Folks you love to hate! Tell us your Favorite Film Villains!

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ian McKellen as Richard III

 

[filfoster]

I like how Olivier really brought out the banality of evil aspect in his portrayal of Szell because Szell comes off as quite personable, especially in the film's famous "Is it Safe?" scene where he engages in small talk just like a dentist would with one of his patients while torturing Dustin Hoffman.

I think this is one of the squirmiest horror scenes ever. Who doesn't fear the dentist anyway? "...you really should take better care of your teeth...."

 

[JackieMatra]

A few of my favorites.

THE archetypal witch - Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)
The ultimate femme fatales - Jane Greer as Kathie in "Out of the Past", Rita Hayworth as Elsa Bannister in "The Lady from Shanghai" (1947), and Kathleen Turner as Matty Walker in "Body Heat" (1981)
Coldest and scariest woman ever - Isuzu Yamada as Lady Asaji Washizu in "Throne of Blood" (1957)
Coldest and scariest gangsters ever - Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo in "Kiss of Death" (1947), James Cagney as Cody Jarrett in "White Heat" (1949), Margaret Wycherley as Ma Jarrett in "White Heat" (1949), Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather: Part 2" (1974), Yûsaku Matsuda as Sato in "Black Rain" (1989), Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley in "Heat" (1995), Nicolas Cage as Little Junior Brown in "Kiss of Death" (1995), and Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas in "American Gangster" (2007)
Coldest and scariest newspaper columnist ever - Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker in "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957)
Coldest and scariest ex-convict ever - Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in "Cape Fear" (1962)
Coldest and scariest medieval Japanese ever - Tatsuya Nakadai as Unosuke in "Yojimbo" (1961) and as Ryunosuke Tsukue in "Sword of Doom" (1966)
Coldest and scariest gunfighters ever - Jack Palance as Jack Wilson in "Shane" (1953), Clint Eastwood as Joe in "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), Henry Fonda as Frank in "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968), and Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966)
Most contemptible ranchers ever - Walter Brennan as Old Man Clanton in "My Darling Clementine" (1946), Alan Rickman as Elliott Marston in "Quigley Down Under" (1990) and Jeremy Irons as Randall Bragg in "Appaloosa" (2008)
Coldest and scariest cyborg ever - Robert Patrick as the T-1000 in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" (1991)
Sleaziest attorneys ever - Hume Cronyn as Arthur Keats in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946), Walter Matthau as Willie Gingrich in "The Fortune Cookie" (1966), and Stanley Tucci as Frank Zioli in "Kiss of Death" (1995)
Worst U.S. Army officer ever - Eddie Albert as Capt. Erskine Cooney in "Attack!" (1956)
Absolutely no contest as the least sympathetic enemies in a war film - Carl Toop and Chris Webb as Alien Warriors in "Aliens" (1986)

And, of course, there were those actors who excelled in portraying less than overly sympathetic characters, whose outstandingly unsavory screen portrayals are far too many to list:
Edward Albert, Humphrey Bogart, Ernest Borgnine, Raymond Burr, Joseph Calleia, Steve Cochran, William Conrad, George Coulouris, Bette Davis, Alain Delon, Albert Dekker, Kirk Douglas, Dan Duryea, Jack Elam, Sydney Greenstreet, Anjelica Huston, Samuel L. Jackson, Boris Karloff, Gene Kelly, Charles Laughton, Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, Barton MacLane, George Macready, Lee Marvin, Strother Martin, Charles McGraw, Agnes Moorhead, Jack Nicholson, Jack Palance, Vincent Price, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Robert Ryan, George Sanders, Zachary Scott, Walter Slezak, Everett Sloane, Barbara Stanwyck, Erich von Stroheim, Audrey Totter, Claire Trevor, Conrad Veidt, Christopher Walken, Orson Welles, and Warren William.

 

[Worf]

"Game of Thrones"

Never has a series given us soooo many truly despicable human beings. Too many baddies to list but... what the hey, I'll giver her a go!

