Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Top Ten Movie Villains (MovieFone)

This is topic Top Ten Movie Villains (MovieFone) in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-15-2008, 08:41 PM:

Here is their list, voted on by ... uh, voters.

I have to think The Joker might move up a notch or two once the new bat-movie comes out, considering the advance reviews.

1: Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter - Ralph Fiennes

2: Darth Vader, Star Wars -James Earl Jones, Hayden Christensen

3. Wicked Witch Of The West, The Wizard Of Oz - Margaret Hamilton

4. Hannibal Lecter, The Silence Of The Lambs - Anthony Hopkins

5. Joker, The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger

6. Goldfinger, Goldfinger - Gert Frobe

7. Chigurh, No Country For Old Men - Javier Bardem

8. Hans Gruber, Die Hard - Alan Rickman

9: Max Cady, Cape Fear - Robert De Niro

10: Queen, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs - Lucille LaVerne

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-15-2008, 11:00 PM:

YES! Heath Ledger as The Joker is the number 5 ALL TIME movie villian!

What do you mean the movie hasn't come out so how would I know? Why do I need to have seen the performance to answer an online poll?

[Roll Eyes]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-15-2008, 11:02 PM:

They're just giving him sympathy because his ass croaked earlier this year.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-15-2008, 11:08 PM:

Well, I don't really remember much of the Harry Potter movies, and I have mixed feelings about Darth Vader, but I think the evil-est villain is the Wicked Witch of the West from OZ. She never backed down; never gave up; never had any "comic relief" lines in the movie; she was pure evil all the way to the core. And her undoing in the movie was a total accident...usually, the villain gets beat up or shot or something after a huge battle and you can predict what's going to happen. The Witch got hers with a simple bucket of water which Dorothy threw to help somebody else (the Scarecrow). I still remember seeing that for the first time as a kid...I truly had no idea how they were going to get out of that mess.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-15-2008, 11:27 PM:

Those lists are kooky since they're usually very stilted towards recent movies and forgetful of many movies of previous decades.

I think Darth Vader deserves to be on the top 10 list because he is arguably the most well known movie villain of the last 50 years. The Wicked Witch of the West is the other titan of movie villains since movies went to sound. So that's a well deserved mention.

Where's the vampire in Nosferatu? Or how about Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera?

What about "Bruce the Shark" from Jaws? The creature from Alien is an iconoclastic figure.

I think the original Terminator is worthy of a best villains top ten list. Talk about an uncompromising, unforgiving, relentless bad guy. It's one of the things that made the original movie so great.

I don't think Lord Voldemort deserves to be on the list -in part because the character hasn't really taken shape with a single actor until the last two Harry Potter installments. Honestly, if Ralph Fiennes is going to be mentioned in a top ten villians list I think he should be mentioned for his brutal, chilling performance as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List.

Die Hard is one of my favorite action movies. And "Hans Gruber" was a villain everyone loved to hate. Alan Rickman's performance was great. But I'm just not sure if it's really "top 10" caliber.

I have the same feelings regarding Hannibal Lecter. The Silence of the Lambs stopped just shy of making the character a protagonist. Anthony Hopkins' Oscar winning performance was a lot of fun to watch. Even though he killed some guards and ate some of their guts he still helped out the good guys with his clues.

I'm not sure if Anton Chigurh is really a great movie villain. Javier Bardem put together a scary performance. But ultimately his character was just a symbol for the grim reaper or fate itself.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-16-2008, 12:20 AM:

What?!! Where's Ernst Stavros Blofeld?!

(Donald Pleasence)

Or Charles Gray... Or Telly Savalas, if you prefer.

Blofeld is such the quintessential villain that they saw fit to spoof him in Austin Powers!

This poll is nothing but a hack job!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-16-2008, 01:14 AM:

One of my other favorite villains is "Mr. Blue" played by Robert Shaw in "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974) which is being remade with Wesley Snipes as we speak. (I hope they don't screw it up too badly.)

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 07-16-2008, 05:18 AM:

What about Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in the original "Cape Fear"? DeNiro was great but thuggish. Mitchum was just so slimy and menacing.

And I always thought that Glinda the Good Witch was a greater villian than the WWW in "The Wizard of Oz." With the Wicked one, you knew where you stood, she was pure evil. Glinda on the other hand comes across all goody-two-shoes, and then puts Dorothy though hell. First she insults Dorothy by asking if she's a good witch or a bad witch (later saying that only bad witches are ugly). Nice dig. Then she tells her the only way to get home is to see the Wizard, all the while knowing about the clicking her heels bit. "Oh, but you wouldn't have believed me?" Y'know, if my house landed in a hallucination inhabited by Munchkins, I might be open to suggestion pretty much from the get-go.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

[ 07-16-2008, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: Hillary Charles ]

Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 07-16-2008, 06:05 AM:

Strother Martin, the prison captain in "Cool Hand Luke"... "What we have here is a failure to communicate". [Wink]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-16-2008, 09:04 AM:

I guess slasher movie villains don't count? Maybe because just saying "Top 10" is a little ambiguous.

If you put all of the movie villains of all time into a group and then pull out the "Top 10 Pansies" it would look a lot different than the "Top 10 Scariest" which would look different than the "Top 10 Diabolical" or the "Top 10 Most (or least) Intelligent" or the "Top 10 Most Cuddly".

Just saying "Top 10" is kind of meaningless.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 07-16-2008, 09:21 AM:

Actually, Glenda is more evil than you mighn't think. Taking advantage of the death of the Witch Of The East, she steals the Witch Of The West's rightfull inheritance (the ruby slippers), sticks them on poor unsuspecting Dorthy, and then send Dorthy down the path that will evenutally lead to the murder of the Witch Of The West and the Wizard's departure from Oz. When the film is over, there is only one person with any command of magic left, Glenda, the evil which of the north!

Posted by Shane Cooper (Member # 2510) on 07-16-2008, 11:01 AM:

I would make an argument for Ricardo Montalban as "Khan" Noonien Singh in Star Trek 2. He's really the only villain that got the best of Captain Kirk, used slimy earwigs for mind control, (this was the single greatest nightmare of my youth), and he killed Spock...

...Oh, his chest was iconic and ridiculous!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 07-16-2008, 11:46 AM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Honestly, if Ralph Fiennes is going to be mentioned in a top ten villians list I think he should be mentioned for his brutal, chilling performance as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List.

And I'd say his performance in "Red Dragon" would also be more fitting in a list of villains than Voldemort.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 07-16-2008, 01:40 PM:

Yeah, these lists have a major case of ADD.

Im partial to Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes in Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo.
Reminds me of when Rolling Stone claimed Nirvana's nevermind as the
#1 rock ablum ever.. LOL!!!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 07-16-2008, 01:54 PM:

quote: Todd McCracken
Yeah, these lists have a major case of ADD.

Since I actually do have ADD, I have to ask "What the hell are you talking about?"

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 07-16-2008, 02:31 PM:

Hehe, Yeah I got that too, what were we talking about?

I was refereeing to these lists short term memory. If you were to go by them nothing ever happened more than 20 years ago (in general) But in the end it just shows that most of the people voting on this stuff are not very well versed in said field of interest.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-16-2008, 09:44 PM:

quote: Hillary
First she insults Dorothy by asking if she's a good witch or a bad witch (later saying that only bad witches are ugly). Nice dig.

Hillary, you are a hoot! [rofl]

LOL!

Btw, Cruella DeVille should be in there somewhere... I always thought she was a great villian.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-16-2008, 11:26 PM:

Also Scar, from "The Lion King." But I have a feeling the Snow White witch was meant to represent all Disney villains.