SimplyScripts Discussion Board
Blog Home - Produced Movie Script Library - TV Scripts - Unproduced Scripts - Contact - Site Map
ScriptSearch
Welcome, Guest.
It is March 28th, 2024, 4:07pm
Please login or register.
Was Portal Recent Posts Home Help Calendar Search Register Login
Please do read the guidelines that govern behavior on the discussion board. It will make for a much more pleasant experience for everyone. A word about SimplyScripts and Censorship


Produced Script Database (Updated!)
One Week Challenge - Who Wrote What and Writers' Choice.


Scripts studios are posting for award consideration

Short Script of the Day | Featured Script of the Month | Featured Short Scripts Available for Production
Submit Your Script

How do I get my film's link and banner here?
All screenplays on the simplyscripts.com and simplyscripts.net domain are copyrighted to their respective authors. All rights reserved. This screenplaymay not be used or reproduced for any purpose including educational purposes without the expressed written permission of the author.
Forum Login
Username: Create a new Account
Password:     Forgot Password

SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    Screenwriting Discussion    Screenwriting Class  ›  Name a great movie where the Hero/Protag dies. Moderators: George Willson
Users Browsing Forum
No Members and 4 Guests

 Pages: « 1, 2 : All
Recommend Print
  Author    Name a great movie where the Hero/Protag dies.  (currently 3003 views)
Ledbetter
Posted: April 20th, 2015, 1:12pm Report to Moderator
Guest User




Quoted from oJOHNNYoNUTSo


Sure, I guess the way I worded that was unclear. The outcome could've been death but instead it wasn't... at least in visual context.



That's the same with Captain Von Trapp...
Logged
e-mail Reply: 15 - 26
alffy
Posted: April 20th, 2015, 1:25pm Report to Moderator
Old Timer



Location
The bleak North East, England
Posts
2187
Posts Per Day
0.34
Dead Man's Shoes
In Bruges (maybe)
Blue Ruin

Off the top of my head


Check out my scripts...if you want to, no pressure.

You can find my scripts here
Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 16 - 26
Bogey
Posted: April 20th, 2015, 1:55pm Report to Moderator
New



Location
The Chair
Posts
232
Posts Per Day
0.06
To Live and Die in L.A.
Gran Torino
The Professional
Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 17 - 26
DustinBowcot
Posted: April 21st, 2015, 2:39am Report to Moderator
Guest User



Logged
e-mail Reply: 18 - 26
DanC
Posted: April 21st, 2015, 2:24pm Report to Moderator
Old Timer


Killing villains since 1980!

Location
Buffalo NY
Posts
1131
Posts Per Day
0.34
Hey I didn't know this post was made for me.  Thanks Libby

Okay, here's the deal guys.  I'm writing a screenplay where the hero doesn't quite achieve what he was looking for at the end.  

Libby wanted him to survive, but, I ixnayed that idea.  He must not live.

There are quite a few movies where the protag or hero doesn't survive till the end.  

I would have added the Omen as well.

That said, here is what Libby didn't tell you guys.

But, I will also add, she ads a great point, does it justify the means?  IMO, the answer is yes.  

I'm writing a horror story.  There are quite a few horror stories that don't have good outcomes.  Sometimes, it's justified, other times it isn't.  Japanese horror often has 0 survivors.

My story reads like it is gonna be okay for our hero and main protag.  Until it doesn't.  I think that's good shock value.  Especially in a horror story.

Oh, Libby, I hated the ending of Open Water.  I just sat there drained.  I thought they were gonna save the woman.  I really did.  But, I did find that very realistic.  The odds of anyone finding them were next to 0.  

I thought the Perfect Storm was in the same ilk.  No one lives.  That movie annoyed me more b/c the entire movie takes place on a ship and all of that is merely supposition.  

As opposed to Open water that is much more about what would happen if 2 people got stranded in the ocean for a long period of time.  I believe that would happen in Open Water.

The issue with Perfect Storm is how would any of the info of the choices the captain or the crew make ever get back for it to be written down?  It isn't as bad as that whole season of Dallas (hey, it's a dream, don't worry fans, you only wasted a year of your lives, but, we're cool, right?), but, IMO, wasting my 2 hours on supposition is far worse then the protag not living.

I think that's a great topic, when is it worth it, and when isn't it worth it?

I hated the Perfect Storm far more then Open Water.  But, the ending of Open Water left me so drained that I didn't want to do anything for a few hours.  IMO, that's great writing.  I was emotionally vested in those 2 characters.  And the camera work didn't get me seasick.  

I thought it was a brilliant film b/c it SHOULD have been boring as hell, yet, it wasn't.  I was at the edge of my seat.

Also, given the fact that it was loosely based on a true story had me hoping they lived.

I enjoyed reading about this debate.  So, Libby, have you come to the dark side?  It's fun over here.  We hurt our main characters and protags.  I actually have 2 stories where they don't live...

Dan


Please read my scripts:
http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-series/m-1427564706/

I'm interested in reading animation, horror, sci fy, suspense, fantasy, and anything that is good.  I enjoy writing the same.  Looking to team with anyone!

