Live-Action Films / Even Evil Has Standards

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2 Guns: Amidst all the scum that compose the antagonist lineup, cartel lord Papi Greco (of all people) is the one that shows signs of this trope. This is displayed when Deb confesses that she was the one who setup Bobby to steal 43 million dollars from the CIA and then betrayed him and Stig to the authorities afterward; Papi is visibly disgusted and even states that if he were in Bobby's situation (i.e. Papi holding Deb ransom and forcing Bobby and Stig to steal the 43 million back for him) he would have left her to die and rot.
8mm: The first time Welles asks about a Snuff Film in an underground porn shop, the man selling said porn chases him out of the building with a shotgun. Later, at another underground porn sale, a man selling rape films responds to being asked about snuff with a disgusted, "There's no such thing." It takes significant digging to find someone willing to sell Welles a snuff film (even the guys selling child pornography look outraged to hear his request) - and the films being sold are faked. It neatly encapsulates how much of a scumbag you'd have to be to sell a real snuff film (and indeed, the one in the safe was privately commissioned).
The Absent-Minded Professor: Hawk, the greedy Big Bad, is horrified when Brainard jumps out the window before realizing he's just demonstrating his bouncing shoes.
All Through the Night: When gangster/gambler Gloves Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) confronts Nazi Franz Ebbing (Conrad Veidt), they have the following exchange:
Franz Ebbing: It's a great pity, Mr. Donahue, that you and I should oppose each other. We have so much in common.
Gloves Donahue: Yeah? How's that?
Ebbing: You are a man of action. You take what you want, and so do we. You have no respect for democracy — neither do we. It's clear we should be allies.
Gloves Donahue: It's clear you're screwy. I've been a registered Democrat ever since I could vote. I may not be Model Citizen Number One, but I pay my taxes, wait for traffic lights, and buy 24 tickets to the Policeman's Ball. Brother, don't get me mixed up in no league that rubs out innocent bakers.
The Addams Family:
- Tully Alford, the Addamses Amoral Attorney who schemed to swindle them, says he cannot stomach torture and is only doing it because he was forced by the Big Bad and is trembling and sweating while doing it. Also, as opposed to Abigail Craven who's doing it just to raid the Addamses fortune, Tully is partially doing out of desperation so he can pay off his loan to Craven.
- In Addams Family Values, Mortica hilariously draws the line at the pastel decor of Debbie the ballerina.
The Alzheimer's Case: As a Hitman with a Heart, Leddo refuses to kill a child and swears that he won't let anybody do it. Harm to a child, to him, is one of the worst things a person could do.
Annie (1982): Miss Hannigan makes the orphan girls' lives miserable and engineers and fully participates in the plan to kidnap Annie and scam Daddy Warbucks out of a large sum of money, but she's horrified when her brother makes it clear that he intends to kill the little girl, and she immediately tries to protect her. This was a significant difference from the original play, where Miss Hannigan makes clear that she still supports the plan even after the scam artist in question reveals his plan to kill her.
Arsenic and Old Lace: The following immortal exchange:
Mortimer: Aunt Abbey, how can I believe you? There are twelve men down in the cellar and you admit you poisoned them!
Aunt Abbey: Yes, I did! But you don't think I'd stoop to telling a fib?!
Austin Powers:
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me:
  - Dr. Evil gets the heebie-jeebies at Fat Bastard's desire to eat Mini Me.
    Fat Bastard: Tell ya what, you keep the money and the mojo and I'll have the baby. [smacks lips]
    Dr. Evil: Riiiiight.
  - The movie begins with Dr. Evil and Scott appearing on The Jerry Springer Show, where they get in a fight with neo-nazis and klansmen who were also invited to that taping.
- Austin Powers in Goldmember: Dr. Evil, despite having the name "Evil" in his name and also living up to his name, seemed completely disturbed by Goldmember when meeting him in person, once even hesitating in shock, slowly moving towards him and then saying "How about no!" when Goldmember asks if he could paint Nigel Power's doodle gold, and was overall disgusted by Goldmember eating his own skin. Similarly, after he, or rather, Scott Evil, kills a Japanese businessman because the latter wanted a bonus, although he starts his evil laugh, he quickly becomes quite disturbed when Scott was more exhilarated by the death, telling him to stop, as it's "creeping [him] out."
Babylon A.D.: Toorop is tracked down in his apartment on Gorsky's orders by a group led by Karl, a fellow mercenary that Toorop worked with before. Toorop notes that he threatened to kill him if he ever saw him again. It's clear that this is because Karl brazed right past lines even Toorop would not cross, such as murdering infants or blowing up dozens of bystanders to get a single target. He then immediately kills Karl and calms down the other mercenaries by telling them he has no problem with them and lets himself be taken to Gorsky.
Toorop: Oh, you're a disgrace to the profession. You're not a mercenary, you're a fucking terrorist.
Backstreet Dreams: When crime lord Luca finds out that two of his underlings have raped the wife of the man they were supposed to be extorting money from, he immediately cuts them loose from his organization, leaving them at the mercy of the police.
Bad Lieutenant: The titular lieutenant is a bona fide Dirty Cop who partakes in heroin, sexually harasses women and masturbates in front of them, and is ill-tempered and immoral. Yet even he is disgusted by a pair of rapists who defiled a beautiful young nun, and he is urged to kill them for their crime. It sounds hypocritical of him, but the film sells it by how the character genuinely knows how awful he is and harbors some downright intense self-loathing over it.
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans: The title character will lie, cheat, steal, do drugs, sexually abuse young women, plant evidence, and commit acts of Police Brutality against the elderly, but he absolutely draws the line at murder.
Batman Film Series:
- At the beginning of Batman (1989), a mugger chastises his partner for pointing his gun at the child of the family they were mugging, and in a Flashback to the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Jack's partner is shocked at Jack's cold-blooded murder of the pair - and the fact Jack's about to shoot Bruce as well - since he was just looking to rob them.
- Batman Returns:
  - The Fat Clown of the Red Triangle Circus Gang (a gang of evil circus performers who seem to take pleasure in their darkly comical methods of murder and mayhem) thinks The Penguin's plan to kill the first-born children of Gotham is going too far, and gets shot for speaking against it.
    Fat Clown: Penguin... I mean, killing sleeping children. Isn't that a little, uh...
    Penguin (grabbing an umbrella and shooting him): No! It's a lot "uh"!
  - Later, Max Shreck who is willing to lie, cheat, and even kill anyone (except his son) is thoroughly disgusted by the same plan.
  - Catwoman, too, lets the Penguin know that she feels murder is a bit much...if the victims are innocent people, that is.
Battle of the Bulge:
- Hessler is a bloodthirsty warrior who is willing to toss his troops at the allies just to buy Nazi Germany a few extra months of existence but he refuses to cheat on his wife when the commanding general sends him a NS-Frauenschaft comfort woman on the night before the attack.
- Later during the battle, Hessler seems outraged on learning that SS units had massacred captured American soldiers in cold blood, if mostly for the pragmatic reason that news of this will turn the currently panicking and retreating American soldiers into hardened fanatics, making Hessler's offensive much more difficult. He's correct.
Beach Blanket Bingo: Von Zipper's henchwomen free Sugar Kane from being sawed in half by South Dakota Slim because "we may be rotten, but we're not that rotten."
Beau Geste: In the 1939 film version, Rasinoff, a Russian recruit of the French Foreign Legion, tells the Geste brothers he knows their sadistic Sergeant Markoff from a prison camp in Siberia, where Rasinoff was an inmate. Markoff was a guard at the camp but was "exiled for cruelty." In the book he had served the Belgian Congo. That area at the time had been a famous scandal of colonial misgovernment even by the standards of the time.
Beauty and the Beast (2017): LeFou may have been constantly toadying up to Gaston and marveling at him, but even he feels uneasy about Gaston tying Maurice to a tree and leaving him to die. In the climax, this ultimately gets LeFou to undergo a Heel–Face Turn when Gaston uses him as a human shield to protect him. This leads to him rescuing Mrs. Potts and telling Belle where Gaston has run off to.
Beetlejuice: Minor example. When Lydia gives Betelgeuse the implication she wants to die by telling him "I want to get in," he responds with a concerned "Why?" and he in his own way was able to talk her out of it. (Apparently, he knew — as she didn't — that if she killed herself, her fate would be pushing paperwork for eternity.) The real credit for talking her out of it goes to the Maitlands later, but Betelgeuse did look genuinely concerned about why Lydia wants to be dead. Still, he shakes it off and says she must have her own reasons, and seems willing to obligate to her wish if she says his name three times. (Allowing him to escape.)
In Big Game, there are two lines the Big Bad Duumvirate (or at least part of it) doesn't cross:
- Morris is rather appaled when he hears that Hazar wants to stuff the president and add him to his collection of hunted animals.
- While both Morris and Hazar Would Hurt a Child, they seem to be going out of their way not to actually kill thirteen-years-old Oskari.
Blade: Trinity: Dracula is the oldest living vampire and wants nothing more than to wipe out humanity completely, but when Blade bests him, he comments with his dying breath that Blade fought with honor and rewards him by shapeshifting his dead body into Blade’s to let him escape from the police.
Blazing Saddles:
- Subverted when Hedley Lamarr and his henchman Taggart discuss plans to assault the town of Rock Ridge and drive out the residents. From the way that Taggert initially describes the plan, Lamarr thinks Taggart intends to spare the women of the town. Taggart clarifies that he and his men won't beat the women... because they intend to rape them after destroying the town.
  Taggart: I got it, I got it! We'll work up a Number 6 on 'em.
  Hedley Lamarr: [frowns] "Number 6"? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that one.
  Taggart: Well, that's where we go a-ridin' into town, a-whompin' and a-whumpin' every livin' thing that moves within an inch of its life. Except the women folks, of course.
  Hedley Lamarr: You spare the women?
  Taggart: Naw, we rape the shit out of them at the Number Six Dance later on!
- When Taggert's men decide to sic Mongo on the new sheriff of Rock Ridge, one random mook shouts from offscreen that it would be too cruel.
  Taggert: I understand there's a new sheriff in town. Who wants to kill him? [All the mooks excitedly wave their hands and volunteer]
  Lyle: Mr. Taggert! Mr. Taggert, sir! Why don't we give him... to Mongo! [Most of the mooks laugh at the thought]
  Random Offscreen Mook: Mongo?! Holy shit, that's too cruel!
In Blonde Savage, Berger has no compunctions about murdering Joe and Mary Comstock on Harper's orders, but he balks at the idea of shooting their one-year old daughter.
Miles Logan in Blue Streak is a professional thief and has no problems beating up a suspect while posing as a cop or shooting the guy who betrayed him (in the arm), but clearly isn't comfortable with committing murder. When he does kill someone, it's after they pulled a gun on him.
The Bold Caballero: The Commandante oppresses the local populace, steals the taxes destined for Spain, murders the Governor by stabbing him in the back, and threatens to take a lash to his daughter, but even he draws the line at murdering priests.
Boogie Nights: Jack Horner does not object to the Colonel's affairs with 15 year old girls, but disowns him when it is revealed that he's been caught with nude photos of prepubescent children.
The Bourne Series: Treadstone is supposed to have transformed Jason Bourne into the ultimate assassin, but the climax of the first film reveals that he failed an assignment because he couldn't bring himself to shoot a father while his kids were watching, possibly because killing the man in front of his children would mean that he'd have to kill the kids too because they'd be witnesses. Notably, the second film reveals that he had no such compunction against killing a target and his wife and making it look like a murder-suicide.
