Black Guy dies first?

wanderarbeiter · April 02, 2008, 11:37:01 PM

My friend and I got into a discussion about movie clichés, he mentioned the standard "The black guy always dies first." I started to think of examples and drew a blank. I could come up with some parodies and a b-movie (The Killer Shrews). Are there really enough examples out there, or was this just something that we all heard and accepted as truth?

RCMerchant · April 03, 2008, 12:30:49 PM

The second I read this I also thought-the KILLER SHREWS. I too...am drawing a blank! Ah! Waitaminite! In SPIDER BABY....Mantan Mooreland is the first to go! Looses an ear...and his life,to the twin- knife weilding girl!

Allhallowsday · April 03, 2008, 01:13:29 PM

It's worth pointing out that in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD the last one to go is the black guy...

moman · April 03, 2008, 04:38:46 PM

the black guy dying first is a pretty crappy myth. it's much more likely that the horny teenagers will die first. people maybe just say the black guy thing because they think it sounds 'cool' or something.

BixDugan · April 03, 2008, 06:52:36 PM

Sort of like anyone in an landing party wearing a Red Shirt on Star Trek, had a short life, on average.

WingedSerpent · April 04, 2008, 04:09:44 PM

In Jurassic Park A black guy is the first to die. The man opening up the cage to let the new raptor into her cage.

Justy · April 04, 2008, 08:52:16 PM

Quote from: Allhallowsday on April 03, 2008, 01:13:29 PM
It's worth pointing out that in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD the last one to go is the black guy...

In Dawn of the Dead the black guy lives all the way through.

darthchicken · April 04, 2008, 10:33:15 PM

In Planet of the Apes, didn't the black guy die first, or was it the white guy? (I'm aware of the girl who died before they crashed, I'm talking about the landing party)

zombie no.one · April 05, 2008, 02:27:16 AM

what's that (fairly famous) movie where there's a black guy and a white guy hancffed together and they're on the run?....I can't remember if the black guy dies first or second...

Bmeansgood · April 05, 2008, 06:41:34 PM

I just watched Gremlins this afternoon and the black guy died first. He was the science teacher.

Mr. DS · April 05, 2008, 07:05:27 PM

For the longest time I though tthis idea was true but after brainstorming, I'll be damned, I can hardly think of where a black guy dies first in a movie.

trekgeezer · April 06, 2008, 11:09:03 AM

I think the black guy dying first is a myth, but if there is a single black guy in the cast he usually is going to die giving his life in some heroic fashion.

BoyScoutKevin · April 14, 2008, 07:53:57 PM

Quote from: depressed crack addict on April 05, 2008, 02:27:16 AM
what's that (fairly famous) movie where there's a black guy and a white guy hancffed together and they're on the run?....I can't remember if the black guy dies first or second...

Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier were chained together in "The Defiant Ones" (1958.) But I don't remember neither one being killed in that film. The film was remade for television, and as "Black Mama, White Mama" and "Fled." None of which I have seen, so maybe that is where one or both characters die.

AndyC · April 14, 2008, 08:22:04 PM

I'm trying to think of the first place I heard that the black guy often dies first, and the first time I can recall was some of the characters arguing about it in Canadian Bacon. Of course, the myth was probably around before that. I can't recall what examples were given though.

I can think of more movies where the black guy makes it to the end, or at least comes close. When you think about real clichees, the typical token black guy in an action or horror movie is more often a jive-talking badass - the kind you want to keep around for a while, saving him for a really spectacular end. It doesn't make sense to kill him first. Too much entertainment value wasted.

zombie no.one · April 14, 2008, 10:35:05 PM

Quote from: BoyScoutKevin on April 14, 2008, 07:53:57 PM
Quote from: depressed crack addict on April 05, 2008, 02:27:16 AM
what's that (fairly famous) movie where there's a black guy and a white guy hancffed together and they're on the run?....I can't remember if the black guy dies first or second...

Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier were chained together in "The Defiant Ones" (1958.) But I don't remember neither one being killed in that film. The film was remade for television, and as "Black Mama, White Mama" and "Fled." None of which I have seen, so maybe that is where one or both characters die.

thanks but no its not that. its a 70s film...in colour. ..2 guys on the run, one black one white...they're handcuffed together. really doing my head in now...lol