Meme of tv or movie characters driving someone out to a remote location
July 31, 2013 10:23 AM Subscribe
How many instances in television and film can the hive mind come up with that involve a character driving someone out to the desert (or some other remote location) to kill them, often having the victim (who is usually someone who has wronged the character, or can't be convicted in a court of law), dig a hole, only ending up unable to actually murder them?
Response by poster: (Oh and I know of it happening on the tv show Southland but know I've seen it multiple times before).
posted by agregoli at 10:36 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by agregoli at 10:36 AM on July 31, 2013
I think this happens with Ewan Macgregors character in A Life Less Ordinary.
posted by mariokrat at 10:43 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by mariokrat at 10:43 AM on July 31, 2013
Miller's Crossing was the first thing that popped into my mind. It also happens in the movie Traffic (trying not to spoil, but I wouldn't say that the drivers/killers are unable to murder someone).
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:45 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:45 AM on July 31, 2013
Response by poster: Definitely more interested in instances of NOT being able to kill the victim, but awesome, thanks! More, more!
posted by agregoli at 10:47 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by agregoli at 10:47 AM on July 31, 2013
SPOILERS FOR THOSE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE WALKING DEAD
Not quite the same thing, but in The Walking Dead season 2, episode 18, Rick and Shane drive Randall 18 miles away to be abandoned and presumably eaten by zombies. Due to doubt on Rick's part, as well as an unexpected zombie influx, the three return to the rest of the group, Randall still alive.
posted by too bad you're not me at 10:52 AM on July 31, 2013
Not quite the same thing, but in The Walking Dead season 2, episode 18, Rick and Shane drive Randall 18 miles away to be abandoned and presumably eaten by zombies. Due to doubt on Rick's part, as well as an unexpected zombie influx, the three return to the rest of the group, Randall still alive.
posted by too bad you're not me at 10:52 AM on July 31, 2013
Response by poster: Not trying to threadsit, but not the same thing at all, because I want the original intent to be to kill the victim. Ok shutting up now.
posted by agregoli at 10:57 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by agregoli at 10:57 AM on July 31, 2013
The driving someone to a remote spot and beating him senseless happens in episode 9 of AMC's The Killing, but it's impossible to know for certain whether Stan initially intended to kill the guy.
posted by payoto at 11:04 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by payoto at 11:04 AM on July 31, 2013
NBC's detective show Life, episode "Dig a Hole," with the caveat that Crews was doing it to get a confession and probably wouldn't have killed him.
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:14 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:14 AM on July 31, 2013
This happens towards the end of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", although (a) I don't remember if the prisoners' graves are ever dug, and (b) the sheriff is interrupted in the process. Video of the scene in question (spoilers, obviously.)
There's also the scene with the German prisoner in "Saving Private Ryan"; some of the American soldiers want to kill him, and the prisoner obviously expects to die, but the commander lets him go instead.
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:14 AM on July 31, 2013
There's also the scene with the German prisoner in "Saving Private Ryan"; some of the American soldiers want to kill him, and the prisoner obviously expects to die, but the commander lets him go instead.
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:14 AM on July 31, 2013
It happened in the "Rat Race" episode of Elementary. The bad guy drives the good guy out to a remote location to kill him but then is foiled.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:14 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:14 AM on July 31, 2013
Kill Bill Volume 2 has this interesting scene where Beatrice is buried alive. She proves to be fairly unstoppable as many people try their best to off her throughout the film.
posted by kinetic at 11:19 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by kinetic at 11:19 AM on July 31, 2013
In the "Pine Barrens" episode of The Sopranos, Paulie and Christopher take the body a Russian mobster out to the Pine Barrens to dispose of it, only to arrive and find the mobster is not dead. He escapes in the ensuing struggle.
posted by bgrebs at 11:19 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by bgrebs at 11:19 AM on July 31, 2013
On the silly side, the "Toilet Paper" episode of South Park features Cartman taking Kyle out on the lake to kill him...with a wiffle bat. It doesn't go the way Cartman had hoped.
posted by epersonae at 11:24 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by epersonae at 11:24 AM on July 31, 2013
'Alpha Dog' has two characters drive a third out to the desert, dig a hole, etc., whereupon one of them wusses out (but the other proceeds to kill the guy). So, almost.
posted by eugenen at 11:25 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by eugenen at 11:25 AM on July 31, 2013
Every movie version of Snow White. (When the hunter can't bring himself to kill her and tells her to run away.)
posted by third rail at 11:36 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by third rail at 11:36 AM on July 31, 2013
I hate that I know this, but it happens in Very Bad Things. Oh: spoiler alert.