A Bronx Tale: Sonny is a ruthless career gangster, but he expresses a dislike for C's friends (especially Slick and Crazy Mario) for obviously being Ax-Crazy psychopaths in the making who cause nothing but trouble.
Byzantium: The vampire brotherhood takes great offense to Clara having stolen the gift of immortality, especially given she's a "low-born" woman. But they have no grounds to execute her as she hasn't broken their code. It seems, woman or not, she's a vampire and they don't kill their own kind without cause. So she's told to keep to their rules and exiled.
Carrie (1976): Despite being a cruel bully, Chris Hargensen is horrified when watching the prom massacre, especially when Carrie kills Miss Collins.
The Cars That Ate Paris: Yes, the townspeople cause crashes, steal, kill and lobotomize people. But, the Mayor is visibly disturbed and angry when he finds that one of the townspeople had literally blown off the head of the visiting Pastor. While there's some Pragmatic Evil involved, as shooting a regular visitor in broad daylight is harder to explain than a stranger at night, the Mayor still calls the perpetrator "irreligious".
In Chocolat, the Comte- who has been undermining Vianne's life in every way he can, just to maintain his cultish hold over the town- knocks on her door to demand she stop sheltering an escaped housewife. Vianne shows him the housewife's bruises. The Comte apologizes and leaves.
Clue:
- Even though they're a house full of morally-dubious, underhanded folks (and Mr. Green), everyone's disgusted by Colonel Mustard's deep, dark secret — stealing essential airplane parts during the war and selling them on the black market.
  Colonel Mustard: (After confessing) But that does not make me a murderer!
  Mrs. Peacock: Well, a lot of our airmen died because their radios didn't work!
- Mrs. Peacock, a corrupt politician's wife, also tries to pull this a few times on the other guests with exclamations of disgust, and is usually called out on it.
Zig-Zagged in Cold Pursuit. When the Eskimo betrays Coxman to Viking for $90,000, the Viking is disgusted at the Eskimo's lack of professionalism: if he has taken Coxman's money for the contract, he should have followed through with the contract. He then has the Eskimo executed. However, he later promises Janitor Chuck $10,000 for information on Coxman's whereabouts. After getting the information, he has Chuck shot.
Con Air: Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom may be the epitome of evil (he himself likes to brag that he killed more people than cancer), but he draws the line at rape. While he's willing to tolerate the rapist because he needs the manpower, he nevertheless threatens to have Serial Rapist Johnny 23 thrown off the plane when he actually tries to lay a hand on the female prison guard on the aircraft.
Cyrus: Do you fly, Johnny? You keep that in mind when you look at her, because if your dick jumps out of your pants you jump out of this plane.
The Condemned (2007): Goldman, part of the film crew for the deadly game, who's increasingly sickened by the violence of the show and by Ian's indifference to it.
Conspiracy (2001): This is played with a lot in this World War II docu-drama. Some are stated outright, but a lot are subtly hinted at.
- Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger epitomizes this. Despite being (as Heydrich points out) willing to go along with the persecution, enslavement, and even mass sterilisation of the Jews, it becomes clear from the beginning of the conference that he is the only one there with any significant moral issue with the planned "elimination" of the Jews, and when it becomes clear his colleagues mean to flat out murder 12 million Jews his utter horror and shame at what he is a part of are obvious and he seems to come the closest of any man present to actually say that this is morally wrong. In Real Life Kritzinger tried to resign immediately after the conference, although historians are conflicted on whether it was because he truly felt the Final Solution was morally wrong or if the timing was just a coincidence.
- Subverted with Stuckart. Throughout the film he is the most vocal and aggressive opponent of the genocide... because he feels slighted its not respecting the laws he helped create. He actively hates the Jews and merely feels pissed off his colleagues don't respect his law.
- While not having any moral objection or qualm about the planned genocide, and generally acting like the biggest and most disgusting scumbag in a room full of supremely evil nazis, even Klopfer is shocked for a moment over just how many jews will be murdered every day in the plan.
- Lange is a ruthless officer currently involved in the genocide, but he finds shooting and disposing of Jewish noncombatants (families and children mainly) to gradually become more and more discomforting. He takes personal offense when Heydrich keeps insisting on euphemisms for the killings, as it does not reflect what he has been doing in the field.
- Eichmann, despite being the biggest supporter of the genocide after Heydrich, becomes uncomfortable when describing the extermination process used in the gas chambers. Heydrich later relates that Eichmann fainted when he saw the results first-hand, which Eichmann quickly denies.
- Josef Buehler points out to the ignorant Luther that it's often distressing for their soldiers, who have some semblance of honor, to shoot unarmed women and children in mass slaughters. His tone seems to indicate he agrees with them.
Cop Land: Randone is a Dirty Cop and Domestic Abuser, but he's rattled by Ray's decision to sacrifice his nephew's life.
The Corpse Grinders: One of the partners in the corpse-grinding business is squicked out by his partner's enthusiasm towards the bikini-clad corpse of a young woman.
The Counselor: The spy-for-hire seduces Brad Pitt's character to get his laptop password. When she delivers it to her employer, however, she's horrified to learn that the job has made her an accessory to a planned murder. She refuses payment on principle and storms away.
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America: The CSA may be a pro-slavery nation that oppresses anyone not lily-white, but they refused to ally with Nazi Germany after finding out about their Final Solution, believing it a waste of human livestock. On a smaller scale note, Jefferson Davis refused to tolerate antisemitism, given how it was the Jew Judah P. Benjamin that paved the way for a Confederate victory in the Civil War.
In Cult of Chucky, serial murderer Chucky is disgusted when he finds out Dr. Foley has been raping his patients while they were hypnotized.
Chucky: And they call me sick? I mean, this guy is diabolical. I mean, what a piece of work. I'm actually a little envious!

D-F

The Dark Crystal:
- The Skeksis may be decadent, genocidal tyrants, but they abhor profanity, calling Aughra "crude" for cussing at them.
  skekZok: Watch your tongue, harridan! We are lords of the Crystal!
- SkekUng the Garthim Master, and the second Emperor of the Skeksis, actually displays a great deal of this throughout the movie. Whereas his fellow Skeksis are circling around the dying Emperor skekSo, like vultures just waiting for him to kick the bucket, skekUng immediately demands his fellow Skeksis to show their dying monarch respect by kneeling to him on his deathbed. He doesn't reveal any of his ambition for the Skeksis throne until after skekSo is dead. He is also disgusted by skekSil the Chamberlain's lack of respect for the Emperor at all, even trying to take the Emperor's scepter before skekSo is even dead. He respects the rules of succession enough to understand that the next Emperor must be formally chosen. So when the Chamberlain tries to steal the scepter again, skekUng decides to challenge him for the position of Emperor traditionally. Naturally, skekUng defeats skekSil in the ensuing Trial by Stone, but he doesn't partake in the other Skeksis stripping the Chamberlain of his robes, and orders them to release him before they can harm him more, and declares him banished. He is even willing to accept skekSil back when he returns with a captured Kira, and restores his old rival's status to show that he rewards service, as a general (or former general) should.
The Dark Knight Trilogy:
- Batman Begins:
  - Subverted with Dr. Jonathan Crane who showed signs of this in comparison to the other main villains of the movie, but his actions spoke for themselves. For instance, when Crane warns Falcone that Rachel Dawes isn't likely to be bought off, Falcone says there is an answer to that too, and Crane says "I don't want to know." (Presumably, the "answer" Falcone meant was "put a bullet in her head") Falcone, for his part, is skeptical that Crane may have any qualms about this, cynically replying "Yeah you do." This can also be interpreted not as Crane having standards, but as Crane not wanting to know the details so he can have plausible deniability in the event the cops capture him and being sarcastic. Later Crane decides to let Rachel overdose on his fear toxin and even sets Batman on fire, he has no qualms but doesn't like talking about it.
  - When Ducard (aka Ra's Al Ghul) explains his plan for poisoning Gotham, he adds that Crane went along with the plan under the impression that the idea was to hold the city for ransom. If you were to assume Ducard meant that, and assume that the implication of this was that Crane was more okay with "threatening to poison people as a means of profit" than "actually poisoning them," then this would indicate that Crane has standards in comparison to Ducard. Even then, that is not saying much, and it could just as easily be because there's no money in Ducard's plan.
  - According to the novelization, Ducard doesn't sanction the use of nuclear weapons to achieve his goals, as he believes that nuclear weapons have the potential to render most of the Earth uninhabitable for most life forms. That's one thing that separates him from his child, who is revealed to have revived the League of Shadows for The Dark Knight Rises and is completely willing to implement nuclear holocaust on Gotham.
  - When Crane presents his experimental Scarecrow mask to Falcone before he drugs him, the crime boss, who took pleasure in mocking an orphan over his parents' murder, and had no qualms about eliminating a potential threat his operations, seems unnerved to find out that "a nut took over the nuthouse".
- The Dark Knight: It's mostly the Joker who elicits this response from other villains.
  - In the opening scene, the Joker has his own henchmen killed during a heist on a mob bank as soon as their part of the heist is complete. The mob-affiliated bank manager who tries to fend them off is disgusted with their actions, and reminisces about the good old days when criminals still believed in honor and respect.
  - Following Rachel's death, mobster Sal Maroni becomes fed up with the violence the Joker has unleashed and gives up the Joker's location to Commissioner Gordon. It is also subtly implied that Maroni did not wish to hire the Joker in the first place. Even before that, Maroni has this response to Batman when he suggests that the Joker must have friends during his interrogation: "Friends? Have you met this guy?"
  - The Chechen, who previously was the most eager to hire the Joker, turns against him upon hearing his next Evil Plan about how "this city deserves a better class of criminal." Unfortunately, his former men don't have such standards.
  - The Joker himself mockingly says this when giving a What the Hell, Hero? speech to Batman, although knowing him, it's debatable how seriously he should be taken:
    The Joker: I wanted to see what you could do, and you didn't disappoint—you let five people die. Then you let Dent take your place. Even to a guy like me, that's cold.
  - In one of the most iconic scenes of the film, criminal and Scary Black Man Ginty throws away the detonator on his escape boat that would ensure his and his fellow convict's survival at the cost of blowing up a boat full of innocent people fleeing the city. He even rebukes the officer he takes it from, saying he'd do what the officer "should'a did ten minutes ago" and gives him a look of complete disgust.
- The Dark Knight Rises:
  - Bane's mystique is established by the fact that he was excommunicated from the League, which Bruce and Alfred take to mean he was too extreme, even for Ducard. As it turns out, Ducard's motives were more personal - Bane was a walking reminder of Ducard's failure as Talia's father.
  - Selina Kyle/Catwoman, despite having no compunctions against stealing, robbing, and sometimes killing (In self-defense), is thoroughly horrified by Bane's and Talia's methods and goals.
  - This actually applies to Catwoman in general, in other media too (not just these films). She usually makes a point that despite not being good, she usually says something like "I'm a thief, not a murderer".
Day of the Outlaw: Captain Bruhn is a Dangerous Deserter responsible for the massacre of a Mormon town who now leads a band of robbers and murderers, but he will not tolerate any of his men molesting women, and prevents Tex from raping Helen by pulling a gun on him.
