History BadBoss / Film

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/ANewHope https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/39ebaa65940a43f8e693e210096ba9b0.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[PsychicStrangle "I find your lack of faith disturbing."]]'']]
->'''Thanos:''' ''(being crushed by an enraged Scarlet Witch)'' [[OrbitalBombardment Rain fire!]]\\
'''Corvus Glaive:''' But sir, the troops!\\
'''Thanos:''' Just do it!
-->-- ''Film/AvengersEndgame''

[[BadBoss Terrible bosses]] in Live Action Movies
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* ''Film/SixUnderground'': Rochav orders the next men in line after his generals killed as they stood the most to gain in their deaths. He isn't actually sure who did it, but it's just to be safe. The men behind ''them'' he then promotes.
* The first ''Film/BadBoys'' movie gives us French gangster Fouchet, who never had pity for anyone and orchestrated several murders pretty unnecessary. He has one of his men dress up as a police officer to steal millions of dollars worth of heroin from a police station evidence lock up, and then kills him in order to create a distraction. Fouchet kills Eddie, who helped him set the heist up, for partying with some hookers and a tiny portion of the stash, and his chemistry team for "fucking with my schedule".
* ''Film/{{Bamboozled}}'': Thomas C. Dunwitty, the tyrannical vice president of the Continental Network System or (CNS).
--> "I don't like to be the laughing stock of the entire broadcast industry. I don't like these pricks who call themselves my bosses breathing down my back. It makes me sweat."
* The BigBad Taha Ben Mahmoud from ''Film/{{Banlieue 13}}'' is a trigger-happy boss. So trigger happy that his thugs are only in it for the massive money he has. When his hacker minion told him his accounts have been emptied, said minion left and the rest gun Taha down. Even then, he utters this FacingTheBulletsOneLiner:
-->'''Taha:''' You all are a bunch of useless dipsh*ts.
-->Mooks proceed to gun him down while he points his hands like guns to them.
* Franchise/{{Batman}} Live Action Movies:
** Creator/JackNicholson's ComicBook/TheJoker from Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/Batman1989''. When he gets angry at Batman, he asks Bob --his most loyal henchman-- for a gun; Bob gives Joker the gun, and the Joker kills him with it, for no reason other than he feels like killing ''someone''.
** Creator/HeathLedger's Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is arguably even worse. In the first scene, he has his gang slaughter each other, and later plants a phone bomb into one of his men. To even join the gang, there are tryouts which involve having the recruitees fight each other with halves of a broken pool cue.
* In ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'', during the opening truck chase, one of [=DeWald=]'s accomplices, Taddeo, is winged by Axel and begs for help. [=DeWald=] responds by wordlessly leaning across the stricken henchman, opening the passenger door, and then calmly shoving him out to get run over by the pursuing Axel.
* Morris in ''Film/BigGame'' shoots one of his Secret Service subordinates in the head and murders the rest by sabotaging their parachute deployment cords so they are unable to protect the president on the ground.
* Subverted in the first ''Film/{{Blade}}'' movie: BigBad Deacon Frost asks a lieutenant, whose losing and subsequent regrowing of arms has been something of a RunningGag throughout the movie, to hold out his hand, ostensibly to test the sharpness of Blade's CoolSword by cutting his arm off.
-->'''Deacon Frost:''' ''[examining Blade's sword]'' Hold out your arm, Quinn.\\
'''Quinn:''' 'hy, man? 'Cause they're-they're, like, all better.\\
'''Deacon Frost:''' Hold out your arm. Now.\\
''[trembling, Quinn does so; Frost takes aim with the sword]''\\
'''Quinn:''' Deak, I...\\
''[Frost raises the sword... and lowers it]''\\
'''Deacon Frost:''': Just kidding.\\
''[chucks Quinn on the shoulder]''\\
'''Quinn:''' ''[laughing uproariously]'' He was fucking with me, man! He was, like...
* ''Film/{{Casper}}'': Cathy Moriarty as Carrigan Crittenden does this to Paul "Dibbs" Plutzker (Creator/EricIdle) right up to the point of killing him before getting killed herself.
--> "Dibs! This is all your fault, as usual. If you would have just forged the damn will".
* Mr Tinkles in ''Film/CatsAndDogs'' locks Calico in a building wired to explode.
--> "I want you to wait here."
--> "Why?"
--> "Because I hate you."
* Creator/DavidHasselhoff's character from ''Film/{{Click}}'' combines this with TheAce.
* ''Film/{{Cliffhanger}}''. One of the mooks is injured during the mid-air robbery.
-->"What do we do with him?"
-->"Send him to the nearest hospital." (throws mook out of the airplane)
* Trumbull in ''Film/TheComedyOfTerrors'' had left his father-in-law's mortuary business in ruins and frequently abuses his wife and associate Felix. It is also implied that much of the money that would have gone to paying their rent to their landlord (not that they had much to begin with due to their declining customer base) is gone because [[TheAlcohol he spent it all on alcohol]].
* In ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', Thulsa Doom demonstrates his power by ordering one of his worshipers to leap to her death with a gently worded, "Come to me, my child".
* In the made-for-TV movie ''Deadly Encounter'', Zervasco is chasing Sam and Chis in his helicopter. He lands and an M16-toting henchman gets out and pursues the two on foot. Suddenly Sam's friend Frank [[BigDamnHeroes swoops down in a biplane]] and whisks the two to safety. An enraged Zervasco gets back into the copter and takes off after them to resume pursuit... completely forgetting his poor henchman, who just gets left behind.
* Miranda Priestly from ''Film/TheDevilWearsPrada''.
* Hans Gruber from ''Film/DieHard'':
-->'''Hans:''' Blow the roof!\\
'''Kristoff:''' But [[{{Determinator}} Karl's]] up there!\\
'''Hans:''' ''Blow the roof!''\\
''[blows up the roof]''
** Ironically, blowing up the roof probably saved Karl...
* Timothy, who runs the [[SaturdayNightLive SNL]] {{Expy}} in ''Film/DontThinkTwice'' has a reputation for this, although the moments we see of him onscreen portray him as more harsh, but not ill-meaning.
---> '''Jack's Co-worker:''' For your first year, just try not to get fired.
* ''Film/DrGoldfootAndTheBikiniMachine:'' The eponymous mad scientist towards his flunky Igor: "..Why must you listen to me when I'm ''wrong!?''"
* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'': Max's foreman docks him a half-day for coming in late and wanting to work with a bum hand, which is somewhat reasonable but still helps to establish him as a jerk. Later on, he forces Max to walk into a radiation chamber which had already been primed (but not activated) to clear a door jam, leading to Max's irradiation when the door slams shut once the jam is cleared. At least he clearly feels bad about this, but he nevertheless forced Max into an extremely unsafe situation. However, the foreman isn't nearly as bad as Carlyle, who is more concerned about Max ruining the bedding in the medical bay than his condition, and even tells his foreman to cover his mouth so they won't breathe the same air.
* Siegfried in the 2008 ''Film/GetSmart'' film is a bad boss, and the film seems very much aware of this trope. In his first scene, he promptly shoots one of his men who questions what seems to be a pointless part of Siegfried's plan (blowing up a warehouse for no apparent reason after stealing stuff from it). This behavior actually has consequences for the bad boss, however, as at the end of the film he's thrown out of his getaway car and off a bridge by his own [[TheDragon Dragon]] after threatening and insulting the guy and his wife repeatedly (once even implying that he intends to replace his dragon with a ''Rhinoceros'', should he fail.). He also continually insults his right-hand man Shtarker, who tells the other goons, "I'd quit, but he's married to my sister." TheDogBitesBack, however.
* In ''Film/TheGreatWhiteHype'', Sultan rewards his subordinates but makes it abundantly clear that he is the boss, his word goes and do not piss him off. Wielding a very hefty looking scimitar during a business meeting is not a sign of a nice man. But then, his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_King_(boxing_promoter) Expy]] is somewhat notorious.
* ''Film/HorribleBosses''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin What do you think it would include?]] The three horrible bosses mentioned in the movie title include a monster, a [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale rapist]], and a hedonist who [[TyrantTakesTheHelm takes the helm]] after his father's death.
* In ''Film/HorrorsOfTheBlackMuseum'', Edmond Bancroft brainwashes his assistant Rick, then uses him as a test subject for a PsychoSerum and sending him out to commit murders on his behalf. This culminates in Rick being ordered to kill his own fiancée, Angela. And when Rick isn't been mind controlled, Bancroft is using him as general dogsbody and castigating him for the slightest slip.
* [[TheEeyore King]] [[FatIdiot Malbert]] from the 2008 animated failure ''WesternAnimation/{{Igor}}'' does a poor job at ruling his world.
* ''Film/JamesBond'':
** ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'': Emilio Largo has Quist thrown in his shark pool after he failed to kill Bond.
** Max Zorin mows a group of his own employees in ''Film/AViewToAKill'', even betraying his [[TheDragon Dragon]] and lover May-Day. [[spoiler:She survives long enough to make a HeroicSacrifice that ruins his plan, and her last words, directed towards Bond, are "Get Zorin for me!"]]
** Running SPECTRE like a tyrannical dictator, Ernst Stavro Blofeld is the TropeNamer for TheBlofeldPloy, demanding absolute and unquestionable loyalty from his minions, rarely giving them a second chance, and isn't hesitant to kill anyone [[YouHaveFailedMe who fails him]], [[DefectorFromDecadence defects from SPECTRE]], or [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder plans to cheat him]]. Discipline within SPECTRE is notoriously draconian, and to heighten the impact, Blofeld threatens to shoot a random mook, only to suddenly kill another after scaring the shit out of the 1st. For example:
*** ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'': EvilGenius Number 5/Kronsteen looks on smugly, confident that fellow underling Number 3/Rosa Klebb is being held terminally accountable for their scheme's failure — only for the poisoned blade from Morzeny's shoe to change direction. Klebb is visibly terrified of facing Blofeld's wrath after witnessing Kronsteen's death.
*** In ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', the chairs in the SPECTRE conference room were rigged to electrocute any underling who displeased him, and he uses this to kill a mook who was stealing from him.
*** In ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', Blofeld had a [[SharkPool pool]] filled with [[PiranhaProblem piranhas]] in his office — complete with a [[TrapDoor bridge]] that underlings were forced to cross when they entered and exited.
*** ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'': During the second ski chase, when Bond and Tracy enter an avalanche-risk area, Blofeld sends three of his men after them, before deliberately causing an avalanche only moments later that kills his men who he sent into danger for no reason.
*** ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'': Blofeld is okay with killing [[ActuallyADoombot his body doubles]] to go KarmaHoudini.
*** ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'': Though he appears as a nameless villain because of the legal logjam surrounding the Bond franchise, Blofeld sends a DisposablePilot to pick up his ArchEnemy and deliberately electrocutes him mid-flight so the chopper 007 is in will crash.
*** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'': He does it again to a henchman who was supposed to have the Pale King/[[spoiler:Mr. White]] eliminated by ordering his NumberTwo to [[SickeningCrunch have his skull bashed on the table]], [[EyePoke eyes gouged out]], before killing him with a NeckSnap. And the way Blofeld also deals with the Pale King/[[spoiler:Mr. White]] for defecting also qualifies, as he had poisoned his cell phone with thallium so that he dies a slow but painful death, watching his own body deteriorate via radiation poisoning.
* In ''Judgement Night'', the BigBad kills one of his men, after the guy kept complaining about how pointless it is to hunt down and kill innocent civilians in the middle of the night. [[spoiler: Granted, those civilians did witness them commit a murder.]]
* ''Film/KillBill'' has several. Bill starts the series by ordering the assassination of a runaway employee...AT HER WEDDING, collateral damage accepted and expected. Budd's boss at the bar he worked at exemplifies a typical, non-murderous yet irrational and petty Bad Boss.
* Inspector Richard from ''Film/KissOfTheDragon''. Rather than dive away from a grenade for instance, he just throws a chubby subordinate on top of it. When the hero escapes into a laundry chute but goes up, he tells a man to go after him. The first guy begins to go to the stairs and gets shot, then he grabs a second guy and throws him at the chute. The guy instead starts looking around, but Richard is impatient and pitches him down the chute. By the time Jet Li escapes from the hotel Richard has killed around 60% of his initial crew himself. And much like Kefka and Palpatine, just hanging around him guarantees you'll die. Not bad for a guy who's completely normal, has no superpowers or special skills and the like. He gets away with everything under the sun by being the head of the local branch of Interpol and having agents and normal officers everywhere doctoring evidence and framing other people for it and keeps those in check with blackmail. Considering how much shit would come down on him if any of them stopped protecting him, it REALLY makes his men sticking with him ridiculous.
* ''Film/KullTheConqueror'': Queen Akivasha is often tormenting the priest who resurrected her by burning off parts of his face.
* Timothy in ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' receives a call on his radio from a henchman, who sounds badly wounded, saying that he thinks he's dying. Timothy responds "Continue dying", and shuts off his radio.
* In ''Film/LordOfIllusions'', Nix the Puritan repays his cultists' blind obedience to him and bringing him back from the dead with burying them all alive. No, he's not their or anyone else's shepherd.
* In ''Film/LoveCrime'', Christine takes all credit for Isabelle's work, and then, when Isabelle tries to get out from under her, she makes her life a living hell of public humiliations. Nor is Isabelle her only victim; it's implied that the last person who held Isabelle's job ended up in a mental asylum.
* Bartholomew Bogue, the CorruptCorporateExecutive BigBad in ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016''. He treats the miners in his employ so badly that they join the townsfolk of Rose Creek to fight his army in the FinalBattle. Then, [[YouHaveFailedMe he shoots Rose Creek's corrupt Sheriff]], who is on his payroll, just for giving him a message he doesn't like. Finally, he orders [[spoiler:a Gatling gun used on the town, [[WeHaveReserves mowing down several of his own men]] in the process]]..
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Johann Schmidt, aka the ComicBook/RedSkull, continually shows no concern for the welfare of his men, despite their fanatical devotion to Schmidt, having them chomp {{cyanide pill}}s when captured to avoid giving out information on him, [[YouHaveFailedMe executing one merely for surviving an attack on a HYDRA base]], and activating the self-destruct sequence at another [=HYDRA=] base when the Allied forces overrun it, not caring that hundreds of his troops will be killed in the blast
** ''Film/AgentCarter'' - OneWomanArmy Peggy Carter is treated as a glorified secretary by her StrawMisogynist boss, Agent Flynn, who believes that her post-WWII placement in the Strategic Scientific Reserve was out of pity for her mourning the loss of Captain America (despite, just from what was seen on-screen in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', Carter already having a distinguished military/espionage career during the war). Just as Flynn is about to bring the hammer down on Carter for taking on a mission without authorization, he is handed a large slice of HumblePie in the form of orders for Carter's transfer to command of the fledgling S.H.I.E.L.D organization--along with orders for Flynn himself to inform Carter of the transfer politely and in full view of the other agents.
** Hank Pym in ''Film/AntMan'' and ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' is a downplayed example but he is ''not'' pleasant to work with, as he uses threats and manipulation to force Scott to work for him and it's revealed by his ex-colleague Bill that he has driven most of his other colleagues away due to his hostility and aggression.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': The Collector imprisoned one of his assistants in one of the glass cages of his museum for disappointing him, and uses her as an example to another to keep her from doing a disappointing job as well. [[spoiler: This bites him in the caboose later on, as the mistreated assistant grabs the Infinity Stone, which is known to cause extremely violent explosions when touched by living beings, in an attempt to kill both herself and the Collector.]]
** Subverted in ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. The Grandmaster may be a LaughablyEvil despot who's forcing capture slav... er, [[InsistentTerminology "prisoners with jobs"]] to fight to the death in his arena, but he's not petty. While berating Loki and Valkyrie for the escape of Hulk and Thor, Loki interrupts him, to which his NumberTwo Topaz immediately hands him his "melt-stick" that he uses against enemies of the state. He's just confused why she would think that something as minor as speaking out of line is a capital offense.
** Thanos in all his appearances is shown to be a terrible leader, as almost everyone who serves him in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' betrays him at the earliest opportunity, his own children despise him, and even those who are absolutely loyal to him fear his wrath should they fail him, and at the end of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: he orders his subordinate to fire on the battlefield even though many of his own troops would be caught in the crossfire just to save his own skin]].
* In Soviet spy drama ''Film/MissMend'', Chichi the anti-Bolshevik terrorist boss pays a visit to his minions. A chemist tells Chichi about the poison gas he's developing to use against the Soviet Union. After the chemist gives Chichi a gas mask as a precaution, Chichi smashes the flask containing the poison gas. The scientist dies.
* From ''Film/MomAndDadSaveTheWorld'' comes this heartwarming scene in which [[BigBad Tod Spengo]] (Jon Lovitz) asks his mooks which facial hair he should wear to his wedding.
-->'''Tod''': Which do you think would be better, goatee or mutton chops?
-->'''Twin Destroyer''': Mutton chops, m'Lord!
-->'''Tod''': ''(thinks)'' Hmm, no. No, I don't think so. Shoot yourself in the head.
-->''Twin obediently shoots himself in the head.''
** Spengo then decides that muttonchops would look better after all.
* Shao Kahn of ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' is very much the Bad Boss, getting rid of Rain and later Jade for having disobeyed or [[YouHaveFailedMe failed him]]
* Casanova Frankenstein in the movie ''Film/MysteryMen'' makes the point to the heroes that he is willing to kill his own men for no reason, [[CardCarryingVillain just to show how tough and insane he is]]. What made it worse was that the particular {{Mooks}} he executed weren't even his own employees, but mercenaries who were temporarily working with him.
