50. John Tuturro as
"Pino" in Do the Right Thing
In a movie chock full of great characters that had bad
intentions as there was little "good" in this movie and definitely no
hero, Pino's hatred towards black people transcended BugginOut's paranoia, Radio
Raheem's boom box, the cops excessive force and Sal's baseball bat. You hope in this world that people don't hate
others just because the color of their skin (violin music probably needs to
play here), but that's exactly who Pino was, someone who would carry out a hate
crime, or stomp an ethnic’s teeth into a curb. We never really got to see
his hatred manifested, thankfully due to his brother and father.
49. Maurice Evans as
"Dr. Zauis" in Planet of the
Apes
Here's someone else who hated just because man was different
than ape, well, that and the fact that the history of man taught him that man
would most certainly destroy the planet as it had in the past. Dr. Zauis seems like today's fundamentalist
in that he will do whatever he can to repress truth in order to preserve
God. He was basically nothing but a
damned dirty ape.
48. Paul Muni as
"Tony Camonte" in Scarface
This character was one of the first to glorify the
villain. By today's standards, he's
really not too unique anymore or even fun to root for, but I have to give him
points for trailblazing.
47. Jeffrey Jones as
"Ed Rooney" in Ferris Bueller's
Day Off
This list can't be just criminals, or people consumed with
hatred. Ferris Bueller's nemesis is
merely a poor principal that has to deal with a smart alecky punk rich kid with
a tendency to ditch school a lot. Come
to think of it, next time I watch this movie, I may have to go for Ed, well,
except for the whole child pornography thing … still have to side with Ferris
in this rivalry.
46. J.E. Freeman as
"Eddie Dane" in Miller's
Crossing
Some bad guys are really good bad guys, like this one. There's not one likable thing about this
character. In a movie where every
character is tied to the mob, and one guy stands out as the evilest villain of
them all, you have to respect that.
45.
"Rednecks" in Deliverance
Banjo music has never been the same since this movie. Who wouldn't be terrified if they were in a
small town and encountered some slack-jawed yokel playing the banjo? I wonder if this movie hurt Georgia's
tourism. I certainly will do my best not
to travel through there, of course, it’s pretty hard not too if you’re driving
out of Florida.
44. "The
Devil" or "Regan" in The
Exorcist
Some of her performance is a little over the top which is
needed for laughs to break up the horrifying display of vulgarity and whatever
else spews from her mouth. Above it all,
the creepiest part of the movie is when she walks down the stairs on her hands
backwards, like a crab or something.
That creeps me out too much. If
that ever happened at a dinner party I was hosting, I'd send the kid to asylum
that very minute.
43. "Men"
in Thelma and Louise
Almost every single man in this movie is an asshole. Even a good one like Harvey Keitel, who may
understand the ladies plight, is still dying to arrest them.
Here's the Top 5 Worst Men In the Movie:
5.
Random Shirtless Guy Staring at Louise - There's nothing like exposing
your chest hair and gawking at a woman at the same time.
4.
Dirt Truck Driver - That poor truck driver. Find me one male truck driver that doesn't
ogle women profanely? It's in their job
description.
3. Darryl – Thelma's Husband - Shooter McGavin
plays a great dickhead.
2.
Brad Pitt the Thief - Of course the good looking young guy is going to
rob you old cougar! What did you think
was going to happen, true love?
1.
Harlan the Rapist - The name says it all. I'll never respect anyone I meet named Harlan
again.
42. Ian McDiarmid as
"The Emperor" in Return of the
Jedi
This old man wasn't the most charming fellow, that's for
sure. Once the order to kill off the
Jedi was completed, and he no longer had to hide behind the mask of being a
Senator or Chancellor, it must have been quite a relief for him, yet he was
still an uptight prick. You control the
Empire! Chill out a little guy!
41. Woody Harrelson
and Juliette Lewis as "Mickey and Mallory" in Natural Born Killers
This movie hasn't aged too well, but just as the original Scarface may have been one of the first
to glamorize the villain, this one was the first to have the serial killers as
the heroes of the film. Stone may have
been a little too over the top with his quote unquote commentaries on society
on this one. I should probably include
Rodney Dangerfield's role in this as a great villain too. Let's call him 41-C.
40. Louise Fletcher
as "Nurse Ratched" in One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest
She makes many critics "Best Villains" list but
she's a little overrated. She's not THAT
evil, she's just trying to run the asylum the way she thinks best.