Dasepo Sonyo: A group of thugs shows up at Poor Girl's house and threatens to burn it down with her, her mother, and her little brother inside unless they pay off her mother's debt to the local loan shark. When Poor Girl comes outside and offers to let them have sex with her in exchange for a few more days to get the money together, the thugs are appalled at the notion and decide to walk away.
Dead Birds: In a time when blacks were deemed as inferior by most white Americans, and Southerners in particular, even they were horrified by Hollister's gruesome sacrifices of his slaves. As punishment, they tied him to a cross in his own field and left him out there to die.
Dead in Tombstone: Guerrero has no problem with stealing the gold from Edendale's bank. However, he draws the line at siezing control of the mine and the entire town, and raping the sheriff's wife.
Light Turner from Death Note(2017) justifies his actions in this way. In fact, every one of his victims is a terrible person, with the exception of Watari, and it was him who Light actually wanted to spare. He knows he's evil, but also that even more evil people could get their hands on the Death Note, which would be catastrophic.
The Death of Stalin:
- No one in this movie is a good person, but everyone in Stalin's committee is disgusted and angered when Nicky Khrushchev tells Beria's Kangaroo Court that he has been accused of over 300 rapes, some of them committed on children as young as 7.
- Earlier in the film, Nikita Krushchev, a man who has admitted his actions contributed to avoidable famine and millions of deaths in the Ukraine, sees Serial Rapist Beria grooming a very young waitress and physically touching her. He intervenes, concocting an excuse to get her out of harm's way, well away from Beria.
- When the principal players each uneasily admit to their actions having caused the deaths of millions, Army commander Marshal Zhukov reflects on this a moment and says:
  So did I, but at least all mine were millions of Germans.
Deep Rising: Simon Canton wanted to sink the cruise liner so he could reap the insurance money, but when Finnegan accuses him of trying to kill all the passengers Canton takes offense. He claims that he's just a crook, not a savage; he planned for all of them to live, as they would be safely transported off the ship before anyone could drown.
Demolition Man: The psychotic criminal Simon Phoenix utterly hates his employer, Doctor Cocteau, his belief in The Evils of Free Will, the fact that he has turned Southern California into sissy-land, and the utter restrictiveness of it all. The only reason he doesn't kill Cocteau at first is because he has been mentally programmed to not be able to. There's a loophole though: there ain't no rule preventing him from having someone else shoot Cocteau. And There Was Much Rejoicing.
- Upon learning that Cocteau had Assistant Bob castrated, Phoenix shows sympathy for the man and actually treats him nice (comparatively) for the rest of the film.
In Den of Thieves, Merrimen's gang is trained to "shoot uniforms, not civilians."
The Departed: When Irish mob boss Frank Costello executes two people on a remote beach by shooting them in the back of the head, he notes that one of the victims "fell funny". Costello's right-hand man Mr. French gives him a disturbed look and tells his boss that he might want to talk to someone.
The Devil's Double: When Uday brings a kidnapped underage girl to a party, other members of the Ba'ath Party mock him for it.
Diamonds on Wheels: Wheeler is insistent that he didn't sign up for murder, and prevents Finch from shooting the helpless Inspector Cook.
Die Hard with a Vengeance:
- Played straight by Simon Gruber, the villain, who plants fake bombs in Manhattan schools to distract the police from his daring Federal Reserve robbery, though before this he does use real bombs to blow up a Bonwit Teller storefront and cause a subway platform collapse. Gruber states that he's "a soldier, not a monster."
- Also, when McClane points out that Simon obviously didn't even LIKE his brother —Simon readily agrees with McClane when the latter refers to Hans Gruber as an "asshole" — making Simon's revenge on McClane seem pointless, Gruber's response is that "There's a big difference between not liking one's brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him out of a window."
- And another scene has Simon's henchmen taking the water jug-bomb off McClane and Zeus's hands, only to bring it along with them, when one expresses concern that "some kid could find it". Which in this case makes more sense - they don't want it falling into the wrong hands.
In Disturbing the Peace, Jarhead is a vital player in Diablo's plan to rob the bank and the armoured car. However, he objects to people getting hurt and when Diablo plans to blow up the church where the townsfolk are being held prisoner, this prompts him to make a Heel–Face Turn.
Dobermann: Dobermann's father is a hardened gangster, but even he thinks it is inappropriate for Joe to be carrying a .357 Magnum inside the church, even if it is a christening present.
The Doorman: Dubois is leading a group of criminals attempting to find lost paintings, and is willing to threaten an elderly man who has suffered a stroke to find the paintings the other man stole. However, Dubois objects to the idea of actually hurting the Stanton family when they become caught up in events (the paintings were left in their apartment when the previous residents moved out), even stopping one of his henchmen threatening them and having a relatively friendly conversation with Jon Stanton.
In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1973), Fred Smudge is a prickly pickpocket, but even he's horrified at what Hyde does to Annie and helps the police find Hyde.
Dragonslayer: When the king begs his lead henchman, Tyrian, to save his daughter from being sacrificed to the dragon, Tyrian refuses. The kingdom, he says, needs the sacrifice to placate the dragon, and his first duty is to the kingdom.
Drive Angry: It's stated that Satan is simply someone doing his job watching over the damned and despises having children killed in his name. When The Accountant learns that Milton escaped Hell to stop a bunch of Satanists from killing his infant granddaughter he allows Milton to finish his mission before taking him back to Helll.
Elysium:
- Unlike Delacourt, the rest of the Elysian government isn't exactly comfortable with employing a Psycho for Hire and shooting down unarmed shuttles full of civilians. Delacourt herself finally decides she's had enough of the psycho as well after he storms into Elysium.
- As much of an asshole Max's supervisor is, he's clearly disgusted with how the Armadyne CEO treats Max in the wake of his radiation.
- Kruger says he "doesn't believe in committing violent acts in front of children," so he refuses to hurt Frey in an attempt to find out where Max is while Matilda can see it. He keeps telling her to keep her eyes closed, even stopping when he knows they aren't.
In Enter the Dragon, for all of Han's villainy, he is dead set about tournament rules that not even The Dragon was exempt from. Han was visibly and audibly angered when O'Hara grabbed Lee's leg after being knocked down and later attacks Lee with broken bottles. Once Lee had killed him, Han declared that "O'Hara's treachery has disgraced us" rather than being displeased at Lee killing one of his top men.
Face/Off: Zig-zagged with Castor Troy, an indiscriminately murderous scumbag. He beats up Jamie's boyfriend's for trying to rape her and gives her a knife for self defense. However, earlier in the film he also threatened to rape Jamie to her father's face. He shows that he's serious when, during the standoff in the climax, he licks her face while she thinks Troy is her father. In the opening Troy also shows shock when he accidentally shoots Archer's son, but when he visits the boy's grave with Archer's weeping wife he looks more bored than remorseful. The only definite redeeming trait he ends up with is his love for his brother Pollux.
Falling Down: D-Fens grows into an increasingly psychotic vigilante, but he is very disturbed by the Nazi surplus store owner, and flips out when the guys says they're no different. He's also very upset when he thinks he injured a young girl.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!:
- Varla is a thief and a murderer but even she finds the old man's plans to rape Linda offensive.
- Rosie is surprisingly shaken at Billie's death even though the two obviously didn't like each other and Rosie spent most of the time up to that point vocally advocating for them to kill Linda and dump her body somewhere.
In The Fate of the Furious, Deckard Shaw is aghast that Cipher's men would be willing to harm a baby, even if he happens to be the son of his sworn enemy Dominic Toretto. When one of said goons almost shoots said baby, Deckard promptly beats the brute into a vegetable for his troubles.
Faust: Surprisingly, Mephisto, who is a freaking demon, hesitates at helping Faust seduce the innocent, pure Gretchen, suggesting he have sex with some of the sluttier girls in town instead. He goes along when Faust insists, but pulls an appropriately evil Jerkass Genie twist.
Female Agents: Heindrich appears to be genuinely reluctant in torturing Gaëlle, but he orders it anyway.
The Fifth Element: Played straight when the priest saves Zorg from choking, for which he agrees to spare the priest's life (for the moment).
Final Destination: Death may be an inscrutable Eldritch Abomination who enjoys killing people in horrific ways for the fun of it, but it apparently finds racism distasteful; case in point would be the fourth film, when Carter is preparing to burn a cross on George's lawn... Later on, when George survives his suicide attempts and seems to be on his way to recover from this, Death gives him a relatively quick and painless death via getting run over by an ambulance which is especially pronounced due to George's genuine grief about his Dark and Troubled Past as well as how much more brutal and painful the other deaths were in the film.
A Fish Called Wanda: As big of a jerkass as Otto is, he sounds shocked when he learns of Ken's plan to murder an elderly woman—"Wasting old ladies isn't nice!" (though his reaction may be feigned, as his main motivation is to dissuade Ken from getting rid of a witness who's important to Otto's interests). Ken, for his part, has got no problem with killing the woman, but if her dogs get harmed....
In A Fistful of Dollars, Ramon Rojo is a ruthless psychopath more than willing to commit mass murder for money or power. When the Rojos attack their rivals the Baxters while looking for the Stranger, they set fire to the Baxter residence and then remorselessly massacre everyone who is desperately trying to escape the fire. Ramon even personally kills John and Antonio Baxter (the head of the Baxter family and his son, respectively) who were both unarmed, had surrendered, and had promised to leave town. However when Baxter's wife comes out, Ramon lowers his rifle, declines to shoot her, and doesn't react when she angrily condemns and curses them. She is soon gunned down in the middle of ranting at them by one of the Rojo henchman, which prompts a shocked look from Don Miguel, (Ramon's older brother) and Ramon gives the man a little bit of a funny look, as if to say "That's going just a bit far", but that's the extent of his standards.
Five Minutes To Live (aka Door-to-Door Maniac): A young Johnny Cash (yes, THAT Johnny Cash) stars as a cruel, sadistic robber/murderer. Near the end of the film, he has a standoff with the police and he believes that they accidentally killed his child hostage (they didn't, the kid was just playing dead). Cash's character immediately becomes enraged and starts firing wildly at the police, screaming at them for having dared to kill a child. When he's gunned down, his last words before dying are "they killed a kid".
Flyboys: Features a dogfight around the middle of the movie. One of the men of the squadron is shot down but manages to land safely. He is then strafed and killed by the Red Baron... er, Black Falcon. When he comes back up with the rest of his squadron, another German ace, Wolferd, shakes his head as attacking downed pilots who can't fight back was one of the rules of engagement. Another example is a dogfight almost immediately after that part. One of the pilots, Rawlings, manages to stick with Wolferd through a series of evasive maneuvers, even when he attempts to lose him by flying right over a church. Rawlings is able to stick with him, and though his gun jams, Wolferd spares his life because he was good enough to not lose him. In this case Wolferd is less "evil" and more on the opposite side, but is still shown as having stricter standards than his comrades.
In Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives Jason, at least after being brought back to life, doesn't kill children or animals. This was actually a decision enforced by his prime actor, Kane Hodder. The director Tom McLoughlin concurred, explained that Jason would not kill a child out of a sympathy for the plight of children generated by his own death as a child.
Dunston Checks In: Played for Laughs. Lord Rutledge has not only forced orangutans to steal for him, he killed one for failing him. However, he's still Wicked Cultured...so, when he's told the wine bottle he's about to club someone with is Chateau Lafite, one of the fanciest and most expensive wines in the world, he makes sure to put the bottle away carefully and select something else to use as an Improvised Weapon.