* In ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'', Komissar Razinin is feared by pretty much all of his underlings, as he has the power to order deportations to [[PlaceWorseThanDeath Siberia]].
* Willie Bank in ''Film/OceansThirteen'' treated all of his employees this way, even his right-hand woman, tearing up the thank you card to a one-of-a-kind gift. It makes it awesome that he's brought down by his employees (the hostess, the unknowing Sponder, the table people who probably knew something was wrong when people were winning right and left but didn't give a shit, etc.)
* Bill Lumbergh from ''Film/OfficeSpace'', a passive-aggressive SmugSnake who is especially cruel to [[ButtMonkey Milton]], taking his favorite stapler, constantly moving his desk to more and more undesirable locations, oh and ''laying him off and not telling him about it for several months''.
* ''Film/PainAndGain'': Victor treats his employees at the sandwich shop like crap. They liked their new boss Daniel. Now that Victor runs the place again, he either treats them worse for fires them for liking Daniel.
* Brad Wesley from ''Film/RoadHouse''. He beats the stuffing out of one of his {{Mooks}} for ''bleeding too much'', and sure enough, the guy still shows up to work for him every day.
* Two from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** Davy Jones in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest second]] and [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third]] film is feared even by the mussels clinging to his ship, which retreat into their shells at the sound of his approach, employs a sadistic Bo'sun to motivate his crew with a whip, and forces a man to [[SadisticChoice whip his own son rather than let said Bo'sun do it.]]
-->'''Maccus''': You'll trust us to act in your stead?
-->'''Jones''': I'll trust you to know what awaits should you fail!
** Blackbeard in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides fourth film]] maintains his crew's fear of him by never letting them see him, employs zombies to keep them in line, burns a man alive for taking part in a mutiny, and plays a RussianRoulette game with his own daughter to force Jack to obey him. His crew are shown to be a lot happier once [[spoiler:Barbossa kills Blackbeard and takes over his job]].
-->'''Blackbeard''': If I don't shoot a man every now and then, they forget who I am.
* Clarence Boddicker from ''Film/RoboCop1987'' when one of his men is shot in a bank heist upon finding him he asks him "Can you fly, Bobby?" He then has him thrown onto a police car that was pursuing them.
* The bandit chief from ''Film/SevenSamurai'' is a ruthless man who doesn't have the patience for deserters and kills one or two of his men for trying to abandon him.
* ''Film/ShootEmUp'': Mr Hertz. Shoots one of his own wounded henchmen because he was using him for cover and his labored breathing was ruining his aim. Also plugs another already wounded-in-the-ass mook in the other cheek because he let a "bum" get away with the baby.
* In ''Film/{{Spy}}'', DiskOneFinalBoss Raina is such a Bad Boss that her security detail is quickly reduced to being [[FlockOfWolves entirely CIA moles]], the rest being killed for failure. It extends to aspects of being a boss beyond keeping them alive as well. At one point a minion tries to kill her for never remembering his name, angrily declaring that he's called Fredrick... and she ''still'' forgets his name mere moments later.
* ''{{Film/Stargate}}'': Ra does ''not'' tolerate failure from his subordinates-[[YouHaveFailedMe fatally so]].
* Commander Kruge from ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'', who kills his lousy tactical officer when the guy over-performs, destroying a vessel instead of disabling it. The [[KlingonPromotion Klingon Promoted]] guy who takes over knows better than to mess up similarly. Later, however, Kruge is devastated when [[spoiler: Kirk orders the ''Enterprise'' to self-destruct, killing almost all of Kruge's crew]].
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Darth Vader, the TropeNamer and the TropeCodifier for YouHaveFailedMe. While prone to {{Flanderization}}, as he only kills two subordinates (in the films anyway), he would have killed the officer that mocked the power of [[SentientCosmicForce The Force]] had Tarkin not intervened, and the palpable fear that nearly everyone around him exudes indicates he at least has a strong reputation for this. In the Disney canon, it's mentioned that among Imperial officers, he's not known for bothering with a court-martial when it comes to discipline.
** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Vader force-chokes Ozzel to death for pulling out of lightspeed too close to the surface, and after the ''Millenium Falcon'' eludes Imperial Star Destroyers, Vader chokes Captain Needa when accepting his apology.
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Vader indicates that Emperor Palpatine is less tolerant of failure than Vader is about this. Moff Jerjerrod's visible reaction gives a good indication of how horrifying that prospect is.
--->'''Moff Jerjerrod:''' The Emperor's coming here?!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' That is correct, Commander. And he is most ''displeased'' with your apparent lack of progress.\\
'''Jerjerrod:''' We shall double our efforts! The station ''will'' be completed on time!\\
'''Vader:''' I hope so, commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as ''forgiving'' as I am.
** Kylo Ren has thus far been slightly better about this, usually opting to take out his frustrations [[PercussiveTherapy on the environment around him]] rather than his subordinates. However, at one point he does become enraged enough to telekenetically drag a First Order officer across the room and choke him.
* ''Film/StrokerAce'''s Clyde Torkle is a minor example. Once he has Stroker under contract, he proceeds to torment him with advertising slogans and events that Stroker can't stand, the first evil being stamping "Fastest chicken in the South" on Stroker's car. He threatens to fire Arnold just because he can't keep up with Stroker during an impromptu road race, and it's clear that he only hired Pembrook just to get the opportunity to sleep with her, although [[GroinAttack this backfires spectacularly]].
* Amanda Waller from ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' while a WellIntentionedExtremist, clearly treats both her subjects and employees horribly. Not only is she fully willing to execute her Squad just for disobedience and screw them over in the end despite after everything they had done but also shows no qualms murdering her own staff members in order to cover up her own incompetence.
* Studio head Alfie Alperin in ''Film/{{Sunset}}'' is a sadist who will inflict physical punishment on employees who have failed him.
* ''Film/TankGirl''. The BigBad Kesslee, UpToEleven.
** He kills a loyal minion/doctor because she couldn't repair his face. So, downloading him into a holographic projection of his head is somehow an IMPROVEMENT?!
** He also kills a competent captain of his men, because he hadn't yet captured a small area of land. Maybe if he didn't kill all of his competent people, he would have survived.
* ''Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'': Mr. Penn rips out the throat of one of his subordinates after the latter suggests [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere just splitting]] before the hero, Casey Ryback, comes for them. Earlier on, he casually shoots another of his men after he's been set on fire to ensure that the burning man doesn't damage any of their high-tech equipment.
* ''Film/WhenTrumpetsFade'', an HBO original movie about the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, features a Bad Boss as its [[AntiHero protagonist]]. Private Manning's unit nearly gets wiped out, but Manning survives because he's a coward, so he gets promoted to sergeant and is given command of the raw recruits who are brought in as replacements; he orders one of them to take point on a patrol on his first day, so that Manning can save his own skin. He then leads a group of these same raw recruits to destroy an enemy artillery installation in exchange for a promise that he will be removed from combat duty on psychological grounds if he succeeds. In the course of the mission, one of the two raw recruits, equipped with a flamethrower, runs away, so Manning shoots the fuel tank of the 'thrower, setting the private on fire. While that man is burning to death, Manning turns his pistol on the second flamethrower-equipped private and orders him to charge. While the mission succeeds, only Manning and that one soldier make it back. This gets Manning promoted to lieutenant.
* In ''Film/TheWolverine'', Shingen Yashida treats Yukio like crap, despite her faithful service to the Family.
-->'''Akivasha:''' Slaves should know their place.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Ludendorff murders a subordinate simply for complaining about his men being tired and hungry.
* Per his characterization in [[BadBoss/ComicBooks the comics]], Magneto's leadership in the Film/XMenFilmSeries is often revealed to be this, most notably in the original trilogy (and in particular during ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''). His callous abandonment of longtime [[TheDragon Dragon]] Mystique after she is [[DePower depowered]] foreshadows how willing he is to kill her in the prequel film ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' (admittedly to [[WellIntentionedExtremist save all of mutantkind]]). Even in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' he shows shades of this, stylizing himself as the DrillSergeantNasty to the titular first class. There's a ''reason'' why, when Magneto makes his WeCanRuleTogether speech at the end, Mystique is the only one to take him up on the offer.
----

