A fall guy is a person who is used as a scapegoat; someone who ends up taking the blame (or being held responsible) for the actions of another person or group. Someone placed in the position of fall guy is often referred to as someone who is "taking the fall." In the film industry, a fall guy is a form of stock character.
Famous quotes containing the words fall and/or guy:
“I have every characteristic of a night person—a distaste for bosses, a hatred of the expected, an obsession with gaining an ultimately nonexistent freedom—every quality except one. I can’t stay awake after a while. I fall asleep.”
—John Bowers (b. 1928)
“You know how you smoke out a sniper? You send a guy out in the open, and you see if he gets shot. They thought that one up at West Point.”
—Samuel Fuller, U.S. screenwriter. Zab (Robert Carradine)