From Dusk Till Dawn: Seth Gecko, who doesn't have any compunctions against killing hostages, chastises his Ax-Crazy brother Richard for raping everything in sight and using wanton violence to resolve problems.
I may be a bastard, but I'm not a fuckin' bastard.

G-K

The Gentlemen:
- Mickey, ruthless gang-boss and marijuana provider, holds heroin dealers in contempt, and it's one of the sticking points between him and Dry Eye.
- Played for Laughs with the blackmail video of Big Dave, where both Coach and Raymond are comically disgusted by what the Toddlers did, to the point of slight amazement.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Storm Shadow is a ruthless assassin, but refuses to kill women — and is disgusted by Zartan's murder of Cover Girl.
The Godfather:
- Don Vito Corleone believes that his political connections, which regard gambling as "a harmless vice", will abandon the Family if they learn that hard drugs like heroin are being sold. Even after they agree to the trade, the Dons refuse to allow the drugs to get into schools or to be sold to children.
- Jack Woltz ends up sleeping with the severed head of his prized racehorse Khartoum, all because Tom Hagen (visiting Woltz on unrelated business) witnesses a series of events that imply Woltz molested a child actress seeking a role in a film, in exchange for the role.
  - This motivation is cut from the cinematic release but restored in the made for TV miniseries and Saga.
  - This "motivation" isn't why the horse's head is in Woltz's bed. That was to persuade him to give Johnny Fontane the part Woltz had flat said there was no way Fontane would ever get.
Gone Baby Gone: Many of the hero's friends are drug dealers and criminals but all are appalled by anyone who would harm a child. Cheese stands out as he is a violent psychopath who responds to such accusations poorly. Some of them, such as Stevie, even try to help by putting up posters and Bubba leads cops to where a child murderer is hiding.
The Green Hornet Strikes Again!: the Hornet invokes this trope to explain why he's opposing the racketeers' current plan — he may be a murderer and an outlaw, but he's not willing to endanger America by putting vital industries under foreign control. (Granted, his real reason is that he's just pretending to be a gangster.)
Played for Laughs in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) when Star-Lord is trying to convince Xandar to trust him. Though in actuality he's far from evil, he knows Xandar certainly considers him to be nothing better than that, so his message to them contains this gem:
Rhomann Dey: He said his crew just escaped from prison so he'd have no other reason to risk coming to Xandar to help. He says that he's an "a-hole", but he's not, and I'm quoting him here, "not 100% a dick."
Nova Prime: Do you believe him?
Rhomann Dey: I don't know that I believe anyone is 100% a dick, ma'am.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it's revealed that the bloodthirsty Ravagers had a code to not engage in child trafficking. Yondu is a pariah among them for breaking this code, having delivered children to Ego, only to realize that Ego was murdering them.
The Hangover Part III: Marshall is a drug dealer and murderer, but unlike Chow, he never plans to betray the Wolfpack and does at first honor letting Doug go when they've brought him Chow. He only turns on them when Alan allows Chow to escape. Not to mention that while he's mad earlier that the Wolfpack robbed the other half of the gold from his house, he blames Black Doug instead just because he was robbed in the first place. Marshall understands that they didn't know they were robbing his house because Chow tricked them and when he's not pleased that they weren't able to produce all the gold, he acknowledges that the rest of it was spent and they got all they could. One could argue Chow is the true main villain of this movie and not Marshall.
Hard Boiled: Mad Dog refuses to shoot a room full of helpless hospital patients, or allow his boss to do it.
In Heist (2015), The Pope is a vicious mob boss, but will not tolerate anyone harming children, even the children of his enemies. As his number 2 Derrick learns to his cost.
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth: When Pinhead says he is not so different from Monroe for using a girl only for pleasure, the latter rejects it and says that what Pinhead did (eating her alive) was plain evil compared to him (using her for sex).
The Kurgan from Highlander is a violent maniac who takes a sadistic glee in killing the other Immortals and violated Connor's wife. However, he still upholds the ancient tradition of not fighting on holy ground (this may be more Pragmatic Villainy though). It's not until the third film where a villain ignores that tradition.
The Hitman's Bodyguard: Assassin Darius Kincaid might kill people, but he states clearly that he has never killed anyone who did not deserve to die-his listed victims are the abusive stepfather who killed his biological father and a notorious arms dealer-and he rejects a job offer from an ex-president currently on trial in the International Criminal Court because he saw the man order the massacre of an entire village, with the target being just a polotical opponent, not anyone bad.
Home Alone:
- Harry is willing to rob houses on Christmas and even kill Kevin, but he thinks it's sick-minded to flood the houses after they've robbed them.
  Harry: What are you laughing at? (Beat) You did it again, didn't you?
  Marv: Harry, it's our calling card!
  Harry: You're sick, you know that? Really sick. That's a sick thing to do!
- Both of them are unwilling to kill children until Kevin begins thwarting them.
Hook: Captain Hook has no problem with any immorality per se except exercising "bad form", although he does go against his own rule somewhat out of anger and desperation at one point, so you could argue that it doesn't count.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1: Snow's propagandist is visibly shocked when he orders the bombing of the hospital, but he promptly shoots her down by reminding her that she wrote the speech in which he pronounced death on anyone who associated with the Mockingjay.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has the Devil lure people into the easy path and likely damnation, but even he shows contempt and disgust with a character who sells children's organs on the black market. Then again he could just be angry with the guy eluding him continuously.
In Bruges: Played with. Two hitmen are sent to cool their heels in Belgium after one accidentally shoots a small boy during a hit. Their boss then tells the other one to kill him — the boss is a family man who loves his children and would sooner kill himself than live with the knowledge he'd killed a child, and then he does indeed kill himself due to having blown the head off of a dwarf dressed as a child. There's also a scene of negotiations between in which they decide how best to move their gunfight to a place where a pregnant woman will not be endangered.
Inception: While "evil" may be a strong word for what's really more along the lines of "morally ambiguous," one telling moment of Dominic Cobb's characterization is that though he had just been shown spying on dreams, when offered a chance to shoot the guy who sold him out he said "that's not the way I deal with things."
Indiana Jones:
- Played straight in the movies, where René Belloq and Walter Donovan share Indy's contempt for the Nazis and, even though they work with them, consider them "necessary evils" rather than genuine partners. (Though this may have more to do with their finding the nefarious goose-steppers stupid and crude than with any moral qualms). In one novelization, Bellog claims that the Nazi's are even less civilized than the Hovito tribesmen he worked with in the beginning of the movie.
- One of the few cases of a Nazi doing this shows up in Raiders of the Lost Ark. After Indiana grabs the Ark away from the Nazis in the desert, he and Marion board a smuggling ship in an attempt to get themselves and the Ark away, but the German forces quickly catch up with them and board the ship. The smuggling captain has Jones hide, then tells the German commander that he killed Jones and planned to sell Marion as a Sex Slave in an attempt to prevent the Germans from taking her as a captive. The German commander responds by calling the captain a savage, immediately pulling Marion away from the man and threatening to sink the ship. This may be motivated more by the commander's racism against the black captain, though, with possibly some hypocrisy thrown in for good measure.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Elsa Schneider works for the Nazis, she's against their ideology. She claims she "believes in the grail, not the Swastika" and weeps at the sight of a Nazi book burning rally, though Indy doesn't entirely buy her statements. There's also the horrified and disgusted look on her face when Donovan shoots Henry Jones to coerce Indy into getting the Grail for him.
Inside Man: Madeline is The Fixer for anyone who is able to pay her, resulting in all sorts of questionable and unsavory clients that she works for without batting an eye. Even she is appalled when she learns about Arthur selling out Jews to the Nazis during World War II.
Ip Man: General Miura shows his displeasure with Smug Snake Colonel Sato's shooting of Master Liu by holding Sato's pistol to the man's own head and threatening to pull the trigger if he does something similar again.
Island of Death: Celia may be a misogynistic, homophobic Serial Killer, but she nevertheless shows some hesitation when partner-in-crime Christopher targets Patricia, the local cougar.
In both It films, one of Henry's companions balks at the idea of carving his name in Ben's stomach (Victor in the first adaptation and Belch in the second). Taunting and even beating up kids is fine but actually doing something that could kill the kid is too much, but in both cases it takes nothing more than Henry yelling at them to make them fall in line and begrudgingly go along with it.
Speaking of, in It (2017) Henry Bowers claims he didn't bully Bill for the remainder of the school year because of Georgie's death, implying he has at least some semblance of standards even if they only make sense to him. Of course, between his own deteriorating sanity, father’s abuse and It's influence, even this doesn't last and he degenerates into a remorseless psychopath after he calls it off due to it now being summer.
Henry: Did you s-s-s-say something, B-b-b-b-Billy? You got a free ride this year cuz of your little brother. Ride's over, Denbrough. This summer it's gonna be a hurt-train, for you and your faggot friends!
James Bond film series:
- In several movies, Bond works with a "criminal" who, despite being involved in murder, extortion, protection rackets, female slavery, smuggling, etc., is a good guy because he doesn't deal in drugs.
- While Ernst Stavro Blofeld may be a ruthless megalomaniac bent on killing millions, he doesn't like it when his henchmen try to cheat him or when they cross certain moral boundaries.
- You Only Live Twice: When Blofeld has Helga Brandt/Number 11 executed (by being tossed into a piranha-infested water pool) for failing to kill 007, Osato and the two Chinese emissaries can only watch in horror as Helga gets devoured in seconds.
- Diamonds Are Forever: Dr. Metz agreed to work with Blofeld on the diamond-powered laser satellite on the understanding that it would lead to world peace and is horrified to learn otherwise.
- The Man with the Golden Gun: While Francisco Scaramanga is the world's most ruthless assassin, what prompted his Start of Darkness was seeing a trainer abusing an elephant in the circus he grew up with ("The drunken handler came along and emptied his gun into his eye... I emptied my stage pistol into his!").
- Licence to Kill: Franz Sanchez insists on paying the corrupt DEA agent Ed Killifer, who broke him out of prison, despite Milton Krest scoffing at the idea, telling him "I gave this man my word" and "Loyalty means more to me than money". This coming from someone who whipped his unfaithful mistress Lupe with a stingray tail, had the man she was cheating on him with killed, had Felix Leiter's wife Della raped and murdered, and at the time of this discussion, is preparing to feed Leiter to a shark.
  - According to Pam Bouvier, Dario, Sanchez's right hand man, was previously part of the Contras before he was kicked out of their organization. Think about that.
- GoldenEye: After Xenia's orgasmic massacre of the Severnaya satellite control center's staff General Ourumov has a look on his face that screams "this psycho is on our side?".
- Spectre: Mr. White, once a high-ranking member of the criminal organization Spectre, tells Bond that he called it quits when SPECTRE started dabbling in human trafficking and murdering children.
- No Time to Die: Lyutsifer Safin while is no doubt a real monster and one of the most despicable villains in the franchise, he still doesn't once hurt little Mathilde, Madleine and Bond's daughter while she's at his mercy, not even striking her when Mathilde bites him. He even lets her go while escaping. Played With though as Safin in his Villainous Breakdown still poisons Bond with a Touch of Death nanobot designed for Madleine that will kill Mathilde as well.