* From ''Film/MomAndDadSaveTheWorld'' comes this heartwarming scene in which [[BigBad Tod Spengo]] (Jon Lovitz) asks his mooks which facial hair he should wear to his wedding.
-->'''Tod''': Which do you think would be better, goatee or mutton chops?
-->'''Twin Destroyer''': Mutton chops, m'Lord!
-->'''Tod''': ''(thinks)'' Hmm, no. No, I don't think so. Shoot yourself in the head.
-->''Twin obediently shoots himself in the head.''
** Spengo then decides that muttonchops would look better after all.
* Shao Kahn of ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' is very much the Bad Boss, getting rid of Rain and later Jade for having disobeyed or [[YouHaveFailedMe failed him]].

* ''Film/WhenTrumpetsFade'', an HBO original movie about the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, features a Bad Boss as its [[AntiHero protagonist]]. Private Manning's unit nearly gets wiped out, but Manning survives because he's a coward, so he gets promoted to sergeant and is given command of the raw recruits who are brought in as replacements; he orders one of them to take point on a patrol on his first day, so that Manning can save his own skin. He then leads a group of these same raw recruits to destroy an enemy artillery installation in exchange for a promise that he will be removed from combat duty on psychological grounds if he succeeds. In the course of the mission, one of the two raw recruits, equipped with a flamethrower, runs away, so Manning shoots the fuel tank of the 'thrower, setting the private on fire. While that man is burning to death, Manning turns his pistol on the second flamethrower-equipped private and orders him to charge. While the mission succeeds, only Manning and that one soldier make it back. This gets Manning promoted to lieutenant.
* In ''Film/TheWolverine'', Shingen Yashida treats Yukio like crap, despite her faithful service to the Family.
* In ''Film/LoveCrime'', Christine takes all credit for Isabelle's work, and then, when Isabelle tries to get out from under her, she makes her life a living hell of public humiliations. Nor is Isabelle her only victim; it's implied that the last person who held Isabelle's job ended up in a mental asylum.

