History HonorBeforeReason / FIlm

* Toward the end of ''KingdomOfHeaven'', King Baldwin IV offers Balian his sister Sybilla's hand in marriage. Sybilla is already married to Guy de Lusignan, but Baldwin IV offers to have Guy executed to allow the marriage to occur. It seems like a no-brainer, as it would allow Balian to ascend to the throne of Jerusalem, it would allow him to marry the woman he genuinely loves, and it would allow Balian to have a dangerous political rival eliminated. Balian, however, refuses, his piety not allowing him to have any part in Guy's death. Guy is allowed to live, and after Baldwin's death, ascends to the throne of Jerusalem, immediately inciting a war that allows Saladin's troops to overrun and capture Jerusalem. Had Balian accepted Baldwin's offer, Jerusalem would've remained in Crusader hands.

* The title character in the cult western ''Major Dundee'', Maj. Charles Amos Dundee (played by Charlton Heston) has a Confederate soldier killed for desertion, despite appeals for mercy, as is military law, despite being in the middle of nowhere and needing every man he can get in order to eliminate an Apache tribe on the war path. This ultimately proves to be a mistake as it causes even more tension between his Union soldiers and the Confederates, just when they were starting to get along too.
* In ''TheMaskOfZorro'', the villain Captain Love pulls a gun on Zorro, but then discards it and faces him in a SwordFight.

* ''{{Troy}}'': Hector personally goes out to fight the invincible Achilles to allow the man vengeance for killing his cousin, despite knowing that Achilles can kill him easily, the cousin was dressed up like Achilles and charged headfirst into battle, and they had an squad of archers on the wall who could have put down Achilles fairly easily.
* ''OnceUponATimeInTheWest'': The villain, Frank, has a chance to ride away safely after killing his boss, Morton. Instead he comes back to face his nemesis, the man with the harmonica.

* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel promises to return Flynn's satchel with the stolen tiara if he agrees to escort her to the palace to see the flying lanterns, stating, "When I make a promise, I never break it." [[spoiler: Later, after Gothel stabs Flynn in the back, Rapunzel vows that [[{{Determinator}} she would never stop trying to escape her]]. She then tells her that she will not fight her or try to escape if Gothel lets her save Flynn's life with her magic hair. The trope is then averted when Flynn shears her hair off with a mirror shard, removing its healing properties [[HeroicSacrifice at the risk of his own life]].]]

* Averted in ''Film/{{Superman}}. Yes, Superman promised Miss Tessmacher that he would stop the nuclear missile heading for Hackensack, New Jersey before stopping the one heading for California, but considering the first one is going to strike a heavily populated area and the other one in a relatively isolated deserted region, it's obvious the Hackensack one has to be the priority one anyway.

* General Zod in Film/Man of Steel.

* Every incarnation of the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' lives by this trope. They will not kill anyone who is unarmed, ill, pregnant, or any other factor that would make them a viable non-combatant. They will also respect the wishes of their enemy if they desire to face off in a melee duel, as seen in the 2010 film ''Film/{{Predators}}''. They also may respect [[WorthyOpponent anyone who manages to kill one of their own]], as seen in [[{{Predator 2}} the second film]]. But sometimes, usually when provoked, they just throw honor out the window and use every weapon at their disposal to obliterate the enemy regardless of fairness.

* In ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' Gary puts [[spoiler:Sam in a car & tells her to get out of Newton Haven & he'll figure a way out with the rest of the group. When he tells the rest of the group this, [[WhatTheHellHero they call him out on sending away the only person sober enough to drive]], only for him to retort that they would've criticised him if he hadn't done so]].

* ''The Beast of War'' (1988). The Pashtun rebels spare the life of the protagonist (a Soviet tank driver) when he appeals to their traditional code of Pashtunwali, which requires even an enemy to be given sanctuary if he asks. Though some of the rebels argue that the rules shouldn't apply to DirtyCommunists who've learnt a single word of their language (nanawatai - sanctuary), the fact that he'd been left for dead by his comrades (and is willing to repair an RPG in order to blow them up in payback) is a significant factor in his defence.

* In ''Film/TenaciousDAndThePickOfDestiny'', turns out that even the Devil must abide by the Demon Code, meaning he simply cannot refuse anyone who declares a rock-off challenge. Keep in mind, he presumably ''wrote'' this code in the first place!