In Jane Got a Gun, Bishop denies having killed Jane's daughter Mary, and turns out to be telling the truth:
John Bishop: I may be an outlaw, but I do not kill little children.
Just Cause: Bobby Ferguson was castrated in jail by the other inmates for the rape and brutal murder of a young girl.
The Jungle Book (2016): Kaa the python is hypnotizing Mowgli and preparing to eat him, but first, she shows him a flashback of him as a child when Shere Khan kills his father. She doesn't state it outright, but the tone in Kaa's tone hints that she disapproves of the tiger's cold-blooded murder instead of just hunting to eat.
Jurassic Park: Dennis Nedry hacks into the computers of the eponymous park to deactivate the various systems and exhibits needed for him to steal and escape with the dinosaur embryos, leaving the staff and guests at the mercy of the more aggressive species and ultimately dooming the park. However, the one exhibit he does not deactivate is the Velociraptor paddock, showing that even a greedy mole like him knew how dangerous those dinosaurs were.
The Karate Kid (1984) has several examples regarding Johnny's gang:
- Bobby Brown is against ruining the beach party, tries to dissuade the others from continuing to attack Daniel after they've already seriously injured him, hesitates to follow Kreese's order to do an illegal move at the tournament, and is genuinely upset when he sees how badly it hurt Daniel. He even falls to the mat and desperately apologizes as Daniel cries in pain.
- You can see Johnny glaring at Kreese with genuine disgust after Bobby has injured Daniel in the semi-finals on their sensei's orders, and looks shocked when Kreese tells him to play dirty (but still docilely obeys). After Daniel's victory, though he's brought to tears by it, he himself gives Daniel the trophy and congratulates his victory.
  Johnny: You're alright, LaRusso! Good match!
In Kick-Ass it is clear that Red-Mist is evil, and helps his father, a mafia boss, to catch a "superhero" who disrupts his business. But when he learns that Kick-Ass is innocent, he wants to spare him. When Frank D'Amico wants to kill him, he is disgusted.
- Gigante is a corrupt policeman who does not mind when "superheroes" are caught and killed by the mafia. But when Frank D'Amico tortures Big-Daddy and Kick-Ass by his mooks in front of a running camera and is amused by it, he is disgusted.
Kick-Ass 2: When The Mother Fucker orders Mother Russia to kill and decapitate Colonel Stars & Stripes, she asks him if she should also kill the Colonel's dog. The Mother Fucker expresses shock and disgust at the idea. This is in contrast to his comic counterpart, who is that evil.
Mother Fucker: Jesus Christ, I'm not that evil!
Kill Bill:
- Master assassin Bill forbids Elle from killing The Bride while she is unconscious in a hospital bed because "that would lower us."
- Although he felt they were justified in acting against The Bride generally for breaking Bill's heart, Bill's brother Budd is willing to admit that they crossed the line when they tried to assassinate her while she was pregnant and unarmed.
  Bud: That woman deserves her revenge. And... we deserve to die.
Killing Them Softly: Jackie Corgan refuses to rough up Markie Trattman for his suspected role in masterminding a Mafia robbery. Arguing that since they're going to kill him regardless of whether or not he was involved (and acknowledge that even if he was, the money was most likely long-gone), beating him up beforehand would just be unnecessarily cruel.
King of New York: The title character, a drug lord, excuses the murders of his rivals by claiming that they engaged in even less savory business practices than he did, like human trafficking and child prostitution.
In Kiss of the Tarantula, a gang of drunk teenagers decide to break into the local funeral home and steal a casket, manhandling local outcast Susan (who lives there) along the way, not so subtly threatening to rape her sooner or later. When they accidentally kill one of Susan's pet tarantulas, Susan's "ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" screaming response is enough to shame them into leaving.
Knives Out:
- Invoked by Marta. She says that none of the family members would have killed Harlan, no matter their contentions with him. She's right about all of them except Ransom.
- Pretty much every family member is a shithead to some degree, but Jacob's Nazi views disgust everybody but his parents, and he's called both a Nazi and an "alt-right troll." Even Richard, who cheats on his wife and disparages anyone who tries to come into the country illegally (no matter the reasons or circumstances) calls him a Nazi with clear contempt.
- Joni, whose main flaw is her greed and corresponding hypocrisy - she is a self-styled New Age life coach that puts forward an altruistic front while ripping off her father-in-law for her own benefit in the background - is very much put off by Richard pulling Marta (who had absolutely nothing to do with said argument) in to use her as what he thinks is a shining example of someone whose family did immigration "right," she sympathetically tells her that she doesn't have to be a paragon for his views for the sake of being polite. In the same scene, Walt noticeably tries to stop Donna from going on a racist rant, and Linda tries to stop Richard from pulling Marta into the argument, saying to him, "Leave the poor girl out of this."
- Despite their many, many flaws, none save Richard are willing to defend Ransom after he is arrested for his crimes (murder and attempted murder), most of them having to avert their eyes in disgust as he's taken away.

L-N

Lakeview Terrace: The crazed policeman neighbor played by Samuel L. Jackson does everything in his power to bully and terrorize his young, newlywed neighbors out of a deep seated dislike of their mixed-race marriage. However, when he realizes that he's inadvertently put them in a situation where one of them is likely to be killed, he's sane enough to know things have gone too far and quickly rushes over to rectify things. He loses major points, though, because a few weeks later he ends up putting himself in a situation where he has to kill the neighbors he just saved or be exposed for his crimes.
Last Action Hero: When the assassin-for-hire Mr. Benedict is released into the real world, a teen-aged prostitute propositions him for a date. His response is a disgusted "How old are you?". Benedict is also horrified when he sees a homeless man get murdered for his shoes.
The Last Circus: Francisco Franco shows up in this movie, and despite his role as a dictator and being buddies with Hitler and Mussolini when they were alive, seeing the protagonist being forced to act like a hunting dog (bringing downed partridges to his "master" while holding them with his teeth) is too much for him.
Legend (1985): When the leader of the Quirky Miniboss Squad reveals he Eats Babies (or at least is considering it), this oddly horrifies his colleague.
Blunder: I simply adore milk-fed meat!
Pox: What are ya, some kind of animal?
Let the Right One In: During the dumper fire, some of the others students who bullied Oksar (Owen) tried to save his life when they caught Jimmy and trying to drown him.
Little Nicky: This classic line:
"Soon you will see things more horrible than you can even imagine...
(cut to Clint Howard in drag and dancing barechested)
"...Well maybe not that horrible, but still pretty bad."
Little Shop of Horrors: Played for Laughs. In the 1986 film version, sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin) gets a patient named Arthur Denton (Bill Murray). Scrivello's schtick is that he does unnecessary procedures with little to no anesthesia, causing his patients immense pain, which he enjoys. Unfortunately for him, Denton is masochistic, so Scrivello's tools give him orgasmic pleasure. Disgusted (though he probably just resents the fact that he was robbed of his own sadistic pleasure), Scrivello kicks Denton out of his office. He then says to himself:
Scrivello: Goddamn sicko.
The Longest Yard: In the Adam Sandler remake, Caretaker (Chris Rock) explains it like this to Paul Crewe (Sandler) in the Prison Cafeteria.
Caretaker: You know, I've never seen one inmate walk in here and be unanimously hated by the entire population. I ain't never seen it.
Crewe: How'd I get so lucky?
Caretaker: Oh I ain't saying you did or you didn't. All I'm saying is that you could have robbed banks, sold dope or stole your grandmother's pension checks and none of us would have minded. But shaving points off of a football game, man, that's un-American.
Lord of War:
- Subverted throughout the entire film, to the point it could just as easily be called How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Lost All My Standards. Villain Protagonist Arms Dealer Yuri Orlov starts out with lots of standards that gradually get flushed over the course of the movie. When selling guns in South America, one client tries to pay Yuri in cocaine. Yuri protests that he has standards and sells guns, not drugs... until the client engages in some Aggressive Negotiations, after which Yuri agrees to take the drugs as payment. After the scene Yuri's narration notes that he made a tidy profit from the drugs, implying that he wouldn't have a problem taking drugs as payment again. When he first meets The Generalissimo Andre Baptiste, Yuri is visibly horrified at Baptiste suddenly drawing the gun that Yuri was in the middle of selling and shooting a nearby soldier for flirting with one of Baptiste's women. Yuri goes so far as to talk back to Baptiste and make up an excuse to snatch the gun away. The last time we see him doing a deal with Baptiste, Yuri doesn't flinch from going through with the sale, despite knowing for a fact that a huge refugee camp that is mere meters away is going to be slaughtered with the weapons. Even his major But Not Too Evil moment doesn't actually have anything to do with standards. When Yuri mentions selling guns to Afghanistan rebels for use against the Soviets, he takes a moment to specifically say that he never sold weapons to Bin Laden... because back then Bin Laden's checks were always bouncing.
- Also played with when Simeon Weisz iterates his refusal to sell to any group with whose agenda he disagrees. When called out on the fact that he sold weapons to both sides of the Iran-Iraq War, he states that he wanted both sides to lose.
In The Loved Ones, Lola's father is angry that Brent hit a girl. He's also uncomfortable with Lola's attempted incestuousness and mistreatment of Bright Eyes.
Lucky Number Slevin: Mr. Goodkat was a reputable and cold hearted assassin but even he would not kill a child. And he was given the assignment because no other assassin would do it either.
M: This concept is Deconstructed when the child killer Hans Beckert gives a great, if unsuccessful, Shaming the Mob speech against the gangsters who want to lynch him. He's got severe mental problems; what's their excuse?
Mad Max: Bubba Zanetti regards Johnny the Boy with disdain for being a drug-addicted little weasel who is implied to only be kept around as Toecutter's male lover. Meanwhile, Johnny freaks out and tries to refuse when Toecutter attempts to make him burn Goose alive in his crashed car. And the only time Nightrider's girlfriend seems to be concerned about the carnage he is causing is when he nearly runs over a toddler.
Madame Web (2024): Amaria, Ezekiel's tech expert seems distinctly uncomfortable when she realizes her boss's targets are teenage girls rather than full-fledged Spider-Women. Downplayed in that she still helps him target them after he makes clear he'll kill her if he can't get them.
Malice Dr. Jed Hill, an egotistical surgeon who has no qualms about committing insurance fraud and destroying the careers of his colleagues or the marriage of his supposed friend, is horrified when Tracy suggests killing the 10-year old witness to their crimes, outraged enough to slap her when she won't relent, and threatens to be the first to testify against her should anything happen to the kid.
A Man Called Sledge: After the old man reveals their kidnapping of Ria to Sledge, she is then badly hurt by Bice throwing her from a high wall. A horrified Hooker vows to kill Bice when they get the gold.
The Man from Nowhere: Ramrowan is happy to slay anyone — except young So-Mi. Ramrowan not only spares her, but kills one of his comrades and takes his eyes to pass off as hers for proof of the kill. And then, when defeated by Cha Tae-sik, Ramrowan does not reveal his mercy or bargain for his life, which is kind of awesome.
In Mean Girls, the sadistic bully Regina reluctantly raises her hand when Ms. Norbury asks the students if they have ever betrayed a friend. (Not that this moment of honesty changes her personality in any way.)
In The Menu, Slowik has a lot more patience with Margo than any of the other guests or staff, and takes special time out of his plans to humiliate Tyler for bringing her. While in his mind she still has to die or it would ruin the menu, he understands it was a dick move of Tyler to hire an escort to attend when he knew what was going to happen.