* Two from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** Davy Jones in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest second]] and [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third]] film is feared even by the mussels clinging to his ship, which retreat into their shells at the sound of his approach, employs a sadistic Bo'sun to motivate his crew with a whip, and forces a man to [[SadisticChoice whip his own son rather than let said Bo'sun do it.]]
-->'''Maccus''': You'll trust us to act in your stead?
-->'''Jones''': I'll trust you to know what awaits should you fail!
** Blackbeard in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides fourth film]] maintains his crew's fear of him by never letting them see him, employs zombies to keep them in line, burns a man alive for taking part in a mutiny, and plays a RussianRoulette game with his own daughter to force Jack to obey him. His crew are shown to be a lot happier once [[spoiler:Barbossa kills Blackbeard and takes over his job]].
-->'''Blackbeard''': If I don't shoot a man every now and then, they forget who I am.
* In Soviet spy drama ''Film/MissMend'', Chichi the anti-Bolshevik terrorist boss pays a visit to his minions. A chemist tells Chichi about the poison gas he's developing to use against the Soviet Union. After the chemist gives Chichi a gas mask as a precaution, Chichi smashes the flask containing the poison gas. The scientist dies.
* In ''Film/{{Spy}}'', DiskOneFinalBoss Raina is such a Bad Boss that her security detail is quickly reduced to being [[FlockOfWolves entirely CIA moles]], the rest being killed for failure. It extends to aspects of being a boss beyond keeping them alive as well. At one point a minion tries to kill her for never remembering his name, angrily declaring that he's called Fredrick... and she ''still'' forgets his name mere moments later.
* In ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'', Komissar Razinin is feared by pretty much all of his underlings, as he has the power to order deportations to [[PlaceWorseThanDeath Siberia]].
* The bandit chief from ''Film/SevenSamurai'' is a ruthless man who doesn't have the patience for deserters and kills one or two of his men for trying to abandon him.

