IMQ #32 - People in Film - Favorite Movie Villain

[Chaplin]

Another cliche, but I'm going with Heath Ledger's Joker, which was a mesmerizing bit of method acting.

Honorable Mentions:
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber - Die Hard
Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape - Harry Potter movies
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith - The Matrix
James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader - The Empire Strikes Back
Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector - The Silence of the Lambs
Kevin Spacey as Keyser Soze - The Usual Suspects
Ricardo Montalban as Khan - Star Trek II
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes - Misery

There are a lot out there.

 

[AZCrazy]

Hannibal Lecter was only supposed to be a bit part in the movie, but Hopkins was so quietly terrifying that he created one of the greatest screen villains of all time in limited screen time. That one was a tour de force.

 

[Dback Jon]

Interesting choices.

Do people that turned back good at the end (Severus Snape, Darth Vader) still qualify? Or does the villainery of the majority of the films out weigh the conclusion.

 

[Dback Jon]

Others (first two as bigger villains than those listed above:

Emperor Palpatine - Ian McDiarmid
Voldemort - Ralph Fiennes
Nurse Ratched - Louise Fletcher

 

[AzStevenCal]

Alan Rickman (Die Hard)
Tommy Lee Jones (Under Siege)
Bruce Dern (Diggstown)
Kris Kristofferson (Fire Down Below)
Robert Shaw (The Sting)
Don Johnson (Tin Cup)
Dennis Farina (Midnight Run)
Red (Richard Dreyfuss)
American President (Richard Dreyfuss)
Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction)
Kevin Hart (Fool's Gold)
Donald Sutherland (Outbreak)

 

[Superbone]

I would add Philip Seymour Hoffman in Mission Impossible III.

 

[MrYeahBut]

Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs)


Buscemi (Fargo)
Eastwood (Unforgiven)
de Niro (Cape Fear)

 

[Chaplin]

Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs)


Buscemi (Fargo)
Eastwood (Unforgiven)
de Niro (Cape Fear)

Can’t Eastwood the villain in Unforgiven? Are you saying Gene Hackman was the hero??

 

[MrYeahBut]

Can’t Eastwood the villain in Unforgiven? Are you saying Gene Hackman was the hero??

You have a point, well taken. Both were equally unremorseful. Hackman was terrific in that role.

Hackman was better as Lex Luther... lol, j/k

 

[Cheesewater]

Jack Nicholson - The Shining

 

[Covert Rain]

In no particular order:

James Earl Jones - Darth Vader
Heath Ledger - Joker
Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
Anthony Perkins - Norman Bates
Allen Rickman - Hans Gruber
Tom Hiddleston - Loki
Ian McDiarmid - Emperor Palpatine
Hugo Weaving - Agent Smith
Joe Peschi - Tommy DeVito
Jack Nicholson - The Shining
Thomas F. Wilson - Biff Tannen
Josh Brolin - Thanos
Kevin Spacey - Keyser Soze
Al Pacino - Michael Coreleone
Marlin Brando - Vito Coreleone

Honorable mention
Ralph Fiennes - Voldemort
Robert Englund - Freddy Krueger
Joe Peschi - Harry Lime
Daniel Stern - Marv Merchants
Jeffery Rush - Hector Barbossa
Robert Patrick - T2 Terminator
Peter Cushing - Grand Moff Tarkin

 

[Chaplin]

In no particular order:


Joe Peschi - Harry Lime

I prefer Orson Welles - Harry Lime in The Third Man.

If you haven't seen The Third Man, you owe it to yourself to see it as soon as possible.

 

[Covert Rain]

I prefer Orson Welles - Harry Lime in The Third Man.

If you haven't seen The Third Man, you owe it to yourself to see it as soon as possible.

Ha! I have seen it. My professor who taught both film and tv production classes was obsessed with Orson Welles and Hitchcock. I think over multiple classes I watched every single movie they were attached too. LOL.

 

[NJCardFan]

Tough to name one so here's a list:

Hannibal Lecter
Darth Vader
Judge Doom(for a comedy this character was just so damned evil)
Curella DeVille
Rachel Phelps
Goldfinger
Warden Hazen
Khan Noonian Singh
Commander Krugh(2nd appearance by Christopher Lloyd)
Headly LaMarr
Dark Helmet
Brewmaster Smith
Thanos
Dracula

To name a few

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

Having a week long brain fart on mine. It is obvious but it has not hit me yet.

Without a doubt this is in my top 5, he was SO GOOD in this role.


Sheriff of Nottingham: [to a *****] You. My room. 10:30 tonight.

Sheriff of Nottingham: [to another *****] You. 10:45... And bring a friend.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sheriff of Nottingham: Locksley. I'll cut your heart out with a spoon.

Robin Hood: Then it begins.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

You have a point, well taken. Both were equally unremorseful. Hackman was terrific in that role.