39. Gary Oldman as
"Drexl" in True Romance
If you were making a movie with a heinous villain in the
early 1990s, you had to consider Gary Oldman to play the role. At one point, it seemed as if he was the
villain in every single movie that came out.
Even though this role is quite limited say, compared to his role in The Professional, it's my fave. Why not, how about Top 5 Gary Oldman Villain
Roles:
5. Air
Force One – Ivan Korshunov
4. Bram
Stoker’s Dracula – Dracula
3. JFK
– Lee Harvey Oswald
2. The
Professional – Stansfield
1. True
Romance – Drexl
When you get Lee Harvey Oswald and Dracula, you know your #1
on director’s “I need a villain” list.
38. Cillian Murphy as
"Scarecrow" in Batman Begins
Something Christopher Nolan did quite well in his rendering
of the Batman story is make the villains very dark creatures. Whereas they were somewhat comical in the
late 80s and 1990s films (and even more comical in the TV show), they are now
psychotic people that need to be feared.
They don't grab a boom box and dance before they poison you, the just
poison you.
37. Jack Nicholson as
"Frank Costello" in The
Departed
Some say he mailed this performance in but I disagree. What made him so great for this role was that
he was playing a gangster that was coming undone. Though I do agree Nicholson, like DeNiro and
Pacino, doesn't act nearly as good as he did in his prime, he did a great job
here, minus the "This ain't reality TV!" line. That one was pretty weak.
36. Samuel L. Jackson
as "Ordell Roby" in Jackie
Brown
Whatever fun loving gangatsbility SLJ earned in Pulp Fiction rapidly deteriorated
here. Not only does he kill Smokey,
(I'll admit, hearing Chris Tucker yap until a bullet was put in him was a
lifelong dream of this film fan), but he kills a fun stoner in Robert DeNiro,
and really shouldn't have. I don't like
it when people kill Robert DeNiro in movies.
Never have, never will … in fact …
The Top 5 People I'm Most Upset With For Killing Robert
DeNiro Characters:
5.
Gaylord Focker in Meet The Parents
4: Greg's Revenge (Okay, this didn't happen)
4.
Nick Nolte or "The Water" in Cape Fear
3.
Those Russian Dudes in 15 Minutes (I
really hated that one even though the movie sucked)
2.
Ordell Roby in Jackie Brown
1.
Al Pacino shooting him in Heat (Just
another example of the wrong ending).
35. Lee J. Cobb as
"Johnny Friendly" in On the
Waterfront
The best villain from the best pre-Godfather gangster movie is Lee J. Cobb. Cobb was a villain trailblazer as his
performance as the angriest juror in 12
Angry Men was almost as good. It
must be fun to go from film to film trying out for the role of
"angry" guy.
34. Faye Dunaway as
"Bonnie" in Bonnie and Clyde
She's sort of the first "hot girl" villain. There have definitely been other misguided
ladies (or ladies of the night) in film by this point, but no ladies misdeeds
reach the levels of Ms. Parker. Clyde was bad too, well worse even, but Bonnie is the
reason to watch the film and cheer for the villain.
33. The Predator in …
The Predator
Creatures, be they dinosaurs, aliens, or rabbits with really
sharp teeth are all eligible for villainy.
The alien from this film was in like 23 more movies. Granted, I didn't see any of them, but my
memories from its first film are fond.
32. Ted Knight as
"Judge Smails" in Caddyshack
A great villain is always the old uptight rich white guy at
the country club. Knight nailed this stereotype
for this movie. The role gives birth to
the "token dissenting republican" character that you find in a lot of
disaster films.
31. Bob Gunton as
"Warden Norton" in The
Shawshank Redemption
This movie had a quite a few unsavory characters. Imagine having the power to "throw
someone in the hole" if they did something you didn't agree with. I'd probably abuse it too. I had a conversation with a co-worker today
about being wicked and having the ability to turn people into frogs. What
percentage would you turn into frogs? I said 90.
30. Viet Cong Guard
in The Deer Hunter
The Russian Roulette scene when DeNiro and Walken overcome
all the Viet Cong in that swamp is one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen in a
movie. It’s a couch jumper.