* Amanda Waller from ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' while a WellIntentionedExtremist, clearly treats both her subjects and employees horribly. Not only is she fully willing to execute her Squad just for disobedience and screw them over in the end despite after everything they had done but also shows no qualms murdering her own staff members in order to cover up her own incompetence.
* ''Film/KullTheConqueror'': Queen Akivasha is often tormenting the priest who resurrected her by burning off parts of his face.

* ''Film/StrokerAce'''s Clyde Torkle is a minor example. Once he has Stroker under contract, he proceeds to torment him with advertising slogans and events that Stroker can't stand, the first evil being stamping "Fastest chicken in the South" on Stroker's car. He threatens to fire Arnold just because he can't keep up with Stroker during an impromptu road race, and it's clear that he only hired Pembrook just to get the opportunity to sleep with her, although [[GroinAttack this backfires spectacularly]].
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Ludendorff murders a subordinate simply for complaining about his men being tired and hungry.
* In ''Judgement Night'', the BigBad kills one of his men, after the guy kept complaining about how pointless it is to hunt down and kill innocent civilians in the middle of the night. [[spoiler: Granted, those civilians did witness them commit a murder.]]a
* Timothy, who runs the [[SaturdayNightLive SNL]] {{Expy}} in ''Film/DontThinkTwice'' has a reputation for this, although the moments we see of him onscreen portray him as more harsh, but not ill-meaning.
---> '''Jack's Co-worker:''' For your first year, just try not to get fired.
* Studio head Alfie Alperin in ''Film/{{Sunset}}'' is a sadist who will inflict physical punishment on employees who have failed him.
* In ''Film/HorrorsOfTheBlackMuseum'', Edmond Bancroft brainwashes his assistant Rick, then uses him as a test subject for a PsychoSerum and sending him out to commit murders on his behalf. This culminates in Rick being ordered to kill his own fiancée, Angela. And when Rick isn't been mind controlled, Bancroft is using him as general dogsbody and castigating him for the slightest slip.
* ''Film/DrGoldfootAndTheBikiniMachine:'' The eponymous mad scientist towards his flunky Igor: "..Why must you listen to me when I'm ''wrong!?''"
* Trumbull in ''Film/TheComedyOfTerrors'' had left his father-in-law's mortuary business in ruins and frequently abuses his wife and associate Felix. It is also implied that much of the money that would have gone to paying their rent to their landlord (not that they had much to begin with due to their declining customer base) is because [[TheAlcohol he spent it all on alcohol]].
* Bartholomew Bogue, the CorruptCorporateExecutive BigBad in ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016''. He treats the miners in his employ so badly that they join the townsfolk of Rose Creek to fight his army in the FinalBattle. Then, [[YouHaveFailedMe he shoots Rose Creek's corrupt Sheriff]], who is on his payroll, just for giving him a message he doesn't like. Finally, he orders [[spoiler:a Gatling gun used on the town, [[WeHaveReserves mowing down several of his own men]] in the process]].

