Recommend films based on the theme of revenge

Once Upon a Time in the West, too. You could even make a case for the whole Dollars trilogy. The other two don’t have the classical quest for vengeance, but each plot is driven by offenses paid back by more offenses (such as all the betrayals in GBU or the feuding families in FOD).

 

White (1994) from the Three Colors trilogy.

 

In addition to the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, off the top of my head add:

Hang ‘em High
High Plains Drifter
Pale Rider
Outlaw Josey Wales
Unforgiven (eventually)

 

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) Lol.

 

"Taken" (2008)

 

"Ms. 45"...

 

'The Bravados', a 1958 western starring Gregory Peck.

 

The character "Parker" first appeared in a Donald Westlake novel called "The Hunter." A guy is double crossed on a job and left for dead. He works his way up the food chain to get back his share of the loot. The book was adapted into several films, none of which, until recently, used the 'Parker" character name. Some are good. I read many of the Westlake novels (it was a pseudonym for Richard Stark, if memory serves). They were all basically the same plot; but, you can never have too much payback.
The recent one, with Jason Statham, isn't bad, but a completely different movie, Homefront, having nothing to do with Parker is one of Statham's better films and recommended. It, too, kicks ass.

 

You could also go old school, with Kind Hearts and Coronets, a British black comedy with Sir Alec Guiness playing multiple roles in a tale of revenge.

 

Inglorius Bastards - you can't get bigger than Hitler.

 

1.Point Blank (1967)
2.Whatever Happened to Baby Jane(1964)
3.Boondock Saints
4.Boondock Saints 2
5.King Kong(1933)
6.The Mummys Curse(1964)
7.The Masque of the Red Death(1964)
8.Godfather 2 AKA The Revenge of Michael Corleone
9.The Wild Bunch(1969)
10.Cape Fear w/Robert Mitchum(1960)&
11.My all time favorite is Marlon Brandos directorial debut "One Eyed Jacks" (1960)

 

The beautiful thing about El Mariachi is that the hero starts off as a street musician, and then after being mistaken for a hired killer and going through many adventures, by the end of the film he's actually become a cruel killer out for revenge. It's a very interesting film.

BTW, one of the standard tenets of great storytelling boils down to the main character has to want something. It's not always revenge; sometimes it's validation, sometimes it's the person he's romantically attracted to, sometimes it's being recognized for his skills. It's not always revenge per se, and I think some of the films mentioned earlier in this thread fall into this loose category. Hell, half the Bond films boil down to "Bond wants to punish the villain for killing his friend/lover Mr./Miss X." Are they revenge films? I'd consider them action/adventure/spy movies over anything else.

 

The Count Of Monte Crisco
A History Of Violence

 

The first Godfather is also fairly revenge based. A good portion of the movie revolves around Michael trying to get revenge for the hit on Vito.

 

Ben Hur
"The race...it goes on..."

 

The Quick And The Dead (Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman)

 

Lot of westerns revolve around the revenge theme.

True Grit (more justice than revenge, I suppose).

and

 

Death Sentence is brilliant, not many have heard of it.

 

Kevin Costner in “Revenge” was one of the first I thought of.

 

Those were the first I thought of when I saw the thread title, especially Lady Vengeance.

* Note to self: Never, ever piss off a Korean.

 

Robert Rodriguez 10 Minute Film School.

 

The Searchers