* In ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' Gary puts [[spoiler:Sam in a car & tells her to get out of Newton Haven & he'll figure a way out with the rest of the group. When he tells the rest of the group this, [[WhatTheHellHero they call him out on sending away the only person sober enough to drive]], only for him to retort that they would've criticised him if he hadn't done so]].

* In ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Doctor Schultz has been repeatedly shown to be an honorable, but prideful, man. [[spoiler:Toward the end of the film, the only thing Schultz has to do to allow himself, Django, and Broomhilda to leave the plantation alive is shake the reprehensible Calvin Candie's hand. Ultimately, Schultz cannot bring himself to degrade himself by shaking this monster's hand, and fatally shoots Candie, knowing full well it will ensure his own death and endanger Django and Broomhilda. He even apologizes before he's blown away.]]

* In ''Master of the World'' (based off of the JulesVerne novel), Phillip Evans exemplifies the more unpleasant end of this trope. He is obsessed with being an honorable and courageous gentleman, and doesn't understand why [[CharlesBronson John Strock]] doesn't openly defy [[VincentPrice Robur]]. He considers Strock a coward at best, and collaborating with Robur at worst, and talks down to him all the time. Strock attempts to explain that if he openly defied Robur, who has dozens of armed {{Mooks}} and what amounts to a [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld flying battleship]] at his disposal, he'd be ''very'' dead ''very'' quickly, and intends to stop Robur behind his back while only ''seeming'' compliant. Evans doesn't get it, and in fact this explanation makes him think even ''less'' of Strock, as he declares that Strock's subterfuge is dishonorable.

'''Frank:''' "Just a man."

* In ''Film/The5000FingersOfDrT'', Bart goes to quite a bit of trouble to avoid waking Dr. T when he goes to break into the vault to steal some money...and then Bart leaves an IOU with his name for the missing cash. Of course, this winds up having nothing to do with him setting off the alarms and getting caught.

* In WarrenBeatty's ''Film/DickTracy'', Tracy is kidnapped and taken to his girlfriend's apartment building's boiler room where Big Boy Caprice tries to bribe him. Although the smart thing for Tracy would be to pretend to accept the money and then turn it in to the Police Department as soon as he's let go, Tracy decides to throw it back in Caprice's face on principle. Of course, the Kid is watching all of this in hiding, waiting for an opportunity to help, and is really impressed at the detective's fearless honor, but there is no way Tracy could have known he had an audience.

** Of course, Balian realized ''long'' before anyone else did, that Jerusalem in Saladin's hands was not a bad thing at all, and in fact gives a passionate speech at the end of the movie not for the Crusaders to hold Jerusalem to their deaths, but in fact to lay down their arms and ''surrender'' for the glory of God. So he actually ''subverts'' the trope later.

* Don't forget the shining examples in ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. Honor may just be a Tarantino thing. In the most prominent example in the film [[spoiler: Mr. Orange tells Mr. White he is in fact a cop, despite knowing that he would be killed. Note: he waited until after the police showed up. He actually managed to preserve his honor by performing his duty as a cop and was suicidally sincere with a man who just saved his life under false pretenses.]] If that isn't honor, I don't know what is.

* Captain Kirk and his crew decide that court-martial is a better alternative than not trying to rescue their friend in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock''. This wouldn't necessarily be an example of the trope if they had just gone and never come back, but in the next film they all willingly go back to face that court-martial. They then of course save the Earth on upon their return, so the actual court-martial involves nothing more serious than Kirk being demoted to Captain and handed a shiny new Enterprise.
* Luke Skywalker's unconditional love and faith in the humanity of Darth Vader, seen as at best stupid and at worst suicidal by the rest of the galaxy, was what saved his father and the ''StarWars'' galaxy.

** Except, at least the part about Vader, it was hardly stupid -- for a talented and trained Force Sensitive, it is far more reasonable to trust your feelings and instincts. Luke states on more than one occasion that he can sense the good in Vader, and there's little reason to doubt this is literally true.

* ''{{Troy}}'': Hector personally goes out to fight the invincible Achilles to allow the man vengeance for killing his cousin, despite knowing that Achilles can kill him easily, the cousin was dressed up like Achilles and charged headfirst into battle, and they had an squad of archers on the wall who could have put down Achilles fairly easily.

* ''{{Troy}}'': Hector personally goes out to fight the invincible Achilles to allow the man vengeance for killing his cousin, despite knowing that Achilles can kill him easily, the cousin was dressed up like Achilles and charged headfirst into battle, and they had an squad of archers on the wall who could have put down Achilles fairly easily.


