Jan 16 2009
Ten Movies Where the Bad Guys Win
Does anyone else get sick of generic Hollywood endings? You know, where the good guy, against all odds, defeats the bad guy and gets the pretty girl? Real life doesn’t usually work like that, so I’ve always enjoyed movies where the bad guy wins in the end. I’m also quite the misanthrope, so your taste may differ. Keep in mind, though, that “protagonist” doesn’t always equate to “good guy,” and likewise for “antagonist” and “bad guy.” After the jump, take a look ten movies where it’s the bad guy who comes out on top when it’s all said and done (major spoilers):
The Usual Suspects
The bad guy: The infamous Keyser Soze is one of the baddest men on the planet, and the mere mention of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men, especially those in the criminal world.
How he wins: By pretending to be a dim, crippled man named Verbal Kint, Soze is able to simply walk out of the police station despite the fact that he’s murdered many people, including children. As Verbal tells Special Agent Kujan, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The bad guy: Well, it’s a bad girl in this case - Nurse Ratched, who runs a mental institution and rules over her patients with an iron fist. Even though the patients clearly have mental problems, Nurse Ratched treats them all like crap, never once showing an ounce of sympathy.
How she wins: McMurphy made significant progress in galvanizing the patients to stand up to Nurse Ratched, but it just wasn’t enough. Sure, Chief Bromdem escapes, but not before McMurphy is labotomized and Ratched presumably regains control over the institution.
Memento
The bad guy: Leonard Shelby, the film’s likeable protagonist who suffers from a condition that renders him unable to form new memories. So why’s he bad? He uses his condition to his advantage, creating a “game” for himself in which he can feel the satisfaction of destroying the man he believes is responsible for his wife’s murder.
How he wins: He “frames” his friend Teddy, knowing full well that Teddy was not responsible for his wife’s death. Leonard knows he will soon forget that he framed Teddy, and the demented cycle of murderous revenge takes its toll on an innocent man.
Hannibal
The bad guy: Notorious serial killer Hannibal Lecter, hiding out ten years after the events in Silence of the Lambs.
How he wins: After cooking parts of Paul Krendler’s brain and feeding it to him, Hannibal is momentarily captured by Agent Starling, forced to chop off his own hand in order to escape before reinforcements arrive. Yeah, he lost a hand, but when you cook a a dude’s brain, feed it to him, get away from the feds and then feed more brain to a little kid on an airplane, you SO win.
Rosemary’s Baby
The bad guy: While Rosemary’s neighbor Roman Castevet (a.k.a. Steven Marcato) is a manipulative Satan worshipper, the real bad guy is Satan himself.
How he wins: Rosemary gives birth to her child and is coaxed out of killing it, meaning that the spawn of Satan has entered our world.
Arlington Road
The bad guys: In this case, it’s the suburban couple Oliver and Cheryl Lang. Their neighbor, Michael Faraday, believes that the Langs are maniacal terrorists.
How they win: Well, the Langs are terrorists, and after planting a bomb in the trunk of Faraday’s care that kills almost 200 people, they get away, having framed Faraday for the explosion.
Se7en
The bad guy: Serial killer “John Doe,” a man who claims to be murdering people to carry out the will of a higher power.
How he wins: After murdering people in such ways as to symbolize the sins of gluttony, pride, lust, greed, and sloth, Doe brilliantly sets up Detective David Mills to complete his project. Guilty of envy, Doe decapitates Mills’ wife and has a package containing her head delivered to a remote location where only Doe, Mills, and Detective Somerset are found. Mills learns what Doe has done and realizes that if he kills Doe, he will have carried out the sin of wrath, completing Doe’s endeavor. Mills shoots Doe, which is exactly what Doe wanted. I get the chills just thinking about it.
Primal Fear
The bad guy: Aaron Stampler, a stuttering, shy boy accused of murdering an archbishop. Aaron apparently suffers from multiple personality disorder and, when agitated, transforms to the violent, aggressive Roy.
How he wins: Aaron transforms into Roy in the courtroom, leading the judge to dismiss the jury and order Aaron into a mental hospital, from where he will be released shortly. Aaron’s attorney, Martin Vail, is smart enough to realize that Aaron had been faking his disorder the entire time and used it as a ploy to appear insane. Vail remarks, “So there never was a Roy,” to which Aaron replies, “There never was an Aaron, counselor,” revealing the fact that Aaron/Roy is always violent and aggressive.
Saw
The bad guy: Jigsaw, a deranged killer who puts people in situations where they must make life-or-death decisions. Only the “life” part of those decisions usually results in the loss of a body part or some type of disfigurement.
How he wins: Pretending to be a corpse, Jigsaw (who is actually a terminally ill brain cancer patient) uses Zep as a pawn and only reveals himself after his plan had been carried out. I included Saw in this article because it’s a pretty blatant example of a bad guy winning, but the ending to this movie left me feeling kind of meh. It doesn’t suck, but it also doesn’t compare very favorably to movies like Se7en and The Usual Suspects and…
The Empire Strikes Back
The bad guys: Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, and the rest of the Galactic Empire.
How they win: Yeah, I know that in the end of the trilogy the good guys come out on top, but at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke gets his hand cut off by Vader, and Han Solo - frozen in carbonite - is being transported to Jabba the Hutt by bounty hunter Boba Fett. The Empire simply owns the Rebel Alliance throughout this one, clearly pissed off after their Death Star was destroyed.
Any other movies where the bad guys win? Hit me up and let me know.
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How could you forget Natural Born Killers?
Right on, otherwise id pick Silence of the lambs over Hannibal =)
As much as I like the Empire, I’d still have to take Empire off the list because it was deliberately written as the middle section of a trilogy and can’t really count as having the ‘bad guys’ get away with it.
I would put the Inside Man from Spike Lee on the list. The bank robbers may be good-hearted…but they are the thieves throughout the movie and do get away with their crime. Just because the person they stole from is also a thief, doesn’t mean they didn’t beat the cops, etc. (You could argue Ocean’s Eleven also).
Also, that Nicolas Cage movie where his partner scams him into believing he has a daughter and steals his money.
When I saw the title, my immediate reaction was “Empire better be on this list” and you didn’t disappoint.
you forgot a movie… Seven
Darkness (2002) with Anna Paquin. Bad guys win.
I think you need to watch Memento again. Leonard was using Teddy to catch other bad guys that had nothing to do with Teddy. And fix your web site.
what about fallen?
Well yeah. No Country for Old Men. But the movie sucked ass. The ones you listed were quite well remembered.
What about Swordfish? At the end the “bad” guys get away.
Match Point is a movie where the bad guy wins…it follows a poor social climber who uses his job teaching tennis at a country club to befriend a wealthy client. Upon meeting his wealthy sister, he woos her…well they end up married, but he falls for his client’s fiance. He begins an affair with her and she stops seeing his client because she is in love with him. Well she gets increasingly upset he wont leave his wife to be with her, he avoids her, she says she will tell the wife everything and she is also pregnant. Well he goes into her building, breaks into the older ladies apartment across the hallway, shoots her…makes it look like she is robbed…then he waits. The girl comes up and starts to open her door, he opens the old ladies door, says her named, and blows her away with a shotgun. Well he took the jewelry he stole from the lady and threw it in the river…but it didn’t go over the railing and landed in the park. You think he’d get caught now right? One cop does…until the ring turns up in the park. Now they think drug addicts who frequent the park broke in and stole the jewelry and killed the witnesses. He goes back to his wife and child.
COLDDDDDD SHITTTTTTTT
Another one to add…
Unforgiven where we believe initially that William ‘Bill’ Munny (Clint Eastwood) is out to revenge a wrong, but in the end you just have a really bad individual just kill many people. Eventually he scared everyone in town including the women that hired him.
Swordfish is another movie
Hmm Fallen with denzel washington it’s an awesome movie about a fallen murderous angel, the best part is that from the beginning they tell you that the bad guy wins but by the end it still comes as a surprise. Pretty cool.
How about Swordfish, Wolverine knows John Travolta is still alive, but the authorities dont and him and Halle Berry get all the money and sail off into the sunset.
How about The Talented Mr. Ripley? He not only gets away with a few murders, but he gets PAID by the father of one of the victims. And the one person that suspects he did it, is brushed off and considered crazy & distraught just because she is a woman.
BRAZIL by Terry Gilliam is no1 in my book.
how about casino royale?
also…
The Last Seduction
Romeo Is Bleeding
I disagree with ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ The empire is the only strong form of government throughout the series. They employ thousands upon thousands of industry workers on countless worlds. They are in no way the bad guys of the series. Your so called ‘Good guys’ openly admit to being rebels. They attack and kill all Imperial peace keepers, just imagine how many union workers were killed when they destroyed the Death Star not to mention the myriad support staff required to keep Star Destroyers running. Also these events take place long after the founding of the Clone Army, so lots of Storm Troopers are not even clones, there are individual Humans who volunteered to fight for their Empire in many of those suits.
Long Live the Empire!
Jurassic Park!
They all get eaten; only a few escape on a chopper, clearly having been owned by the dino’s, who go on to live happily on the island.
Forgetting Fight Club?? epic..
THE GREAT SILENCE!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Silence
“The film is famous for its bleak ending, a bloodshed, where everyone remotely good is gunned down by the greedy bounty hunters.”
What about The Player??? Tim Robbins murders a writer, takes the writer’s story and his girlfriend Greta Scacchi, and ends up making millions from the movie and marrying and having kids with her while living in a lovely home with a white picket fence and roses everywhere? Meanwhile, he ditches the loyal girlfriend who protected him and gets her fired, and convinces the blackmailer who knows about his crime to be bought off by making a movie with the same plot?
1984…bad guys win (at least they do in the book).
Did you even watch Memento?
I’ve got a couple additions:
Clockwork Orange-While Alex is the main character in the story, there’s no disputing that he is one bad motherfucker. After the doctors reverse his brainwashing, it becomes frighteningly obvious that he’d be returning to his life of violence, rape, and terror.
