History RightForTheWrongReasons / LiveActionFilms

* In ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'', Chance says they should just stay at the farm because they've been abandoned. He believes since their owners don't want them any longer, they might as well eke out a living on the farm. Of course, he's right all along that they should have stayed, not because they were abandoned but because their owners were coming back for them in a couple of weeks.

* ''Film/AdvanceToTheRear'': General Bracknbury is court-martialed for cowardice after retreating in the middle of battle. Brackenbury didn't mean to retreat, and only did so because his horse got out of control (something that his superiors refuse to believe), but he has been cowardly avoiding battle by arranging to fire a few shots at each other without actually making an effort to fight.

** In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', Joe Brody believes the so-called "nuclear meltdown" in 1999 which killed his wife was much more than the government lets on to. However, he thinks it's because the military is testing some sort of secret {{EMP}} weapon which had GoneHorriblyWrong fifteen years ago, while in reality, both the destruction of the reactor and the electromagnetic pulses were caused by an escaped {{kaiju}}.
** In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', [[Characters/MonsterVerseMarkRussell Mark Russell]] is ''technically'' right that rebuilding the ORCA will only cause the [[{{Kaiju}} Titans]] to wreck humanity instead of minimizing the future collateral, but the bad scenario doesn't happen for the reasons he originally believed it would. Rather than Monarch using the ORCA to try and pacify the Titans having the complete opposite effect, the ORCA is stolen by eco-terrorists who start using it to awaken as many dormant Titans as possible and let them decimate their human-populated surroundings with the aim of culling humanity -- and to make things worse, one of the first Titans that the eco-terrorists unleash is Ghidorah, who later takes awakens all the other Kaiju at once and bends them to his will so that he can thoroughly wipe out all multicellular life on the planet.

* In ''Film/DieHard'' while the police are still trying to figure out what exactly is going on, Dwayne the chief tosses out the idea that the guy feeding them information over the radio is the same one that shot up Sgt. Powell's squad car. He's right, but it's not because their informant is some nutcase, it's because the guy is just that desperate to get the police to listen to his warnings about the terrorists who have taken over the building.

* There was a massive scene in ''Film/HotFuzz'' where Nick Angel accused Tim Dalton's shopkeeper character of committing the murders, complete with motives. He didn't identify the correct motives, and the shopkeeper had a watertight alibi, BUT - and it's a big but - [[spoiler: in TWO twists, not only was he right all along with the shopkeeper being complicit with the murders, but he'd actually name checked all of the REAL motives in passing over the course of his original speech. So it was right for the right reasons, and while he did acknowledge the right reasons, he didn't identify them as being the right reasons until the very climax]].

* In the 2014 film ''Reasonable Doubt'', after District Attorney Mitch Brockden accidentally kills a man in drunk hit-and-run, he stages the subsequent trial of Clinton Davis to avoid an innocent man being sent to prison without implicating himself in the death. However, Brockden later realises that Davis is a serial killer who targets parolees (essentially so that they won't commit other crimes); he ''was'' trying to kill the hit-and-run victim that night but the man ran out of the alley where he was assaulted only to get hit by Brockden's car, so the trial was targeting the relevant suspect but the circumstances of the death were quite different.

* In ''Film/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah'', after the new incarnation of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} has defeated King Ghidorah, one of the onlookers says "would you look at [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever the size of that thing]], it's not going to be friendly." He makes the odd assumption that if a creature is really big, then it is evil, which contradicts the portrayal of other notable Creator/{{Toho}} giants like Film/{{Mothra}} and [[Film/WarOfTheGargantuas Sanda]], who have been friendly. But the onlooker turns out to be correct, as Godzilla proceeds to go on another destructive rampage.
* In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', Joe Brody believes the so-called "nuclear meltdown" in 1999 which killed his wife was much more than the government lets on to. However, he thinks it's because the military is testing some sort of secret {{EMP}} weapon which had GoneHorriblyWrong fifteen years ago, while in reality, both the destruction of the reactor and the electromagnetic pulses were caused by an escaped {{kaiju}}.

* ''Film/TheInformant'' plays this as a revelation for audiences. The seemingly moron protagonist Mark Whitcare is speaking to the FBI to expose that the company he works for is defrauding people of millions with price scheming. It turns out Mark was motivated to do this not because it was wrong but because he was embezzling from the company and hoped to distract investigators from his own crimes and in the ludicrous hope to take over the company.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'':

** A retroactive version where Nero blames the Federation for not helping save his homeworld of Romulus from a supernova, even though Spock tried to save them. The later series ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' would reveal that [[VillainHasAPoint the Federation really did leave the Romulans to die]], an act that angered now-Admiral Picard, who also tried to save them.