Joffrey (his death was TOO easy)
Ramsey (his death was WAY too easy)
The Mountain (how do you kill a Zombie in Westeros?)
Cersi (Nuff Said)
Walda Frey (When you look up dirty old bugger... his picture you will see)
Jamie (at times)
The "Benevolent Masters" of Slavers Bay.
The Killing Sisterhood of Dorn
The Crispy Khals of Dothrak
The High (well he's really HIGH now) Sparrow
Septen (?) Ulana (oh my is she in big trouble)
Roose Bolton (how can evil be so blind to evil?)
Theon Greyjoy (until he met Ramsey)
Daddy Greyjoy (until he met his long lost bro.)
Uncle Greyjoy (low on the list but gaining fast)
Various members of the King's Guard.
Little Finger (I stay up nights imagining how he's going to bite the big one).

Worf

 

[skydog757]

Jame Gumb aka "Buffalo Bill" in Silence of the Lambs. "It puts the lotion on it's skin . . ."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Daffy Duck.

 

[2jakes]

Although a fictional character, they actually do exist.

 

[Worf]

Daffy Duck.

Wha wha wha????!!!!!!

Madam... "The Little Black Duck" was/is NOT a villain. Well perhaps in his early manic days, but certainly no more evil than Bugs who's responsible for vast hospitals full of broken and twisted bodies. Yes his "scatting" left much to be desired BUT he's essentially just the worlds largest PEST and nothing more...

"Have mercy your honor, you may be a fiend yourself someday."

Worf

 

[LizzieMaine]

Heh. He's sort of the raging id of the cartoon psyche. It wouldn't take much to push him fully to the Dark Side. "I HATE THAT RABBIT!!"

But yes, you could also consider Bugs an even greater force for potential evil, and he'd be even more frightening because he is far, far more competent than Daffy ever was.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Of course, in his later days Chuck Jones often had Daffy act as antagonist to Bugs or Porky (etc.) But it was always motivated by Daffy's greed or pride, not overt maliciousness. He's always his own worst enemy. (Jones once said, "Bugs is who I wish to be, but Daffy's who I am!")

"Ah. Pronoun trouble!"

 

[LizzieMaine]

And, really, what *is* evil if not greed and pride raised to an extreme?

Porky was the only Warners character who could really stand the test of true moral purity. He was the last innocent in a world full of sociopaths, and it was his curse to be the eternal foil not just to Daffy, but to the likes of Charlie Dog and the Do-Do Bird. I hope that where he is now, it is a Better Place.

 

[Doctor Strange]

He's probably in limbo, until Warners decides it time for yet another doomed-to-fail reboot of their great cartoon stars in CGI/3D/IMAX/high frame rate/<insert next gimmick here>.

 

[2jakes]

“Lissen up ya mangy critters...
SMILE... when ya talk about my amigos,
less you want a taste of lead-poison.”

 

[LizzieMaine]

He's probably in limbo, until Warners decides it time for yet another doomed-to-fail reboot of their great cartoon stars in CGI/3D/IMAX/high frame rate/<insert next gimmick here>.

I like to hate movie and television executives who can't understand that certain characters and certain series were the product of a particular collective of talent operating in a specific place at a specific moment in time, and not empty vessels into which the latest "new take" can be poured. Comic book publishers also please copy.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I like to hate movie and television executives who can't understand that certain characters and certain series were the product of a particular collective of talent operating in a specific place at a specific moment in time, and not empty vessels into which the latest "new take" can be poured.

Avery had the foresight to knock off Screwy/ Screwball Squirrel after a mere five unforgettable features. Hanna- Barbera and others have tried to resurrect him for the millennial kiddies... but it just doesn't work. He was never meant to play well with others (Tom & Jerry, Droopy, etc.).

 

[Doctor Strange]

Right. Screwy Squirrel was Avery's experiment to see how far he could push the hot, new Daffy/Bugs smart-aleck-animal character. He was just too obnoxious for forties audiences and was (literally) killed. But those Screwy cartoons remain fascinating gems from the glory days of Avery's M-G-M stint.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Assistant Mayor Bellwether -- Zootopia

 

[Worf]

"Shoving right off again... shoving right off again.... Phoooey!"

"Very sloppy Roscoe... very sloppy.... you're a sloberly housekeeper!"

"Big Bullet!"

God I loved that duck!

Worf

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And speak of the Devil....

Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson) -- The Witches of Eastwick
Louis Cyphre (Robert DeNiro) -- Angel Heart

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Emilio Fernandez as General Mapache in "The Wild Bunch." In a movie that featured nothing but bad guys, he was a standout.
And his direct predecessor: Alfonso Bedoya as Gold Hat in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, "Bodges? We don't got to show you no steenking bodges!"