American History X-The bad guy isn’t necessarily a “guy,” per say, more the idea of bigotry and racism. Danny had finally been convinced by his brother to leave the Aryans and turn over a new leaf, and what does he get for his troubles? A bullet in his chest from a black kid who hated Danny for no reason other than the color of his skin. The cycle of hate continues, and ultimately the bad guys win.
Carlito’s Way- Just when we think Carlito’s going to get away with his bride and lead a normal and honest life, Bennie Blanco from the Bronx takes him out not 3 steps from the train doors.
What about The Player??? Tim Robbins murders a writer, takes the writer’s girlfriend Greta Scacchi, sets up a competitor to fail with a bad movie, and ends up making millions by “saving” the movie at the last minute, getting a giant promotion, and marrying and having kids with Greta while living in a lovely home with a white picket fence and roses everywhere? Meanwhile, he ditches the loyal girlfriend who protected him and gets her fired, and convinces the blackmailer who knows about his crime to be bought off by making a movie with the plot of his actions?
Whoever submitted :
“I disagree with ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ The empire is the only strong form of government throughout the series. They employ thousands upon thousands of industry workers on countless worlds. They are in no way the bad guys of the series. Your so called ‘Good guys’ openly admit to being rebels. They attack and kill all Imperial peace keepers, just imagine how many union workers were killed when they destroyed the Death Star not to mention the myriad support staff required to keep Star Destroyers running. Also these events take place long after the founding of the Clone Army, so lots of Storm Troopers are not even clones, there are individual Humans who volunteered to fight for their Empire in many of those suits.
Long Live the Empire!”
Clearly watched Clerks one too many times. I bet his uncle is also a private contractor too!
What, NO GODFATHER !!!! this list is useless, and what about Casino, someone came clear and is still in power by the end of the movie.
Emperor Palpatine made the trains run on time.
What?!? No, Chinatown. It should be number one on the list.
Memento doesn’t really belong on the list. Leonard made a decision to stop being a pawn for Teddy.
Ah, but Caedus, the Empire is headed by evil Palpatine, who ordered the slaughter of the Jedi, as well as Darth Vader, who largely assisted in this slaughter, including the murder of children. Also, if you have played Star Wars Battlefront II, it explains that the Storm Troopers are clones, just not all made from Jango Fett.
Shock to the System http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100602/
Swimming with Sharks http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114594/
I’m amazed that some of you are even able to type complete sentences.
One of you even commented that I forgot Seven. Amazing.
fight club anyone? tyler totally won!
horror movie - the strangers, bad guys win.
How about would-have-been amazing movies had they not been spoiled by the good guys winning? I’m talking about films like Training Day, 3:10 to Yuma (kind of) and most blatently Traffic, a brilliantly shot and directed film which would have said about a million times more about the war drugs had every one of the multiple story lines not ended with the “goodies” winning -destroying any message it may have carried up until the last 10 minutes. You can just imagine the execs saying “Great picture…we’ve just got a few suggestions before we sign off the cut”
For all of you mentioning Swordfish, it doesn’t really work depending on how you look at it.
From a certain point of view, Travolta’s character could be seen as a good guy. He states that his actions are a means to an end, which is to protect America’s freedoms. Given the choice between killing one person to save 99, or letting all 100 die, which would you choose? For the sake of argument let’s add that if you refuse to make the choice, you and the remaining 100 people are killed anyway.
Granted he takes the concept to its radical extreme. He’s killing the same Americans whose rights he is claiming to protect. And he manages to make a pretty penny on the side.
Just wanted to offer that up. Most movies on this list clearly draw the line between “good guy” and “bad guy”. But I think in the case of Swordfish the line is bit more blurred if you’re willing to entertain the reasoning of Travolta’s character.
I can think of few:
” Identity” where the boy in the end is still the murderer .. nice:)
“Fight Club” Tyler Durden kicks ass !
Oh yeah “Twin peaks” massive shit !
PEACE ;]
@Caedus: “they are individual humans who volunteered to fight for their empire.”
volunteered? empire? i appreciate your skillful deconstruction of the truth in star wars, but empires don’t have many volunteers.
great list.
Unfaithful -Richard Gere kills his wife’s lover and gets away with it.
Presumed Innocent - Opposite of above, Harrison Ford’s wife kills her husband lover and gets away with it.
FALLEN
Don’t forget se7en!
Don’t forget Carlito’s Way….
great movie where the good guy just can’t beat the world he’s stuck in, he is an ex-hitman who gets out of prison determined to reform and save enough money to work a car dealership in florida, but gets caught up in bad things
Fight Club
Probably the best illustration of your article: The Vanishing. In the original European version, the killer wins. In the American remake, the protagonist triumphs.
One of them is an excellent movie. One is complete crap. I can imagine you can guess which one is which.
Man, I can’t believe you forgot the ultimate “bad guy wins” movie, Chinatown, a movie whose thoroughly bleak ending is made all the more deflating by it’s sudden departure from the conventions of both the detective genre, and from the production-code-era Noirs it revises.
@ Jame Gum
You’re right - Chinatown is incredible. I’m especially frustrated because I watched it pretty recently. Your analysis is spot on.
Thanks for reading.
“Eisenheim, I don’t want to arrest you. I’m a cynical man, God knows… but if your manifestations are somehow real… then even I’m willing to admit, you’re a very special person. And if it’s a trick, then it’s equally impressive. Either way, you have a gift. So don’t make me put you in jail!” Edward Norton is a mysteriously commanding magician who crafts a series of illusions to expose the murderer of the woman he loves, a malevolent Prince who killed her rather than set her free. You root for the Magician, whose suffering and intensity are painfully real as he works step-by-step to strip away all the Prince’s imperious psyche, bringing the law to his door with evidence of his guilt. Terrified and knowing he will find no sympathy among his subjects, he breaks down and commits suicide. Except that he didn’t kill his fiancee. Nobody did. She conspired with the Magician to destroy the Prince to expose his heartlessness Which they do. They frame him for a murder that never happened an “illusion” leading to his death. Okay, he was not a nice guy but he was innocent of the crime. The good guys turn out to be the bad guys responsible for a real murder.
The Wicker Man where Nicholas Cage gets torched alive after having his limbs broken. I didn’t see that one coming.
Come on #1 should be Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Not only do the bad guys win but they do it in a genre where the bad guys almost never win…
How could you forget the excellent Woody Allen movie with Martin Landau “Crimes and Misdemeanors” ?
Fraility was a good movie with an awesome twist. The movie was about a man who saw demons and killed them.
What about Oceans 11, Oceans 12 and Oceans 13?
They are essentially thieves and get away with it. Bad guys win.
ok, how about The Wicker Man, the seventies version with Edward Woodward
The Exorcist. Two priests get killed in exchange for a little girls life.
“Fallen” with Denzel Washington and John Goodman
unbreakable
Requiem for a Dream, the “bad guy” in this case being addiction.
I think you should re-visit One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. McMurphy’s actions completely strip Ratched of her power. Many of the men previously under her domination simply leave the hospital. Only Bromden remains and where he was once completely emasculated to the point he couldn’t speak, he now realizes he is actually almost super-human and throws a sink through the window to escape.
So the bad guy did not win at all- she lost her power and the men she once controlled.
I would argue that in 3:10 to Yuma, the remake, the bad guy wins because all the good guys die; even if they do make it to the train.
You got the plot to Memento wrong. I think the bad guys are Natalie and Teddy. They manipulate Leonard. Leonard figures out that Teddy is not the man he is looking for but because he knows what Teddy is doing with him he chooses to believe that Teddy is the person he’s looking for.
Mr. Brooks with Kevin Costner is a good one for the list too.
Cloverfield?
@ Jacob
There’s a lot of bad or shady guys in Memento, but what Leonard does at the end (or beginning) is a conscious act and he KNOWS that he will end up killing someone solely to feel good about avenging his wife. That’s a bad thing to do, and that’s a bad guy. There’s really no way around it.
Teddy wasn’t a saint, but he didn’t deserve to be hunted and killed, either, which is exactly what Leonard did.
28 days/weeks later are both good examples of the good guys getting humped. christ by the end of the second one the zombies were taking over europe
thank you Madison, for clearing up the memento thing. those that thought that you were not right about what you wrote aggrivated me until i got down to this last reply from you.
[…] Read the rest here: Ten Movies Where the Bad Guys Win […]
As to your first question in the article…Uh, no, I don’t get sick of seeing the generic Hollywood endings. I don’t mind an alternative occasionally, but after I’ve finished watching a movie where the bad guy wins, I usually end up feeling like crap. I was so pissed off at the end of Empire that I coulda spit nails!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman) would be a great one to tack on to this list. I have never felt so shocked and hopeless at the end of a movie.
Jeepers Creepers. Kid gets skinned, flying monster thing wins.
The Omen, where the little Satan child lives to spread a little slice of hell onto the earth.
What if the bad guys lose and but the good guy doesnt win a la Casablanca….that isnt the typical hollywood ending.
Chinatown should be in there as well…
Requiem for a Dream…nobody wins in that movie; its all effed up.
I am sure there are some more if I thought about it long enough…but it is a good list Kudos for Arlington Road.
I know of one but due to being a foreign film Im not sure it can be added to the list.
OLDBOY (Korean film) a tale of revenge that takes it to a WHOLE new level of plain downright deranged planning of exacting the circle of hatred with evil wrapped around it.
How about Rocky?
While it’s a pretty shitty movie, Jeepers Creepers is a solid example of the bad guy winning.
Heck you could argue a case for the original Night of the Living Dead.
Same goes for X-Men 3. The horrible folks that made that POS clearly won, while anyone that saw it lost horribly.
Lord of War is a classic example.. bad guy steals guns from soviet union sells to African children gets caught by the feds and then released so he can cut a deal with them. Did you know it was cheaper for them to buy real AK-47’s in Africa then to get props for that movie?? Yea… crazy.
I’d throw fight club into the mix. Yeah, sure, Tyler Durden is “killed” at the end of the movie, but the bad guys, Project Mayhem, still get exactly what they wanted. The end of the movie is of all of the credit card buildings but one blowing up. I’d still call 9/10 a win.
