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:
“As deaths have accumulated I have begun to think of life and death as a set of balance scales. When one is young, the scale is heavily tipped toward the living. With the first death, the first consciousness of death, the counter scale begins to fall. Death by death, the scales shift weight until what was unthinkable becomes merely a matter of gravity and the fall into death becomes an easy step.”
—Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946)
“Maggio: Just hate to see a good guy get it in the gut.
Corporal Buckley: You’d better get used to it, kid. You’ll probably see a lot of it before you die.”
—Daniel Taradash (b. 1913)