10 Movies Where The Good Guy & Bad Guy BOTH Win

Quentin Tarantino's inimitable Inglourious Basterds is a fantastic example of this. On one hand, the Basterds succeed in executing Operation Kino and killing not only Adolf Hitler but most of the German high command.

Sure, many of the Basterds die along with Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) in the process, but that was always part of the plan.

All the same, the mission is accomplished, and both Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his fellow Bastard Utivich (B. J. Novak) seemingly live to see the end of the war.

The movie's major villain, SS colonel Hans Landa (an Oscar-winning Christoph Waltz), is meanwhile spared the brutal murder afforded to the high command, and in fact survives the events of the film entirely.

Landa, ever the opportunistic sociopath, allows the Basterds to complete Operation Kino in exchange for securing himself a full pardon and other benefits. The only fly in the ointment? Raine carves a swastika into his forehead to ensure he'll always be recognised as a Nazi.

Even so, it's still a majorly favourable outcome for Landa, especially as Tarantino revealed in a 2019 interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the history books remember him as a hero, and after the war he settled on Nantucket Island where he became an amateur detective. Alright for some.