The Dark Knight the Joker wins he manages to turn gotham’s white knight Harvey Dent into psycho Two-Face
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Memento does not belong on this list. The write up shows that the reviewer needs to watch this movie again. The story summary is quite glaringly wrong.
Leonard did not revenge his wife’s killer as he believed (in fact Leonard may have been his wife’s killer, but they leave that cleverly undefined), the summary has that part right. However, Leonard did kill somebody that had been grossly taking advantage of him and using him as a serial hit man. Leonard did in fact kill the bad guy at the end of the film.
The Demon Seed
I believe that in Memento, we are intended to sympathize with Leonard.
you forgot Bandits and what about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid for that matter. it seems that you forgot a while genre of movies about people getting away with stealing…..
@ nick
I actually thought about including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but it didn’t really work. They were not good guys, but they weren’t horrible, either. They stole and tried to avoid killing people. At the end, they get killed, but they weren’t the good guys (as likeable as they were) and I don’t think any “bad” guys won in the end. There’s too much grey. GREAT flick, though.
@ Francis
Lighten up.
Also, I love when people comment “you forgot…” No, most of the time, I didn’t. It either wasn’t a better example of a film in which the bad guys win than the ones I included on this list, or you’re really stretching the definition of “bad guy.” Apollo Creed was a “bad guy?” Really? Just seemed like a professional boxer to me.
The Omen 666 is another one movie where the bad win
Mr. Frost, with Jeff Goldblum as a serial killer who claims he is Satan. He has a battle of wills with his therapist where his goal is to get her to believe he is not sick, but evil, Satan himself, and kill him because of it, thus proving that passion and mystery and fear win out over logic and science.
Very, very good movie and highly underrated.
Event Horizon!!
Texas Chainsaw Massacre!!
Also, The Descent (kinda, since she is beaten).
“Irréversible”
A pretty crazy french film i saw a while ago. Dont remember the details 100% but its played out from back to front like Memento. Starts with a man walking into a nightclub and destroying a mans head with a fire extinguisher (one of the most violent scenes ive ever seen in a movie). The movie then goes back scene by scene showing why he did what he did. In the end he got the wrong guy.
Almost every villain listed here is a bad “guy” which is understandable. Let’s try some bad “girls” who win in the end!
The Last Seduction has been already been mentioned, Linda Florentino character is as bad ass as they come male or female!
The REMAKE of “Postman Always Rings Twice” the femme fatale played by Kathleen Turner wins in the end.
I don’t remember, in “Romeo is Bleeding” does Lena Olin’s character get away in the end?
So how bout some more villainesses?
One of my favorites: Body Heat http://www.google.com/movies/reviews?cid=b3ab70475218d7e0&fq=movie:+body+heat&hl=en
What about SW EP3 Revenge of the Sith? Jedi are killed, republic is disintegrated, et al.
How about Wild Things? That’s a great movie with the bad guy (girl) winning.
I agree with Empire (I was hoping it would be on there). At the same time, as far as SW movies go, it almost seems as though Revenge of the Sith had a more bleak, evil-encompassing-all ending. Or maybe it just seemed that way because it wasn’t quite as good…
Kevin Costner in No Way Out - protragonist throughout the movie, but at the end you discover he’s the bad guy.
How about Cool Hand Luke? The Great Escape? In both of them, the escapees end up on the losing end of things.
@Treezy - If only The Wicker Man were a documentary.
I know it’s not people’s favorite but what about Terminator 3. The end of the movie is basically the machines taking over and wiping out much of the human population. Sure, John was safe but I think that “prevent judgment day” mission was an epic fail.
None of those movies comes close to the freakiness of “Wolf Creek” - You won’t want to visit Australia after watching it.
Author totally missed the point of Momento. Shelby doesn’t frame Teddy for fun, Teddy has been using him as an assassin by repeatedly framing people he want’s killed. Teddy _originally_ helped Shelby kill the real bad guy, but when Shelby consequently forgot, as he must, Teddy didn’t take him to get his “I did it” tattoo, he started pointing him at different guys.
So when Teddy comes clean and taunts him with the fact that hes gonna make him kill someone else _again_, Shelby knows he will not be able to remember and prevent the injustice.
So Shelby turns the one weapon he knows he has, his own self, on Teddy, who is nowhere near innocent of anything.
Presumably, now that Shelby has his tattoo that identifies Teddies car, he will repeatedly discover Teddy is dead and will get his “I Did It” tattoo on his chest to shut himself off. I think there may even have been an I Did It note at the beginning of the movie (its been a while).
So Momento needs to come off the list.
Sorry dude…
The Descent, at least the English version before the washy alternate ending to allow for the sequel was stitched onto the American release of the flick. The English version is far superior and in it the bad guys would certainly seem to win.
How about Chinatown? I have never been so upset by a movie’s ending. Scarred me for life. I’ve vowed to never watch it again. Excellent movie though.
black hawk down =]
oops, just saw that chinatown was mentioned before. this is a good list by the way. Thanks
Missed a classic. Angel Heart. Starring Mr. Rourke. Great ending. Won’t give it up here. Go see it..seriously.
[…] Unreality - Ten Movies Where the Bad Guys Win | (tags: movies towatch) […]
What about Easy Rider?
@bob- Wild Things was about an emotionally abused girl taking it out on a few suckers. Good, especially for the pool scene but i’m not sure it fits the mold.
@Maddison- Nice list, great responses to jackasses.
I know its cheesy because it tops the perenial lists of greatest movies of all time but what about King Ralph, John Goodman (Ralph) makes a mockery of the aristocracy of the greatest nation on earth, refuses to adopt the honours of his new office and yet still ends up with the girl, country estate and the dukettes! But maybe I’m a sucker, falling for the subtle subversity of a director and leading man at the top of their game.
I wonder if you or your readers have ever heard of ‘The Abominable Dr Phibes’, or the sequel, ‘Dr Phibes Rises Again’. Perhaps they didn’t make your list because they were as much camp as horror. Vincent Price kills a slew of good guys and still sails off into the dark in the end.
V For Vendetta - blows up Parliament. Best. Scene. Ever.
In the Exorcist, the priest dies, so you could say the Devil won on that count.
-House of 1000 corpses
Very disturbing movie, directed by Rob Zombie
A family of cereal killers tortures and kills a bunch of kids, cops, chearleeders, etc. and they all live and get away with it.
Infact I believe “Devils Rejects”(the sequal to this mvoie) is the only sequal to contain only bad guys from the 1st movie…
I’m pretty sure you’ve never seen Memento.
I got to put a vote in for chinatown and irreversible (if you haven’t seen it and your not sick, don’t)
Also, you probably didn’t include these since they technically don’t fit but: Requiem for a Dream, the Descent and House of Sand and Fog, Revolutionary Road = nobody wins.
“Crimes and Misdemeanors” definitely belongs on the list. So does “Match Point,” because it was essentially the same movie, only set in England. Woody stealing from himself - priceless.
P.S. - Martin Landau is a great actor, but if you ever meet him, you’ll find he’s also a cranky old fart.
Gotta agree with Robert White’s post. Leonard sets himself up to kill Teddy because he wants to put an end to the endless cycle of vengeance. How does that make him the bad guy?
Infernal Affairs (the movie The Departed is a remake of.)
The original ending has the bad guy winning (although it could be argued that he’s turning into a good guy.) A new ending was made for the film’s release in China, since “good guys must win.” And the American version also has a “good guys win” ending.
In the movie Fallen, the protagonist of the story, Denzel Washington’s character commits suicide thinking that the demon, Azazel, who is inside him will die together with him but it turns out there was a cat nearby where Azazel was able to escape to. Leaving Denzel dead while Azazel continues to exist.
Burnt Offerings - The whole family dies (including the kid!) except for mom, who becomes the crazy old lady upstairs.
The Four Musketeers - Yes, the Cardinal didn’t exactly win, but he’s still a powerful asshole at the end (minus an eyepatched henchman), so it’s a bit of a draw.
The Mangler - You think the good guys won…until the evil laundry folding machine is right back where it started and now another girl is possessed by it. Yeah, dumb movie, but dumb in a fun way.
Nightmare on Elm St - Several of them had endings where Freddy basically comes back at the very end. He never really dies anyway.
Slaughterhouse - Yeah, another dumb one, but Buddy does pop out of the back seat in the final shot to kill the last teenager.
David Lynch’s “Lost Highway”
Watch it, you’ll totally get completely and utterly mind-fucked, and when you realize the creepy old bald bastard is Robert Blake….you’ll REALLY understand why I say the bad guy won in this one.
Do yourself a HUGE favor……lots of drugs before watching.
How could you forget the Mist. Sure in the book everything isn’t as bad, but in the movie, the main characters wife gets killed my the monsters, and then he has to shoot the other survivors that were with him because they all thought they were doomed. The survivors included his own son! And after all that he didn’t have enough bullets to kill himself, and when he tried to get a monster to kill him, it turned out the army had defeated them and he had to suffer the pain for the rest of his life. The most deppressing but un-generic movie ending ever. period.
“Night Watch”, a Russian fantasy film about wizards, witches and vampires.
In the story, there are two camps of superhumans called “Others”, belonging to the Light or the Dark. They have been at odds for centuries while trying to maintain a fragile truce, to keep a balance, while still waging war in their own subtle ways.
Throughout the ages, normal humans have discovered their “Other” powers, and at that point, they have to choose whether they’ll follow the Light or the Dark.
The Light believes in protecting humanity, while the Dark only sets after their own interests.
An old legend amongst the Others proclaims that a Great Other will appear one day. If he chooses the Light, then the Dark will lose the war. But wiser folks know that he’ll choose the Dark.
In the end, after years of manipulation on the parts of both the Light and the Dark, using their own kind and ordinary people as pawns, the Great Other (a young boy) agrees to follow the Dark Others. And the way that they lay it out really pisses you off…
I agree with some of ones offered by the previous posters, but I can’t believe the comment thread thus far doesn’t include 12 Monkeys.
inside man - the perfect bank robbery
Ahhh-the best “bad girl wins” is from Body Heat, Kathleen Turner
taxi driver
darkknight-joker (technically)
um, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Seriously, how could you leave that out, but include SAW?
