Screen Villains

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 11:00 pm

Reading about "once Upon A TIme In THe West" on the dvd thread inspired this post - Movie Villains -

here are five of my favorites (no order) -

Frank (Henry Fonda) - Once Upon A Tme In THe West
Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Gregory Powell (James Woods) - The Onion Field
Szell (Laurence Olivier) - Marathon Man
Rico (Edward G Robinson) - Little Caesar

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 11:22 pm

Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins) - Silence Of The Lambs
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) - Psycho
HAL 9000 - 2001: A Space Oddysey
Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) - Blue Velvet
Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) - Goldfinger

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 12:26 am

The two Franks (Booth and, er, Fonda) are definitely in my Satanic pantheon...Here are some favorite performances, as is Lecter from Silence.

Angela Lansbury/Mrs. Iselin -- The Manchurian Candidate
Alan Rickman/Hans Gruber -- Die Hard
Jean Hagen/Lena Lamont -- Singin' in the Rain
Faye Dunaway - Network
John Vernon/Dean Wormer -- Animal House
Walter Matthau -- Fail Safe
Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean -- The Westerner
Christopher Lee/Lord Sumersisle -- The Wicker Man
Kenneth Branagh/Iago -- Othello
Claude Reins -- Notorious/The Adventures of Robin Hood

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:40 am

Boy, you've forgotten Dr. Smith of LOST IN SPACE. Oh wait that's TV. I wonder what made me think of him????

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:09 am

Blue, the HAL - 9000 is probably my favorite movie villain. I love that you end up feeling more for a computer than for the human beings.

I do anyway . . . maybe its just me.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:30 am

Dai.... sy, daiiiiiii s eeeeeeee......

so sad...

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:34 am

pip_52 wrote:Blue, the HAL - 9000 is probably my favorite movie villain. I love that you end up feeling more for a computer than for the human beings.

I do anyway . . . maybe its just me.

I think for most great villains (and heroes for that matter) you end up feeling mixed emotions about them. Are they really that bad? Are they really that good? Though I don't think there is a moment in Blue Velvet where I think Frank Booth is redeemable

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:57 am

Yes, I often feel empathy for Dr Evil, because he's only doing what he was born to do. He's just being himself.

If I can feel sympathy for HAL, then why is it I have trouble feeling anything for the little boyborg in Artificial Intelligence?

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 12:01 pm

Incredible choices! Lee Marvin was a cold bastard as Liberty Valance, wasn't he?

(in no particular order)

1. Bruce The Shark - Jaws
2. Christopher Walken - At Close Range
3. Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast
4. Joseph Cotten - Shadow of A Doubt
5. Robert Mitchum - The Night of The Hunter

RedShoes · Post by **RedShoes** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 1:08 pm

El Vez wrote:1. Bruce The Shark - Jaws

Was he really named Bruce?

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:10 pm

Lee Marvin was a cold bastard as Liberty Valance, wasn't he?

Plus he started the whole "dude" thing.

Boy, you've forgotten Dr. Smith of LOST IN SPACE

Dr. Smith was the hero of that show, not the villain - Don West is the bad guy. By the way, the entire first season is slated for DVD release in either January of February.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:41 pm

[/quote]I think for most great villains (and heroes for that matter) you end up feeling mixed emotions about them. Are they really that bad? Are they really that good? Though I don't think there is a moment in Blue Velvet where I think Frank Booth is redeemable

[/quote]

I think great villains come in two basic flavors -- the sympathetic ones that are fairly easy to relate to like HAL (who, after all, is only fighting for his own survival -- and he's the most human character in the whole film!), and those who are entirely unsympathetic and vile, but have some attractive or relatable qualities that make them compelling -- if only as a sort of evil wish fulfillment.

The two Franks, etc. are fascinating partly because of their self confidence and because they seem to revel in cruelty -- it almost looks fun to be that revolting. Then, we might hate them even more when we recognize that feeling in ourselves. It's sort of the same phenomenon as Lawrence of Arabia realizing he enjoyed killing and becoming upset and disgusted -- but not entirely giving up the joy of murder.

Hannibal Lecter is even more so -- because, as one mildly psychotic friend of mine said, he's just got one bad habit. Entirely self-aware of his evil -- which probably never or rarely happens in real life, even with pure psychopaths -- but otherwise a thoroughly well-adjusted, charming guy. As played by Hopkins with such humor and almost chivalric nobility, he's actually kind of a combination of the two kinds of villains, which is why he's such a compelling figure, I think.

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 8:15 pm

Glenn Close as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction

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