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears: After Sociopathic Soldier Captain Templeton killed everyone in the Bedouin village, his accomplice Sgt. Wilson returned, located the one the survivor, and guided her to safety.
Mortal Kombat: The Movie:
- Kano is a killer crime boss who's Only in It for the Money, but he claims to have been raised to believe in a fair fight and 1. objects after the fact to Sub-Zero freezing an opponent with ice powers while 2. admitting (while presently chowing down, to the point of losing his place) to being nauseous over the guy exploding.
- Similarly, while Shang Tsung is practically evil incarnate, he does balk at Kano's more disgusting habits as he finds them to be rather low-class. He calls Kano a "disreputable-looking creep" and describes to Goro that the only reason he would ally with someone with such a lack of dignity and manners is because Kano is powerful in Earthrealm.
In the Mortal Engines movie adaptation, Lord Mayor Crome discovers that Valentine has been constructing a HYDRA in the St. Paul's Cathedral, he orders Valentine to immediately cease operations and destroy the weapon- to which Valentine responds in his usual manner.
Mother, Jugs & Speed: Mother asks why a hamburger stand owner always give him his mayonnaise on the side. The owner responds that he's cheated on his wife and beaten his kids; but putting mayonnaise on a hamburger is a sin that Mother alone will have to answer to God for.
Muppet Treasure Island:
- The Villain Song "Professional Pirate" includes the line "I could have been a lawyer, but I just had too much heart." (The song is mostly a subversion, though - while Silver seems to buy into his portrayal of the pirates as noble adventurers and brothers all, his claims are immediately undermined by his fellow pirates doing exactly what he just said they'd never do.)
- The opening song "Shiver My Timbers" also says, in regard to Captain Flint and his crew, "The Devil himself would have to call them scum!"
- At the end, Long John Silver is holding Jim at gunpoint... and then this happens. He is dead serious the entire time.
  Silver: (tearfully) Aw, hell, Jim. I could never harm you! You're honest and brave and true. You didn't learn that from me.
The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) centers around a hoodlum called the Snapper Kid who is part of The Irish Mob. The Snapper Kid is leader of a band of thugs, who engages in shootouts in alleyways and mugs people for their wallets. But he won't let a rival gangster drug and rape an innocent woman (played by Lillian Gish). The Snapper Kid's intervention to save the girl leads to the climactic shootout.
Mystery Team: Jason believes this about Robert, making a speech about how he doesn't have it in him to kill teenagers. He has it in him.
The Naked Gun: Vincent Ludwig is a rich businessman who abuses his position of power to deal in the heroin business, helps America’s enemies orchestrate a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, and is not above having people who may disrupt his illegal operations killed. Still, he is understandably disgusted and horrified upon finding the finger of one of his henchmen(who had earlier fallen into a vat of gluten in a meat factory) in his hot dog at a baseball game.
Even in a dark film like New Jack City, some of the actions of Nino Brown are too much for his loyal gang:
- Gee Money is disgusted at him for making his girlfriend Selina's infertility, something she's already quite sensitive about, sound like a joke.
- While her own sense of evil is more questionable, Selina's High-Heel–Face Turn began after she saw Nino use a child as a human shield at a wedding.
- Both Keisha and The Duh-Duh Man try to stop Nino from strangling Kareem Akbar during the CMB blowup. They are both also seen assisting Kareem out of the room after the meeting.
In New Town Killers, Alistair throwing boiling water into the face of the pregnant Alice and then knocking her to the floor and preparing to stomp on her is too much for his partner-in-crime Jamie, who grabs Alistair's gun and points it in his face to get him to stop.
The Next Karate Kid:
- Alpha Elite may have been willing to beat up Eric, but they weren't expecting Colonel Dugan ordering them to finish him off. Though the only other reason they don't do it is because they're interrupted by Julie and Miyagi's arrival.
- When Dugan tells Ned to "put [Julie] away", the latter stares at Dugan with a horror.
Nighthawks: Discussed and averted. Wulfgar asks for children to be removed from a hostage situation but makes clear it isn't out of compassion but because other groups won't hire someone who hurts kids, a standard he seems somewhat baffled and amused by. He'd learned this as a result of the bombing he committed at the beginning of the film killing several children, which caused him to be shunned by terrorist groups in Europe, as their deaths would hurt the groups' causes.
The Night of the Generals: Colonel Sandauer is a loyal Nazi who expresses admiration for Tanz The Butcher, but he blanches in shock when Tanz relays the order to start destroying Warsaw. He also seems rattled after Tanz kills Grau, even after Tanz claims Grau was part of the July 20th Plot to kill Hitler.
Nite Tales: The Movie: In "Karma", Mr. Hinkley, the patriarch of the Cannibal Clan, cannot abide thieves and liars. And the bank robbers who have just fallen into his clutches are both.

O-Q

Once Upon a Time in the West: Reminding us that this isn't about levels of evil, Cheyenne refuses to kill priests, then clarifies that he means Catholic priests.
Osmosis Jones: Thrax is nothing short of disgusted to be in Frank's subconscious, which is fraught with bad memories and nightmares. He's a murderous and sadistic virus, and even he thinks Frank was "sick before [he] got [in]".
Orphan: First Kill: Leena, a violent woman who has killed several people including an entire family, looks disgusted and horrified when Tricia tells her the truth behind the real Esther's disappearance, which was actually a coverup for her murder from a sibling squabble.
The Petrified Forest: Duke Mantee, world famous killer and gangster, thinks Alan is a rat for telling Gabrielle's grandfather to "die and do the world some good." "Talkin' to an old man like that..."
Pickup on South Street: A pickpocket steals a wallet containing stolen microfilm that a ring of communist spies are trying to spirit out of the country. Instead of destroying the film or turning it in to the cops for immunity, he tries to sell it back to the spies for a big payoff. This shocks even his fellow lowlifes, one of whom remarks, "Even in our crummy business, you have to draw the line somewhere."
Pink Flamingos: Divine seems disturbed by the plight of the girls kept in the Marbles' cellar.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: One of the legends about the Black Pearl is that it's captain was "so evil that Hell itself spat him back out." Though this turned out not to be true.
- An example related to a character is Jack Sparrow himself, even though he is not necessarily evil; in a deleted scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Beckett reminds Jack of a past deal which resulted in the latter's being branded a pirate after he "liberated [the cargo]". Jack's response, after a moment's pause, is uncharacteristically sombre:^note
  Jack Sparrow: "People aren't cargo, mate."
- Sparrow is also willing to do a lot to attain the immortality he wants... but "a lot" is not "anything". Best exemplified with Davy Jones's heart; he gives it, immediately, to the dying Will Turner.
- Related to the above, and although Captain Teague is at absolute worst Affably Evil, the man cautions Jack Sparrow about doing "anything" to attain immortality, possibly implying he himself made that mistake:
  Jack: What? You've seen it all, done it all. Survived. That's the trick isn't it? To survive?
  Captain Teague: It's not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is living with yourself forever.
Pitch Black: Played with. It's left ambiguous as to whether Riddick refuses to kill the teenage Jack and instead ghosts Johns on moral grounds because he crossed a line, or simple opportunism. His second option gives Riddick control of the group, revenge, and a target off his back. He later rescues Jack yet again, but leaves her to die just as quickly. The second sequel Riddick confirms that he did draw the line at that point.
In the Predator franchise, Predators have a sense of fair play when Hunting the Most Dangerous Game. They will not target unarmed people, which extends to unborn children, and will honor those who defeat one of their number in battle.
- This extends to Alien vs. Predator, too, where the "main" Predator blocks an attack by Weyland and is about to kill him when his visor points out to him that Weyland is terminally ill and he lets him go. And then Weyland improvises a flamethrower to keep attacking the Predator, so he gets killed anyway.
- They can however depending on your interpretation be seen as sore losers though, with their self-destruction devices able to destroy everything around them including potentially said unarmed people and children. While the lore of the Predators state they do so to prevent their technology falling into human hands it’s clear in the moment most Predators are simply attempting a Taking You with Me after being beaten especially the first Predator who was using Billy’s laugh to gloat. Supplementary clarifies he was an asshole punk by Predator standards though.
- In Predators most of the human cast are deplorable killers or at the least unscrupulous anti-heroes but even the worst ones display some standards.
  - Stans is a Death Row convict who’s apparently killed over 38 people and is strongly implied to be a serial rapist as well. But even he was appalled by Royce using them as bait to flush out the Super Predators which resulted in Mombasa’s death giving him a genuine What the Hell, Hero? Royce does point out Stans himself was trying to kill Mombasa only that morning but since Mombasa had saved his life between then Stans rebuffs “that it ain't this goddamn morning, is it?”
  - Cuchillo is a cold blooded cartel gangster but as seen in one deleted scene he too found Stan’s repulsive saying as bad he was himself at least he only killed people for money while Stans killed people for nothing.
  - Royce starts off as a Nominal Hero before upgrading to an Anti-Hero with a Hidden Heart of Gold by the end but throughout the early portion of the movie he’s a cold blooded prick willingly to do anything to survive. However it is shown even at that point he has some standards and is willingly to save Isabelle from a Pit Trap. The prequel comic also states he draws the line at killing children and unarmed women saying only psychopaths and perverts do that.
  - Edwin the doctor is revealed to be a sociopathic Serial Killer who apparently loves to torture people slowly while they are helpless, but even he was clearly uncomfortable with Stans boasting about how many attractive women “fine bitches” he was planning to rape once he got back to Earth and elected to sit away from him. Granted it could just be part of his Bitch in Sheep's Clothing act given it’s revealed Edwin isn’t much better but nobody else was watching at the time.
The President's Analyst: A couple of Federal agents out to kill the title character, without ever questioning their orders, correct a young boy's casual racism: "Don't say chinks, son, say Chinese restaurant. Chinks is bigoted."
In The Prestige, When the jerkass Borden twin who loves Olivia sees Angier drowning and trapped in a box, his first reaction is to attempt to break the glass and free Angier.
Prizzi's Honor: Irene Walker, an assassin, plans out a hit that involves distracting a bodyguard by tossing a baby (actually a doll) and getting him to catch it while she pulls out her gun in the meantime. When the plan is carried out, the bodyguard ignores the "baby" and immediately pulls out his own gun. Afterward, Irene comments that this behavior was disgusting, since if it had been a real baby, it would have been crippled.
The Professional: Malky shouts angrily at Willi Blood for killing Mathilda Lando's 4 year old brother and endangering him and the rest of Stansfield's gang.
Promising Young Woman:
- Tying in with his love for his fiancée, Al immediately complains about a stripper coming to his bachelor party, noting his wife wouldn't want it. He also tells Cassie no when she proposes going upstairs with him, only agreeing when she says it's the only way she gets paid. Granted, these standards can be questioned, as he still allows her to stay and perform, and reluctantly accepts her offer. Al's clearly succumbing to peer pressure, but whether he's just weak-willed or secretly enjoying the situation is up in the air.
- Al never shows genuine regret for his actions against Nina, but he's clearly disgusted over his murder of Cassie. And unlike the earlier crime, this seems to be more than just a fear of being caught, as Al has to be convinced by Joe that it wasn't his fault and is still noticeably shaken around the body afterwards.
