Favorite movies where villain wins

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What are some of your favorites?
Fight club
Arlington road
Rosemary’s baby
Usual suspects
Sev7en
Etc.

Are there any others that are your favorites?
 
I generally avoid movies, books, etc where the bad guys win. Too much of that in real life. :sad_yes:

Closest I can get is Road to Perdition.
 
I’m naive. I wasn’t aware there are movies where the bad guys win. 🤷 I wouldn’t like it. Does “Pale Rider” count? It is ambiguous as to who is good or bad, everyone is a little of both, and I hated it.
 
:hmmm:

Loved and hated “Of Mice and Men” (thinking of the original with Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. as George and Lenny).

As the “bad guy” is leading the posse at the end …

… and Lenny doesn’t REALLY escape … maybe that one.

Notwithstanding the tortured situation that led to the writer’s seeming acknowledgement that “in some cases “mercy killing” isn’t really so bad”.

If the bad guy was cheated of his quarry … Lenny is “gone” and George probably has hell to pay.

Hmm … maybe it’s NOT one of my favorites at that. :o

Another of that genre might be Fail Safe. Which held my attention and was a gripping tale … with the stupidest ending that could have been concocted.
 
Does The Empire Strikes Back count? I know it’s part of a trilogy, but the good guys get a pretty good beatdown on the way to escaping by the skin of their teeth.

Excalibur - Evil is defeated, but so is good.
 
One that I’d have to say was more of a ‘draw’–the original “Planet of the Apes” (with Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell.) On one hand, Taylor got away, but he found what Zaius warned him about–proof that mankind had destroyed itself.

But that’s also a movie where I’m hard-pressed to say that Zaius was 100% a ‘bad guy’–given what he knew about the destruction mankind had raged on the planet, his actions are almost heroic, since he was trying to save his…uh…‘people’, for want of a better word, from what he understandably viewed as a worst nightmare come to life.
 
Storm of the Century, by Stephan King.

That guy who played the old wizard or whatever was terrifying!
 
The Usual Suspects. 👍 I loved the ending of that movie the first time I saw it.
 
Reservoir Dogs. No matter what Tarantino may have said over the years, my interpretation is that Mr. Pink got away with the diamonds.

Rocky. He lost, but he won.

Pride of the Yankees, if you consider ALS the villain.

Spartacus.
 
Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith would have to be my two favorites “villain wins” movies. The Dark Knight kind of has the Joker winning in regards to Two-Face so there is that movie as well.
 
Maybe the Godfather.

Michael Corleone becomes a worse and worse villian.

In the beginning he just tries to defend his (criminal) loved one.

Later on he takes revenge on anyone who has ever crossed him. Also “justified” less and less by the excuse of self-defense … until he is eliminating helpless former enemies like Carlo (and in the next episode Fredo).

By Godfather III he is looking to repent of his many sins … which possibly turned off Godfather I and II fans … but he is less of a villain by then. Less of an anti-hero too.

It’s a favorite of mine due to the fact that its a great movie though … not the FACT that the villain wins.

Michael Corleone is the protagonist though … the one you follow … and not the antagonist (the usual villain role). Surrounded in a world of competing villains some may not even consider Michael a villain. But he is. Or was.

He “won” by killling all his adversaries in quite a different way than Gary Cooper killed HIS in High Noon for instance.

Presumably becoming de facto “boss of all bosses” per the bloodbath.

:hmmm: His subsequent “struggles”
  • to become “legitimate” in G-II and to
  • get out of the mafia and be “forgiven” (by God and the Church before he dies) …
don’t quite make Michael “not a villain” per excusing each evil he commits (IMO).

By the end of the Godfather (I) he was definitely a villain … even if not the only one.
 
CaptFun said:
Maybe the Godfather.

Michael Corleone becomes a worse and worse villian.

In the beginning he just tries to defend his (criminal) loved one.

Later on he takes revenge on anyone who has ever crossed him. Also “justified” less and less by the excuse of self-defense … until he is eliminating helpless former enemies like Carlo (and in the next episode Fredo).

By Godfather III he is looking to repent of his many sins … which possibly turned off Godfather I and II fans … but he is less of a villain by then. Less of an anti-hero too.

It’s a favorite of mine due to the fact that its a great movie though … not the FACT that the villain wins.

Michael Corleone is the protagonist though … the one you follow … and not the antagonist (the usual villain role). Surrounded in a world of competing villains some may not even consider Michael a villain. But he is. Or was.

