10 Huge Mistakes Which Doomed Movie Characters
The cinematic equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot.
Regardless of whether it was an inscrutable blunder or an error of judgment that left the audience with their heads in their hands, cinema is no exception to the reality that actions have consequences. Tragically for many of popular culture's most celebrated characters, said consequences can often be fatal.
Whether it be an untimely lapse of judgment or simply a cruel twist of fate, the demise of these characters can be traced back to one irreversible choice or action that ultimately proved deadly. An innocuous hand gesture here, underestimating a person there - there is no set form to a mistake that spells doom for a movie character. The manner of their demise could look like poetic justice, or - if they're a loveable hero - the most unfair thing ever to happen onscreen.
In some cases, the character's downfall can even be attributed to their overarching personality, a culmination of their wider decisions intricately woven into the movie's narrative.
While it may seem harsh to blame a person's inherent nature for their own death, traits like a predisposition to honesty or obsession can also set the wheels in motion for a mistake that ultimately costs the character their life.
10. "Drei Gläser." - Inglorious Basterds
Hand gestures don't typically seal a person's doom - unless said person just so happens to be a British commando deep undercover in Nazi-occupied France.
The aforementioned officer - Michael Fassbender's Lieutenant Archie Hicox - inadvertently signs a death warrant for himself and his undercover companions in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds when he orders a round of drinks in front of Gestapo Major Dietrich Hellström. Hicox orders "drei gläser", holding up the index, middle and ring fingers of his right hand to represent each glass.
Unfortunately for the Lieutenant, that's exactly where Fassbender's soldier gives the game away. The Western European style of finger counting differs from the English-speaking, where the index finger is used to represent "one" as opposed to the thumb. A true German would have ordered "three" with the index, middle finger, and thumb extended - a fact that Hicox is fatally unaware of.
An error tiny in scope, but colossal in terms of repercussions as Hellström instantly rumbles the Englishman for an imposter. This precipitates a Mexican standoff which soon concludes with a hail of gunfire and a bullet-riddled mess of bodies - amongst them, Hicox and his comrades.