* In the 1995 ''Film/{{Assassins}}'' (Creator/AntonioBanderas[=/=]Creator/SylvesterStallone), the evil assassin is searching for the escaping female hacker who has the secret data. He touches the front hoods of several parked cars, muttering to himself "Cold... Cold...", until he stumbles upon a car with warm engine. This leads him to the conclusion that that's the apartment house where she will be. However, the hacker was running on foot for the last 10 or so minutes and didn't use a car to get home. The car belongs to a neighbor who just happened to return home for completely unrelated reasons.

* In ''Film/ThePrestige'', when Olivia begins working for Borden as a spy for Angier, she comes to believe Borden's trick is accomplished using a double as she sees wigs and makeup lying around. Angier thinks these are just plants by Borden to misdirect her. [[spoiler: Olivia is actually right, but not in the way she had expected. The makeup and wigs aren't for Borden's double but for the brother who poses as Fallon.]]
* In ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', there is a complex example. Inigo is able to track down Westley when he hears his scream, and when questioned by Fezzik how he knows it's him, Inigo replies that it is the sound of ultimate suffering and he is the only one who could feel it that night due to his true love marrying another. Technically, it's because he was just tortured to mostly-death. However, he ''was'' tortured purely out of spite [[MurderTheHypotenuse because Prince Humperdinck realized Princess Buttercup loved Westley instead of him]].

* In ''Film/{{Species}}'', scientists choose to create a female alien-human hybrid rather than a male, believing that females are more docile and less dangerous than males. At this point, they do not know that the aliens have sent them this DNA, because the creating hybrids can reproduce on Earth and wipe out humanity.

* In ''Film/JustCause'': Bobby Earl Ferguson is convicted because he was beaten into confessing and is a black in the deep south. However, even the jury convicts him because they're racist pricks rather than because of any evidence Bobby Earl actually IS GUILTY.

RightForTheWrongReasons in LiveActionFilms.

Examples of RightForTheWrongReasons in live-action films.

