Top Film Villains Part Deux

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 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 gangstability SLJ earned in Pulp Fiction rapidly deteriorated here.  Not only does he kill Smokey, (I'll admit though, 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 (Cady had it coming though)

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.