* Gene Autry, famous Singing Cowboy and only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is known for having created the "Cowboy Code", a set of rules for cowboy characters in family friendly westerns — which is to say almost every character he ever played — to live by. The first of which falls straight into this trope; "Never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage."



* In ''Film/The5000FingersOfDrT'', Bart goes to quite a bit of trouble to avoid waking Dr. T when he goes to break into the vault to steal some money...and then Bart leaves an IOU with his name for the missing cash. Of course, this winds up having nothing to do with him setting off the alarms and getting caught.

* Every incarnation of the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' lives by this trope. They will not kill anyone who is unarmed, ill, pregnant, or any other factor that would make them a viable non-combatant. They will also respect the wishes of their enemy if they desire to face off in a melee duel, as seen in the 2010 film ''Film/{{Predators}}''. They also may respect [[WorthyOpponent anyone who manages to kill one of their own]], as seen in [[{{Predator 2}} the second film]]. But sometimes, usually when provoked, they just throw honor out the window and use every weapon at their disposal to obliterate the enemy regardless of fairness.

* ''{{Troy}}'': Hector personally goes out to fight the invincible Achilles to allow the man vengeance for killing his cousin, despite knowing that Achilles can kill him easily, the cousin was dressed up like Achilles and charged headfirst into battle, and they had an squad of archers on the wall who could have put down Achilles fairly easily.

* Luke Skywalker's unconditional love and faith in the humanity of Darth Vader, seen as at best stupid and at worst suicidal by the rest of the galaxy, was what saved his father and the ''StarWars'' galaxy.
** Simultaneously giving us the second greatest CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the franchise, and setting his father up to give us the greatest one.
** Luke actually throws away his lightsaber so that he is defenseless against being tortured to death by Palpatine, rather than kill Vader and go to the dark side.
*** Then again, the Emperor was ''very'' explicit about his intended end state of Luke falling to the dark side.
** Except, at least the part about Vader, it was hardly stupid -- for a talented and trained Force Sensitive, it is far more reasonable to trust your feelings and instincts. Luke states on more than one occasion that he can sense the good in Vader, and there's little reason to doubt this is literally true.
*** And you don't have to be force-sensitive at all to see ahead of time that Luke's faith wasn't completely misplaced. "It is... too late for me, son" isn't a line you'd expect to hear out of someone who is completely heartless or beyond saving.
* In the film version of ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', after the Nazi takeover, Uncle Max says, "Well, the Anschluss happened peacefully, let's at least be grateful about that." Captain von Trapp replies, "Grateful?!". As he was brought up as a part of Europe's old warrior-caste he probably took the fact that Austria submitted peacefully as a personal insult.
* John Connor of ''Terminator2JudgmentDay'' is another admirable example of this trope: he stops Sarah from killing Dyson even if it meant preventing Judgment Day, and his idealism allowed a war for humanity's future to be waged and '''won''' ''without murdering a single innocent human being''.
** Well, at least until the movie that followed. And the movie that followed that where-in it is revealed they didn't ''prevent'' Judgment Day, but delayed it, along with the deployment of T-600 and other sophisticated terminators.
* ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' from movie 2 onwards.
* The most noble live-action example would have to be Indiana Jones in ''Film/TempleOfDoom'', who could have escaped with fortune and glory, instead got captured to save a helpless little boy from being whipped to death. Not the smartest of moves, yes; but '''any''' illusions of him being a heartless and cynical mercenary disappears at this point, and we cheer for him all the way as he saves '''all''' of the children and defeats the evil of Kali-Ma.
* In the Disney adaptation of ''Disney/PeterPan'' having given his word of honor to ''not'' fly in his final duel with Captain Hook, [[DramaPreservingHandicap Peter doggedly refuses to do so even when Hook proves to be the superior swordsman, having forced him to the corner of a mast leading to a fall that can kill him.]]
* William Turner of the ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' trilogy is another suicidally selfless example of this trope. For an example, see the "You can't... I can," scene in the first movie. Even the initially selfish Captain Jack Sparrow seems to be infected by his idealism, and eventually obeys this trope as well. In Sparrow's case, though, he obeys the trope explicitly because he knows that it's the last thing people expect from him.
-->'''Norrington:''' You actually were telling the truth.\\
'''Capt. Sparrow:''' I do that quite a lot, yet people are always surprised.
** Norrington in ''Curse of the Black Pearl'':
--->'''Jack:''' Think about it -- ''The Black Pearl''? The last ''real'' pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up?\\
'''Norrington:''' By remembering that I serve ''others'', Mister Sparrow, not only myself.
** Those may have been his sentiments, but Norrington's actions were mostly reasonable. Barring the whole 'underestimating peculiar pirates when he really should have known better' part--that could possibly be stress combined with, well, Jack Sparrow.
* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', when Bruce Wayne realizes Ra's Al Ghul's ninja clan is a den of insanely destructive fanaticism and refuses to help them inflict such harm on the innocent. When Ducard learns about Wayne's opinion, he dismisses it and Wayne has the perfect response to illustrate his honor.
-->'''Henry Ducard:''' Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.
** Furthermore, Wayne also vows to fight evil his way. Even though he is in this den of villainy, surrounded and outnumbered 100-1, he doesn't hesitate for an instant to start his war on crime on the clan.
** Wayne takes this to even greater extremes in the 2008 sequel ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' where he refuses to kill the Joker despite how much easier it would make his life and how much safer it would make Gotham, just to prove that the Joker can't corrupt him.
* Toward the end of ''KingdomOfHeaven'', King Baldwin IV offers Balian his sister Sybilla's hand in marriage. Sybilla is already married to Guy de Lusignan, but Baldwin IV offers to have Guy executed to allow the marriage to occur. It seems like a no-brainer, as it would allow Balian to ascend to the throne of Jerusalem, it would allow him to marry the woman he genuinely loves, and it would allow Balian to have a dangerous political rival eliminated. Balian, however, refuses, his piety not allowing him to have any part in Guy's death. Guy is allowed to live, and after Baldwin's death, ascends to the throne of Jerusalem, immediately inciting a war that allows Saladin's troops to overrun and capture Jerusalem. Had Balian accepted Baldwin's offer, Jerusalem would've remained in Crusader hands.
** Of course, Balian realized ''long'' before anyone else did, that Jerusalem in Saladin's hands was not a bad thing at all, and in fact gives a passionate speech at the end of the movie not for the Crusaders to hold Jerusalem to their deaths, but in fact to lay down their arms and ''surrender'' for the glory of God. So he actually ''subverts'' the trope later.