* There was a massive scene in ''Film/HotFuzz'' where Nick Angel accused Tim Dalton's shopkeeper character of committing the murders, complete with motives. He didn't identify the correct motives, and the shopkeeper had a watertight alibi, BUT - and it's a big but - [[spoiler: in TWO twists, not only was he right all along with the shopkeeper being complicit with the murders, but he'd actually name checked all of the REAL motives in passing over the course of his original speech. So it was right for the right reasons, and while he did acknowledge the right reasons, he didn't identify them as being the right reasons until the very climax]].
* Played for laughs in ''Film/StandByMe''. In the scene where the four boys are walking through the back woods, Vern asks Teddy if he thinks WesternAnimation/MightyMouse could beat up Superman. Teddy says "No you idiot. Mighty Mouse is a cartoon! Superman is a ''real'' person! There's no way they could have a fight."
-->'''Vern:''' Yeah, I guess you're right. ''({{beat}})'' It'd be a good fight though!
* In ''Film/WithoutAClue''. Holmes' (and Watson's) contrived method of solving the final clue turns out to be true, but the real solution is far simpler. [[spoiler: To elaborate: Holmes and Watson read the final clue, a partial serial number (234) as being part of a kidnap victim's code. The victim's favorite book of the bible was the book of Psalms. Psalm 23, verse 4 leads them to a passage that referenced an InUniverse famous play: The Shadow Of Death, which played at a local theatre which was, in fact, where he was being held captive. Of course, 234 was also the address of the theatre, which was what the victim ''really'' intended.]] It is left to the viewer to decide, which conclusion [[spoiler:Professor Moriarty]] drew. He just said "very clever", but then said that the [[spoiler: only other man able to solve the riddle, Dr. Watson, was at the bottom of the Thames. An educated guess would be that he arrived at the conclusion the same way Watson and Holmes did. The solution being the address just seems a bit - pedestrian]].
* In ''Film/StarTrek2009'', Kirk connects several events that have occurred as meaning the ''Narada'' is attacking Vulcan, and even Spock says his logic is sound. He's right, but his conclusions such as "lightning storm in space=''Narada''" are wrong (the lightning storm being [[spoiler:Spock Prime coming through a black hole]] in this instance, which Kirk simply can't know of at this point).
** Bonus points for this being a double case. Kirk's desire to raise shields may be born out of his unwarranted certainty in his conclusion but the circumstantial evidence is enough to suggest that raising shields and proceeding with caution is still a good idea.
** A retroactive version where Nero blames the Federation for not helping save his homeworld of Romulus from a supernova, even though Spock tried to save them. The later series ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' would reveal that [[VillainHasAPoint the Federation really did leave the Romulans to die]], an act that angered now-Admiral Picard, who also tried to save them.
* In ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', there is a complex example. Inigo is able to track down Westley when he hears his scream, and when questioned by Fezzik how he knows it's him, Inigo replies that it is the sound of ultimate suffering and he is the only one who could feel it that night due to his true love marrying another. Technically, it's because he was just tortured to mostly-death. However, he ''was'' tortured purely out of spite [[MurderTheHypotenuse because Prince Humperdinck realized Princess Buttercup loved Westley instead of him]].
** In the battle-of-wits scene, the Man in Black secretly poisons some wine, sets out two cups, and challenges Vizzini to find the poison. Vizzini takes several rounds of InsaneTrollLogic explaining why one or the other cup is clearly poisoned, then eventually grabs one and drinks it. [[spoiler: Too bad for him he didn't figure out that he was right about both cups.]]
* In ''Film/JustCause'': Bobby Earl Ferguson is convicted because he was beaten into confessing and is a black in the deep south. However, even the jury convicts him because they're racist pricks rather than because of any evidence Bobby Earl actually IS GUILTY.
* In ''Film/FireworksWednesday'', Mojdeh accuses her husband Morteza of cheating on her with the neighbour. [[spoiler: Although most of her evidence turns out to have an innocent explanation, she is actually correct.]]
* In ''Film/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah'', after the new incarnation of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} has defeated King Ghidorah, one of the onlookers says "would you look at [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever the size of that thing]], it's not going to be friendly." He makes the odd assumption that if a creature is really big, then it is evil, which contradicts the portrayal of other notable Creator/{{Toho}} giants like Film/{{Mothra}} and [[Film/WarOfTheGargantuas Sanda]], who have been friendly. But the onlooker turns out to be correct, as Godzilla proceeds to go on another destructive rampage.
* In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', Joe Brody believes the so-called "nuclear meltdown" in 1999 which killed his wife was much more than the government lets on to. However, he thinks it's because the military is testing some sort of secret {{EMP}} weapon which had GoneHorriblyWrong fifteen years ago, while in reality, both the destruction of the reactor and the electromagnetic pulses were caused by an escaped {{kaiju}}.
* In ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'', Chance says they should just stay at the farm because they've been abandoned. He believes since their owners don't want them any longer, they might as well eke out a living on the farm. Of course, he's right all along that they should have stayed, not because they were abandoned but because their owners were coming back for them in a couple of weeks.
* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' John Connor flees for dear life from the T-1000 ''not'' because it's a murderous killing machine sent to kill him (he's unaware at the time), but because he just robbed an ATM and the T-1000 is disguised as a police officer who John assumes wants to arrest him for the theft. This is mirrored by Sarah later in the film who hides from the T-1000, this time disguised as a guard, because she's in the midst of escaping the mental institution and doesn't realize he's actually a terminator there to kill her.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'':
** Harry and Marv notice something strange about Kevin and begin following in their van to see which house he goes in. When he runs, they conclude something must be up because, in Harry's words, "I knew he looked at me weird! Why would he run?" Of course something ''is'' in fact up because Kevin is home alone and recognized Harry as the police officer from the beginning, but the real reason he ran is because two creepy guys in a beat up van were ''following him down the street.''
** Later [[BigBrotherBully Buzz]] isn't worried and declares that Kevin will be just fine because "A, he's not that lucky. 2, they have smoke detectors, and D, they live on [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere the most boring street in the USA where nothing even remotely dangerous will happen]]." He's right about Kevin being alright, but it's only thanks to the little guy's ingenuity, affinity for traps that would make [[Franchise/{{Saw}} Jigsaw]] ask for an autograph, and one tough grandfather.

* ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'': [[spoiler:When Whiskey breaks the vial of Poppy's antidote, Harry believes he did it intentionally under someone else's orders and [[BoomHeadshot shoots him in the head]]. As it turns out, he was partly correct - Whiskey ''did'' break the vial intentionally, but he wasn't working for another organisation, as he was acting on his own when he did it]].
* In ''Film/MenInBlack3'', J [[TimeTravel travels back in time to 1969]] and is pulled over by two racist cops who believe that he stole the car he's driving because it happens to be a very expensive model and Creator/WillSmith [[AsYouKnow is black]]. After [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Neuralyzing]] them, J admits to the stupefied cops that he ''did'' [[HeroStoleMyBike steal the car]], but it had nothing to do with the color of his skin.
* In ''Film/TheMist'', Mrs. Carmody ends up being entirely correct in saying that everyone should stay holed up in the grocery store in order to survive. [[spoiler: Her reasoning behind ''why'', however, is completely skewed and ends up creating more problems than it solves given that it involves forming a tyrannical religious cult that is totally down with human sacrifices.]]
* In ''Film/{{Searching}}'', David finds some disturbing messages between Margot and [[spoiler: his brother Peter]] and based off their messages, believed they did something terrible behind his back. David is correct but for the wrong reasons. [[spoiler: David had assumed they were in an incestuous relationship but in reality, Peter was sharing his weed with Margot and was not responsible for her disappearance.]]

