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Usenet Posted 17 years ago
Screenwriting

Movies where the bad guys win?

Can people list movies where the bad guys win? Not the likable bad guys that are less bad than badder guys or where the "good" guys are jerks so the bad guys don't seem so bad or where the bad guys become slightly good through character development and yet cannot give up their past entirely (usually done humorously as a sort of end-of-movie punchline), but where the bad guys are bad, good guys are good, and yet the bad guys win.
And it is because audiences want (demand?) Disney endings that so many movies have the good guys win? You don't even seen tragedies anymore. Is Hollywood simply not interested in movies where the bad guys win? Are they viewed as unmarketable? Are they unmarketable? If so, can you list ones that were bad and bombed at the box office?

Thanks in advance!
Scott
  

Top answer

Seven ends up with Kevin Spacey's unnamed character triumphant, and I suppose that from his point of view, even though he's been caught, he "wins". Bert

  • Seven ends up with Kevin Spacey's unnamed character triumphant, and I suppose that from his point of view, even though he's been caught, he "wins".
  • Bert
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20 Answers
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Seven ends up with Kevin Spacey's unnamed character triumphant, and I suppose that from his point of view, even though he's been caught, he "wins".
Bert
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Check out some Noir - bad guys often win. In BODY HEAT the hero is in prison doing time while the villain suns herself on the beach. In CRISS CROSS the hero gets the girl... and they both get shot dead. The thing about Noir, though, is it's all gray hats - so maybe you are looking for actual white hat heroes who lose.
I think there are few of those because the audience doesn't much like it. Th
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[nq:1]Can people list movies where the bad guys win?[/nq]
"No Country for Old Men"
Everybody here seemed to love the movie, but it didn't do anything for me.
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[nq:1]Seven ends up with Kevin Spacey's unnamed character triumphant, and I suppose that from his point of view, even though he's been caught, he "wins".[/nq]
Wild Things

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
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The Last Seduction, although as Martell points out, it's very Noir-ish.
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[nq:1]Wild Things[/nq]
I don't know it. But I thought of one very obvious one: Othello (though as with Seven, the villain is triumphant but caught).

Bert
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[nq:2]Wild Things[/nq]
[nq:1]I don't know it.[/nq]
WELL worth seeking out. Highly entertaining with a very **** *** scene in addition to many plot twists and Bill Murray absolutely hilarious as a sleazy lawyer.

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
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[nq:1]Seven ends up with Kevin Spacey's unnamed character triumphant, and I suppose that from his point of view, even though he's been caught, he "wins".[/nq]
Not caught killed. That's why he wins.

Paulo Joe Jingy
"I just couldn't live in a world without me."
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[nq:1]Can people list movies where the bad guys win? Not the likable bad guys that are less bad than badder ... they unmarketable? If so, can you list ones that were bad and bombed at the box office? Thanks in advance![/nq]
Almost every horror movie made, at least in the last ten or fifteen years. The bad guy winning in horror has become cliche.

"The good guys win WHAT a twist!"
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[nq:1]Can people list movies where the bad guys win? Not the likable bad guys that are less bad than badder ... they unmarketable? If so, can you list ones that were bad and bombed at the box office? Thanks in advance![/nq]
"The International"

Paulo Joe Jingy
"I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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