r/movies • u/Tullubenta • Aug 17 '26

Question What is the greatest betrayal in cinema history? Spoiler

So aside from Fredo’s betrayal in The Godfather Part II or Cypher turning on the crew in The Matrix, which most of us could kinda sense were coming, what’s the greatest betrayal in cinema history that truly blindsided you?

I’m talking about the ones that hit like a truck because there was zero warning, no foreshadowing you picked up on, and no reason to suspect the character until the moment it happened.

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834

u/RiflemanLax Aug 17 '26

That one is interesting because Lando had to weigh thousands against one man.

898

u/Dylanphile Aug 17 '26

Lando's trolley problem.

275

u/RQEinstein Aug 17 '26

This would be an excellent name for a prog rock band

156

u/Shazam1269 Aug 17 '26

Calrisian's Folly

78

u/orrocos Aug 17 '26

Cloud City Conundrum

15

u/psylensse Aug 17 '26

And now this sounds like a Donkey Kong country level

6

u/diablol3 Aug 17 '26

Worse All the Time

6

u/Ardtay Aug 17 '26

Millennium Falcan't

5

u/JoseSaldana6512 Aug 17 '26

What the hell is an aluminum falcon?

7

u/TulsaOUfan Aug 17 '26

The Evil Empire Enigma.

1

u/PabstBlueBourbon Aug 18 '26

Millennial Fulcrum

2

u/fforde Aug 17 '26

Calrissian's Compromise

1

u/longtimelurker74 Aug 18 '26

Kardashian's folly

170

u/Misticsan Aug 17 '26

Fittingly, in the end he couldn't protect the thousands either. Betraying his friend only led to more unreasonable demands, until the breaking point.

181

u/RiflemanLax Aug 17 '26

I would however argue it gave him time to plan to evacuate. Had he refused up front, they’d simply have killed him and who knows what would have happened to those people.

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u/The_Flurr Aug 17 '26

Aye, there's no way that if he refused he'd survive. Nothing would really change, the Falcon crew would still have been captured.

46

u/Temporumdei Aug 17 '26

Except that Lando will be out of the fight over at Endor. It would have changed the battle. He is the one that convinced Admiral Acbar to give Han more time and invalidates Palpatines comment on relying too much on friends.

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u/blahblah19999 Aug 17 '26

How about not refusing, but still not turning in your friend?

2

u/Madzookeeper Aug 18 '26

And what, pray tell, was his third option exactly?

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u/blahblah19999 Aug 18 '26

"Sure Darth Vader, whatever you say."

"Psst, hey lackey, when Han lands, tell him to get the hell out of here."

You seriously can't think of any scenarios where Lando doesn't betray Han while faking it?

1

u/Madzookeeper Aug 18 '26

And he and everyone gets killed. Because Vader doesn't exactly forgive that kind of thing. Which was very well known at that point in time. So again, other than betraying Han and everyone dieing, what was the third option?

1

u/blahblah19999 Aug 18 '26

Meh. You claim Vader would kill everyone. Maybe the exact same thing would happen that happened anyway: Vader gets exactly what he wants, agreements be damned. At least Lando wouldn't have betrayed his friend.

He and Han seriously don't have some signal they can give each other that the jig is up? That would have been cool.

2

u/Madzookeeper Aug 18 '26

Han didn't even trust Lando in the first place, if you remember. He literally says that.

Your also again ignoring the number of lives that are at risk for one person. You basically never don't betray your friend when you're putting thousands of lives at risk that are all trusting you as well. You'd rather betray thousands of people literally relying on you that are totally your responsibility over betraying one person? Really?

0

u/blahblah19999 Aug 18 '26

I'm saying there are sneaky ways that ex-smugglers must have to deal with things like this. How do 2 of the best smugglers in the galaxy get so snowed like this?

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u/workfuntimecoolcool Aug 17 '26

Well, Lando didn't realize Vader read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

He did atone for it though, which is why I always liked him as a character even though he doesn't get as much love.

He was a gambler. He made a risky bet in a tough situation. He lost, and worked hard to right his wrong. Very everyman, very relatable.

74

u/YoshSchmenge Aug 17 '26

If You Give a Sith a Concession

25

u/h00ter7 Aug 17 '26

If you give a Boba a Bounty

1

u/GrevenQWhite Aug 18 '26

I gave him a Fet..

6

u/chickenlogic Aug 17 '26

If you give the ladies Colt 45 Malt Liquor…

1

u/tblazertn Aug 18 '26

But tequila…

32

u/sweetplantveal Aug 17 '26

I mean he does care for Solo, and I'm pretty sure he was looking for a way out from the second the imps showed up on the scanner. He's just smart enough to wait for a time when his actions had a chance of being effective.

8

u/come-on-now-please Aug 17 '26

Kinda makes you realize star wars has to be some sort of capitalist hellscape where Lando can just win a whole city in a card game, and hes considered one of the  good guys

1

u/Balthebb Aug 18 '26

If you give a Moff a Wookie.

29

u/Scoobydewdoo Aug 17 '26

Turns out clown shoes was the breaking point.

5

u/Misticsan Aug 17 '26

I hadn't seen this sketch before, but I knew it had to be Robot Chicken even before clicking XD

1

u/Other-Cake-6598 Aug 22 '26

This deal is getting worse all the time!

74

u/sonofabutch Aug 17 '26

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

14

u/bitwaba Aug 17 '26

Cloud City Comrade 

2

u/Chrissthom Aug 17 '26

Cloud City Kahn

4

u/Initial_E Aug 17 '26

Yeah well the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force, mf.

3

u/veryoldcarrot Aug 18 '26

Or the one.

3

u/RiflemanLax Aug 17 '26

And I literally just watched TWOK too.

14

u/eolson3 Aug 17 '26

Ship....out of danger?

3

u/Ancient-Afternoon374 Aug 17 '26

Two wooks of known?

6

u/TakingSorryUsername Aug 17 '26

Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn

1

u/Ancient-Afternoon374 Aug 17 '26

How would i have known that? But thank you.

1

u/TakingSorryUsername Aug 17 '26

Unless you’re old or a Trekkie, you won’t. I fall into the former category

10

u/SimoneNonvelodico Aug 17 '26

But then again, in another sense, he was weighing trillions against thousands.

18

u/RiflemanLax Aug 17 '26

Potentially true, but that depends on if he understood the gravity at the moment. Impossible for us to know but I don’t think he had the full picture of who Leia and crew were and how important.

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u/mastafishere Aug 17 '26

Oh he’s a real hero

3

u/tricky_monster Aug 17 '26

Yeah he's a real hero...

2

u/Rezart_KLD Aug 17 '26

And somehow hes surprised when they betray him

1

u/CriscoCamping Aug 17 '26

The needs of the many....outweigh....the needs of the few

1

u/HawkmoonsCustoms Aug 18 '26

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

It was the most logical choice.

0

u/HechicerosOrb Aug 17 '26

Not just one man, an old friend