* ''The Beast of War'' (1988). The Pashtun rebels spare the life of the protagonist (a Soviet tank driver) when he appeals to their traditional code of Pashtunwali, which requires even an enemy to be given sanctuary if he asks. Though some of the rebels argue that the rules shouldn't apply to DirtyCommunists who've learnt a single word of their language (nanawatai - sanctuary), the fact that he'd been left for dead by his comrades (and is willing to repair an RPG in order to blow them up in payback) is a significant factor in his defence.
* ''[[http://bluebehemoth.com/album/52866/ The Sword]]'', a short film by Pointy Stick Productions, appears to be built entirely around this idea. It features a boy with hundreds of opportunities to [[FlawExploitation exploit flaws]] in the strategies of the Muslim invaders outside his castle wall, and an able-bodied monk in the castle that, with the boy's help, could at least match the invaders' fighting skills and shut the gate long before [[BigDamnVillains help could arrive]] [[BigDamnHeroes for either side]]. This is made worse when the boy's father [[ValuesDissonance thinks it okay]] to go off and fight in the Crusades; but doesn't think it important to teach anyone how to practically defend a castle, nor work as a team. The fact that the castle is so [[GenreBlindness oblivious]] how to defend itself save for its gate and that the villains in the forest, with all the accessible wood, [[IdiotPlot don't think]] to build a flaming battering ram to take down that gate illustrates that the short film's producers [[TheyJustDidntCare really weren't all that concerned]] with [[YouFailHistoryForever historical realism]]. The one saving grace is perhaps that the monk successfully averts some films' [[AllMonksKnowKungFu certain beliefs about monks]].
* In ''Film/LordOfWar'', agent Valentine will never break the law in order to arrest or stop Yuri Orlov.
-->'''Interpol agent:''' Let me make him disappear Mr. Valentine. Around here, people disappear all the time.\\
'''Agent Valentine:''' I can't do that.\\
'''Interpol agent:''' [[WhatYouAreInTheDark Look where we are. Who will know?]]\\
'''Agent Valentine:''' [[WhatYouAreInTheDark We will]].