posted by General Malaise at 11:51 AM on July 31, 2013
posted by General Malaise at 11:51 AM on July 31, 2013
The video game Hitman:Absolution plays on this trope. The tenth level or episode, "End of the Road", begins with the player/protagonist Agent 47 calmly leaning against his car in the middle of a sun-blasted desert while his target, the hapless and rather loathsome Lenny, digs his own grave and begs for his life. The player can shoot Lenny or not. Or there's an Easter Egg to activate that gets Lenny run over by an ice-cream truck. Really.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:01 PM on July 31, 2013
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:01 PM on July 31, 2013
This happens a couple more times in the Sopranos. Both times it's with pretty key cast members so I'm reluctant to say more, and spoil the show, but mefi mail me for details.
Once it's on a boat, once to the woods.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:05 PM on July 31, 2013
Once it's on a boat, once to the woods.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:05 PM on July 31, 2013
I think at the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Lee Van Cleef has Eli Wallach digging a hole intending to shoot him afterwards. I'm a little fuzzy on the details though. Pretty sure Eastwood and Wallach take turns leaving each other in the middle of the desert to die of thirst though. Unsuccessfully of course.
posted by wabbittwax at 12:17 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by wabbittwax at 12:17 PM on July 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Godfather.
Clemenza has Pauley drive him and another soldier around on errands. Eventually, they drive out to the middle of nowhere in New Jersey, where the soldier shoots Pauley in the head. The scene is famous for the line "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
posted by Thorzdad at 12:27 PM on July 31, 2013
Clemenza has Pauley drive him and another soldier around on errands. Eventually, they drive out to the middle of nowhere in New Jersey, where the soldier shoots Pauley in the head. The scene is famous for the line "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
posted by Thorzdad at 12:27 PM on July 31, 2013
TV Tropes calls this, not surprisingly, the Dig Your Own Grave trope and has a few more examples, not all of which involve escapes, so only partway relevant.
posted by jessamyn at 12:32 PM on July 31, 2013
posted by jessamyn at 12:32 PM on July 31, 2013
I seem to recall this happening in The Magician (the Aussie film by Scott Ryan), which is worth watching regardless.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:32 PM on July 31, 2013
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:32 PM on July 31, 2013
It's a family affair in The Girl Who Played With Fire, when Lizbeth's own father and brother shoot her in the head and bury her alive. It doesn't go how they planned.
posted by Kakkerlak at 12:48 PM on July 31, 2013
posted by Kakkerlak at 12:48 PM on July 31, 2013
The Godfather.
Clemenza has Pauley drive him and another soldier around on errands. Eventually, they drive out to the middle of nowhere in New Jersey, where the soldier shoots Pauley in the head. The scene is famous for the line "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
There's also Fredo in the middle of Lake Tahoe.
I think this was done most masterfully at the end of Seven.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:59 PM on July 31, 2013
Clemenza has Pauley drive him and another soldier around on errands. Eventually, they drive out to the middle of nowhere in New Jersey, where the soldier shoots Pauley in the head. The scene is famous for the line "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
There's also Fredo in the middle of Lake Tahoe.
I think this was done most masterfully at the end of Seven.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:59 PM on July 31, 2013
People the FPP wants NOT KILL. FWIW Pauley and Fredo are dead.
posted by Gungho at 1:39 PM on July 31, 2013
posted by Gungho at 1:39 PM on July 31, 2013
Fredo in the middle of Lake Tahoe. Aha! Now I know what that South Park is making fun of!
posted by epersonae at 1:52 PM on July 31, 2013
posted by epersonae at 1:52 PM on July 31, 2013
Breaking Bad, Season 2. "Better Call Saul" The main characters drive a lawyer out into the desert, shallow grave, threat of death. The threat-of-death scene plays out with the lawyer engineering a reversal and being hired by the main characters. Good scene.
posted by JDC8 at 2:21 PM on August 1, 2013
posted by JDC8 at 2:21 PM on August 1, 2013
There's one in a fairly current movie and I don't want to spoil it! But I will MeMail you.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:13 AM on August 4, 2013
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:13 AM on August 4, 2013
Response by poster: This is harder than I expected. That Breaking Bad clip doesn't count cause they never intended to kill Saul, just scare him. Thanks for all the examples tho!
posted by agregoli at 6:15 AM on August 5, 2013
posted by agregoli at 6:15 AM on August 5, 2013
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posted by infinitewindow at 10:28 AM on July 31, 2013