Implied Death Threats in Live-Action Films.
- 71: Into the Fire: After an argument with his Political Officer, Major Park says "Bears are killed for their gall bladders. Men are killed for their tongues."
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God. "That man is a head taller than me. That may change."
- Amen: Rudolf Hoess expresses his annoyance with delays in shipments of Zyklon-B to the death camps by stating that industrialists who assist the SS with the killing of "undesirables" for reasons of profit while falsely espousing Nazi ideology have reason to fear: "We can always aryanize the aryanizers".note
- In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the arms dealer Ulysses Klaue is introduced shouting through the phone at a business partner who cheated him on a shipment of parts, finishing his tirade with "You settle your account in full by this time next week, or the next missile I send you will come very much faster!"
- In Broad Daylight: Tired of Len Rowan harassing his wife, Missouri Highway Patrol officer Jack Wilson asks one of Rowan's friends to take a message to Rowan.Wilson: I want you to give him a message for me. I want you to tell him if he phones my home one more time, or if he comes within sighting distance of my home one more time, he's going to find himself staring down the barrel of a .357 some dark night on a lonesome road, and it'll be the last one he ever stares down. Can you remember that Frank?
- Conspiracy (2001). Heydrich brings the few officials opposed to the Final Solution into line this way.Heydrich: Sitting at that table I will ask for your agreement on what is proposed.
Kritzinger: And I must answer now.
Heydrich: Oh you will answer now or you will answer...later. - The Crying Game: A downplayed version—i.e. an Implied Severe Injury Threat:Fergus: Have you ever picked up your teeth with broken fingers?
- In The Dark Knight, a subtle and indirect example - not even meant to be overtly intimidating. Wayne Enterprises accountant Coleman Reese figured out that Bruce Wayne must be Batman (by discovering the paper trail in the millions of dollars for development on the Tumbler/Batmobile), and presents it to Batman's ally Lucius Fox, who runs operations at the company for him. Reese presents his findings, then announces that he wants $10 million per year for the rest of his life, to keep his mouth shut. Lucius looks at him for a moment then calmly points out why he should rethink this, after which Reese dejectedly walks away and tells him to keep the Tumbler schematics.Lucius Fox: Let me get this straight. You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands... and your 'plan'... is to blackmail this person? (short pause) Good luck.
- In Death Note (2017), Light interrogates Ryuk over possibly killing FBI agents behind his back. After the short argument, Light warns Ryuk that if he goes behind his back again, he'll write Ryuk's name in the Death Note and kill him. Ryuk laughs and tells Light he can try, but offers a quick warning.Ryuk: There are four letters in my name. Most anyone's ever gotten were two.
- In Deewaar, crime boss Daavar casually mentions to Vijay that a man who switched sides to work for Daavar's rival Samant was run over the previous night.
- Doctor... Series:
- Doctor at Large: Dr. Hatchet gives a long speech about doctors who have murdered and gotten away with murder to Dr. Sparrow, in an attempt to keep him away from his wife, Jasmine.
- Doctor in Love: Sir Lancelot has no time for the Haystack Club doorman, and lets him know this:Haystack Club Doorman: Ooh, a doctor? Well, is somebody ill, sir?Sir Lancelot: There'll be somebody at the gates of death hammering for admission if you don't let me in.
- Doctor in Clover: Nurse Bancroft's fiancé doesn't take kindly to Dr. Grimsdyke's advances on her:Nurse Bancroft's Fiancé: I'll see you in Casualty tomorrow, Doctor.Dr. Grimsdyke: I won't be in Casualty tomorrow.Nurse Bancroft's Fiancé: You will be... if you ask her out again.
- Extreme Prejudice (1987). Texas Ranger Jack Benteen meets his childhood friend turned drug kingpin Cash Bailey at the Mexican border. Neither side is willing to compromise, and as Jack turns to leave Cash says, "You know, Jack. I got a feeling the next time we run into each other, we gonna have a killin'. Just a feeling."
- Fist of Fury has Bruce Lee (as "Chen Zhen") give one to two Japanese students at a Dojo, all while forcing them to eat pieces of paper with the insult: "Sick Man of East Asia."Chen: Now you're eating paper. The next time, it's gonna be glass.
- In Gladiator, overlapping with Let Me Tell You a Story, there's the story of emperor Claudius that Commodus tells to his nephew. It is actually an implication of death for the boy, but meant to threaten his mother, which is Commodus's sister, Lucilla. He looks straight into her eyes as he tells his story, making the threat not so subtle.Commodus: If you're very good, tomorrow night I'll tell you the story of emperor Claudius who was betrayed by those closest to him, by his own blood. They whispered in dark corners and went out late at night and conspired and conspired but the emperor Claudius knew they were up to something. He knew they were busy little bees. And one night he sat down with one of them and he looked at her and he said, "Tell me what you've been doing busy little bee or I shall strike down those dearest to you. You shall watch as I bathe in their blood." And the emperor was heartbroken. The little bee had wounded him more deeply than anyone else could ever have done. And what do you think happened then, Lucius?
Lucius: I don't know, uncle.
Commodus: The little bee told him everything. - Heathers: J.D., Veronica's Serial Killer boyfriend, covers up his kills by leaving forged notes so that they seem like suicide. After Veronica breaks up with him, he meets with her parents and plants the suggestion that she was experiencing thoughts of suicide, to drive the point home that he could easily get rid of her too.
- House Shark: When Ulysses asks Ronald what happens to the two-and-a-quarter percent of Regan Realtors who don't close on house sales, Ronald says he doesn't know.Ulysses: Neither do their families.
