Man vs. Man

Of course every tale worth telling bears at least one of the “Man vs.” conflicts, but occasionally one dazzles us in full relief. Following are excellent illustrations of men ~ and women ~ sizing each other up, determining their preferred outcomes, and either coming to terms or going to war with each other.

Examples of Man vs. Man in Film

• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• A Man for All Seasons
• A Time to Kill
• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
• Air Force One
• All the President’s Men
• Alpha Dog
• American History X
• An Officer and a Gentleman
• Arlington Road
• Basic Instinct
• Bastard Out of Carolina
• Batman Begins
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
• Bound
• Boys Don’t Cry
• Boyz N the Hood
• Braveheart
• Brokeback Mountain
• Bronson
• Buried
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Casino
• Casualties of War
• Catch 22
• Contact
• Crimson Tide
• Death and the Maiden
• Deliver Us from Eva
• Deliverance
• Dolores Claiborne
• Doubt
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Erin Brockovich
• Extremeties
• Fair Game
• Family Business
• Fargo
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Four Days in September
• G.I. Jane
• Gaslight
• Gladiator
• Guinivere
• Hard Candy
• Harold and Maude
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Holes
• Horrible Bosses
• House of Sand and Fog
• In the Line of Fire
• John Q
• LA Confidential
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Lone Star
• Lost in America
• Mask
• Milk
• My Best Friend’s Wedding
• Never Let Me Go
• Norma Rae
• Normal
• Not Without My Daughter
• Notes on a Scandal
• Patriot Games
• Philadelphia
• Places in the Heart
• Platoon
• Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
• Pride and Glory
• Private Benjamin
• Raising Arizona
• Real Women Have Curves
• Red Dragon
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Rocky III
• Rounders
• Salt
• Schindler’s List
• Seven
• Shattered Glass
• Sophie’s Choice
• Spinning Into Butter
• Star Trek (2009)
• State of Grace
• Stone
• Straw Dogs (2011)
• The Accused
• The Bounty
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
• The Color Purple
• The Crucible
• The Deer Hunter
• The Edge
• The Experiment
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2009)
• The Help
• The Hurricane
• The In-Laws (1979)
• The Lord of the Rings (full trilogy, special edition boxed set of
• course)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• The Matrix
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again
• The Prestige
• The Princess Bride
• The Proposal
• The Queen
• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Silence of the Lambs
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Thirteen Days
• Titanic
• Turn the River
• Wall Street
• Warrior
• Watership Down
• What’s Love Got to Do with It
• White Oleander
• Working Girl

What are some of your favorite examples, and why? Please do share ~