Also, Match Point. Great movie with a twisted ending.
Here’s a couple more for the list:
-Funny Games
-Blair Witch Project
-Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
-The Perfect Storm (if the storm is the bad guy)
-Pirates of the Caribeean: Dead Man’s Chest
-Texas Chainsaw Massacre
-Jurassic Park (the people got away but the dinosaurs definitely “won”)
Please - stop it with the in-browser image resizes. It makes those pictures look like jaggy crap. Take the five minutes to resize all your pics BEFORE putting up a post.
The Parallax View
Baddies 1 - Warren Beatty 0
psycho?
The French Connection is one that comes to my mind.
don’t forget the Invasion of the body snatchers with Jeff Goldbloom and Donald Sutherland!
There Will be Blood!!!
No Country for Old Men!!!
How could you miss these?
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned these:
twelve monkeys (this is in the top 200 movies on imdb for goodness’ sake) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/
in the mouth of madness (horror movie by john carpenter no less, starring sam neill, verygood movie, underrated on imdb in my opinion)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113409/
also to the guy who said no country for old men was a bad movie, you suck
the skeleton key
What about Zodiac ?? And it’s a true based film.
And I wouldn’t forget Funny Games…
u forgot phonebooth
The other commenters have it right re: Memento — it doesn’t really belong in this list. Kudos to the guy who suggested Dr. Phibes. As a kid, that was the first movie I ever saw where the villain won, and that really messed with my head! Also Crimes and Misdemeanors — the whole theme of the movie is the spiritual consequences (or lack thereof) of getting away with a heinous crime.
No Way Out is also an interesting choice in this topic, since not only does the bad guy win, but the bad guy is also the good guy. I know there’s another movie with a similar twist, but I can’t think of it right now.
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A Clockwork Orange!
“I was cured, alright!”
Bag the mamby-pamby ending of the book that wasn’t printed in the US for decades. Kubrick threw out the ‘give em a few years and they’ll grow out of it’ ending.
No Country For Old Men?
How about ‘Chinatown’… or ‘Body Heat’?
Oldboy….if you havent seen it watch it…..and dont wait for the piece of garbage spielberg remake
also I feel the need to correct everyone that does this
Clockwork Orange
not A Clockwork Orange
How about a little “film noir”… Sunset Blvd. by Billy Wilder.
Hey,
Memento was a great film. You DO need to watch it again, Leonard was being USED by Teddy to kill people, Teddy was a crooked cop, who was using Leonard to murder, so Leonard planted evidence (pictures, tattoos) so that he would think Teddy was the killer.
After he killed Teddy, his quest for justice ended, he was no longer being used. It was over.
the worst movie (and book) where evil seems to win is 1984! and we are now living in that world!
Akira Kurosawa- Bad sleeps well. Watch it and you know that the bad guys scored a complete victory.
Zodiac and The Zodiac?
In these two movies based on real life incidents, the bad guy gets away unpunished.
I didnt have the time to scroll through all the replies but “payback” with Mel Gibson had zero good guys in it. Mel was a criminal from the beginning and he won. All bad guys all the time
I think you were right about momento. I just watched it then, I mean i think it showed that by the end, no one was the good guy whatever the outcome, everyone was using someone else, so no matter what the bad guy would have won in the end.
Also just to throw it in the mix, at the end of the film when Leonard was driving away after making the decision to kill Teddy, there was a flash of him and his wife laying together, with “I did it” written on his chest, did anyone else notice that?
amazing film, good job on the list.
[…] few of you mentioned The Wicker Man in your comments on my “Movies Where the Bad Guy Wins” article a couple of days ago, so I decided to post a video compilation of the best scenese from […]
if you are going to include Empire, then you need to include the first two Omen movies.
Match Point
The Talented Mr. Ripley
mmm….
The Devil’s Rejects AND Natural Born Killers
I used to be a homeless rodeo clown but now I am a world class magician !
Madison,
I saw that you posted a comment on your surprise at the posters’ ability to form sentences. Fair enough. Still, your readers’ writing ability dwarfs your ability to understand a film. I know it has been said already, but you totally missed the point of Memento. The protagonist was innocent. He really thought he was going to find his wife’s killer every time. In the beginning (the end chronologically), Guy’s character kills Joe Pantalino’s when he figures out he has been used.
Basically, you got it all wrong, and it is not that complicated. So next time you make a snide comments to the people who justly call you out, make sure that you can actually write a blog. I’ve seen better blogs from my little sister’s myspace page, although, it looks like two have similar taste in movies. I read this article because it was on fark. Expected better.
@ jon
Thanks for the comment. It’s rational, well-thought-out comments like yours that are a pleasure to read. However, I don’t recall attacking anyone who has attempted to correct me, especially if they do it in a reasonable, intelligent manner. I don’t know everything, and everyone makes mistakes, so I welcome corrections. Unfortunately, a lot of the comments we receive look like they’ve been typed by 12-year olds. Like I said, I welcome corrections, so any snide remarks are not aimed at those trying to help. When someone tells me I have forgotten to include Seven in the article, I can only wonder if they’re even a real person.
As far as Memento goes, I haven’t seen the movie in years, and that was my understanding of it at the time. I nowhere implied that Teddy was totally innocent, but I did think that Leonard marked Teddy not to stop his manipulation, but to seek out the thrill of exacting revenge. I’ll have to watch it again soon and see if and where I went wrong.
I’d love to see your sister’s myspace page blogs if you want to send me a link. Especially if we have similar taste in movies.
Thanks for reading, jon; hope you come back.
One of the things that’s bothered me about the Matrix trilogy is that the bad guy (the AI computer) wins.
[Spoilers ahead.]
Sure, the end is a brokered peace … but it comes as Zion is invaded, the defenses are destroyed, and what’s left of humanity is completely at the mercy of the machines. Neo’s sacrifice buys some time for humanity, but there is no guarantee that the AI won’t change its mind and finish off the pitiful remnants. Humanity survives; but it is a meager existence and, instead of the victorious triumph we viewers expected and deserved, we got … meh.
I’m glad the Wachowskis got the box office they deserved for that ending.
i always have said my fave movies are where the bad guy wins.
i usualy think of jeepers creepers 1 as the best bad guy wins.. just..flys away.. with the kid…lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mouth_of_Madness
The scope of how much the bad guy wins in this, makes this the movie that brings the dial to 11.
In Primal Fear, Aaron had his lawyer fooled too. Did y’all even watch the movie?
And by the way, the matrix movies sucked…. all of them. I am a computer geek and even think that.
Arlington Road was what I thought of when I read the title of this list. Great ending.
Reservoir Dogs Anyone? Sure, they’re all dogs but I was cheering for Buscemi to weasle his way out.
How about Carpenter’s The Thing? Even if the 2 guys that are left destroyed the creature (and that’s left up in the air). There’s no doubt that they’ll both be popsicles in a few hours.
Why dont more people mention Terry Gilliam’s Brazil? It’s one of the best sci-fi films ever, which also just happens to have the bad guys win at the end. I’m talking about the original version, mind you - not the treacly, fairy tale edit seen in the American version (which Gilliam despised, incidentally). You guys should definitely see the original.
[…] Unreality - Ten Movies Where the Bad Guys Win | […]
“Grave of the Fireflies” should definitely be on this list, though I know it’s not exactly wide-release like Empire Strikes Back. Fireflies is a Japanese anime drama and is recognized as one of the finest anime films ever. It’s a war film about a little boy and his four year old sister as they try, alone, to survive the firebombings of Tokyo in WWII, and then the post-war aftermath. No one good in this film “wins.” Everyone simply suffers more and more with each passing frame, though hope and humanity shines through in so many parts. Perhaps the most effective anti-war film I’ve ever seen (and I’ve pretty well seen them all). Four stars. No other film has affected me as deeply.
[…] Does anyone else get sick of generic Hollywood endings? You know, where the good guy, against all odds, defeats the bad guy and gets the pretty girl? Real life doesn’t usually work like that. So here are 10 movies where the bad guys win. […]
Coneheads?
Animal House - any takers?
What about Fight Club? I would think that a terrorist that destroys a plethora of buildings in order to completely cripple the credit infrastructure and overall well-being of an orderly society would be indicative of a “bad guy”. Otherwise, you could look at it as Tyler Durden being the “bad guy” (Brad Pitt) who ultimately overcomes the Ed Norton personality at the end.
Little seen Michael Caine movie called “Shock to the System”. Find it, rent it, loved it. Tops most of the movies on this list.
Here’s one I haven’t seen on the list. This is quite old though (early 70’s). Does anybody remember “The Other” about twin boys (about 10 years old). One of the boys dies and it turns out that the “other” takes on his identity and proceeds to kill several members of the family. When the grandmother finally figures it out, he arranges an accident for her as well. He even kills his own mother and baby brother. In the end the “good” brother is seen looking out from the upstairs window with nobody suspecting a thing. (Reminiscent of “The Good Son” and “The Bad Seed”).
What about Identity where the winner was the most dominant and diabolical personality of a serial killer, a small boy.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Memento, and The Empire Strikes Back should all be removed from the list. You really should watch Memento again. As for the others, you’ve either interpreted them wrong, I believe, (as is the case in Cuckoo’s Nest) or you have taken something that’s intended to be part of a much larger story and “spliced” it. If Empire goes on the list, so should Revenge of the Sith, for the same reason.
Arlington Road, btw, is a great addition. Albeit, I hated the ending (not that it wasn’t effective) but because it was so effective. I didn’t enjoy that, “Why did it have to end like that? feeling.
Interestingly, we could also take “bad guy” and apply it to non-characters. For instance, House of Sand and Fog (2003), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), A Place in the Sun (1951), or Atonement (2007) are a few examples of films where there is no bad “guy” per say, but in which the film works against the protagonists (and in the sense that they are the ‘good guys’).
