10 Films About Men Destroyed By Their Own Ego

10. Nightcrawler (2014)

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom, a sociopath who makes his living filming crime scenes. He has no morals and only cares about moving up, turning news gathering into a predatory business that leads to violence. It is a cold look at ego and ambition in today's gig economy.

9. Amadeus (1984)

F. Murray Abraham plays Salieri, a composer eaten up by jealousy as he watches Mozart's natural genius. His need to be better than his rival pushes him to sabotage Mozart and ruin his own life. Milos Forman's Oscar winning film takes a close look at how pride can poison someone who is only average but cannot accept it.

8. Wall Street (1987)

Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, the face of corporate greed with his famous speech that greed is good. A young broker named Bud Fox gets pulled into that world of power and money, but cutting corners and betraying people ends up destroying everything. Oliver Stone's sharp movie is a critique of 1980s capitalism driven by pure ego.

7. Barry Lyndon (1975)

Stanley Kubrick's beautiful period film follows an 18th century social climber who uses marriage and duels to move up in the world. But his pride and bad decisions eventually bring him down. It is a cold, ironic look at people who chase status and how easy it is to lose everything when you get it the wrong way.

6. The Aviator (2004)

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Howard Hughes, a brilliant man in both aviation and movies who slowly falls into obsessive compulsive behavior and complete isolation. Martin Scorsese shows how a huge ego and big dreams can drive someone to do amazing things but also break their mind and push away everyone close to them.

5. Raging Bull (1980)

Robert De Niro plays Jake LaMotta, a boxing champion who cannot control his jealousy, paranoia, or anger. Those same qualities tear apart his career and his family. Scorsese's black and white masterpiece shows how pride and insecurity can turn a man's best quality into the very thing that ruins him.

4. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Martin Scorsese's wild movie follows Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, as he shoots up to the top of the stockbroker world with fraud, drugs, and nonstop partying. His huge ego and love for pleasure keep him from seeing the trouble coming until the feds finally bring him down. It is a darkly funny takedown of male ambition with no limits.

3. There Will Be Blood (2007)

Daniel Day Lewis gives an incredible performance as Daniel Plainview, an oilman who will stop at nothing to get more money and power. His obsession slowly turns him into a hateful monster who stabs everyone in the back, including his own family. Paul Thomas Anderson's big epic movie shows greed and ego as poisonous forces that leave nothing behind but a hollow man.

2. Scarface (1983)

Al Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who climbs to the top of Miami's drug world through pure violence and confidence. But his paranoia and belief that he is untouchable destroy every friendship and relationship he has. A cocaine fueled downfall follows. Brian De Palma's wild, violent movie is a harsh warning about what happens when ego and too much of everything take over.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Welles' great film follows Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate who builds his fortune and power through cold ambition. His ego pushes away everyone he cares about, and his huge mansion Xanadu becomes a lonely prison. The movie uses clever storytelling to show how too much pride can leave a person completely alone, with nothing real left behind.