Hackman was better as Lex Luther... lol, j/k

He may not have been better, but he was a HELL of a Lex Luther.

 

[Cheesebeef]

wait a second... has NO ONE said one of the best, most terrifying villains of all time? Maybe it's because people just remember him as a good guy from the sequel on, but I'm stunned this hasn't been said:

The Terminator - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Favorite/Best though is Ledger's Joker, hands down for me.

Others not already mentioned:

General Zod - Terence Stamp
The Jew Hunter - Christopher Walz
Pennywise - Tim Curry version
Clubber Lang - Mr. T
Spike - Spike (original Gremlins)
Warden Norton (Shawshank)
Dark Helmet - Rick Moraines
The Fratelli's - Mama, Joey Pants and Robert Davi
Ed Rooney - forgot this Pedphile's name
Gordon Gecko - Michael Douglas
Richard Vernon - Principal from Breakfast Club

 

[NJCardFan]

Richard Vernon - Principal from Breakfast Club

Was he a villain though? Because watching this film as an adult I look at it from a different perspective. When this movie came out, I did see Vernon as a dick but as I grew older, I came to believe that he was right and that the real villain was Bender. Bender was a character who made sure to point out the shortcomings of the other kids but didn't like it when the mirror was turned toward him.

 

[Chaplin]

wait a second... has NO ONE said one of the best, most terrifying villains of all time? Maybe it's because people just remember him as a good guy from the sequel on, but I'm stunned this hasn't been said:

The Terminator - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Favorite/Best though is Ledger's Joker, hands down for me.

Others not already mentioned:

General Zod - Terence Stamp
The Jew Hunter - Christopher Walz
Pennywise - Tim Curry version
Clubber Lang - Mr. T
Spike - Spike (original Gremlins)
Warden Norton (Shawshank)
Dark Helmet - Rick Moraines
The Fratelli's - Mama, Joey Pants and Robert Davi
Ed Rooney - forgot this Pedphile's name
Gordon Gecko - Michael Douglas
Richard Vernon - Principal from Breakfast Club

How about Dean Wormer - Animal House?

 

[Shane]

In no particular order:

James Earl Jones - Darth Vader
Heath Ledger - Joker
Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
Anthony Perkins - Norman Bates
Allen Rickman - Hans Gruber
Tom Hiddleston - Loki
Ian McDiarmid - Emperor Palpatine
Hugo Weaving - Agent Smith
Joe Peschi - Tommy DeVito
Jack Nicholson - The Shining
Thomas F. Wilson - Biff Tannen
Josh Brolin - Thanos
Kevin Spacey - Keyser Soze
Al Pacino - Michael Coreleone
Marlin Brando - Vito Coreleone

Honorable mention
Ralph Fiennes - Voldemort
Robert Englund - Freddy Krueger
Joe Peschi - Harry Lime
Daniel Stern - Marv Merchants
Jeffery Rush - Hector Barbossa
Robert Patrick - T2 Terminator
Peter Cushing - Grand Moff Tarkin

Reference james Earl jones whom i love BTW... But does just having a cool voice make you a good actor/villain IE Darth??

 

[Chaplin]

Reference james Earl jones whom i love BTW... But does just having a cool voice make you a god actor/villain IE Darth??

Yes. In that movie it does.

 

[Shane]

Yes. In that movie it does.

Don't get me wrong the voice makes the part 1000% but being costumed up and never seeing a facial expression makes it a damn easy roll to play.

 

[puckhead]

Was he a villain though? Because watching this film as an adult I look at it from a different perspective. When this movie came out, I did see Vernon as a dick but as I grew older, I came to believe that he was right and that the real villain was Bender. Bender was a character who made sure to point out the shortcomings of the other kids but didn't like it when the mirror was turned toward him.

Bender's character was able to grow in the span of one Saturday and became accepting of a relationship he would have never dreamed of before that day. He also brought down the walls he had been forming his entire life up to that point and began to realize that they each had their own battles to fight and prejudices to overcome.

Vernon was ~30 years their senior and still maintained all the preconceived notions about every kid in the school whether they be positive or negative. That's not to mention his little visit to the archives and threat to physically harm a student. The kids all came out of detention a little wiser and we saw none of that in Vernon's character.

 

[Covert Rain]

Reference james Earl jones whom i love BTW... But does just having a cool voice make you a good actor/villain IE Darth??

That is part of it but it’s the overall character that was great. I can’t imagine how hard it is to voice a character and make it menacing when you are not physically in the costume.

You say it’s easy but I think the opposite which is why motion capture has become so popular. Actors feel like they can be more authentic acting out the part. That would appear to be the opposite of easy doing what he did back then.

Specifically he made the voice iconic.

 

[Cheesebeef]

How about Dean Wormer - Animal House?

He's a great one, as is Greg from the rival frat.