29. Matt Damon as
"Sgt. Sullivan" in The Departed
Was I crazy to be rooting for him in the movie? Seeing it's Scorsese, I knew he'd die after
everyone else did, but I was a little disappointed when it happened (and even
more disappointed with that whole rat scene following the death).
28. Alan Rickman as
"Hans Gruber" in Die Hard
Another great villain type character, especially during the
Cold War, was the Eastern European terrorist.
Rickman did a perfect job. There
are moments in film when you know the bad guy is merely going to threaten the
hostage, but not Hans. He was a
killer.
27. John Malkovich as
"Teddy KGB" in Rounders
Though we never get to see the full arm of his power, his
accent was enough. He's very high on
that "fun to imitate" list, but I've never been very good at doing
it.
26. Jack Nicholson as
"Col.
This says it all:
"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those
walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt.
Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You
weep for Santiago Santiago
25. The Shark Who
Played "Jaws" in Jaws
People didn't swim in New England oceans (or maybe just the
Atlantic) for about 10 years after this movie.
It's too bad sharks don't make noise before they eat their victims. Lions have a good roar. T-Rex's have their distinct kill sound and
Samuel L. Jackson has his bible passage, but what do sharks get?
24. Mark Rolston as
"Boggs" in The Shawshank
Redemption
The only character that’s worse in Shawshank Prison than the
Warden was Boggs. I'd rather not talk
about him too much.
23. Alan Ford as
"Brick Top" in Snatch
Many characters on my list are part of a crime syndicate in
one way or another. Here's some
representation from across the pond. I'm
no theologian. I don't know what happens
to the soul when you die, but I do know that my body being fed to pigs couldn't
help the soul's possible afterlife in any way.
22.
"Sauron" in Lord of the
Rings
Gotta say this in a nerdlinger Napoleon Dynamite like voice
…
He's only the leader
of all of life's cruelty and malice and will destroy Middle Earth if he gets
the one ring to rule them all … GAWSH!
21. David Carradine
as "Bill" in Kill Bill Vol. 2
He's more of a "cool" villain than a scary
one. My only thing with him is that his
"tragic" death will affect how his character ages. It will be hard not to look at him and think
about him being erotically tortured and a possible accidental suicide that
ensued.
20. Christoph Waltz
as "The Jew Hunter" in Inglorious
Basterds
Nazi's are perhaps the greatest villains of them all due to
them being real 'n all. Waltz is so
wonderfully evil in this movie that Hitler himself looks like a joker. When I first saw this film, I was a little
disappointed at the ending, how he sold himself out, but realized this was the
smart thing for him to do, and of course in a villainesque way.
19. Some Computer as
"HAL" in 2001: A Space Odyssey
HAL's sarcasm while playing chess is what makes it for
me. Sure, there's all that computers
turning on humans stuff which is great, but it seems every time he talks,
sarcasm reaches unprecedented levels.
Ooh, that computer guy, he's
cool.
18. Marlon Brando as
"Stanley
Seeing I don't consider Brando's "Godfather" a
villain, this is perhaps the best villain role he's played, the wife beating
drunk. Still, you have to feel for a guy
that's created his perfect niche in life, but then if forced to live with his
wife's annoying sister. No one wants
that.
17. Arnold
What's strange is growing up, Arnold
16. Some guy as
"Boba Fett" in Empire and Jedi.
Growing up watching Star
Wars, Boba was the coolest character of them all. I was a little too young to appreciate the
first film when it came out, but was old enough for Empire. I for one definitely
got caught up in Boba Fett mania and wept when he tragically got eaten by the
Sarlac. (Note: I didn't research the name of the thing that
ate him. I almost hope I'm wrong, but
something tells me I'm not and I've reached a new tier of Star Wars geekery.
15. Michael Madsen as
"Mr. Blonde" in Reservoir Dogs
Are you gonna bark all
day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?
Madsen was the Elvis cool psycho.
He was also responsible for my first ear dismemberment. I've seen plenty since, some that have come
historically before and some after, but none as memorable.
14. Anthony Perkins
as "Norman Bates" in Psycho
I'm sure he's much higher on most lists, as he's films first
… well, psycho. He's great, but aside
from finding him very creepy, I didn't fear him at any point in my life,
despite "the shower scene" making showers a dangerous proposition for
days after watching the film when I was young, but at 17 I learned the
truth.
