Line #47 Film/HeroesForSale


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robe_heroesforsale_splsh.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: The ShellShockedVeteran in TheGreatDepression.]]
3	Directed by Creator/WilliamAWellman, ''Heroes for Sale'' (1933) is a [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-code]] drama about the life of Tom Holmes, a returning WWI veteran. It’s a rare look at fallen servicemen that later films like ''Film/TheBestYearsOfOurLives'' would also explore.
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5	Tom (Richard Barthelmess) suffers through the horrors of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and TheGreatDepression as a war hero with none of the glory; Roger Winston (Gordon Westcott), thinking Tom dead during a deadly mission, takes the credit for capturing a German officer and is awarded a medal of honour.
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7	Back to civilian life after recovering from his injuries as a POW, Tom has a crippling morphine addiction and is treated unjustly even when he sacrificed so much for his country.
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9	Able to kick his addiction, Tom finds himself in Chicago where he meets kind Mary (Aline [=MacMahon=]) and her father who run a restaurant and an apartment building. There he meets and falls in love with Ruth (Creator/LorettaYoung). Ruth works at a laundromat and gets Tom a job there. With his quick mind, he’s able to work his way up and live a relatively happy life. But it begins to fall apart when his boss dies, and the company is taken over by uncaring businessmen. Thrust once again into uncertainty and torment, Tom struggles to keep his dignity and care for his family and friends.
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11	!!''Heroes for Sale'' displays the following tropes:
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13	* BittersweetEnding: The film ends with [[spoiler: Tom as a hobo, trying to find decent work,]] but his son says that he wants to be like his father when he grows up.
14	* CrapsackWorld: How America treated, and still treats, its war veterans.
15	* DirtyCoward: Roger freaks out during the mission, so Tom captures a German officer all by himself. {{Lampshaded}} by Roger:
16	--> '''Roger''': There I was, everybody making a hero of me. I accepted it because I didn't have guts enough to refuse it... It went on, and on - the honours piled up. And everyone I got made it more impossible to tell the truth. I couldn't let go. I know that all my promotions and decorations belong to you. I know that I've stolen the credit from a real hero.
17	* DisappearedDad: {{Justified}} since Tom was put in jail and is being persecuted by [[spoiler: anti-communists]].
18	* DudeWheresMyRespect: The world treats veterans with no respect. Tom, and [[spoiler: and eventually Roger]], experience this firsthand when they are treated harshly by policemen [[spoiler: as hobos.]]
19	* FakeUltimateHero: Roger plays up the noble war hero card with his father and gets all the glory. [[spoiler: The irony being that he eventually loses it all just as much as Tom even as a decorated war hero.]]
20	* {{Hobos}}: [[spoiler: Tom and Roger]] become hobos as the Great Depression ravages on.
21	* IdiotBall: Tom, thinking that he can calm down an angry mob who’s out for blood, follows them and makes himself look like their [[RabbleRouser leader]]. Ruth, on the other hand, follows this angry mob, trying to save Tom from them. She puts herself in danger [[spoiler: and is murdered by one of the protesters]].
22	* ItsASmallWorldAfterAll: Eventually Tom bumps into Roger under some bridge in the middle of nowhere.
23	* {{Jerkass}}: Roger's father to Tom. He's very unsympathetic to Tom's addiction.
24	* JobStealingRobot: What the laundromat workers are rioting about. Tom and Max created a machine for the laundromat to make the work easier, but they made sure to secure the workers’ jobs. However, when the owner dies, the new businessmen want to spend less, so they fire the workers and have the machines do most of the work.
25	* KillThePoor: Max has this idea after having turned into a member of the NouveauRiche.
26	-->"If I was running the world...I would kill everybody that needed anything."
27	* LoveTriangle: Between Ruth, Mary, and Tom. Mary is the only one that experiences UnrequitedLove.
28	* MiscarriageOfJustice: Tom gets wrongfully accused and convicted of leading a mob and inciting to riot.
29	* MissingMom: [[spoiler: Ruth gets killed, leaving Tom and their son alone.]] Mary becomes a surrogate mother for Tom and Ruth’s child.
30	* NeverSayDie: Tom tells his son that his mother went somewhere.
31	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: First Tom captures the German officer and gets injured in his back. Later he tries to stop the PowderKegCrowd but in turn gets accused of being their RabbleRouser and gets sentenced to five years of hard labor.
32	* PicturePerfectPresentation: There is a scene transitioning from a newspaper photograph to the real location at a laundromat.
33	* PowderKegCrowd: It just needs one stone throw to start the riot between the angry mob and the police force.
34	* PrisonerExchange: After the war is over, Tom gets returned to his own lines via an exchange of prisoners between Germany and the Allies.
35	* RecoveredAddict: Due to his bullet injury from the war, the German doctors treat Tom’s excruciating pain with powerful morphine pills. Tom becomes addicted to them and gets sent to jail because he can no longer function. After a year, he’s able to quit cold turkey.
36	* RedScare: Tom goes to jail because he “led” the mob and was thought a communist. [[spoiler: The whole reason why he must bum around the country is because he’s being watched by anti-communist forces who want to kill him.]]
37	* TheStoic: Tom.
38	* StrawHypocrite: Max Brinker is a straw communist who gets exceedingly greedy once he makes enough money.
39	-->'''Tom Holmes''': You used to hate the capitalists.
40	-->'''Max Brinker''': Naturally. That was before I had money.
41	* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler:Ruth gets clubbed to death by a single blow of the truncheon, it happens without warning and buildup and her body falls with a totally shocked look on its face]].
42	* TakeThat: The movie attacks the hypocrisies of both capitalism ''and'' communism.
43	* TimeCompressionMontage: Tom's five years at prison gets captured in a couple of key shots with the [[ExplodingCalendar year numbers popping up on screen]].
44	* TravelMontage: Tom's travel across the country is illustrated with a pan across the map of the United States.
45	* UnrequitedLove: Mary has always had a thing for Tom. She never acts on it.
46	* VerbalTic: Max’s constant “tisk, tisk, tisk” noise he makes when he disapproves. Usually for an un-communist way of thinking.
47	* VideoCredits: The film begins this way.

Context Film / HeroesForSale