50 Worst Movie Betrayals

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)

The Betrayal: Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) discovers that beautiful blonde Elsa (Alison Doodey) is actually a Nazi spy, and only bonked him for information.

Talk about sleeping with the enemy.

Why It’s So Bad: Turns out Elsa also bedded Jones Senior.

Now that’s something to keep you awake at night.

The Fallout: Elsa gets her comeuppance when she falls to her death as the temple collapses at the end of The Last Crusade .

Nice knowin' ya.

Scream (1996)

The Betrayal: The one thing a girl needs when there’s a serial killer on the loose is her boyfriend’s shoulder to cry on.

Shame, then, that it turns out Sidney’s (Neve Campbell) squeeze Billy (Skeet Ulrich) is the serial killer in question.

Why It’s So Bad: Not only is Billy (and pal Stu) obsessed with killing Sidney, he’s also butchered half her friends – and her mum. Sheesh.

The Fallout: Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) to the rescue!

The hard-bitten reporter shoots Billy and saves the day – just about.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

The Betrayal: With his morals twisted by evil Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), Anakin (Hayden Christensen) does the unthinkable and slays innocent younglings - nothing says "screw you, Jedi Order!" like a massacre.

Why It’s So Bad: He killed children! There’s no coming back from that…

The Fallout: Just Episodes IV-VI , y’know, as Darth Vader becomes a force to be reckoned with.

The Room (2003)

The Betrayal: Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) discovers a tape on which his girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) and his friend Mark (Greg Sestero) have a rather intimate conversation.

Yes, they’ve both betrayed him.

Why It’s So Bad: Johnny’s so upset by the betrayal of the closest people to him that he kills himself.

The Fallout: Um, death.

Julius Caesar (1970)

The Betrayal: Brutus (Jason Robards) is a friend of Caesar (John Gielgud) who joins a group of conspiratorial senators who are concerned that Caesar is attempting to turn Rome into a monarchy.

They end up killing Caesar.

Why It’s So Bad: Brutus himself has a stab at the ruler, which means he literally has his friend’s blood on his hands.

The Fallout: The public turn on Brutus and the senators, driving them from Rome.

GoodFellas (1990)

The Betrayal: Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) takes freedom over jail, and gives evidence against his mobster friends. The dawg.

Why It’s So Bad: Saving your own neck instead of going down with your buddies?

When your buddies are mobsters, we’re not sure that’s the best decision.

The Fallout: Henry discovers what it’s like living in the real world.

“I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” Sob.

Double Jeopardy (1999)

The Betrayal: Elizabeth (Ashley Judd) is framed for her husband’s murder when she’s discovered alone aboard a friend’s yacht and covered in his blood.

Why It’s So Bad: Turns out Elizabeth’s hubbie isn’t dead at all, but wanted to cash in on his own life insurance.

The Fallout: Elizabeth decides to kill her husband for real, arguing she can’t get tried for the same case twice.

(Even though technically this second, real murder would be an entirely new case…)

The Fugitive (1993)

The Betrayal: Dr. Charles Nichols (Jeroen Krabbé) decides to have his friend Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) killed when the latter discovers that Nichols’ new drug causes devastating liver damage.

Why It’s So Bad: It all goes a bit tits up when the hitman Nichols hires to off Kimble ends up killing Kimble’s wife instead.

The Fallout: Kimble decides he needs to teach Nichols a lesson.

Cruel Intentions (1999)

The Betrayal: Sebastian (Ryan Philippe) is dared by devious stepsister Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to seduce innocent church girl Annette (Reese Witherspoon).

Ah love, the ultimate betrayal.

Why It’s So Bad: Sebastian initially goes along with it so he can sleep with his seductive stepsister, but soon starts having real feelings for Annette.

Who, naturally, discovers it’s all just a bet.

The Fallout: Somebody dies. Somebody gets their comeuppance. And somebody gets a really swish set of wheels.

Total Recall (1990)

The Betrayal: Up on Mars, Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is double-crossed by amiable-seeming taxi driver Benny (Mel Johnson Jr), who turns out to be a bendy-armed mutant in the employ of Cohaagen.

Why It’s So Bad: Benny’s meant to be a nice guy – a rare ally in the sucking void that is Mars. His betrayal really stings.

The Fallout: Benny, naturally, is killed. And Quaid saves the day.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

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