- The Killing Room (2009). A female NSA psychiatrist is recruited to observe an experiment and is shocked to find it's a lethal Mind Control program. At one point she steals the swipe card and it looks like she might free the subjects. The head researcher has already killed two subjects with a Boom, Headshot!, and he tells her it's more merciful to just get it over quickly if you're required to kill a man. Then he adds pointedly, "Or a woman."
- James Bond:
- In Octopussy, after Bond wins a large sum of money from Kamal Khan using Khan's own loaded dice, Khan warns him to "spend the money quickly".
- In Licence to Kill, the ruthless drug lord Franz Sanchez, who really runs the local Banana Republic tells his Figurehead President, "Remember, you are only President... for Life".
- In Joker (2019) During his climactic appearance on the Murray Franklin Show, Arthur Fleck tells Murray Franklin that he killed the three guys in the subway because they were "awful," then later in that conversation, tells Murray, "You're awful," implying that he considers Murray as deserving of death as his other victims. Not long afterward, he puts a bullet between Murray's eyes live on camera.
- Magnum Force. Inspector Callahan 'accidentally' shoots a police officer target during the shooting competition to let the vigilante cops know he's on to them. The cops in turn confront Callahan using the With Us or Against Us trope. When Callahan makes it clear he's not with them they just drive off, but it's clear the lines have been drawn for a future lethal confrontation.
- In the Laurel and Hardy short film Me and My Pal, Oliver is set to be married, and best man Stanley is responsible for ordering flowers for the ceremony. Ollie ends up running very late (he got distracted by a jigsaw puzzle), and when the flowers are delivered to the wedding venue while everyone is waiting, they turn out to be a funeral wreath (because, well, Stan). The incensed father of the bride storms off to confront Ollie himself... then briefly returns to grab the wreath before he goes, remarking, "I may have some use for this!"
- A more overtly violent example than most in National Security, after Earl pulls over a student driver:Earl: Student driver, huh? *pulls out his gun* Lesson 12: Man with gun. Get your ass up out the car.
- Nikita: "Row 8, Plot 30", referring to the gravesite that Nikita was saved from being buried in.
- This exchange in North By Northwest:Vandamm: It seems to me you fellows could stand a little less training from the FBI and a little more from the Actors Studio.
Roger: Apparently, the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead.
Vandamm: Your very next role. You'll be quite convincing, I assure you. - The Last of the Mohicans: "One of these days you and I are going to have a serious disagreement."
- Panic Room: When Junior tries to cut his losses and leave, Burnham warns him that he will split the money with Raoul and that if he sends the cops after them in response, they "will know who to look for". Although it appears that Burnham was bluffing, as he's pretty shocked when Raoul simply shoots Junior on the spot.
- Papillon. Papillon has been falsely imprisoned for murder, so he enlists the help of another inmate to escape prison. The inmate warns Papillon against double-crossing him. "You might be innocent as you claim, but at least one of us is a murderer."
- In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, after Norrington begrudgingly forms an Enemy Mine with Jack Sparrow he makes it abundantly clear he has zero respect for the pirate and that Jack had best shut his mouth or else:Norrington: Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isla de Muerta. You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase "silent as the grave." Do I make myself clear?Jack: Inescapably clear.
- In Raising the Wind, after Jill backs into a cab, the driver makes note of the harp in her car:Jill: You see, I'm horribly late. I-I was trying to get my harp out of the back of the car-Cab Driver: Look, carry on drivin' like that, you'll need that instrument sooner than you think!
- Says McCarty to Johnson in Silver Lode: "Johnson, you worry me. The way Williams used to worry me." We later find out that McCarty killed Williams, but the implication was pretty clear right away.
- Sinners and Saints (2010). The Cowboy Cop shows the villain a Polaroid photo of a victim who's been burnt alive. The villain says that the cop ought to be very careful "because a man who could do something like that, you never know what he's capable of." So the cop shows more Polaroids, this time of the villain's henchmen he killed in a prior shootout. "If I was that guy, I'd be pretty fucking concerned about what I'm capable of."
- Spider-Man: Far From Home: Done humorously after Nick Fury has one too many interruptions from talking with Peter Parker.Nick Fury: Another person touches that door, you and I are going to attend another funeral.
- In Star Wars, the Sith abide by the Rule of Two: only one master and one apprentice at a time, with the latter killing the former when he's ready to assume the title. If the master feels their current apprentice just isn't cutting it note , they'll find a potential replacement and start showing subtle but unmistakable signs of preferential treatment.
- Superman Returns: After Lex Luthor denies Lois Lane's request to turn back his ship and let Jason go:Luthor: No, I don't think we'll be turning around Ms. Lane, which means that we do have some time to kill. How about that interview?
- The Third Man: Harry Lime casually opens the door of the Ferris wheel while discussing the fiscal worth of human life. Watching him carefully, Holly Martins gets a good grip on the doorframe.
- In the 1986 action comedy Tough Guys the protagonists are marched off by a shotgun-toting hitman.Harry: Where are we going, friend?
Hitman: We're going up this alley, "friend".
Archie: And then what?
Hitman: And then I'm coming out. Alone. - Happens in The Towering Inferno.Duncan: Did you change any of Doug's electrical specifications?
Simmons: I most certainly did.
Duncan: For God's sake, why?!
Simmons: The reason should be obvious - especially to you!
Duncan: We've got a fire. And if it was caused by anything you did, I'm going to hang you out to dry, and then I'm going to hang you!
