# Stories Where the Hero Loses (Spoilers possible) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209 "2022-07-19T16:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/21 "2022-07-19T17:36:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Going way back, there’s the poem “[Casey At the Bat](https://poets.org/poem/casey-bat).” Caseys [historically haven’t gotten a break](https://www.history.com/news/why-was-casey-jones-an-american-folk-hero) (or brake). ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/22 "2022-07-19T17:38:42Z")
I’m not really thinking of a lot of good examples off the top of my head other than The Alamo, but it seems like there are a lot of war movies where the ‘good guys’ make a valiant last stand against an overwhelming enemy force, and are all wiped out by the end. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, it’s been pointed out that Indiana Jones, for all his danger-defying adventures, never really does anything that affects the overall plot of the movie in any way. He loses in the sense that he wanted to find the Ark of the Covenant and get it to a museum, but it ends up boxed away and forgotten in a U.S. government warehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/23 "2022-07-19T17:40:30Z")
_Glory_? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/24 "2022-07-19T17:41:19Z")
> [@solost](#): > > but it seems like there are a lot of war movies where the ‘good guys’ make a valiant last stand against an overwhelming enemy force Depends if you think Custer was a good guy or not. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/25 "2022-07-19T17:42:45Z")
Well, as Rosa Luxemburg put it, " the working class will lose every battle until the last one" ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/26 "2022-07-19T17:44:51Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I saw that one when it was pretty new, but I think I was too young to get it. Maybe I should give it another chance. The one and only time I saw it, I was probably 12 – it was one of the local TV stations’ late-Saturday-night films. I watched it until the end, and the entire film (not just the ending) was just extremely depressing, which I suppose was the intent. It was, clearly, enough of a downer that it stuck with me for 40+ years. Looking at Wikipedia, I see that it got nine Academy Award nominations, so it was likely a well-done film, but not one that I’d want to see again. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/27 "2022-07-19T17:45:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > As I’ve mentioned frequently here (and did so recently), in C.S. Forester’s novel **The African Queen** Charlie Allnut and Rosie fail in their effort to sink the _Louisa_, unlike the movie. The _Louisa_ is sunk, but not by their efforts. They also discover in the novel they have nothing in common, although the film alters that. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/28 "2022-07-19T17:47:08Z")
A Few Good Men The defendants’ sole goal was to stay in the Marines and although they beat the more serious charge, they were still convicted of a lesser charge and dishonorably discharged. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/29 "2022-07-19T17:47:10Z")
Network. What IS it with the 70s? Howard Beale gets assassinated on live TV, Max Schumacher loses his job and his wife, Diana Christensen loses her soul, and we lose everything, as the over the top absurdity of the film has become our reality. UBS is Fox. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/30 "2022-07-19T17:50:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > it was one of the local TV stations’ late-Saturday-night films. Didn’t you grow up in WI? It was probably the same station I saw it on. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/31 "2022-07-19T17:50:29Z")
Think of Stephen King reminded me of The Long Walk. Man, when King decides to actually finish a story (instead of just stop telling the story or maybe have everybody fuck) he’s a real downer. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/32 "2022-07-19T17:51:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Didn’t you grow up in WI? It was probably the same station I saw it on. I did. It would have been on WFRV (channel 5) in Green Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/33 "2022-07-19T17:51:35Z")
The first thing that comes to mind: The Alamo (1960) Then there’s: Corregidor (1942) 13 Rue Madeleine (1946) D. O. A. (1949) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/34 "2022-07-19T17:51:49Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Think of Stephen King reminded me of The Long Walk. Man, when King decides to actually finish a story (instead of just stop telling the story or maybe have everybody fuck) he’s a real downer. That was Richard Bachman. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/35 "2022-07-19T17:52:02Z")
The movie “First Blood” ends with Rambo surrendering to the police (and subsequently going to prison). ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/36 "2022-07-19T17:55:29Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > _Glory_? Yep, I was planning on posting that, but you beat me to it. STILL ticks me off that _Driving Miss Daisy_ won the Best Picture Oscar over _Glory_ that year. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/37 "2022-07-19T17:56:02Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _Rocky (the first)_ - Yeah, Rocky’s whole goal was just to get to fight in a real championship bout, and he put up a good fight, but he still lost. If the movie hadn’t been so successful to make _Rocky II_ possible, it would have ended right there. Rocky won. No, he didn’t win the boxing match, but he got the victory he was looking for. At some point in the movie, Rocky comes to the realization that Apollo Creed is too good and he can’t possibly win. But what he could do is go the distance which he did. Rocky attained the victory he was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/38 "2022-07-19T17:56:55Z")
Another 1970s dystopian film which just came to mind: _Silent Running_. In the future, the Earth’s forests have died off, except for a small population of trees being kept alive in “bio-domes” on spaceships. When the corporate owners of the spaceships decide to end the program, destroy the bio-domes, and return the ships to profitable, commercial service, one of the crew members (played by Bruce Dern), who is an ecologist, kills off his crewmates, and steals the ship, which only has one remaining bio-dome. At the end, he’s only able to save that one dome’s worth of trees, sending it off into deep space with electric lighting and a single drone (robot) to tend the trees, before blowing up his ship, and killing himself, to avoid being captured. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/39 "2022-07-19T17:58:00Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I think, Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I always took the ending to mean Pink recovered from his self-induced isolation. At the end he is sifting through the rubble of his wall. The movie implies with the molotov cocktail that the cycle may begin again, and the album implies it is a circle by the “Is this where…” that ends the album and the “…we came in” that starts it. I’d like to think he recovered. OTOH, I don’t think Waters ever got over it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209/40 "2022-07-19T17:58:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The Parallax View Not only does the hero NOT expose the assassination conspiracy, he gets killed and framed for a different assassination. And his friends that helped him get killed, too. Similar to this is _Arlington Road_, in which the anti-government militia not only gets away with their bombing, they trick the hero into being an unwitting mule to drive their bomb into the target garage, so that postmortem, he ends up being blamed for everything, so there’s no chance the militia will ever be held responsible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-the-hero-loses-spoilers-possible/968209.md?page=3)