25 Films That Intentionally Spoil Other Films

F. Gary Gray’s 1998 crime thriller The Negotiator puts two of the decade’s finest talents - Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson - up against each other in one of the best hostage movies of the era.

Top hostage negotiator, Chicago Police Lieutenant Danny Roman (Jackson), is framed for the murder of his partner and an embezzlement scheme that his partner brought to his attention shortly before he was killed. Targeted by Internal Affairs Inspector Terence Niebaum (J.T. Walsh), and forced to respond the only way he can think of, Danny finds himself on the wrong end of the negotiations for once, holding Niebaum hostage and negotiating with fellow negotiator Lieutenant Chris Sabian (Spacey).

The long and winding conversation between the pair goes pretty much everywhere during the film, as Danny makes his demands and Chris searches for a way in. But one of the places we didn’t expect it to go was to George Stevens’ 1953 Western, Shane. Danny and Chris discuss Shane and debate whether Shane dies at the end, or just appears to be dead.

This dialogue sequence is ostensibly so that Chris can keep Danny talking while trying to figure out what to do, but beyond this, it’s a neat piece of intertextuality, calling to mind the stand-offs of the classic Westerns, while also teasing a resolution to this film: does Danny make it out alive or not?

We’ll let you find out for yourself.