20 Movie Characters Who Never Got The Comeuppance They Deserved

This one still stings 50 years later. This particular example isn't annoying; it's outright harrowing. 

Chinatown's Noah Cross (John Huston) is one of the most despicable movie characters of them all. A wealthy industrialist and crime lord, he is eventually proven, through protagonist Jake Gittes' (Jack Nicholson) investigation, to have committed or facilitated multiple murders in his ruthless quest to gain control of the Los Angeles water supply. It gets even worse, though. 

Cross has also been sexually abusing his own daughter, Evelyn (Faye Dunaway), who has given birth to his daughter/granddaughter. Cross is a repugnant bastard, and while many films would've been kind enough to grant audiences the catharsis of seeing this sicko get his just desserts, Chinatown goes down a much darker route, one which has secured the movie a place in cinematic infamy. 

By the end, all of Cross' schemes have succeeded, he's covered up his involvement, and he's even taken his granddaughter away from Gittes, while Evelyn dies in a police shootout. A numb, heartbroken Gittes is led away from the scene, and one of the other police officers says, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." 

This was just devastating, not least because it's scarily believable. Even now, powerful people are constantly getting away with terrible crimes.