Mystic River (2003) is a good example of a film where you can have someone be innocently framed. Sean Penn is clearly not an antagonist. There is no antagonist, and if there has to be, then it’s the two boys (who are the real killers). Yet, he kills Tim Robbins’ character, and Kevin Bacon suspects this (well, that’s open to interpretation of the looks they exchange) at the end.
But we need films then where it’s clear that the intended bad guy wins. As mentioned, Brazil is a good example that could be on the list. I don’t agree with Chinatown as a suggestion. If anything, it’s close to my examples of “depressing” endings, but it’s not really a “bad guy” winning. Think of it this way: who would he enact revenge upon?
No Country For Old Men should clearly be on the list. Ironically though, we can hardly call him a bad guy. It’s in his nature to kill. He IS Death, at least he represents Death. He chooses who to kill, where to kill, when to kill. When it’s not someone’s time, he lets them live. This is clearly demonstrated throughout. Thus, if you add that film, you may as well add The Seventh Seal (1957), as Death wins in that film as well.
Another one mentioned that I must reiterate is The Vanishing (1988). Take a look at The Getaway (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Great Escape (1963) (mentioned already as well). Although, in The Great Escape, it should be noted that he does, in fact, escape… so it’s questionable as to whether or not the bad guy wins, even though he dies.
Natural Born Killers (1994) is a two-for-one deal — no matter which ending you choose, either the bad guy wins, or the badder guy wins.
People I Know (2002) is an excellent candidate as well (points if you’ve actually seen it!) Arguably A Perfect World (1993) leads us to sympathize with Kevin Costner’s character, who ultimately has become an anti-hero of sorts. Phone Booth (2004) is an excellent choice too, as mentioned by others.
Road to Perdition (2002), Unbreakable (2000), Cold Mountain (2003), Identity (2003), The One (2001), Sword of Doom (1966), The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Matchstick Men (2003) (despite people saying he’s “better off,” the “real” bad guys still end up having scammed him and gotten away with it, and he is the protagonist), Oldboy (2003) (as mentioned), The Sum of All Fears (2002) (easy addition).
Borderline: The Dreamers (2003), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Mad City (1997), True Romance (1993) (only alternate ending), The Salton Sea (2002).
Oh, and I must make one final addition, which is hands down the most definitive “bad guy wins” movie. It’s called Versus (2000), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275773/
http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/01/16/ten-movies-where-the-bad-guys-win/#comment-2936
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Memento, and The Empire Strikes Back should all be removed from the list. You really should watch Memento again. As for the others, you’ve either interpreted them wrong, I believe, (as is the case in Cuckoo’s Nest) or you have taken something that’s intended to be part of a much larger story and “spliced” it. If Empire goes on the list, so should Revenge of the Sith, for the same reason.
No Country For Old Men should clearly be on the list. Ironically though, we can hardly call him a bad guy, as it’s in his nature to kill. He is Death, at least he represents Death. He chooses who to kill, where to kill, when to kill. When it’s not someone’s time, he lets them live. This is clearly demonstrated throughout. Thus, if you add that film, you may as well add The Seventh Seal (1957), as Death wins in that film as well.
Natural Born Killers (1994) is a two-for-one deal — no matter which ending you choose, either the bad guy wins, or the badder guy wins.
People I Know (2002), The Vanishing (1988), The Getaway (1972), The Conversation (1974), Road to Perdition (2002), Unbreakable (2000), Cold Mountain (2003), Identity (2003), The One (2001), Sword of Doom (1966), The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Matchstick Men (2003) (despite people saying he’s “better off,” the “real” bad guys still end up having scammed him and gotten away with it, and he is the protagonist), Oldboy (2003) (as mentioned), The Sum of All Fears (2002) (easy addition), Phone Booth (2004)
Borderline: The Dreamers (2003), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Mad City (1997), True Romance (1993) (only alternate ending), The Salton Sea (2002), House of Sand and Fog (2003), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), A Place in the Sun (1951), Atonement (2007), Mystic River (2003), A Perfect World (1993)
Oh, and I must make one final addition, which is hands down the most definitive “bad guy wins” movie. It’s called Versus (2000), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275773/
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Memento, and The Empire Strikes Back should all be removed from the list. You really should watch Memento again. As for the others, you’ve either interpreted them wrong, I believe, (as is the case in Cuckoo’s Nest) or you have taken something that’s intended to be part of a much larger story and “spliced” it. If Empire goes on the list, so should Revenge of the Sith, for the same reason.
No Country For Old Men should clearly be on the list. Ironically though, we can hardly call him a bad guy, as it’s in his nature to kill. He is Death, at least he represents Death. He chooses who to kill, where to kill, when to kill. When it’s not someone’s time, he lets them live. This is clearly demonstrated throughout. Thus, if you add that film, you may as well add The Seventh Seal (1957), as Death wins in that film as well.
This is a different Jon than the one in the above post…
@avaquizzer - Thanks for mentioning that Fight Club doesn’t necessarily mean the bad guy won in the end. Your second interpretation, how it appears he overcame his alter-ego, sort of suggests that his little reign of terrorism will end and that he’s made peace and overcame the evil second personality, which was the bad guy all along.
@aizen - No, it’s A Clockwork Orange.
@mike - You beat me to it! Wanted to be the first to mention Grave of the Fireflies. In that one I guess war in general is the bad guy.
[…] 10 Movies where the bad guy wins. […]
Madison,
I appreciate your response. Apparently, I misjudged you. You see, so many film and music bloggers make outrageous claims and then ridicule anybody that questions what the blogger writes. Having not read any of your stuff before, I unfairly linked you with those types. So I am sorry. I was making a petty comment to who I thought was a petty blogger. And yeah, that “you forgot Seven,” comment was choice.
Im looking forward to the next lists. I do enjoy them.
To Live and Die in L.A.
Chinatown with Jack Nicholson called. It wants it’s place on this list back.
Seriously, the bad guys don’t just win in Chinatown, they just about destroy the protagonist’s faith in humanity before gutting him and pushing his pregnant wife down the stairs. And when it happens, you don’t expect a damned thing. You’re sitting there, expecting Hollywood business as usual and waiting for your happy ending. Then BAM! The movie rips your heart right out and rolls the credits over your pet dog before you can even take in what happened.
And while we’re at it, I think No Country for Old Men and Inside Man deserve a spot on the list.
bill murrary, ” quick change”
the brave ones
on the beach
I guess you are talking only about “guys” literally but what about my two favorite bad “girls that get away with murder? Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat” and Linda Fiorentina in “The Last Seduction” are unforgettable.
How the hell do you leave out Rocky?
@ Unbelievable
Because Apollo Creed is a professional boxer, not a bad guy. That’s why it’s left out.
Fallen
Final line is something to the effect of “Remember, I told you at the beginning that this is the story of the time I ALMOST died”
Come on now, Boondock Saints for sure! I mean the entire movie is executed to purposefully blur the line between what is “good” and “evil”, “right” and “wrong.”
But even though they are stopping evil men, they are doing it with amazing direction and of course capital punishment.
SPOILER
At the end of the movie, the Three (both brothers and the father) break into a courtroom and publicly execute a known Don of the Italian mafia and get away way it to continue on.
“Funny Games.” That is all.
I’d like to throw in the two Aliens v Predator movies.
The first has the Aliens win and the second has the soulless Yutani corporation, who sent the original crew of the Nostromo back to the planetoid, winning.
I personallay would have chosen Silence of the Lambs over Hannibal. Hannibal was really a draw (the book was a major win for Lecter)…
Hannibals is one of the best if you ask me
Funny Games. Perfect example of bad guys winning. The kids get away with killing the nice family and go one to the next family in no time. Awesome. Not sure if anyone else mentioned it but read most of the reply’s and didnt see it.
And in the Boondock Saints they arent the bad guys. if you are rooting for them the entire moving that in essence makes them the good guys.
[…] 10 filmes que você descobrirá o final assim que você clicar aqui. OK, eu coloquei a foto do Império Contra-Ataca, mas se você ainda não assistiu esse filme, até […]
How about American Psycho
[…] - 10 filmes em que o vilão prevalece. […]
The entire Star Wars saga is the bad guys winning, maybe with the exception of Empire. At least in the original three it’s the rebel alliance vs the empire. It’s written as the “evil empire”, but in most cases of news today someone acting as a “rebel” or causing a rebellion would be considered a bad guy. What if it had been written as Darth Vader as the misunderstood good guy all along and the rebels trying to take over his rule?
[…] ++++ Bangers: 10 movies where the bad guys win […]
I agree boonedock saints is obviously a perfect example of when the bad guys when
How Zabout: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
You’re James Bond, and you just got married to a woman you love. As you’re on the road talking about your future plan, Blofeld, who you thought you got rid of days before in the Swiss Alps, does a drive-by shooting on your ass. You get back in the car, hoping to pursue him, but discover that your wife had recieved a head shot and is slumped over dead in the passenger’s seat.
Final result:
Blofeld Wins!
Bond LOSES!!!!!!!
My favorite bad guy wins movie has always been “12 Monkeys”. After all that effort on Bruce Willis’ part to convince the girl he’s the real deal, the mental institution, the mistake with Brad Pitts organization, the jerk who unleashes the virus still gets on the plane and reeks havoc. Awesome.
Funny Games was fucking brutal. Good call Ruby.
I would also submit that every in every Star Wars film AFTER Empire, the bad guy wins. Fucking George Lucas is the ultimate villain.
Decent list, interesting comments. I LOL’d at the people who said “You forgot se7en!”
Duh.
Kudos to the people who mentioned Quick Change, Fallen, and Frailty. Good stuff.
I don’t think anybody has yet mentioned Phone Booth. Although both the protagonist and the antagonist are bad guys, the antagonist is the worst of the two (he kills people), and he gets away with it.
There’s also a lot of anime where the bad guy wins. There’s one in particular that I would mention if only I could remember the name of it. I know later on it’ll come to me, as soon as I’m busy doing something else.
I’d put Boondock Saints and Payback in the ‘not-as-bad-as-the-other-guys-wins’ category, which isn’t quite the same thing. Porter and the Saints might be villains in any other movie, but the guys they’re fighting are far worse than they are so they’re really just hardcore antiheroes.
