Backstabs In Movies And TV Shows From The 1990s We Didn't See Coming

In 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of killing his wife and her lover. It's 1947, and he's sent to Shawshank Prison for life; like almost everyone else there, his protestations of innocence are drowned out by his peers. He eventually finds his place in the prison by proving his worth to the guards and warden. As a former banker, Dufresne handles the guards' taxes, and eventually does the books for shady warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton), who has been skimming profits off the top. 

In 1965, young convict Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows) comes to Shawshank  As he's talking about a man he knew from another stint in the joint, it turns out he has information that would exonerate Dufresne. He takes this to Norton, who agrees to meet Williams outside the gate, and a guard lets him out. They talk about exonerating Dufresne, and Williams is more than willing to do whatever it takes to save his friend.

With a look, Norton signals prison guard captain Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown) in a nearby tower, who fatally shoots Williams. Violence was nothing new at Shawshank, but this act of utter betrayal, damning Dufresne to life in prison (not to mention killing Williams), pushed him to get revenge.

One of the most memorable scenes in 1992's Reservoir Dogs sees Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) torture a police officer by cutting off his ear. Meanwhile, Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) lies unconscious in a pool of his own blood; he was wounded during a robbery and is effectively dead to the world. Mr. Blonde douses the earless cop in gasoline, but doesn't have a chance to immolate him.

Instead, Mr. Orange wakes up and shoots his comrade until his gun is empty. He reveals to the officer that he's an undercover detective, and the police will soon be there once the right bad guy enters the picture. They have a conversation, and neither man is doing well. Ultimately, Mr. Blonde's demise causes the entire enterprise to fall apart, and everyone dies. Except, maybe, Mr. Pink.

L.A. Confidential is a 1997 neo-noir crime movie about a group of Los Angeles police officers in 1953 that focuses on corruption within the department and the nature of Hollywood and its celebrities. James Cromwell plays Dudley Smith, a wise and honorable police captain in charge of the other cops in his department.

One of them, Detective Sergeant Jack “Hollywood Jack” Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), discovers Smith isn't as incorruptible as he thought. Vincennes confronts the captain and explains that he's uncovered evidence that two cops who worked for Smith in the past were guilty of a prostitution blackmail scam.

Smith takes it in stride and shows no signs of betrayal. He makes tea for his guest, and right after Vincennes takes the cup, Smith pulls out a gun and shoots him in the heart. Vincennes has a look of utter shock on his face, and he soon dies, uttering “Rollo Tomasi” before passing – a sly reference to something his partner Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) told him earlier, which lays a trap that will expose Smith's guilt.

In many ways, Goodfellas is all about relationships. It's the story of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his life with the mob, told through a lens of nostalgia. One of the most important relationships is between Hill and James "Jimmy" Conway (Robert De Niro); the two meet when Hill is young and become close friends throughout the course of the film.

Conway is close to Hill's wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco), and becomes an integral part of their lives. When Hill is busted for drugs, this creates a problem with his fellow mobsters, as the don strictly prohibits getting into narcotics. It's also a security risk, because if Hill faced enough pressure from the cops, he could turn on his friends.

Karen goes to Conway for help, but his behavior raises red flags, and she suspects he's trying to have her killed. Soon after, Conway meets Hill in a diner and asks him to go to Florida to carry out a hit - something Conway had never asked before. “That's when I knew I would never have come back from Florida alive," Hill stated. He surmised Conway was setting him up to be killed, which ultimately pushed him to turn and become a fink.

U.S. Marshals, released in 1998, is a sequel to The Fugitive and continues the story of Chief Deputy US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). He and his team are in pursuit of another fugitive named Mark Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) after he escapes government officials. Sheridan, like Dr. Richard Kimble from The Fugitive, is innocent and has been framed.

Gerard is joined by Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent John Royce (Robert Downey Jr.), who's assigned to Gerard but isn't as good a guy as he seems. In truth, he framed Sheridan, and Royce is actually a Chinese mole. When Royce is alone with Deputy Marshal Noah Newman (Tom Wood), he shoots him and lies by telling Gerard that Sheridan was the one who shot Newman. 

When this works, they continue their hunt for Sheridan and eventually catch him. Gerard comes to suspect something isn't right with Royce and thinks he may be involved, so he sets a trap. He lures Royce into a room, believing Sheridan is inside. He's set to kill him but is instead exposed. This leads to a fight that ends with Royce dead on the floor.

Event Horizon isn't your typical sci-fi flick, as it's more akin to horror than anything else. Regardless, the 1997 film is set in 2047, and it follows a crew of astronauts on a rescue mission aboard a rescue vessel called the Lewis and Clark. The starship Event Horizon was missing for some time before inexplicably appearing in orbit around Neptune. The astronauts board and search the derelict vessel and find that it brought something back from its trip.

Dr. William "Billy" Weir (Sam Neill) is along for the ride, as he's the Event Horizon's designer. Unfortunately, he succumbs to the vessel's dark passenger and is up to no good. He explains that the Event Horizon opened a gateway to a hellish dimension; doing so made the starship sentient, and the thing it brought back possessed Weir. Hence, the man who would have saved them all instead gouges out his eyes and destroys the Lewis and Clark. He becomes the primary antagonist and kills several people in his desire to return the Event Horizon to the infernal place it came from.