Movies & TV
Ethan Suplee in Mallrats
Unlikely Heroes List...
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10. Cobra Commander (G.I. Joe the Movie)
Who expected an incompetent nuisance like Cobra Commander to be capable of saving the day once usurped by Serpentor, Golobulus and Cobra-La? His actions certainly turned the tide of battle. Sometimes, the hero is unlikely because they were the long-time villain. |
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9. Watson Pritchett (House on Haunted Hill)
Who expected a cowardly mercenary like Watson Pritchett to save a hide other than his own? Without the ghostly aid of Pritchett, the evening would have had no survivors. Sometimes the hero is unlikely because they had never shown the gumption for completing much smaller tasks than acts of heroism. |
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8. Mari's Parents (The Last House on the Left)
Who would have thought that grieving parents of their murdered child would collect themselves emotionally in order to exact a brutal vengeance? It was this act of vigilantism which led to Craven's film having enormous problems with the censorship board. |
Sometimes the unlikely hero is the director of the film! Craven was right to push the boundaries of horror and to challenge our conceptions on the nature of citizenship, family, and justice. The unlikely hero overcomes stereotypes and taboo.
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7. The Old Man (Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans)
Sunrise is easily one of the greatest films of all-time. The sweet wife was fated to survive as this was not a German production of Kracauer's theorized era of warped and macabre nationalist dispositions - Sunrise was a Hollywood production. Who would have expected the hero to be a random old man previously unknown to the plot of the story? |
Sometime the hero is unlikely because they were a complete mystery prior to their act of heroism.
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6. Mr. Orange (Reservoir Dogs)
Who correctly predicted the demise of Mr. Blonde in that tense moment just before he finished his job on poor Marvin Nash? Sometimes the hero is unlikely because we were quite sure they were already dead! |
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5. Mikheil Gelovani (The Vow)
Who would have expected genocidal murderer, Joseph Stalin, to promote himself as a saintly hero for the people of the Soviet Union? Well, probably everyone. Gelovani had the illustrious duty to portray Stalin in Socialist Realist films during Stalin's reign. Whether fixing tractors or giving important pep talks to fictional adoring Stakhanovite citizens, Gelovani portrayed a heroic Stalin with conviction (I suppose his life depended on it!) |
Sometimes the hero is unlikely because they are no hero at all... and instead are a complete fraud.
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4. Pete Menzies (Touch of Evil)
Who would have expected a best friend to turn traitor on the man to whom they owe their life? Menzies stepped up his game and sold out his old partner in order to do the right thing - certainly conditions for a truly heroic act. Sometimes the hero is unlikely because they act in contradiction to how their character has been established. |
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3. Milton Waddams (Office Space)
Who expected a spineless loser to ironically save the day through an act of arson? I suppose Milton doesn't really perform heroic acts per se, but the likeable characters were certainly bailed out through his criminal actions. Sometimes the hero is unlikely because their act of heroism is in fact total buffoonery. |
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2. Chief Bromden (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Who expected any of the basket cases to grow a pair and support the defiant McMurphy? Eventually, they came around and the escape of Chief Bromden consolidated the spirit of that rebellion. Sometimes the hero is unlikely because their individuality seemed suppressed by identification within a collective that had an overall unheroic character. |
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1. Danny McGrath (Billy Madison)
Who expected Billy Madison to win his bets? Well... everyone who knows Sandler comedies I guess. But... who expected a Buffalo Bill-esque Steve Buscemi character to steal The Revolting Blob's thunder and ensure Billy's triumph? Not I. Sometimes the hero is unlikely because you expected a different hero to act. |
this list was something of an architecture of the unlikely hero. It would seem that acts of heroism can come from many places and under many conditions. Villains, cowards, losers are all capable of heroism. Sometimes, it is the unlikely hero that is most satisfying to root for because they are such an extreme underdog. It wasn't that they were counted out of winning, they usually aren't even counted as in the fight to begin with.