- Neil clearly has no problem fooling around with a woman who's blackout drunk, but he won't do anything to an unconscious body. Of course, he's also perfectly willing to wake Cassie up so that he can continue his lechery, and his encounter still reeks of Questionable Consent, which lands him here.
The Prophecy:
- The angel-turned-rogue Gabriel, as played by Christopher Walken, will, in his own words, wreak havoc on civilizations, kill babies while their mothers watch, and (when he feels like it) rip the souls of out little girls... but he absolutely cannot stand to see people cry, or hear them use God's name in vain.
- Satan himself helps the heroes against Gabriel because Gabriel wants to turn Heaven into another Hell, which even Satan sees as "one too many."
Pulp Fiction:
- When Butch saves Marsellus instead of leaving him to be raped to death by Maynard and Zed, Marsellus forgives Butch (despite the fact Marsellus is holding a shotgun and could easily complete his own hit), and agrees that in exchange for taking the story of him being raped to the grave and leaving town, he will not retaliate.
- Jules does not appreciate people blaspheming.
Punisher: War Zone: Gaitano Cesare is a crime boss and a racist towards anyone of Middle-Eastern descent (and chances are his refusal to even help import a biological agent is simply Pragmatic Villainy, as he probably doesn't want Homeland Security on his case along with the NYPD and FBI), but given he mentions being the one who has Jigsaw's brother, Loony Bin Jim, locked up and the behavior Jim displays once Jigsaw frees him, Cesare doesn't approve of Jim being an Ax-Crazy, sadistic cannibal.
Queen of the Damned: Lestat is a vampire who has no problem killing people to satisfy his needs, but when he sees that Akasha has wiped out a whole town to allow them both to walk in the sun he asks her why she would want to rule over a kingdom of corpses.
Quiz Lady: Ken may be the ruthless leader of the local Tongs, but he cares deeply for the dogs he abducts for ransom and is appalled that their owners never come back to claim them. In fact, he's going broke trying to care for them all.

R-T

Ran: Kurogane is perfectly willing to help his lord Jiro murder and backstab his way to power, but draws the line at the murder of his first wife Lady Sue simply to appease Lady Kaede.
Rashomon: (Based off the story In a Grove) the Samurai's version features the bandit horrified by the samurai's wife as she asks the bandit to kill her husband — this is right after the bandit has raped said woman.
Red Dawn (1984): At the end, even after all the Soviets the Wolverines have killed, Colonel Bella can't bring himself to kill Jed and Matt when he sees they are just teenagers.
Red Rock West: Dirty Cop Wayne unsuccessfully tries to stop the hired killer working for him from murdering one of his innocent deputies.
The Replacement Killers: John Lee gets himself in trouble with crime leader Terence Wei after developing a conscience in time to prevent him from completing the third assignment, killing a police officer's young son with the officer/father hugging him in revenge for the cop having killed Wei's own son.
Reservoir Dogs:
- The robbers have no qualms whatsoever about robbing a jewelry store of thousands of dollars, and most of them feel only a vague dislike (yet no hesitation) for shooting at people during the escape from the heist, but watch how they react to someone refusing to throw in a dollar for the waitress's tip at a restaurant. In fact, in keeping with the recurring theme in Tarantino's works of honor among thieves and scoundrels they seem to have a whole, elaborate code of ethics all their own which they euphemistically refer to as "professionalism".
- Both White and Pink also display antipathy against Blonde for going on an unprovoked killing spree inside the jewelry store once the alarm went off. In Pink's case it seems like more Pragmatic Villainy (shooting someone who's not in your way is just more jail time if they catch you), but White seems to take the killing of "real people" personally.
  Mr. White: What you're supposed to do is act like a fuckin' professional. A psychopath ain't a professional, you can't work with a psychopath. You don't know what those sick assholes are gonna do next. I mean, Jesus Christ, how old do you think that black girl was? Twenty? Maybe?
  Mr. Pink: If that.
RoboCop: Several examples.
- In the first movie, The otherwise vile and remorseless Boddicker tells two hookers who are present to get out when he arrives to kill Morton.
- Donald Johnson is the only OCP executive to show any sense of ethics throughout the trilogy, if only marginally so. He seems elated when RoboCop shoots Dick Jones out of the board room window in RoboCop (1987) and opposes Dr. Faxx's insanely dangerous handling of the RoboCop 2 program.
- Both Hob and Angie from RoboCop 2 are horrified when Cain has Officer Duffy tortured to death, Hob even trying to look away, despite his own involvement in Murphy's stripping.
- RoboCop 3 sees OCP's CEO getting angry at McDaggett and the Rehabs opening fire on police officers.
The Rock: General Hummel was bluffing about launching nerve gas on San Francisco. Though his second-in-command thought he wasn't... Before the actual takeover, he's seen telling two children to tell their teacher to get their class onto the first boat back to San Francisco.
The Rocketeer: Mobster Eddie Valentine and his gang turns on their boss, Neville Sinclair, after learning that Sinclair is working for the Nazis. As Eddie puts it, "I may not make an honest buck, but I'm 100% American!" followed by a hilarious scene with a mobster and an FBI agent firing at Nazis, looking at each other, shrugging, then going back to killing Nazis. ^note Even before Sinclair is exposed, Valentine shows some resentment towards him:
Sinclair: Valentine, we're going to do what I think is necessary.
Valentine: And that includes breaking one of my men in half, huh? The next time you go after one of my men, I'll kill ya.
Sinclair: Don't threaten me, Eddie. Just do your job.
Valentine: Hey, Sinclair? [ights cigar] If the Feds take me, I'm taking you with me. I'm gonna tell them everything.
Sinclair: Who do you think they'll believe? A cheap crook or the number-three box office star in America? [leaves]
Valentine: [throwing his cigar at the door] Number-three jerk!
The Running Man: Captain Freedom is basically a gladiator on a murderous game show, but genuinely believes in Gladiator Code and quits in anger over Killian's underhanded tactics.
Implied twice in Saving Private Ryan:
- In the Final Battle, Mellish gets into a tense melee with a German SS soldier in the upstairs room of a semi-ruined house. The SS soldier manages to overpower Mellish and horrifically stabs him to death with his own bayonet. Upham was right outside the room the whole time and did not intervene out of fear. When the German steps outside and comes face-to-face with him, he is apparently able to piece it all together and thinks so little of the cowardly interpreter crying on the stairs that he simply walks past him and rejoins the battle. Alternatively, the German soldier spared Upham as a momentary act of mercy after recognizing that Upham was paralyzed by fear and not a threat. He was still traumatized over killing Mellish and felt he had done enough by then.
- In the rainy French hamlet, the German sniper waits until Caparzo puts down the young girl that he was holding before shooting, making sure there's no chance she will be hurt when he does shoot Caparzo. He's a Cold Sniper willing to shoot a target in such a way that his victim slowly, helplessly bleeds and the sniper can pick off anyone who tries to help the wounded soldier, but he Wouldn't Hurt a Child.
Scarface (1983): Tony "Scarface" Montana, gangster and druglord, refuses to kill women and children, and only kills "people dumb enough to fuck with him." This bites back.
Schindler's List: Subverted. During the liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto, two German soldiers are dragging a teenage boy along, who is suddenly shot by another German soldier. One of the two men then runs up to the shooter, and chews him out about it. It seems like this trope to anyone who can't understand what he's saying in German. In reality he's only pissed off because the shooter almost shot him instead of the Jewish boy.
S Club Seeing Double: Bradley explains to Tina that what she thought was a clone of Ozzy Osbourne is likely the real one, who also could be a victim of kidnapping, implying that Victor, the mad scientist who made clones of the band, had his limits.
Scream and Scream Again: Major Heinrich Benedek is a senior official in a totalitarian regime who acknowledges that torture is necessary in maintaining the regime's dominance, but even he is horrified by the excesses of Torture Technician Konratz.
In Seven Psychopaths, all of the other characters, including the murderous psychopaths, are appalled by Marty's drinking problem. One scene even has Hans, a man pursued by serial killers and high from Peyote abuse, criticizing Marty's use of alcohol:
Hans: You might wanna stop drinking, Martin, if this is the way you're gonna behave.
Marty: If this is the way I'm gonna— this guy just telephoned a psycho-killer to come down and psycho-kill us! And this guy's doubting a lifelong belief in the afterlife because of a psychedelic cactus he just ate! And you motherfuckers are telling me to behave?
- And later:
  Charlie: Is he drinking and driving?
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend: Using a Kangaroo Court to hang two innocent men turns out to be a step too far for Dirty Cop Sheriff Massey, and allows Nell to persuade him to turn against his boss Eb Clark.
Sister Act: In the climax, Vince's two goons Joey and Willy are very reluctant to kill Dolores because they just can't get it out of their heads that they're about to shoot a nun, something they just can't do. The fact that she continues to pray during the whole ordeal and Reverend Mother's insistence that she did, indeed find God while at the convent (which may have been true, actually) only made it harder for them. Eventually they tell her to take the habit off so she won't look like a nun, which might have worked, but then she manages to catch them off guard, karate-chop both men in the family jewels while they were making the sign of the Cross after her prayer, and make a break for it.
The Skulls: The Big Bad who has been terrorizing the film's protagonist expresses disgust at a co-conspirator's choice of a lover, even while freely admitting to his own extramarital activities, "Good lord, man, she's only 19"!. He then uses the information to blackmail him when the other man also displays this trope and develops a conscience about the horrible things they've done.
Small Soldiers: The Commando Elite may be homicidal war toys but they were also programmed with the personalities of heroic, loyal, brave and honourable soldiers. Chip Hazard in particular is an excellent leader. However, their intent to destroy their "enemies" and their allies means they just won't give up.
Smokin' Aces: Hitman and Torture Technician Pasquale Acosta is forced to kill the hotel's Chief of Security in order to get to his mark, Buddy Israel. Despite ruthless torture being Acosta's main gimmick, he goes out of his way to kill the Chief painlessly, and holds and comforts him as he dies, all because the Chief was not the person he was hired to kill. Acosta even tells the Chief to close his eyes before he dies, so his killer's face won't have to be the last thing he sees.
Snatch.: Bullet Tooth Tony, a gangster who is ruthless when it comes to killing or torturing people, balks when his boss instructs him to slice open a dog to look for diamonds in its belly, saying, "It's not a fucking tin of baked beans, what do you mean open him up?!" However, he does at least start preparing to go through with it when his boss insists. Tony is visibly relieved when the diamond they're looking for is found elsewhere and it turns out the dog didn't swallow it after all.
The Social Network: Mark felt that Sean's treatment of Eduardo after the latter gets fired from the company was going too far. He was also disgusted when he heard that Sean was partying and doing drugs with underaged interns.
Soldier: Captain Church follows his superior Colonel Mekum's lead and is the one to initially suggest blasting the planet from orbit to wipe out its inhabitants. However, when Mekum chooses to go through with this even if it means forsaking the lives of Church's unit, Church objects so strongly that Mekum executes him for defying his order.
Son of a Gun: When Lynch and Sterlo learn that Merv was inside for raping a schoolgirl and not GBH as he had told them, Lynch bashes him in the face multiple times and dumps him at the side of the road: telling him that he is on his own, and that if he tells anything to the police, he has friends on the inside that will get him.
Space Jam: When Bill Murray makes his Big Damn Heroes moment in the Looney Tune world, he answers Daffy's question of how he came to be here by saying that it's only because he's a friend of the producer. Pound (the big orange Monstar) is walking behind him and, hearing this, shakes his head in disgust.