* In ''Film/{{Species}}'', scientists choose to create a female alien-human hybrid rather than a male, believing that females are more docile and less dangerous than males. At this point, they do not know that the aliens have sent them this DNA, because the creating hybrids can reproduce on Earth and wipe out humanity.
** The assumption that a female is less dangerous and aggressive than a male is wrong, because in the animal species on Earth mostly the opposite is the case. Birds, insects, amphibians, in most species females are larger, stronger and more aggressive than males. Mammals are the only exception. And even female mammals do not like it at all when someone approaches their kittens. So what made the scientists believe that it would be completely different in an alien species?
** However, the sequel ''Film/SpeciesII'' shows that the decision was correct because female hybrids reproduce much more slowly and therefore can create fewer hybrids in a very short period of time. There the villain of the movie is a male hybrid, and he pairs with many human women, so in a short period of time a lot of hybrids are born.
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' plays this for comedy, After Bedivere "[[InsaneTrollLogic proves]]" that witches are made of wood, he asks the peasants how they can test if someone is made of wood. One of them shouts "Build a bridge out of her!" Bedivere wisely shoots this down--because you can also build bridges out of stone. Additionally, the peasants seemingly did catch a witch, but it seems to have been by blind luck, as none of them can give a good or [[FramingTheGuiltyParty genuine]] reason for why she's a witch aside from "we want to burn something."
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': While it's clear David [[JerkassHasAPoint has a point]] when he remarks that Shaun's plan isn't very well thought-out, and his ultimate goal amounts to little more to sitting around and waiting for rescue, his criticisms of said plan are more out of personal dislike for Shaun than him actually having any idea of what to do. On top of that, he himself [[TheLoad rarely has anything to offer but unhelpful snark and just makes things worse on the rare occasions he actually tries to do something]]; Diane even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]], remarking that if David really was as capable as he was trying to act whenever he was putting Shaun down, he would have taken charge of the group himself rather than just following along with whatever Shaun was doing. He also ends up being ''absolutely'' right that they should have just waited out, as the Army shows up to slaughter both the zombies ''and'' the MilitariesAreUseless trope in a quest to save the survivors, but of course he had absolutely no way of knowing that and his only motivation in voicing his plan was to spite Shaun. Ironically, this also makes ''[[TheMillstone Ed]]'' sort-of right as well, since the only reason he wanted to go to the Winchester was because it was familiar and so he could smoke, but the Winchester is in fact very well fortified (at least until David smashes the window) and the only place where the main characters would be able to get their hands on a gun to fend off the zombies when they do breach the doors.
* In ''Film/EdWood'', when watching [[Film/PlanNineFromOuterSpace his masterpiece]] unfold near the very end, Wood concludes that "this is the one they'll remember me for." And it would be his most well-remembered film... [[SoBadItsGood just not the way he intended it.]]
* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'': Marion's boyfriend and her sister believe that Norman murdered Marion for the forty-thousand dollars she had on her. [[spoiler:They're correct that he did murder her, but they're wrong that he did it for the money. Norman didn't even know the money existed and in fact accidentally threw it away while disposing of the evidence; he killed her because [[InsaneEqualsViolent he's insane]] and has a homicidal split-personality.]]

* ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': When Ellie is tied up at Sweet Pete's bootlegging facility, she is forced to call Dale and tell him that she's fine, but she leaves an innocent-sounding remark that's supposed to be a coded message for help: that the ''Rescue Rangers'' episode "When You Fish Upon a Star" is her favorite. Dale watches said episode and, through he doesn't get the ''true'' meaning of the phrase, he still manages to get her message [[EurekaMoment through his jumbled train of thought]].
-->'''Ellie:''' See? He understood the clue!
-->'''Dale:''' Of course! It was obvious.
-->'''Ellie:''' In "When You Fish Upon a Star", Gadget was double-crossed, just like us.
-->'''Dale:''' [[SureLetsGoWithThat Right... Totally!]]
-->'''Chip:''' You had a completely different take, didn't you?
-->'''Dale:''' Yes, mine involved Thai food.