Thanks
Dan
Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 19 - 26
Equinox
Posted: April 21st, 2015, 2:46pm Report to Moderator
January Project Group



Location
Germany
Posts
345
Posts Per Day
0.10
The two great movies which came to my mind are both listed already: Terminator 2 and Twelve Monkeys, another one would be 'The Sixth Sense'.

Twelve Monkeys is a perfect example where this works out very well in my opinion, whereas in Terminator 2 I thought it was a bit forced in order to make the story end. Glad it didn't work


Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 20 - 26
LC
Posted: April 21st, 2015, 10:41pm Report to Moderator
Administrator



Location
The Great Southern Land
Posts
7581
Posts Per Day
1.34
Oh, don't misunderstand me, Dan. I'm not averse to the 'dark side' at all. I just finished watching The Departed yet again, and almost everybody ends up dead in the end, but it's a masterpiece of a movie, and a brilliant script. And, of course Game Of Thrones is a perfect example of never getting attached to any one character...

What I don't like personally, is if the character's death is done illogically, gratuitously, nonsensically, and/or for shock value alone, or just to follow the latest horror trope. Imh, it needs to work on a level that the movie wouldn't be anywhere near as effective or memorable without that character's death.

Braveheart
Titanic
The Sixth Sense
Gladiator

And numerous other examples wouldn't be half the movies they are or half as memorable without those main character's deaths.

When the death is a victory of sorts I think that's when it's most effective or even where it can change the course of events of a story/plot. Here's an example:

"LA Confidential." Curtis Hanson's retro-noir film about corruption in 1950s Hollywood has three heroes, each with a dark side. One of those heroes, Detective "Trashcan" Jack Vincennes, played by Kevin Spacey, is killed at the hands of the villainous crooked cop Dudley Smith, played by James Cromwell. His dying words, though, send Smith on the wrong track and alert the other heroes as to who the real bad guy is.

What I observed with your plot is that you set up the story along the lines of hero (the chosen one by God) who will save the day i.e., heroic sacrifice, and yet it appears it's all done in vain because this character's death ultimately just becomes one in a  sequence of deaths which ultimately ends not only with his demise but with his failure to change the course of evil triumphing. A well worn theme of good v evil but then, he dies, the end.

Now, I could be wrong. This could be the perfect fatalistic ending for your story. The only true way in knowing if it is the best most satisfying outcome, in my opinion, is if in fact your character's death elevates your script, and the only way to know this is to post it up, (or post it out) to get a general consensus.

With anything we write there are going to be disparate viewpoints, you only need post a short on these boards to know that. In the end you are the writer and this is your story but the ending left me feeling the story was incomplete, and the denouement, though potentially visually stunning, a bit of a let down.  


Logged
Private Message Reply: 21 - 26
khamanna
Posted: April 22nd, 2015, 12:00am Report to Moderator
January Project Group



Posts
4194
Posts Per Day
0.79
Carlito's way
Awakenings (he's almost dead in that one)
Never Let Me Go (she's going to die soon in this one)
Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 22 - 26
JustinWeaver
Posted: July 6th, 2015, 11:49am Report to Moderator
New


Posts
6
Posts Per Day
0.00
Gladiator
Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 23 - 26
SoullessDragon
Posted: July 7th, 2015, 10:53am Report to Moderator
New



Location
Tamworth, Australia
Posts
24
Posts Per Day
0.01
This sounds like something that's right up my ally. I am constantly chipped by people who read my writing because I get them to love a character and then they die.

I am Legend.
Ladder 49.
The Matrix Revolutions.
The Green Mile.
Elysium.
Moulin Rouge.
V for Vendetta.
Man on Fire.
American Sniper.
It was more of a TV mini-series rather than a movie, but Joan of Arc.
Superman was also killed in "Doomsday".

Sometimes movies need to have a "Real" element to them, the tearjerkers that people adore. Pull them in make them love a character only to have them fail, like life.


"What would you do if the moment you came into this world you were destined to be different?"
http://thecrossofsaintlucian.tumblr.com/
#Jai_is_Life
Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 24 - 26
wonkavite
Posted: July 7th, 2015, 6:19pm Report to Moderator
Guest User



Well, this isn't modern.  (Though that wasn't the criteria anyway.)  But:

Cyrano de Bergerac. And THAT is a great film.
Logged
e-mail Reply: 25 - 26
sniper
Posted: July 8th, 2015, 3:35am Report to Moderator
Old Timer


My UZI Weighs A Ton

Location
Northern Hemisphere
Posts
2249
Posts Per Day
0.48
Shane.


Down in the hole / Jesus tries to crack a smile / Beneath another shovel load
Logged
Private Message Reply: 26 - 26
 Pages: « 1, 2 : All
Recommend Print

Locked Board Board Index    Screenwriting Class  [ previous | next ] Switch to:
Was Portal Recent Posts Home Help Calendar Search Register Login

Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post polls
You may not post attachments
HTML is on
Blah Code is on
Smilies are on


Powered by E-Blah Platinum 9.71B © 2001-2006