Speed: For all his terror and destruction, Payne is genuinely offended by the decidedly generic way Harry stood up to him in the face of an explosive end, and he angrily laments how badly America's patriotic fervor has decayed in his day.
Payne: In two hundred years, we've come from "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country" to "fuck you"?!
Spiders II: Breeding Ground: He's happy to take the money and look the other way, but the captain is seriously creeped out by Dr. Grbac's experiments with implanting spider eggs into human test subjects. Subverted with his refusal to let him have Alexandra, however... since he just wants her for himself and is more than willing to let her fiancé die.
In St Trinian's (2007), Flash Harry delivers a class on types of crime, and Andrea suggests kidnapping. For example, they could kidnap a rich man's wife, cut off her ear, and mail it back to him. She then fantasises about cutting off more and more body parts until he pays the ransom. Harry, clearly disturbed, decides that's too evil and advises Andrea to see a counsellor.
Star Trek:
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock:
  - Klingon Commander Kruge shoots his gunner after he accidentally destroys the USS Grissom and calls it "a lucky shot", because he wanted prisoners. He even calls his gunner an "animal" afterwards.
  - Kruge wanted to take the crew of the Grissom prisoner because he wanted to question someone about Project: Genesis. His trigger-happy idiot of a gunner almost ruined that were it not for the fact that there was an away team on the surface of Planet Genesis.
- Star Trek: Nemesis: Commander Donatara of the Romulan Star Empire manages to convince one of her fellow officers that Shinzon's plan to bring Romulus to even greater power in the Alpha Quadrant will involve genocide, namely Earth. They turn on Shinzon, even helping out the USS Enterprise as it's being pummeled by his ship.
The Strange Door: One of Alain's men is disturbed enough about the confinement and mental torture of Edmond to decline an invitation to see him in the dungeon.
Sucker Punch: When Blue orders the other orderlies to bring Baby Doll to an empty room so he can rape her, they protest, arguing that they're running the place badly and that they won't let him hurt her anymore. This is after the rest of the movie, where they stood by and let him pimp out and abuse the other girls (possibly, as the last scene does show some disconnect with how reality is, and how Baby Doll perceived everything).
In Suffragette, even Inspector Steed is appalled at the cruelty with which the suffragettes on hunger strike are force-fed. Not enough to put a stop to it, though. After all, it's either force-feed them or let them die and give the suffrage movement a martyr - give in to their demands and treat them as political prisoners? The government doesn't even consider it.
Suicide Kings: Charlie Barrett, an ex-mob boss who once had an enemy and his family fed to their own dogs, is highly offended by someone lying to their friends. Also, in an alternate ending, he refused to kill a woman.
Super Fly: Priest, the protagonist, is a drug dealer looking to escape the life. Another character notes Priest's lack of career options, adding that he doesn't have the stomach for pimping.
The Suicide Theory: Steve is established early on to have a casual attitude towards killing, but aborts a hit when he hears the target's young daughter through the door.
Swelter: Cole does nothing while his partner Boyd is gunned down, as Cole apparently believes he had it coming after killing innocents when he didn't have to. And when Cole's (half-)brother Kane turns out to be a rapist, Cole shoots him personally, rather than wait for the protagonist to do it.
Ever wonder why Skynet didn't mass-produce the cool as hell liquid metal T-1000 prototype from Terminator 2: Judgment Day? Word of God provides the answer: Skynet, the insane genocidal AI hellbent on wiping out humanity, is terrified of the T-1000 and how fast-learning and sadistic it is.
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead: Mr. Shush sees three white men brutally attacking a black man, he immediately intervenes and dispatches all three men without saying a word. His motivation for doing so is a complete mystery. He may not like an unfair fight, he may hate racists, or it may have simply been a Pet the Dog moment on his part. He gives a quick death to those who don't resist as well, even when ordered otherwise. He works as a hitman, and is willing to murder people in a very painful manner usually.
This Is Sodom: Played for laughs. The Big Bad's son takes most of the evil plot in stride... until he learns it involves hosting a massive wedding ceremony without paying for any catering. At which point he goes bug-eyed and calls him the Devil himself.
This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse: Brazilian horror film icon Zé do Caixão, AKA Coffin Joe in other countries, is a complete sadist whose hideous acts include murder, torture and rape. Surprisingly however, he is utterly disgusted with the idea of violence being used on children, as he believes they are only the gracious thing that mankind has to offer. This even guaranteed him a Villainous BSoD in the second film when he learns that one of the girls he kidnapped and murdered earlier was pregnant.
Thor: Ragnarok: The Grandmaster may force people into gladiatorial contests, and he's more than a little execution-happy when he's not engaged in that ("I woke up this morning thinking about a public execution..."), but his assistant handing the melting stick when Loki speaks out of turn gets a confused reaction from him and forces him to clarify out loud that interrupting him isn't a capital offense.
Tombstone:
- One of the Cowboys drops his red sash and falls in with the Earp brothers after someone fires a gun into the Earp household, nearly killing one of the brothers' wives; he flat-out states that attacking defenseless women was something he simply couldn't stomach.
- "Curly" Bill Brocius is the leader of the cowboys, a pack of bandits and thieves who see killing in the course of their robberies or while fighting against the law as just another day. Nonetheless he is genuinely shocked when Johnny Ringo shoots a priest in cold blood at the wedding that the Cowboys raid, and is also quite distraught when he accidentally shoots Fred White while high on opium.
Julie from The Toxic Avenger may get off on photographs of children run over, but she was quite vocal about her displeasure at seeing Melvin writhe in agony after falling into a barrel of toxic waste.
Trading Places: Subverted. At first, it seems like the Dukes are genuinely saddened by how Winthorpe has deteriorated after losing his wealth. But then, they admit that neither one is interested in actually helping him.
Training Day:
- This is how Smiley, the gangster that Alonzo hires to kill Jake, feels about Alonzo.
  Moreno: Alonzo is a low-down, ruthless vato, eh, but I like that, homes. I like that.
  Smiley: No, that's why I never shake his hand, homes. He don't respect nada.
- More to the point, Smiley and his gang let Jake go (despite having been paid to kill him) and despite him being a honest, white cop when they discover that Jake saved Smiley's young cousin from being raped.
  Smiley: That's for getting my cousins back... You know this shit was just business, right?
"Lucky" Ned Pepper from True Grit (both versions) has this infamous line that he threatens Mattie with:
Pepper: I never busted a cap on a woman or nobody much under sixteen, but it's enough that you know I will do what I have to do.
Two Thousand Maniacs!:
- Played for Laughs in the remake; Mayor Buckman has no problem slaughtering and cannibalizing Yankees, but he's definitely more than a bit concerned about his son Lester's "relationship" with Jessabelle... who happens to be a sheep.
- Curiously, in the remake the townsfolk express no prejudice towards their fellow ghosts who are Black, not only treating them like equals, but even celebrating the birth of a mixed-race child (to a white woman and her former slave, no less). This is actually explained in Field of Screams: Crow mentions that when the Union troops destroyed the town they killed everyone, even the slaves. This collective trauma caused a new identity to emerge among the townspeople, one that overpowered the previous racial and social order. Now, Black Americans who are not their fellow ghosts...

U-Z

Unforgiven: At the very end of the movie, the writer tries to latch onto William Munny to tell a romanticized story of his atrocities, like the writer was doing for each of his previous subjects. Munny rejects him completely, acknowledging that what he did was simply evil and shouldn't be glorified.
Vantage Point: The terrorists driving an ambulance carrying the kidnapped President swerved to avoid hitting a girl crossing the road, flipping the ambulance, foiling their plot, and getting killed in the process. They had no qualms with killing throughout the movie, just not a child.
Vikingdom: Thor's generals initially follow him under the belief he would conquer Midgard, drive out Christianity and restore the Good Old Ways back. Thor's actual plan is to destroy the world in revenge for mortals abandoning the Norse Gods for Christianity and he doesn't care that his own followers will die if his plan is successful. When they find this out, they try to turn on Thor but he manages to intimidate them back into their place. During the final battle, they desert him in the first chance they get.
A Walk Among the Tombstones: Jonas is ok kidnapping someone for ransom money, but he's revolted by how sadistic his accomplices are.
Westerplatte Resists is a 1967 Polish film about a group of Polish soldiers resisting the German invasion of 1939. When they are captured, the Germans disarm them, but also liberate the Poles of their cigarettes, money, etc. When the German officer shows up, the Polish officer complains that his men have been robbed. Seeming to have a sense of honor, the German officer orders his sergeant to return the items at once.
The Whole Nine Yards: Hitman for hire Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski refuses to divorce his former wife because, dammit, he believes in those vows ("til death do we part"). He also goes ballistic when he finds out that his wife cheated on him with Oz, despite the fact that he wants to kill her.
Witness: This is how the Amish win through nonviolence. They passively witness Schaeffer doing evil, meaning he'd have to slaughter every man, woman and child in the village to keep his secret. He realizes that he cannot bring himself to go that far and gives up.
The Wolf of Wall Street: Jordan may be a morally bankrupt narcissist who steals from the poor (and everyone else for that matter), lies constantly, cheats on all his wives, swears like a drunken sailor, and regularly does enough drugs to put a baleen whale into a coma, but after coming down from being drugged out of his mind on a plane, even he is horrified when he learns that he called the plane's captain a racial slur.
- Donnie Azoff, Jordan's willing accomplice for all of his aforementioned wrongdoing, is also horrified by Jordan's use of the racial slur - he is the one who informs Jordan after the latter awakens, restrained due to his unruly behaviour, later in the flight. Donnie is also shown desperately trying to stop the drug-addled Jordan from forcing himself on a flight attendant during the same flight. Despite being an avid drug user himself, Jordan's behaviour on the flight causes him to warn Jordan that he has a serious drug problem.
The Woman in Black: Even for the eponymous villain, stealing the souls of Arthur and his son after they are hit by a train, especially after the former tried his very best to appease her, would be stooping below Haman's level.
Wonder Woman 1984: A mall thief grabs a little girl and threatens to drop her off a railing to make the police back off. His fellow thieves are appalled and just like everybody else are shouting at him not to do it.
X-Men Film Series
- X-Men: The Last Stand: Magneto reacts with horror when he notices that Phoenix is about to kill Charles Xavier. In addition, when Pyro indicates that he would have killed Xavier if Magneto commanded him to do so, Magneto immediately rebukes him for the comment, telling him Xavier had done so much for mutants and that his greatest regret was Xavier's death. Although that might be chalked up to another trope.
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
  - The generals allowed for Stryker to carry out his Weapon X project. However, one of them called Stryker out when telling him that he suspects that Stryker's motivations were basically out of Fantastic Racism. This gets him killed by Stryker.
  - Dukes clearly is disturbed by what Stryker does to mutants at his Three Mile Island base.
- Sort of in X-Men: First Class. When Angel defected and witnessed Shaw's brutal murder of Darwin, she was briefly shown to be shocked and somewhat disturbed at what he did.
- X-Men: Apocalypse has the title villain taking Magneto to Auschwitz to trigger bad memories and convince him to join his side. The Horsemen who already joined Apocalypse are visibly uncomfortable at standing in a place where millions were slaughtered.

Even Evil Has Standards / Live-Action Films
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