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

[emigran]

The most frightening thing in that picture was Stanwyck's wig.

LOL and TRUE... what were they thinking...

 

[emigran]

Robert Montgomery as the dastardly charming valet boy to invalid Dame Mae Whitty in Night must Fall... Constantly with a cigarette and schmoozing Suspicious Rosalind Russell... he was a real creep in this one contrary to his usual boyish charm. At the end you wonder if the box actually contains her head...

 

[2jakes]

In the '60s at the base camp theater in Castle A.F.B.
Feeling homesick, I went to see the only flick available.

What the heck was I thinking?!!!

 

[Nobert]

Sheridan Whitehead.

 

[emigran]

Sheridan Whitehead.

Including octopi and penguins...

 

[green papaya]

Christopher Lee from the movie "The Man with the Golden Gun" James Bond 007 movie

Scaramanga is a hit-man who charges a million dollars per job. He becomes linked to the death of a scientist working on a powerful solar cell, and James Bond is called in to investigate. As he tracks down Scaramanga, he realises that he is highly respected by the killer.

 

[AmateisGal]

Richard Roper from The Night Manager. Hugh Laurie played him to perfection.

 

[scottyrocks]

Not really a 'bad guy,' but Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) from Jaws (1975). He is such a pig-headed, know-it-all politician. I've seen the movie dozens of times, and I just wanna slap him every time I see it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Not really a 'bad guy,' but Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) from Jaws (1975). He is such a pig-headed, know-it-all politician. I've seen the movie dozens of times, and I just wanna slap him every time I see it.

I agree - he's not evil so much as he is stupidly selfish and also a classic tribalist. He so identifies with his tribe - the going concerns of Amity as a summer vacation island - that he can't see the true danger / can't make a rational and objective decision. If he could, he would never have let his own kids in the water - that's how I knew he was a stupid, banal tribalist and not a truly evil man. When Brody shakes him down to get his signature to hire Quint - the character of two men - a spineless tribalist and a will-do-what-needs-to-be-done rationalist - couldn't be more on display. What a great movie.

 

[scottyrocks]

I agree - he's not evil so much as he is stupidly selfish and also a classic tribalist. He so identifies with his tribe - the going concerns of Amity as a summer vacation island - that he can't see the true danger / can't make a rational and objective decision. If he could, he would never have let his own kids in the water - that's how I knew he was a stupid, banal tribalist and not a truly evil man. When Brody shakes him down to get his signature to hire Quint - the character of two men - a spineless tribalist and a will-do-what-needs-to-be-done rationalist - couldn't be more on display. What a great movie.

He really had no easy way out, though. Either choice he made about the beaches would not have had as positive effect on the town. If he left the beaches open and a shark ate someone (else), the tourists would've fled in droves. If he closed the beaches, his town would have a very tough off-season, financially.

Even at the town meeting, it was apparent many, if not most of the townspeople were of the impression that the beaches should remain open (the women who asked him directly about the beaches was speaking for the town, cinematically).

Of course, the correct decision was obvious - close the beaches and hire Quint. But as in real life, sometimes it takes multiple catastrophes to get anything done.

 

[Fading Fast]

He really had no easy way out, though. Either choice he made about the beaches would not have had as positive effect on the town. If he left the beaches open and a shark ate someone (else), the tourists would've fled in droves. If he closed the beaches, his town would have a very tough off-season, financially.

Even at the town meeting, it was apparent many, if not most of the townspeople were of the impression that the beaches should remain open (the women who asked him directly about the beaches was speaking for the town, cinematically).

Of course, the correct decision was obvious - close the beaches and hire Quint. But as in real life, sometimes it takes multiple catastrophes to get anything done.

I agree with everything you wrote and would aver that you hint at a very good definition of a hero. A hero would have made the hard / unpopular decision to close the beaches and save the lives of those the shark would possibly kill. He would have stood up to those townspeople that wanted the beaches kept open, even if it cost him his job. A hero's moral compass is set by objective values of right and wrong and he / she will take on popular opinion / will fight against the odds for what he or she believes is right.

 

[scottyrocks]

I agree with everything you wrote and would aver that you hint at a very good definition of a hero. A hero would have made the hard / unpopular decision to close the beaches and save the lives of those the shark would possibly kill. He would have stood up to those townspeople that wanted the beaches kept open, even if it cost him his job. A hero's moral compass is set by objective values of right and wrong and he / she will take on popular opinion / will fight against the odds for what he or she believes is right.

Yes, indeed, but Brody was the hero, so for Vaughn to do that would not have fit the narrative. But here I am stepping out of, (or back into) reality (again).

 

[DNO]

Warden Norton from Shawshank Redemption.

 

[skydog757]

I agree - he's not evil so much as he is stupidly selfish and also a classic tribalist. He so identifies with his tribe - the going concerns of Amity as a summer vacation island - that he can't see the true danger / can't make a rational and objective decision. If he could, he would never have let his own kids in the water - that's how I knew he was a stupid, banal tribalist and not a truly evil man. When Brody shakes him down to get his signature to hire Quint - the character of two men - a spineless tribalist and a will-do-what-needs-to-be-done rationalist - couldn't be more on display. What a great movie.

What moves the needle to morally bankrupt is when he tips his hand and orders the body of the Tiger shark destroyed to prevent an autopsy that would prove that it was the man-eater.

 

[Fading Fast]

What moves the needle to morally bankrupt is when he tips his hand and orders the body of the Tiger shark destroyed to prevent an autopsy that would prove that it was the man-eater.

Very fair point.

 

[filfoster]

Doesn't this choice change, moment to moment, for most of us?

As a younger feller, I'd have said Old Man Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life"; Now, he's a hero and I root for him.

'Best' bad guy: Colonel Nathan Jessup, A Few Good Men. So much arrogance and pent up rage.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Dr Christian Szell from The Marathon Man

 

[filfoster]

One of Olivier's most interesting roles, for me.

 

[scottyrocks]

Dr Christian Szell from The Marathon Man

Ooo, yeah, he was a nahsty bahstahd.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

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.