* While O-Ren Ishii of ''Film/KillBill'' is far from a good person, what with making her living as head of the Japanese underworld, she fights the Bride honorably, refusing to do the sensible thing and finish her off while she is on the ground. Honor doesn't really pay off against a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
** Earlier (or later), The Bride had the perfect opportunity to finish off Vernita Greene, but could not do the deed with Vernita's daughter present.

* Don't forget the shining examples in ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. Honor may just be a Tarantino thing. In the most prominent example in the film [[spoiler: Mr. Orange tells Mr. White he is in fact a cop, despite knowing that he would be killed. Note: he waited until after the police showed up. He actually managed to preserve his honor by performing his duty as a cop and was suicidally sincere with a man who just saved his life under false pretenses.]] If that isn't honor, I don't know what is.
* Captain Miller's decision to let the German sniper live in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. Dumbass move with a capital D. But later, when Miller explains why he chooses Compassion Over Reason, you "almost" understand why he did it.
* Captain Kirk and his crew decide that court-martial is a better alternative than not trying to rescue their friend in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock''. This wouldn't necessarily be an example of the trope if they had just gone and never come back, but in the next film they all willingly go back to face that court-martial. They then of course save the Earth on upon their return, so the actual court-martial involves nothing more serious than Kirk being demoted to Captain and handed a shiny new Enterprise.

* Gene Autry, famous Singing Cowboy and only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is known for having created the "Cowboy Code", a set of rules for cowboy characters in family friendly westerns — which is to say almost every character he ever played — to live by. The first of which falls straight into this trope; "Never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage."
* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel promises to return Flynn's satchel with the stolen tiara if he agrees to escort her to the palace to see the flying lanterns, stating, "When I make a promise, I never break it." [[spoiler: Later, after Gothel stabs Flynn in the back, Rapunzel vows that [[{{Determinator}} she would never stop trying to escape her]]. She then tells her that she will not fight her or try to escape if Gothel lets her save Flynn's life with her magic hair. The trope is then averted when Flynn shears her hair off with a mirror shard, removing its healing properties [[HeroicSacrifice at the risk of his own life]].]]
* In ''An Affair to Remember'', Terry refuses to let Ken pay for her to get better and be able to walk again because she thinks Nickie wouldn't approve, she knows Nickie can't afford it, and she thinks it would be ungrateful of her to let Ken give her back her mobility and then go marry someone else.

* In ''Film/The5000FingersOfDrT'', Bart goes to quite a bit of trouble to avoid waking Dr. T when he goes to break into the vault to steal some money...and then Bart leaves an IOU with his name for the missing cash. Of course, this winds up having nothing to do with him setting off the alarms and getting caught.

* The title character in the cult western ''Major Dundee'', Maj. Charles Amos Dundee (played by Charlton Heston) has a Confederate soldier killed for desertion, despite appeals for mercy, as is military law, despite being in the middle of nowhere and needing every man he can get in order to eliminate an Apache tribe on the war path. This ultimately proves to be a mistake as it causes even more tension between his Union soldiers and the Confederates, just when they were starting to get along too.

* In ''TheLastSamurai,'' the samurai refuse to use firearms and technology as they considered them "dishonorable." But in real life, the samurai were more than willing to use firearms.

* In ''LordOfWar'', agent Valentine will never break the law in order to arrest or stop Yuri Orlov.

* Happened several times in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', specifically in 2 and 3. In the future time, Marty was supposed to refuse Griff's offer and simply leave, then winds up making it more hectic since he got called "chicken", and that was just simply unacceptable to him. Granted, the ensuing chaos that happened did change the history of his future children for the better. His future self was also guilty of this when Needles goaded him into doing a questionable scheme which he himself knew if he were caught, it would cost him his job. Of course, Needles baits him into doing it anyway by simply calling him a chicken. No sooner after he does his, his employer angrily calls him, having caught him in the act, leading Marty to get fired. It was also revealed that Marty engaged Needles in a street race after being called chicken, despite the fact that there was the possibility of crashing into something, which he did on a rolls royce. This was basically the start of Marty's ruin.
** Then later when he goes back to 1955 to steal back the Sports Almanac Biff acquired from his future self, he succeeds. Then Biff catches up to him and challenges him. Marty leaves, but then he gets called a "chicken", causing him to return, but then accidentally get found out that he swiped the book from him, who then angrily takes it back after kicking him on the ground. Marty and Dr. Brown could've avoided the extra hassle of trying to get the book back again if Marty had simply swallowed his pride (let alone he almost got spotted by his other self).
** Then in part three where Marty stupidly accepts a shoot-out duel with Buford Tannen just because he was called "yellow". His own ancestor, Shamus McFly, called him out on this, comparing him to his late brother (ironically named Martin), who met his untimely end due to his stubborn pride of not accepting being called cowardly. Dr. Brown himself also calls Marty out on this, saying this was EXACTLY how Marty ruined his own future. Had Marty not had the tombstone photo that told if he did indeed faces Buford he WILL die, he probably would've died right then and there.
** All this he could've avoided if he had simply swallowed his pride. Thankfully he grew out of it.