I would definitely also include No Country for Old Men, as Chigurh ‘wins’ by killing an insane number of people and then just walking off into the sunset.
Matt, Clockwork Orange as a film could be included in the list, but the book makes it really obvious that Alex is not going back to his raping, mugging ways. At the end of the book he actually meets George in a coffee shop and decides to find himself a wife.
I strongly agree with those that name invasion of the body snatchers. It may have been the first “bad guys win” movie made.
what about cloverfeild
What about There Will Be Blood, when you get the little worm to admit he was a fake then beat him to death, and get away with it then you rock!
[…] down this list of ‘Ten Movies Where the Bad Guys Win’, I was terrified that I would come upon a movie I hadn’t seen yet, but it did make me think […]
[…] Via | Meneame Fuente | Unreality Magazine […]
#
Madison,
This is an excellent list. Well done.
Although, I think you forgot to mention “Fight Club.” Just kidding…
To Jon (the different Jon),
Thanks for correcting the Burgess/Kubrick blasphemer. It’s been “A Clockwork Orange” since Anthony Burgess first had it published in ‘62 and stayed the same in ‘71 when Stanley Kubrick made it into a film…the audacity of such an action is still beyond me.
suicide club - japanese cult flick where everybody kills themselves
the return of the living dead- in the only zombie movie where the army nukes the zombies, the infection is spread through acid rain and the zombies are immortal
Funny Games anyone? There’s no disputing it. The two main characters kill a family and get away with it and attempt to kill the next door neighbor (you don’t see the result).
in Primal Fear the attorney is not aware that aaron is faking it. The quote that he uses is at the end of the movie after the trial in the last 5 minutes of the film.
How has no one said anything about THE SECRET WINDOW with johnny depp????? He totally kills his ex wife and her lover and totally gets away with it!!!
[…] movies where the bad guys […]
kevin spacey in swimming with sharks
What about Funny Games? The bad guys get away with it, it’s revealed they’ve been doing this to people for a while now, and at the end it’s obvious they’re going off to do it to someone else too!
And check out an Aussie movie called ‘The Interview’. Pretty much everyone is a bad guy in that one with a (slightly ambiguous) ending that hits you where you live. But don’t watch the version released in the US. They added another scene at the end which totally gutted it! Watch the original.
Body Heat, where Kathleen Turner sets up William Hurt to take the fall. Classic stuff.
What about The Departed? Excluding Mark Wahlberg killing Matt Damon, the ‘good guy’ Leonardo Di Caprio gets shot in the head and his FBI boss gets thrown off of a building.
Teddy in Memento was hardly “an innocent man.” He used Leonards condition to manipulate him and steal thousands of dollars from a drug dealer. Leonard only decides to kill Teddy because he realizes what a dick he is.
Inside Man
If comedies are acceptable, you could include Duplex. Sweet little couple buy a duplex, half is rented to a little Irish lady. After an hour of solid torture at her hands, they finally abandon the house, selling it back to the original owner. They end up penniless and miserable, at which point it’s revealed to us the owner is one of her sons and this is a recurring scam.
A Simple Plan might fit the list, but there’s no discernable bad guy unless you want to count “greed”. It’s certainly a movie that leaves you feeling like shit.
[…] 10 Movies Where The Bad Guys Win […]
Funny Games absolutely had to be included. It’s the ultimate “bad guy wins” movie, because at absolutely no point do the protagonists have the upper hand
Arlington Road was one of the most boring movies I’ve ever seen.
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The Talented Mr Ripley and Ripley’s Game….
he just keeps on going… doing for himself.
Ghost Ship (2002) Most awesome ending ever.
Old Boy.
Well, it’s a work in progress, so to speak, but it is a movie where the bad guy (apparently) gets away; ‘W’ - Cheney gets his own death squad and a retirement package . . .
Stepford Wives (original), Basic Instinct, all Final Destinations
Also Mr. Brooks, American Psycho, American Beauty, and any horror movie that has had a sequel. Even if the bad guy was defeated in the end he’s the one who’s back in the next one not the protagonists.
In my mind, any movie in which the cops win should be on this list.
What about “No Country for Old Men”? The really scary guy walks off into the sunset (albeit with a broken arm) to commit evil again and again. Truly one of the most disturbing characters I have ever seen in cinema.
About women that get away with it…
In both Cruel Intentions and Dangerous Liasions (which are almost the same movie), the horrible uber bitch who destroys the lives of several innocents/and not so innocents around her is exposed. (Sarah Michelle Gellar as a cocaine addict and Glenn Close is also exposed at the opera)…
However, in the third version with this plot they changed the ending. In Valmont, Annette Benning gets away with everything and the widow weeps at his grave alone.
I also recall a Christopher Reeves movie where he kills his wife and practices so he can beat a lie detector test.
also… well done.
wut a noob he didnt evan mentchin seVen, (LolllllL)
“Yeah, he lost a hand, but when you cook a a dude’s brain, feed it to him, get away from the feds and then feed more brain to a little kid on an airplane, you SO win.”
i’m going to assume Hannibal is mentioned because you’ve never seen Silence of the Lambs. If you have then that would be listed because Hannibal Lecter had the BEST ESCAPE PLAN EVER IN ANY MOVIE.
Also, Escape From Alcatraz & Shawshank Redemption - technically they were “bad guys” to begin with which was why they were incarcerated in the first place.
I agree with The Mist. The ending made me ill.
How about Murder in the First, Cool Hand Luke and Storm of the Century?
And while I loved Secret Window, I don’t consider Depp to be a bad guy. The same with Hannibal Lector. Both were victims of circumstances uncontrolled.
The “Fast and the Furious” films… because they made money.
The Patriot (Mel Gibson survives, which in opposite form is why Braveheart shouldn’t be included)
The Matrix
Watchmen
Reservoir Dogs
Easy Rider
What about The Ring?
The Getaway
Easy Rider
Mystic River
The Stepford Wives (original)
Planet of the Apes (original)
“American Psycho”
Christian Bale goes around killing people and even after he confesses to his crime, the guy assumes it to be a practical joke and is mistaken for somebody else at the same time so it was all pointless and he is free to go out and kill more people
Funny Games
movie is the epitome of bad guys winning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec-70W_K77U
Suggesting “Rocky” kind of misses the point of the whole movie. Apollo wasn’t the bad guy because Rocky was not really fighting against him. He was fighting against being a loser and trying to prove himself. Which is why the film and Rocky himself all but ignore the outcome of the fight. Rocky proved he could go the distance, so he won.
jeepers creepers 2, whilst being rather shit, leads to the bad guys winning
not in the conventional sense, as it ends with the monster nailed to a wall, but the sense of inevitability that no actions can stop it coming back after whatever time period it does, and then killing and eating as many people as possible
then wash, rinse, repeat.
I’ve got to say Taxi Driver is one where a bad guy wins. Sure Bickle takes out other bad guys, but he is a violent sociopath with a mental disorder. He is even hailed as a hero by the senator he intended to assassinate.
Really, a lot of Scorsese movies have the bad guys getting away with murder, or at least the good guys lose along with them.
Independence Day (ID4). The US-Americans win. Is there anything more evil?
Payback ??? - Mel Gibson….. “Get ready to root for the bad guy ?”
Definetely agree with Memento…. those who didn’t did NOT get the movie. Just the idea of them saying Teddy was the bad guy….. ha ha ha… he was just a guy using Leonard as a “weapon”. That’s it, and of course he needed to die, but Leonard was pure evil. To all who disagree, watch it again, and if you still don’t agree WATCH IT AGAIN.
I would also have to agree with the guy who said ” How do you have saw in there and not No Country for Old Men.
Also loved Lord of War.
Sometimes I feel i’m only happy when a movie has a bad guy win. I almost feel it’s more realistic.
Just my opinion.
“Colossus: The Forbin Project” is one that springs immediately to mind. The movie ends with the supercomputer laying out its plans for mankind after completely foiling the last attempt to defeat it.
“Demon Seed” is another one, although Proteus becomes more sympathetic as the movie proceeds. It becomes kind of morally ambiguous, and the ending could almost be called happy. Maybe not right for this list.
Or how about “Seconds?” Hamilton/Wilson gets manipulated by the mysterious company throughout, then after he learns his lesson and thinks he’s heading for his second chance at a second chance, he finds out the hard way just where they get the cadaver to fake someone’s death.
Madison:
Would “Rich mans wife” fall on to this list?
Because of a prenept. the wife’s boyfriend hires someone to kill her husband. The kidnapper, the boyfriend, the husband are all killed. The boyfriends ex-wife, and the rich mans wife drive away at the end of the movie…
What about “Black Christmas” a madman hides in the attic of a dorm, and one by one kills all but one. Who is left drugged in the bed. While the nut job is still in the attic ???
There was another one, if anyone can help.
It was another OLD movie. At the end the killer is shown walking into a dark barn after he has killed everyone in the movie.
Anyone remerber????
To anyone mentioning Dark Knight, you’re wrong. The Joker would have won if Batman killed him, but he never did (and thus never broke his one rule). Considering that Batman was the lead protagonist, its impossible to say the bad guy won.
How about King Kong vs Godzilla (japanese version)? After the battle, it is godzilla who comes out on top, stupid americans re-made the ending so that dumb monkey wins.
For all who asked for “Funny games”, u must check out “Benny’s video”(1992), Haneke again. “Devils on the doorstep”(2000), and “To die for”(1995).
PD: maybe some readers write like a 12 old year boy because their english isn’t good enought, like mine. There are some fans of this blog that are not americans/british ok?
Un saludo desde España
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I’m thinking The Dark Knight because The Joker succeeded in three of his four master plans. He manipulated the underworld of Gotham to his whims, he created series of chaotic situation that not only shook the police department to its core (literally), but also brought turned an entire city against its Dark Knight, and he transformed the city’s “white knight” into a calculated, cold-blooded, morally unbalanced criminal. Only The Joker’s morality plot (the public vs. inmates) didn’t work to his advantage, but considering in the end, The Joker was the only one still smiling at the end.
