr Banks as they fly kites together, and Mary Poppins flies away because the kids want to be with their dad. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/23 "2019-04-25T04:42:33Z")
Nigel Tufnel and Ian Faith both colorfully quit their jobs in “This Is Spinal Tap.” However, I have not been able to watch that movie ever since the daughter of Tony Hendra, who played Faith, made very credible accusations that he molested her. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/24 "2019-04-25T04:57:49Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > _Take This Job And Shove It_ immediately springs to mind. And created a Billion-Dollar ‘Entertainment’ Industry, the ‘Monster Truck’ thing. Amazing. I often wonder if **Johnny Paycheck** or **DAC** ever got/gets a cent off this. Well, Paycheck is long since dead, so I’ll guess **‘Not’**. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2019, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/25 "2019-04-25T10:05:32Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > That search seems busted to me. It has La La Land as the 7th best quitting a job movie and I don’t even remember a scene where one of the main characters quit their job. Maybe the dude quit the bar?. Note that they aren’t rating the “Quitting A Job” scene. They are rating the movie as a whole. What it means is that some editor has marked it as having a job quitting scene somewhere in the film. The list is every such marked film in order of popularity. And this is 7th on the list. The search works fine. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2019, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/26 "2019-04-25T10:08:03Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > and Mary Poppins flies away because the kids want to be with their dad. Agreed, it’s probably Mary quitting her job when she is no longer needed. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/27 "2019-04-25T10:44:38Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Quibble, but as I remember (and I just searched to confirm), the main, well, “protagonist” former defense worker (played by Michael Douglas) had been laid off (and his wife had left) before he got stuck in the traffic jam which then led to his eventful trek across Los Angeles… That movie is really the story of _two_ men, William Foster (Douglas) and Sergeant Prendergast (Robert Duvall). Prendergast is about to retire from the LAPD, is in fact on his last day when he begins tracking Foster. After shooting Foster, Prendergast changes his mind and decides to stay on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/28 "2019-04-25T13:37:57Z")
I came in here to mention The Blues Brothers. There is also an outtake on the DVD where Elwood quits his job at the glue factory. But that scene with Aretha has to be the best quitting your job scene in any movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/29 "2019-04-25T14:27:39Z")
**Office Space**. When you don’t have enough flair to satisfy management. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/30 "2019-04-25T15:18:43Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but doesn’t “Five Easy Pieces” start out with Jack Nicholson working on an oil drilling team, then he quits his job to… get a chicken salad sandwich or something… ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/31 "2019-04-25T17:59:49Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I came in here to mention The Blues Brothers. There is also an outtake on the DVD where Elwood quits his job at the glue factory. But that scene with Aretha has to be the best quitting your job scene in any movie. I’m less sure of this quibble, but doesn’t Aretha and her two female customers/back-up singers do the cool song and dance to convince her husband not to leave for the band, but the husband just watches and at the end just takes his apron off and leaves with Jake & Elwood. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/32 "2019-04-25T19:41:05Z")
Judge Reinholt quits one of his lousy jobs (he’s fired from at least one other job) in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/33 "2019-04-25T20:36:40Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but doesn’t “Five Easy Pieces” start out with Jack Nicholson working on an oil drilling team, then he quits his job to… get a chicken salad sandwich or something… Yeah. Never got it. impossible to empathise with the leading character who acts in immoral and inexplicable ways…oh, yeah, that reminds me, _Badlands_ kinda has the leading character quitting (or at least abandoning) his job. But what I really meant to say was that _ **Blade Runner** _ more or less starts and ends with Deckard quitting his job. j ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/34 "2019-04-25T21:54:42Z")
If we’re including getting fired, [this](https://youtu.be/0r_L5Z7yLTU) is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/35 "2019-04-26T04:36:01Z")
Quitting a job is certainly not the main theme of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but Judge Reinhold’s quitting after being laughed at while delivering fast food fish in a pirate’s outfit to those guys at IBM is pretty epic. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/36 "2019-04-26T12:00:19Z")
Is quitting a job the main theme of _any_ movie? In most of these cases, it’s a plot device that drives other events. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/37 "2019-04-26T12:33:49Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Quitting a job is certainly not the main theme of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but Judge Reinhold’s quitting after being laughed at while delivering fast food fish in a pirate’s outfit to those guys at IBM is pretty epic. Post 32 [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21609453&postcount=32](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21609453&postcount=32) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/38 "2019-04-26T13:31:02Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **Office Space**. When you don’t have enough flair to satisfy management. Soooooooo … more flair then? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/39 "2019-04-26T20:51:13Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Soooooooo … more flair then? :rolleyes: Here at The Straight Dope, we encourage to _express_ yourself, um’kay. ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003/40 "2019-04-27T03:29:58Z")
Also not the main theme of the film, but Ringo’s walking out on the Beatles (at Paul’s grandfather’s urging) right before a big TV gig drives most of the events at the end of _A Hard Day’s Night._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-quitting-a-job-as-the-main-theme/833003.md?page=3)