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Darth Vader, the TropeNamer and the TropeCodifier for YouHaveFailedMe. While prone to {{Flanderization}}, as he only kills two subordinates (in the films anyway), he would have killed the officer that mocked the power of [[SentientCosmicForce The Force]] had Tarkin not intervened, and the palpable fear that nearly everyone around him exudes indicates he at least has a strong reputation for this. In the Disney canon, it's mentioned that among Imperial officers, he's not known for bothering with a court-martial when it comes to discipline.
** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Vader force-chokes Ozzel to death for pulling out of lightspeed too close to the surface, and after the ''Millenium Falcon'' eludes Imperial Star Destroyers, Vader chokes Captain Needa when accepting his apology.
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Vader indicates that Emperor Palpatine is less tolerant of failure than Vader is about this. Moff Jerjerrod's visible reaction gives a good indication of how horrifying that prospect is.
--->'''Moff Jerjerrod:''' The Emperor's coming here?!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' That is correct, Commander. And he is most ''displeased'' with your apparent lack of progress.\\
'''Jerjerrod:''' We shall double our efforts! The station ''will'' be completed on time!\\
'''Vader:''' I hope so, commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as ''forgiving'' as I am.
** Kylo Ren has thus far been slightly better about this, usually opting to take out his frustrations [[PercussiveTherapy on the environment around him]] rather than his subordinates. However, at one point he does become enraged enough to telekenetically drag a First Order officer across the room and choke him.
* Willie Bank in ''Film/OceansThirteen'' treated all of his employees this way, even his right-hand woman, tearing up the thank you card to a one-of-a-kind gift. It makes it awesome that he's brought down by his employees (the hostess, the unknowing Sponder, the table people who probably knew something was wrong when people were winning right and left but didn't give a shit, etc.)
* Brad Wesley from ''Film/RoadHouse''. He beats the stuffing out of one of his {{Mooks}} for ''bleeding too much'', and sure enough, the guy still shows up to work for him every day.
* Casanova Frankenstein in the movie ''Film/MysteryMen'' makes the point to the heroes that he is willing to kill his own men for no reason, [[CardCarryingVillain just to show how tough and insane he is]]. What made it worse was that the particular {{Mooks}} he executed weren't even his own employees, but mercenaries who were temporarily working with him.
* Bill Lumbergh from ''Film/OfficeSpace'', a passive-aggressive SmugSnake who is especially cruel to [[ButtMonkey Milton]], taking his favorite stapler, constantly moving his desk to more and more undesirable locations, oh and ''laying him off and not telling him about it for several months''.

* Siegfried in the 2008 ''Film/GetSmart'' film is a bad boss, and the film seems very much aware of this trope. In his first scene, he promptly shoots one of his men who questions what seems to be a pointless part of Siegfried's plan (blowing up a warehouse for no apparent reason after stealing stuff from it). This behavior actually has consequences for the bad boss, however, as at the end of the film he's thrown out of his getaway car and off a bridge by his own [[TheDragon Dragon]] after threatening and insulting the guy and his wife repeatedly (once even implying that he intends to replace his dragon with a ''Rhinoceros'', should he fail.). He also continually insults his right-hand man Shtarker, who tells the other goons, "I'd quit, but he's married to my sister." TheDogBitesBack, however.

* The BigBad Taha Ben Mahmoud from ''Film/{{Banlieue 13}}'' is a trigger-happy boss. So trigger happy that his thugs are only in it for the massive money he has. When his hacker minion told him his accounts have been emptied, said minion left and the rest gun Taha down. Even then, he utters this FacingTheBulletsOneLiner:
-->'''Taha:''' You all are a bunch of useless dipsh*ts.
-->Mooks proceed to gun him down while he points his hands like guns to them.
* Morris in ''Film/BigGame'' shoots one of his Secret Service subordinates in the head and murders the rest by sabotaging their parachute deployment cords so they are unable to protect the president on the ground.
* ''Film/{{Cliffhanger}}''. One of the mooks is injured during the mid-air robbery.
-->"What do we do with him?"
-->"Send him to the nearest hospital." (throws mook out of the airplane)
* Commander Kruge from ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'', who kills his lousy tactical officer when the guy over-performs, destroying a vessel instead of disabling it. The [[KlingonPromotion Klingon Promoted]] guy who takes over knows better than to mess up similarly. Later, however, Kruge is devastated when [[spoiler: Kirk orders the ''Enterprise'' to self-destruct, killing almost all of Kruge's crew]].
* Shao Kahn of ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' is very much the Bad Boss, getting rid of Rain and later Jade for having disobeyed or [[YouHaveFailedMe failed him]].
* Clarence Boddicker from ''Film/RoboCop1987'' when one of his men is shot in a bank heist upon finding him he asks him "Can you fly, Bobby?" He then has him thrown onto a police car that was pursuing them.
* A similar incident occurs in ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII''. During the opening truck chase, one of [=DeWald=]'s accomplices, Taddeo, is winged by Axel and begs for help. [=DeWald=] by wordlessly leaning across the stricken henchman, opening the passenger door, and then calmly shoving him out to get run over by the pursuing Axel. Since [=DeWald=] doesn't taunt Taddeo it isn't as sadistic as Boddicker, but still pretty callous.
* In ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', Thulsa Doom demonstrates his power by ordering one of his worshipers to leap to her death with a gently worded, "Come to me, my child".
* ''Film/KillBill'' has several. Bill starts the series by ordering the assassination of a runaway employee...AT HER WEDDING, collateral damage accepted and expected. Budd's boss at the bar he worked at exemplifies a typical, non-murderous yet irrational and petty Bad Boss.
* Inspector Richard from ''Film/KissOfTheDragon''. Rather than dive away from a grenade for instance, he just throws a chubby subordinate on top of it. When the hero escapes into a laundry chute but goes up, he tells a man to go after him. The first guy begins to go to the stairs and gets shot, then he grabs a second guy and throws him at the chute. The guy instead starts looking around, but Richard is impatient and pitches him down the chute. By the time Jet Li escapes from the hotel Richard has killed around 60% of his initial crew himself. And much like Kefka and Palpatine, just hanging around him guarantees you'll die. Not bad for a guy who's completely normal, has no superpowers or special skills and the like. He gets away with everything under the sun by being the head of the local branch of Interpol and having agents and normal officers everywhere doctoring evidence and framing other people for it and keeps those in check with blackmail. Considering how much shit would come down on him if any of them stopped protecting him, it REALLY makes his men sticking with him ridiculous.
* Timothy in ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' receives a call on his radio from a henchman, who sounds badly wounded, saying that he thinks he's dying. Timothy responds "Continue dying", and shuts off his radio.

