Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
The Crime: Harmonica (Charles Bronson) was just a boy when Frank (Henry Ford) killed his brother. Though Harmonica tried to save his dying sibling by putting him on his shoulders, he ultimately failed.
The Revenge: Years later, Harmonica encounters Frank again and finds that he is terrorising Jill, a woman whose family Frank killed. Eventually Harmonica exacts his revenge by shooting Frank and putting a harmonica in his mouth.
The Awesome: Sergio Leone’s masterpiece, West seethes with vendettas, hidden pasts and mysterious motives. Both Bronson and Ford are at the top of their game.
Get Carter (1971)
The Crime: London gangster Jack Carter returns to Newcastle, the home of his youth, after learning that his brother has died in a car accident. Carter, though, is sure that he was murdered, and sets out to uncover the truth – by any means possible.
The Revenge: Discovering that his brother fell foul of a crime boss, Carter takes his gory revenge, killing a prostitute by fatal injection and wielding a sniper rifle to deadly end.
The Awesome: Unrelentingly grim, this ‘70s classic is a brutal, unforgiving journey into a dark and forbidding world.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
The Crime: Does one crime beget another? Fred Krueger is murdered by the parents of Springwood after he is acquitted of killing their children, though they're certain of his guilt. Confronted by the parents, Krueger is burned alive.
The Revenge: Even death can’t stop Krueger coming back to punish those who wronged him, his restless spirit manifesting in the dreams of teenagers and bringing their worst nightmares to life. If you die in your dreams, you die in the real world, too.
The Awesome: Easy to forget amidst the surge of increasingly rubbish sequels and nutty dream antics that Freddy’s story is, at its most basic, one of revenge. And what a vessel for vengeance he is; the thing of nightmares, one might say.