@ Jeff Harris
I can’t agree. The destruction and chaos the Joker desired never came to fruition, althogh he was on the right path. The simple fact that he couldn’t make Batman abandon his own code and kill the Joker left the Joker a loser.
This is a long list of comments so if this one has been mentioned I’m sorry. “Payback” with Mel Gibson. Not a great movie but there are no good guys in the whole film. Mel plays a thief/hired muscle with a druggie wife trying to recover money stolen from him after a heist. The crooks,The lead,The cops. everyone is a scumbag in this film.
Interesting.
But to echo some of the other comments, I disagree with One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
It was a period film set in an institution that relied on strict order and routine. Just because Nurse Ratched doesn’t show sympathy doesn’t make her the bad guy (in some circles sympathy is considered pointless and empathy is favoured, but…). On a couple of occasions we’re given glimpses of how much she cares, but has to retain distance in order to retain respect.
Couldn’t McMurphy be construed as the bad guy? Does Nurse Ratched actually win anything? Is the institution a bad guy, or a necessary - but albeit naive or misplaced - evil?
I don’t see it as a movie where anything triumphs over anything; it’s full of the small wins, and the enduring struggle to try and lose as little as possible.
@ nathaniel
You’re right. Mel Gibson’s character is likeable, but he’s definitely bad. Just about every single character in Payback is a “bad guy.” Good call.
@ Simon
I don’t agree. Ratched goes beyond her duties as Head Nurse to suppress the patients. She authorizes (I will presume it was her) a friggin labotomy, for Pete’s sake. McMurphy on the other hand is pretty obnoxious and wild, but he’s a good dude - he showed his fellow patients the time of their lives; they accepted him because he also accepted them.
If you want to say it’s the institution and not Nurse Ratched that’s the bad guy, sure, I can see that, too.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for getting back to me
It was never mentioned in Cuckoo’s nest who sanctioned the procedures. Maybe the nurse (doubt it), maybe the institution, maybe the system. Hence why I wrote that the institution may be naive or misplaced, and that it’s a period piece.
Sure, McMurphy gave them the time of their lives. He was also there from prison, and you’re never treated to whether he is actually sane or not, or just dodging his own future. Besides, what seemed a good thing to him, could have been seen dangerous or detrimental to a treatment regime of the time. Sure, he got away with it, but a loveable rogue is still a rogue.
Yes, they gave him a lobotomy (we’re led to assume that), but he jeopardises so much by so many people before getting there. His actions led Billy to kill himself. Granted, the nurse used emotional blackmail on him as a form of punishment.
Don’t get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for the piece, and I am always mesmerised by R P McMurphy’s character, but I feel that tarnishing it with a good guy/bad guy brush is over-simplifying it a little. I don’t personally see McMurphy as all good, in the same way that I don’t see Ratched or institution as all bad - there was much corruption all round, and I can’t help thinking that story-telling has taken a step backward.
There was more, but hey…
[…] Movies When Bad Guys Win - Unreality Mag […]
The bad guys absolutely did NOT win in Black Hawk Down. The mission was a complete success. And that is what war movies are all about.
I’d put Body Heat at #1. Maddy doesn’t “escape” or “get away with it” or “get lucky.” She’s in control from start to finish and achieves everything she set out to do.
I’ve seen Memento six times and I still don’t think I really get it.
Afraid I haven’t read all the comments, so this may have been posted, but…
Being John Malkovich. The guys trying to get inside Malkovich’s brain do so at the end, with poor psychotic Craig trapped in there with them. It’s an incredibly dark, but somehow very satisfying finale.
With 237 comments I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned “The Caine Mutiny” - Fred McMurray cast against type as the bad guy.
what about KNOWING the world ends but 2 of everything survive so what wins good or bad?
Thank God people finally started giving props to Funny Games. I was worried I would be the first. It deserves to be added to the list. That movie left me feeling so irritated, probably because I thought it would be a film about this family fighting back. It was so brutal, I honestly said that I hated it at first. However, after taking a few days to realize the brilliant message behind it all, I now own it.
Obviously… Chinatown.
And I was thinking about HEAT. Of course De Niro goes down… but remember, Val Kilmer drives away. He’s a sad man, but he’s also a sad FREE man. (Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet… but something to consider.)
@ Boru
Funny Games is on cable all the time; I really should sit and watch it some time, huh?
Chinatown deserves to be on this list for sure. That’s one of the most disturbing and shocking endings I’ve ever seen in a movie.
By the way, you know the really weird-looking guy who sits next to Jack Nicholson at all the Lakers games, who looks like Donald Sutherland but clearly isn’t Donald Sutherland? That’s the guy who wrote Chinatown. Pretty cool, I think.
Thanks for reading.
A case can be made for Apollo Creed being the bad guy. He is the main antagonist in the movie and he is a big cocky jerk, maybe not evil exactly. However a close secondary antagonist in the movie was Rocky himself. More exactly, Rocky’s self-doubt. That antagonist lost.
Good call leaving Rocky out, but it’s a tough one.
A case could also be made for Catch Me if You Can. Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo) was the bad guy, got caught and ended up winning by switching to being a good guy. It’s a win, sorta…
I second Chinatown, definitely. “Soul-sucking” was the best description I’ve heard for that ending. I still flinch at the part where they cut Jack’s nostril.
@ Uberhack
As I began to read your comment re: Apollo, I was going to suggest that the film’s main antagonist was Rocky’s self-doubt and fear, but you arrived at almost the same conclusion. I definitely agree. Apollo is a GREAT character, don’t get me wrong, but I believe he’s more symbolic than anything; he’s everything that Rocky wasn’t.
I’ll give you Catch Me if You Can. Frank pulled all those schemes and avoided the slammer. That’s gotta be a win.
Don’t know if this one counts because the person who gets away with it is a woman, but what about “Body Heat?” The Kathleen Turner character totally manipulates everyone (especially William Hurt) and ends up on a beautiful tropic island with all the money and a hot stud to satisfy her.
@ Shawn
Of course that counts. I’ve known plenty of bad, manipulative women.
Madison: From June 15th.
You never answered me about “Black Christmas, and Rich Man’s wife??? Killer is still in the attic after cops assume the boyfriend was the killer.
The wife (Played by Halley Berry) drives off with the lovers wife.
To collect the $$$$ after they spin a web of murder, and a rather
calculated scheme…..eb
The skeleton key
“Swimming With Sharks” - Another great Kevin Spacey movie. Spacey is a Hollywood producer who goes out of his way to make his new intern’s life a living hell. After pushing the intern to the edge and making him think that he’s slept with his girlfriend the intern kidnaps Spacey and tortures him. Spacey talks the kid into killing the girlfriend by promising him success and at the end of the flick they are both heroes and collaberating on a new film.
@ Brendan
That seems pretty evil to me. I need to see “Swimming with Sharks.” For some reason - probably Spacey - I always confuse it with “The Big Kahuna.”
[…] Ten Movies Where the Bad Guys Win […]
The wierdest movie where the bad guy (and his missus) wins that I’ve seen lately is ‘The Skeleton Key’.
Awesome movie tho.
Time Bandits. At the end, Kevin’s parents explode when they touch a piece of concentrated Evil left smoldering in their microwave.
a little late here, but I’m backing up the person who said “The Great Escape.”
and, though based on reality: “Zodiac.” Even though we go into the movie KNOWING we won’t find out his identity, it’s still one of the most gut-busting”wins” for a bad guy - especially with the last scene with one of Zodiac’s victim’s identifying Arthur Leigh Allen, who was taken off the suspect list after a DNA test years later.
@ adrienne
One of the things I loved so much about Fincher’s “Zodiac” is that you KNOW the guy gets away with it, and yet the movie was still suspenseful and pretty scary.
Watchmen is a fairly new one(movie) in which the villain indeed succeeds in his plan to wipe out 15 million people and blame a superhero else for it. That is pretty fucking successful.
@ Jimmy
I think the whole point is that it wasn’t necessarily “evil,” and that there were a lot of shades of grey, so I respectfully disagree.
Black Christmas
Rich man’s wife
Skeleton Key
See June 15th, July 15th. and July 22 replys. Thanks Madison this has been fun.. I read all you comments and replys..
@ eb
Thanks for contributing and reading, eb. I think I need to check out Rich Man’s Wife.
Hi Madison..Let’s just call this the ultimate pay back movie..
Could fall into this catagory of bad guy wins??
Cousin Bette (Starring Jessica Lange, Ellizabeth Shue and Greg Laury (House)…eb
@ eb
I read the synopsis of Cousin Bette…I dunno, I think there’s a difference between a bad guy winning and straigh up revenge, you know?
Yep…I stand corrected…and I thank you..eb
i always thought identity was a “bad guy wins film” but even if its not its still a good film, i jope you at least considered it, loving the site, unbelievable how many stupid people comment on it though
“You forgot seven”- dumbass
These two films have been submitted already. It might take you a few minuets to read, if you go back and read all the way through, you’ll find many people have suggested the same.
Just thought I’d let ya know.
Any documentary of the last election would qualify.
The Omen. The Player.
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Anyone say Mystic River yet? Ending left a bad taste in my mouth for days.
Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer
Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom
Phantasm
Night of the Living Dead
Brazil, 1984, others similar
most anti-nuclear war movies, like Testament and Threads
The China Syndrome
other anti-war movies like The Boys in Company C, Apocalypse Now, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc.
King Kong — I’m surprised, I don’t think anyone’s mentioned that yet.
Dancer in the Dark, other anti-capital punishment movies
Though one could make a case with the nuclear war movies that it is more a case of everyone losing, instead of the bad guys winning. I’d say the same for Reservoir Dogs. Nobody wins, everyone loses.
Requiem for a Dream is an interesting case: does everyone lose, or do the bad guys win? I guess it depends on who you think the bad guy is.
One could even make a case for Gone with the Wind, if one sees the bad guy as Scarlett and doesn’t feel that she gets her proper come-uppance in the end.
Oh, and ignite had a great, great call on The Conversation.