13. Malcolm McDowell
as "Alex" in A Clockwork Orange
The droog accent probably makes him look less psychotic than
he is. Sometimes you can tell a great
villain if he's been dressed up as for Halloween. I know at least two people that have dressed
as him, Bart Simpson and moi, so he gets points for that. Also, the droog garb has been re-created
countless times to dress up gangs.
There's even a droog based gang in The
Warriors, but that weasel villain from the movie doesn’t deserve to come
close to this list.
12. William Zabka as
"Johnny Lawrence" in The Karate
Kid
One form of villain I haven't touched on yet is the high
school bully. There are plenty in 80's
comedies, but Johnny and his Cobra Kais are little more mean spirited than say,
Roy Stalin and his Better Off Dead ski
team. Seeing Daniel crane kick him as a
kid was nearly as invigorating as it is watching Johnny beat the shit out of
him now that I'm an adult. Zabka really
is a "best of both worlds" villain.
11. Joaquin Phoenix
as "Commodus" in Gladiator
I hated him so much.
He basically had every horrible characteristic a villain could have and
it led to me hating him as an actor.
Fortunately, I've learned that just because someone plays a horrible
person well, doesn't make them a horrible actor. Watching this movie recently I saw how great
of a villain he was. Nobody could possibly
cheer for this guy in any walk of life.
10. Kevin Spacey as
"Keyser Soze" in The Usual
Suspects
I didn't include Kevin's role in Se7en even though that serial killer role instills more fear in me
than this one. It's not all about
instilling fear though, this isn't a FOX News special. Everyone loves Keyser Soze, well, accept the
characters he encounters in the film.
9. Daniel Day-Lewis
as "Daniel Plainview" in There
Will Be Blood
Some will probably look at me funny when I say that he's not
a villain, and that Eli is the true villain in this film. They're both basically backsliders and
manipulating people so it's a tough call.
Backsliders is a great word by the way.
8. Al Pacino as
"Tony Montana" in Scarface
His performance in this may be overdone a little (this is Al
Pacino after all), but he's so much fun.
It's strange how Pacino went from being a great actor in the 70s, to
someone who completely overacted in the 80s and 90s, to someone who doesn't even
try to act at all nowadays. Say what you
want about Al, but at least he's covering all sides of the acting spectrum and
not just interesting characters.
7. Jack Nicholson as
"Jack Torrance" in The Shining
Recently around Father's Day I saw that Time magazine did a
"Top 10 Worst Dads of All-Time" and "Here's Johnny" got a
well deserved #1 on the list. As bad as
he was, you have to feel like if you were in that situation with a snooping
kid, an Olive Oil wife, and no booze for several months you'd go crazy
too. Who wouldn't? Best part about the Worst Dad list was that
Homer Simpson wasn't even included. My,
how society has crumbled.
6. Robert DeNiro as
"Max Cady" in Cape Fear
I'm not sure if he won an Oscar for this role and don't feel
like looking because either way, this is DeNiro's last great performance. I've always thought it was a lesser DeNiro
movie but it has aged quite well, especially due to his performance.
5. Javier Bardem as
"Anton Chighur" in No Country
For Old Men
Every time he opens his mouth, something sanely crazy comes
out. My favorite part of his character
was that he didn't kill the old lady at the trailer park as it was his way of
saying to her that her life will be more miserable if he lets her live.
4. Anthony Hopkins as
"Hannibal
He's basically the critic’s darling of villainy. Silence
of the Lambs is a perfect film, and even though I enjoy the other parts of
his story, they've taken away too much of his mystique to be #1.
3. Heath Ledger as
"The Joker" in The Dark Knight
Every time he's onscreen this film reaches a level that very
few ever attain. He can say the biggest
cliché like "you complete me" and it still sounds original. Every time he opens his mouth is
captivating. My only disappointment with
him in this movie is he never kissed Maggie Gyllenhaal so Heath could've had
the distinction of kissing both her and her brother Jake. That'd have been great.
2. James Earl Jones
as "Darth Vader" in the Star
Wars trilogy
Perhaps the best rendition of thee ol' Man vs. Machine
battle is Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker.
Darth Vader's mere appearance led me to immediate tears upon his arrival
on the Rebel ship the first time I saw Star
Wars. Of course, I was 5. I begged
and pleaded my mom to take me, promising her I wouldn’t cry, but this was
fucking Darth Vader!
1. Daniel Day-Lewis
as "Bill the Butcher" in Gangs
of New York
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