* When Ellen Ripley of ''Film/{{Alien}}'' makes a promise, [[IGaveMyWord crosses her heart and hopes to die]], you can bet your cocooned hide that no hive of monsters, snarling Alien Queen or imminent ''thermo-nuclear explosion'' will stop her from saving your life.

* In ''{{Disney/Pinocchio}}'', when Pinocchio is led astray by Honest John and Gideon, Jiminy thinks about running over to tell Gepetto about it, but then decides to go after Pinocchio himself because "that would be snitching".

* ''ConAir'': Cameron Poe (played by NicolasCage), one of only ''two'' decent human beings trapped on a prison transport aircraft populated by murderers, rapists and "every creep and freak in the universe", was a free man on parole who could have left the plane at any time to go back to his wife and daughter (who had never met him). Yet, the former Army Ranger in him would not allow him to "leave a fallen man behind," hence Poe gladly traded his freedom to save the life of his diabetic friend and the sole female guard eyed by the plane's worst rapist, "Johnny 23".

* John Connor of ''{{Terminator}} 2'' is another admirable example of this trope: he stops Sarah from killing Dyson even if it meant preventing Judgment Day, and his idealism allowed a war for humanity's future to be waged and '''won''' ''without murdering a single innocent human being''.

* In "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T", Bart goes to quite a bit of trouble to avoid waking Dr. T when he goes to break into the vault to steal some money...and then Bart leaves an IOU with his name for the missing cash. Of course, this winds up having nothing to do with him setting off the alarms and getting caught.

* The title character in the cult western ''Major Dundee'', Maj. Charles Amos Dundee (played by Charlton Heston) has a Confederate soldier killed for desertion, despite appeals for mercy, as is military law, despite being in the middle of nowhere and needing every man he can get in order to eliminate an Apache tribe on the war path. This ultimately proves to be a mistake as it causes even more tension between his Union soldiers and the Confederates, just when they were starting to get along too.

* The Mangalores in ''TheFifthElement'' live this trope to the core, and it's used against them. When they have barricaded themselves in a room and demand to negotiate, Korben Dallas walks in and shoots the leader in the head, as Mangalores refuse to fight without a leader. This results in one of the mooks complaining, "No fair!", rather than shooting Dallas when they outnumber him five to one.
* While O-Ren Ishii of ''KillBill'' is far from a good person, what with making her living as head of the Japanese underworld, she fights the Bride honorably, refusing to do the sensible thing and finish her off while she is on the ground. Honor doesn't really pay off against a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* ''InglouriousBasterds'': Sgt. Werner Rachtman is given an opportunity to save his life if he will disclose the location of a nearby German camp. If he refuses, Lt. Raine is gonna call up [[MemeticBadass the Bear Jew]]. [[MyCountryRightOrWrong He refuses to put the lives of his fellow countrymen in danger.]] "HilarityEnsues."
** ...And also a point about depravity being present on both sides.

* Don't forget the shining examples in ''ReservoirDogs''. Honor may just be a Tarantino thing. In the most prominent example in the film [[spoiler: Mr. Orange tells Mr. White he is in fact a cop, despite knowing that he would be killed. Note: he waited until after the police showed up. He actually managed to preserve his honor by performing his duty as a cop and was suicidally sincere with a man who just saved his life under false pretenses.]] If that isn't honor, I don't know what is.
* Captain Miller's decision to let the German sniper live in ''SavingPrivateRyan''. Dumbass move with a capital D. But later, when Miller explains why he chooses Compassion Over Reason, you "almost" understand why he did it.

* In ''TheSoundOfMusic'', after the Nazi takeover, Uncle Max says, "Well, the Anschluss happened peacefully, let's at least be grateful about that." Captain von Trapp replies, "Grateful?!". As he was brought up as a part of Europe's old warrior-caste he probably took the fact that Austria submitted peacefully as a personal insult.