True Companions/Film

Examples of True Companions in Film include:

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Animated Films

Other Examples

The plot of the Japanese film Densha Otoko (Train Man) revolves around a true companions group that forms around the title character, a shy otaku who saves a girl from a drunk on the train. The true companions group is made up of people intrigued by his story, who encourage him and give him advice on how to woo the woman. He in turn inspires them to get out of the various ruts they have been stuck in.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: After going through several hardships in their shrunken state, the kids eventually warm up to each other, leading to a romantic bond between Amy and Little Russ.
The GSE, the West Ham United's firm, from Hooligans.
A variant on this pops up in The Maltese Falcon. If you're a detective, it doesn't matter that you hated your partner and were sleeping with his wife -- he's your partner, and if he's killed you have to do something about it.
The Mighty Ducks: DUCKS FLY TOGETHER.
The cast of Zombieland, despite initial attempts to not form personal attachments to each other.
Danny Ocean's band in Ocean's Eleven, original, remake and sequels. Especially notable in Ocean's 13 where in the beginning much of the team wants to drug, kill, and bury the villainous casino owner who betrayed their friend and caused him to go into shock.
Rent has this when the seven friends band together in the wake of Benny's Face Heel Turn, as well as the fact that half of them are HIV-positive. Even Joanne, an Ivy League lawyer who was only there because she was dating Maureen, gradually joined the gang and even stuck around after the couple's breakup which was fortunate, since Angel's death brought them back together.
Since Newsies is about a strike, the importance of solidarity and sticking together is repeatedly emphasised, as in the song "Once and for All":

Once and for all we'll be there to defend one another
Once and for all every kid is a friend, every friend a brother!

Todd Browning's Freaks centers on a group of circus "freaks," including a couple of folks with dwarfism, an intersex "half-man, half-woman," a pair of cojoined twins, a fellow with no limbs, etc. A "normal" trapeze artist marries one of the "midgets," and is treated to a wedding feast by his true companions, who cheer their friend's fortune, and welcome the aerialist as "One of us!" in the film's most memorable scene. When it's revealed that she only married him so that she could get to his money, kill him, and run off with her boyfriend, the pissed-off "Freaks" take revenge on her and the boyfriend, mutilating them and condemning them to a life as freaks, but without the solidarity of the others that made such a fate tolerable.
The Wizard of Oz's Dorothy and crew, (both the movie and the original book).
- Aside from the original, other books in the Oz world have also had this in some form or another.
- The tradition continues with the live-action miniseries Tin Man. Dorothy's great-granddaughter DG forms one with the three gents she picks up.
Rebel Without a Cause, with Jim and Judy as "parents", and Plato as the kid.
The cast of Sneakers appears, at the outset, to be employees at a small securities firm, but when it comes time to circle the wagons, they work together like only true companions could.
Nowhere in any of the Star Trek movies is this shown more than in Star Trek III the Search For Spock: after Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise in the previous movie, the entire cast hijack the Enterprise, sacrificing their careers, possibly even their lives, along with the ship and Kirk's son in order to kill some Klingons and go after a one-in-a-million shot at bringing the green-blooded bastard Back from the Dead. This is driven home even further when, in the next movie, Spock chooses to stand with his "comrades" at their trial, despite not being charged of any crime himself.
- Then there's the 2009 movie, in which Spock Prime manipulates events in the alternate universe, forcing that universe's Kirk and Spock to work together to defeat the Romulans, despite the fact that they hate each other. The experience causes them to grow to respect each other and eventually become friends. When the Spock of that universe meets Spock Prime and asks why he didn't simply show up himself to solve the problem, Spock Prime explains that he didn't want there to be a universe where his self was denied the strong friendship he shared with Kirk.
Sure, they're rude, crude, and somewhat morally grey, but the Deltas from Animal House are definitely this. "They can't do that to our pledges! Only we can do that to our pledges!"
In the original Star Wars trilogy the core cast of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO. Over the course of three films they risk their lives, endure torture and hardship, and make tremendous sacrifices for each other. Even the droids are treated like people instead of property, both of them being repaired after sustaining damage that most people would just consider an excuse to buy a new droid.
- By Return of the Jedi Lando Calrissian appears to be on his way to joining (he clearly views Han and Chewie this way, but it's less certain how he feels about the others and how they feel about him), along with possibly Wedge Antilles (moreso in the books than the movies, but the last scene of ROTJ shows him as part of the group).
- Wedge is considered part of the true companions as far as the other characters are concerned, partly because he's one of the few left alive from the beginning. The problem is that he's the Hero of Another Story, so doesn't get to hang out with the rest as much.
- One of the (many) complaints about the prequel trilogy was that, in contrast to the original films, the main characters, in general, came across more as a group of people with similar goals than friends and family that cared about each other.
- Consider also that this may be why the main characters fail to come together and defeat Palpatine. Teamwork, people!
The Fellowship of the Ring from The Lord of the Rings definitely qualifies. Many of the members don't even know each other at first, but they become Fire-Forged Friends and risk their lives for each other repeatedly. When they're forced to separate, they still remain close and have a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming at the end of the movie when they all meet up again.
The title group in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, once they survive being betrayed by their employer and The Mole and solidify their common goal, are implied to be becoming true companions.
Tom Hanks' group of soldiers in Saving Private Ryan.
The Vietnamese film Owl and the Sparrow revolved around one of these made up of three people who meet each other in Saigon: a zookeeper, a flight attendant, and a runaway girl who sells flowers on the street. The last scene of the movie has the flight attendant leaving the airport to meet the other two, hugging the little girl when she finds them
Almost everyone except her main rival seems to be one of Bethany Hamilton's True Companions in Soul Surfer.
The main trio in the Harry Potter movies. The books have a lot more of them.

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