He “won” by killling all his adversaries in quite a different way than Gary Cooper killed HIS in High Noon for instance.

Presumably becoming de facto “boss of all bosses” per the bloodbath.

:hmmm: His subsequent “struggles”
  • to become “legitimate” in G-II and to
  • get out of the mafia and be “forgiven” (by God and the Church before he dies) …
don’t quite make Michael “not a villain” per excusing each evil he commits (IMO).

By the end of the Godfather (I) he was definitely a villain … even if not the only one.
Click to expand...
Such a great point. Though not a movie, the sopranos could also be an example. Though I was thinking more of the antagonist winning at the end. A criminal protagonist works too.
 
There is a picture made like 20 or so years ago called the Vanishing where a villain has buried a woman alive and leads her BF on a tortuous wild goose chase it was during a bike race in France and Belgium. In Flemish and French with subtitles. In this first version nthe woman stays buried and dies.

A few years later there was a remake that has a happy ending for American audiences .
Give me the original every time.
 
andrewstx said:
There is a picture made like 20 or so years ago called the Vanishing where a villain has buried a woman alive and leads her BF on a tortuous wild goose chase it was during a bike race in France and Belgium. In Flemish and French with subtitles. In this first version nthe woman stays buried and dies.

A few years later there was a remake that has a happy ending for American audiences .
Give me the original every time.
Click to expand...
That would be “Dirty Harry”.

The “happy ending”? Well … better I suppose than
“The Vanishing” you describe.

“Good guy” :hmmm: Harry Callahan breaks the rules to enforce justice (presuming the bad guy IS guilty).

The buried alive victim – and the villain leading the “good guy” on a wild goose chase – “Vanishing” model is used.

Though Callahan tells his boss –
“You know she (the young abducted girl the kidnapper claims is buried alive with little time left) is dead don’t you?” after police confirm that a piece of finger they’ve received is indeed the victim’s …
Click to expand...
… when he catches the suspect at the 50 yard line of old Kezar Stadium in San Francisco
he tortures the adbuctors’ wounded leg to elicit the info of where she might be.

http://popoptiq.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Harry-stadium2-300x133.png

" I’ve got my RIGHTS!"

“Where’s the GIRL!”

youtube.com/watch?v=buNwwAximcE

:bigyikes:

Quite a morality play.

I remember the dark ending of the movie as somewhat less than “happy” … as the denoument of the drama is followed by the same cynical act the hero of High Noon performed in his disgust.

One villain (Scorpio) “gets his” in “Dirty Harry” .

Though “Dirty Harry” … the (anti-)hero “wins” … maybe not really … considering what the ending implies he loses. * < there’s a much DARKER future for Harry Callahan than Will Kane of “High Noon” – unless one considers the Dirty Harry sequels.

One of which (MagnumForce) entails other cops going FURTHER … too far for Harry … in ***THEIR **** out of the box law enforcement anomalies).

youtube.com/watch?v=aEhjFKunNW0
 
Sorry Cap, we are thinking of different pics. In the American happyending version the good guy protagonist version this film is played by Jeff Bridges.
 
CaptFun said:
Maybe the Godfather.

Michael Corleone becomes a worse and worse villian.

In the beginning he just tries to defend his (criminal) loved one.

Later on he takes revenge on anyone who has ever crossed him. Also “justified” less and less by the excuse of self-defense … until he is eliminating helpless former enemies like Carlo (and in the next episode Fredo).

By Godfather III he is looking to repent of his many sins … which possibly turned off Godfather I and II fans … but he is less of a villain by then. Less of an anti-hero too.

It’s a favorite of mine due to the fact that its a great movie though … not the FACT that the villain wins.

Michael Corleone is the protagonist though … the one you follow … and not the antagonist (the usual villain role). Surrounded in a world of competing villains some may not even consider Michael a villain. But he is. Or was.

He “won” by killling all his adversaries in quite a different way than Gary Cooper killed HIS in High Noon for instance.

Presumably becoming de facto “boss of all bosses” per the bloodbath.

:hmmm: His subsequent “struggles”
  • to become “legitimate” in G-II and to
  • get out of the mafia and be “forgiven” (by God and the Church before he dies) …
don’t quite make Michael “not a villain” per excusing each evil he commits (IMO).

By the end of the Godfather (I) he was definitely a villain … even if not the only one.
Click to expand...
His silent scream was EXTRAORDINARY! He didn’t win. He made a promise to God, and when failed, he got the consequences he laid out before God. Since God is the ultimate good guy, I can’t say that a villain won this movie.
 
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