* ''Film/WhenTrumpetsFade'', an HBO original movie about the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, features a Bad Boss as its [[AntiHero protagonist]]. Private Manning's unit nearly gets wiped out, but Manning survives because he's a coward, so he gets promoted to sergeant and is given command of the raw recruits who are brought in as replacements; he orders one of them to take point on a patrol on his first day, so that Manning can save his own skin. He then leads a group of these same raw recruits to destroy an enemy artillery installation in exchange for a promise that he will be removed from combat duty on psychological grounds if he succeeds. In the course of the mission, one of the two raw recruits, equipped with a flamethrower, runs away, so Manning shoots the fuel tank of the 'thrower, setting the private on fire. While that man is burning to death, Manning turns his pistol on the second flamethrower-equipped private and orders him to charge. While the mission succeeds, only Manning and that one soldier make it back. This gets Manning promoted to lieutenant.
* ''Film/{{Casper}}'': Cathy Moriarty as Carrigan Crittenden does this to Paul "Dibbs" Plutzker (Creator/EricIdle) right up to the point of killing him before getting killed herself.
--> "Dibs! This is all your fault, as usual. If you would have just forged the damn will".
%%* Miranda Priestly from ''Film/TheDevilWearsPrada''.
* ''Film/HorribleBosses''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin What do you think it would include?]] The three horrible bosses mentioned in the movie title include a monster, a [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale rapist]], and a hedonist who [[TyrantTakesTheHelm takes the helm]] after his father's death.
* ''Film/{{Bamboozled}}'': Thomas C. Dunwitty, the tyrannical vice president of the Continental Network System or (CNS).
--> "I don't like to be the laughing stock of the entire broadcast industry. I don't like these pricks who call themselves my bosses breathing down my back. It makes me sweat."
* Franchise/{{Batman}} Live Action Movies:
** Creator/JackNicholson's ComicBook/TheJoker from Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/Batman1989''. When he gets angry at Batman, he asks Bob --his most loyal henchman-- for a gun; Bob gives Joker the gun, and the Joker kills him with it, for no reason other than he feels like killing ''someone''.
** Creator/HeathLedger's Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is arguably even worse. In the first scene, he has his gang slaughter each other, and later plants a phone bomb into one of his men. To even join the gang, there are tryouts which involve having the recruitees fight each other with halves of a broken pool cue.
* [[TheEeyore King]] [[FatIdiot Malbert]] from the 2008 animated failure ''WesternAnimation/{{Igor}}'' does a poor job at ruling his world.
* Mr Tinkles in ''Film/CatsAndDogs'' locks Calico in a building wired to explode.
--> "I want you to wait here."
--> "Why?"
--> "Because I hate you."
* In the made-for-TV movie ''Deadly Encounter'', Zervasco is chasing Sam and Chis in his helicopter. He lands and an M16-toting henchman gets out and pursues the two on foot. Suddenly Sam's friend Frank [[BigDamnHeroes swoops down in a biplane]] and whisks the two to safety. An enraged Zervasco gets back into the copter and takes off after them to resume pursuit... completely forgetting his poor henchman, who just gets left behind.
* Creator/DavidHasselhoff's character from ''Film/{{Click}}'' combines this with TheAce.
* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'': Max's foreman docks him a half-day for coming in late and wanting to work with a bum hand, which is somewhat reasonable but still helps to establish him as a jerk. Later on, he forces Max to walk into a radiation chamber which had already been primed (but not activated) to clear a door jam, leading to Max's irradiation when the door slams shut once the jam is cleared. At least he clearly feels bad about this, but he nevertheless forced Max into an extremely unsafe situation. However, the foreman isn't nearly as bad as Carlyle, who is more concerned about Max ruining the bedding in the medical bay than his condition, and even tells his foreman to cover his mouth so they won't breathe the same air.
* ''Film/PainAndGain'': Victor treats his employees at the sandwich shop like crap. They liked their new boss Daniel. Now that Victor runs the place again, he either treats them worse for fires them for liking Daniel.

* In ''Film/LordOfIllusions'', Nix the Puritan repays his cultists' blind obedience to him and bringing him back from the dead with burying them all alive. No, he's not their or anyone else's shepherd.
* The first ''Film/BadBoys'' movie gives us French gangster Fouchet, who never had pity for anyone and orchestrated several murders pretty unnecessary. He has one of his men dress up as a police officer to steal millions of dollars worth of heroin from a police station evidence lock up, and then kills him in order to create a distraction. Fouchet kills Eddie, who helped him set the heist up, for partying with some hookers and a tiny portion of the stash, and his chemistry team for "fucking with my schedule".
* In ''Film/TheWolverine'', Shingen Yashida treats Yukio like crap, despite her faithful service to the Family.
* In ''Film/TheGreatWhiteHype'', Sultan rewards his subordinates but makes it abundantly clear that he is the boss, his word goes and do not piss him off. Wielding a very hefty looking scimitar during a business meeting is not a sign of a nice man. But then, his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_King_(boxing_promoter) Expy]] is somewhat notorious.

*** In ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', the chairs in the SPECTRE conference room were rigged to electrocute any underling who displeased him.

*** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'': He does it again to a henchman who was supposed to have the Pale King/[[spoiler:Mr. White]] eliminated by ordering his NumberTwo to [[SickeningCrunch have his skull bashed on the table]], [[EyePoke eyes gouged out]], before killing him with a NeckSnap. And the way Blofeld also deals with the Pale King/[[spoiler:Mr. White]] for defecting also qualifies, as he had poisoned his cell phone so that he dies a slow but painful death, watching his own body deteriorate via radiation poisoning.

** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Vader force-chokes Ozzel to death for pulling out of lightspeed to close to the surface, and after the ''Millenium Falcon'' eludes Imperial Star Destroyers, Vader chokes Captain Needa when accepting his apology.

->'''Thanos:''' ''(being crushed by an enraged Scarlet Witch)'' Rain fire!\\

->'''Thanos:''' (''being crushed by an enraged Scarlet Witch'') Rain fire!\\