Heroes in movies who maybe weren't.

[Svengoolie 3]

Someone mentioned the film "Valkyrie" today and it made me wonder if Claus von stauffenberg was really a hero or not. Sure he came close to whacking Hitler, but I seem to notice he only did it after it was pretty clear old 'dolfy was losing the war and getting Germany, stauffenberg's home nation, pretty heavily fecal malleted.

Maybe a real hero would have objected to uncle 'dolf earlier, like when he was conquering countries, committing mass murder on an industrial scale and robbing nations. Is a guy who turns on a dictator only after he starts losing big time really a hero?

Likewise I wonder if it would be fair to describe Qui-Gon Jin as a hero in the phantom menace. He allowed that little blue b@st@rd with wings to renege on a deal and keep annakin's mother in slavery. Her later death on tattooine helped push annakin towards the dark side. It occurs to me a real hero might have gotten a little more adamant about making batboy uphold his end of the deal fully. Also how heroic was it for him to attack Darth maul with his faithful padawan making it 2 on 1. An honorable knight might have fought on even terms.

So can you think of other movies about heroes, real or fictional, whose heroism you find dubious?

[Trevor]

Walter Burke (Al Pacino) in The Recruit (2003): fascinating portrait of a one time hero in the CIA who becomes both an instructor and a traitor.



Traitor or not, you can't help liking the guy.