That film, along with Night of the Living Dead, probably inspired more than their share of endings where the bad guys win.
jigsaw is not a badguy
[…] SEE MORE BAD GUYS […]
Can’t believe only one person mentioned All Quiet on the Western Front (the original version). It’s an undeniable classic with about as pessimistic of an ending as you can get.
Other notable films where the bad guy(s) win:
- The Dark Knight
- No Country for Old Men
- The Talented Mr. Ripley
- Chinatown
- There Will Be Blood
@ Slashbeast
The Dark Knight - no
No Country for Old Men - no
The Talented Mr. Ripley - yes
Chinatown - absolultely
There Will Be Blood - yes
Thanks for reading.
on reply to your comment on 27 Jul 2009 at 12:23 pm
Which zodiac movie do you’ll have in mind? I can think of two; one which is short and straight to the point and the other which is quite a long movie and fairly drawn out.
@ CandleJack
The one Fincher directed in 2005. It was very long, yes.
i would have to disagree with those who said in Training day the bad guy didnt win… in the extended ending ethan hawk took the money into his house and lied to the wise men about turning it in to evidence.
other than that i have no problem with the list, and to all the people who said the is no se7en on the liist you should look again. oh and yes there are other movies where the bad guy wins that could have been mentioned but if they were this would be an extremely long list.
i dont like the Saw movies at all but it deserves its place cause people remember it.
No Country For Old Men?
“ben phillipson 16 Jan 2009 at 3:17 pm
Jurassic Park!”
The Dinosaurs are the good guys
The wicker man
nicholas cage gets burned alive in a giant wood man, by a bunch of women no doubt
There Will be Blood;
the protagonist is portrayed as a devil throughout the movie and finishes by killing a priest and revealing his materialistic view on his “bastard” son. In conventional terms the bad guy came out on top, however, anyone who watched the movie will know that the story is a lot more layered and complex.
The bad guy wins in the end of Mr. Brooks. I went into this movie expecting it to be complete garbage because of Kevin Costiner, but was actually surprised on how good of a film this was.
Maybe I can help with the Momento thing, and maybe I cannot. Since this article is based on spoilers, I feel comfortable sharing this information. I’m sorry, but I just had to debunk the people saying Madison is not accurate as if he/she has not seen the movie…those people obviously did not see the movie all the way to the end, or just didn’t understand it.
I agree with your perspective on Momento, Madison, which makes for a lot of “technically’s” in this movie. Technically, Natalie wasn’t a ‘good guy’. Technically, Teddy was both a good and a bad guy. Technically, Leonard was both the victim and the perpetrator…it’s technically a matter of perspective.
So, the reason Leonard would be the bad guy in the film and ‘win’ at the end is because of the actions he took to ‘make’ Teddy the target for the person who killed his wife.
When Teddy tells Leonard the story of what happened to Sammy the audience discovers that he is actually talking about ‘Leonard’. Leonard realizes Teddy is talking about him and even remembers giving his wife insulin shots. There are a really quick couple of seconds during Sammy’s story where Guy Pearce is interposed onto the actor that played Sammy’s character, thus adding to the validity of the story.
Technically, Leonard’s wife’s death wasn’t his fault because his wife didn’t believe that he really had anterograde amnesia, but he WAS the one who ultimately stuck the needle into her and made her overdose. Technically, it was Leonard’s wife that killed herself by allowing him to ‘overdose’ her with her medication to test him to see if he was faking his disease. He wasn’t and so she died. Leonard was unable to remember that he had just given his wife her insulin, and that was part of her test.
Well, since Leonard did not like hearing that he had caused the death of his wife, he decided to write a future ‘clue’ to himself that implicated Teddy as the person Leonard was looking for. He, at the time, fully and coherently does so, even knowing that in a few minutes time he will not have remembered doing so, thus morphing himself into the ‘bad guy’ and finalizing his transformation when he shoots Teddy.
Part of the twist of the movie is that we are lead to believe that Teddy has been the bad guy the whole time, then we discover that this was never the case and Teddy ends up becoming the victim. Should he have played around with Leonard’s disability? No. But he didn’t deserve to be killed for something he didn’t do.
Whether or not this movie should be on the list against other ‘bad guy wins’ movies is the debate, not whether or not it is able to be.
@ Visage
Great, great comment. Thanks for reassuring me that my interpretation was correct all along. “Good” and “bad” can be grey sometimes, like in Memento, but I was sure I understood the twists and turns of that movie.
And for the record, I’m a “he.”
I think that in terms of bad guys winning, then Oldboy should have made the list (apologies if this has been mentioned, but there’s a lot of comments) Of course it depends on your view on what constitutes winning…
I won’t go into any further details for fear of spoiling it for anyone. As Speilberg is remaking it, I’ll save it for him to spoil it instead.
I may have misread it, but in your description of Se7en it sounds as though it was Mills’ wife who was guilty of envy, when it was Doe who was envious of Mills.
(although that part of the movie bothered me, because then Mills’ wife wasn’t guilty of anything, which doesn’t seem to fit with Doe’s profile).
In regards to Momento, I thought Natalie was the ‘bad guy’, as she gets Leonard to kill Teddy in revenge for Teddy (also a ‘bad guy’) getting him to kill her brother…
@ driids
Doe was envious, correct. Sloppy writing on my behalf.
As for Memento, everyone’s bad…including Leonard.
[…] 10 movies where the bad guys win. “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.” – Keyser Soze […]
All the Godfather movies. OK, they don’t exactly fit the mold. But I just had a compulsion to mention them.
You Forgot about Funny Games!
Prophesy: Satan kills the Arch-Angel Gabriel (although the morality is certainly fuzzy).
Definitely 12 Monkeys.
Doctor Strangelove: for so many reasons!
All three Evil Dead movies.
House on Haunted Hill (the old Vincent Price version)
Almost any David Cronenberg movie, esp. Videodrome, Shivers, etc.
A Scanner Darkly
Drag me to hell= terrible movie but the demon wins.
Dont put the wicker man on the list by killing Nicolas cage carrier the good guys won.
put seven on the list
@lenny
Nice.
That’s a lot of replies. I disagree with the why on Memento, but not its inclusion. Leonard is a very bad guy, and does win.
I would whole heartedly agree to the previous commentors’ views to include A Shock to the System and Funny Games. In both very bad people completely win, although Funny Games is significantly more disturbing.
I was going to mention Billy Jack, but thinking on it, I would have to say that it was more a case of the good guy losing, and not the bad guy winning.
Previously mentioned but still gets my vote : The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Worth mentioning : American Psycho, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Valkyrie
But for the ultimate bad guy win : Spartacus.
the movies are very boring.
I just like Michael Myers or scream.
Haaahahahasaaahahaha
lol
Ghandi…
In a Scanner Darkly, the good guys win.
They manage to put a less than able bodies keuna reeves, with a little bit of his memory still in tact, where they’re growing the drugs–which was their plan all along to stop this whole fiasco. Good guys totally win.
Seven is on the list, retards.
Here’s a few other ones
The Signal (perspective!) At the end, it is rather unclear as to whether or not Ben was able to save Mya from the signal, and in the end the signal succedded in screwing up everyone’s heads.
The Diary of Anne Frank–Seriously? The Nazi’s find the family hiding out and all but the father die in concentration camps.
Ladder 49–The bad guy being the fire, Phoenix is eventually trapped and killed inside of the burning building.
The Orphanage- She killed her son, and now she’s dead too. Woah.
Mabey a bit of stretch, but I would consider Braveheart. William Wallace dies, at the end we know that all his fellow Scottsmen who followed him die. All to the hand of a tyrannical England.
@ Ashlives
I suppose that relatively speaking, it’s a short-term win for the bad guys.
Thanks for reading.
5 star for this artical because you put saw in the list movies that badguys win i’m getting tired of how goodguys win even in naruto even if a million of ninja surrounded naruto he somehow get out alive
what about batman the dark knight the joker technically wins
any scorsese movie deserves to be on that list, almost all of his movies involve the bad guy winning in one way or another, because all his characters are bad guys-whether it’s the protagonist or antagonist. you can give exceptions to this, but it’s still a pretty good generalization to go by
@ Joe
Sure, I’ll buy that. Most of his characters are pretty complex, but most of them definitely have enough bad in them to be considered.
Usual Suspects: not valid because the whole reason he caused the events at the beginning was to kill a witness. He left behind a whole new witness who knows who he is, and what he looks like. The police know to. So since the whole point of his crime was technically undone, I wouldn’t call it a victory.
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest: Again, Ratched looses her voice, which is what was used to keep control over the inmates. Even if she regained control, she couldn’t wield the same influence that she used to. It’s more of a pyhrriac victory.
Empire Strikes Back: Only the second half of the whole story, so it’s not quite valid as a whole
@ Ryan
Soze (the bad guy) set out to do something and made it happen. He walked out of a police station for goodness sake. He’s bad and he won. So what if someone knows what he looks like now? He’s disappeared, and nobody is going to believe agent Coulian (sp?) anyway. “The greates trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
As far as Cuckoo, you could say the institution of which Nurse Racthed was a part had one…after all, McMurphy was labotomized.
As for Empire, well, yeah, but I didn’t include the whole story.
Thanks for reading.
Yes, but the patients are more defiant, and Nuse Ratched will never again wield the same level of control. I mean the only one who knew mercy killed him so that the others would continue to hold on to hope. Chinatown’s more appropriate. Cross walks away with custody of his granddaughter who can look forward to abuse and molestation and the hero can’t do jack shit.
@ Ryan
Fair enough. If you look at this as McMurphy vs. Ratched/institution, the bad guys win, for sure. But if it’s the patients vs. Ratched/institution, you have a very good point.
No argument from me on Chinatown.
Good, enjoyable list; however, there were 3 HUGE misses…
A Clockwork Orange
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
@ Matt
Agree on There Will Be Blood. Not sure about No Country (I think I made the argument above - Chigruh’s code is turned upside down at the end), and I agree on Clockwork (althrough the government was equally bad).
Thanks for reading.
The 2004 movie Employee of the Month, not that Dane Cook crap from 2006:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_of_the_Month_%282004_film%29
Body Heat. Kathleen Turner is very very evil and gets away with it all in the end.