Heroes & Villains

The American Film Institute has released its list of top screen heroes and villains. Topping the good guy charts is Atticus Finch, the protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird; best villain is Hannibal Lecter. More results and discussion here.

Comments

[Gilbert Martin]

One of the best film villians as far as having an evil "look" about him was Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes in "The Good, the Band and the Ugly".

[Douglas Fletcher]

Well I didn't see Ace Ventura on there. That really saps the credibility of the list for me.

[RK Jones]

No list of villains can be complete without Binky from Shakes the Clown!
RK

[Warren]

First off, Maleficent of Sleeping Beauty was Disney's best/worst villainess - didn't even make the list while two lessers did.

Hero - I like #21 Gandhi
Villain - #12 Alex BEST MOVIE CHARACTER OF ALL TIME

Not listed but better than half that are:
Heroes: Lawrence Garfield (Other Peoples Money)[up yours Wall Street] , Westley (The Princess Bride), Insp. Jacques Clouseau (The Pink Panther & seqs.),

Villains: Ursula (The Little Mermaid), Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson (Dr. Strangelove)[up yours Patton], Junk (Trainspotting)

[Michael]

Maybe I am a dope but isn't 'A Clockwork Orange' a british movie? I thought we were sticking to American fare.

My vote for best villian: Alcohol in 'Days of Wine and Roses', 'Leaving Las Vegas'

Best Hero: The Iron Giant

[Kevin Carson]

Jesse:
No, I'd definitely watch that on pay-per-view.

My own nomination is De Niro in the remake of Cape Fear. A close second is Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, because she reminds me of my boss.

[david f]

well,

from the PC comments in the article, this is sure to get airtime across the western world...

then we can all get into a serious argument about the weather.

any list that doesn't have Alan Stanwyk on it is no friend of mine. and what about Niedermeyer? and Blofeld isn't there at all.

hrumph.
drf

[joe]

Michael Corleone and Regan MacNeil were villians?

[pills]

What about John McLain?

[holger viking]

yeah -- hans gruber was on the list. darth maul wasn't. his raison d etre was to show up late.

[Jim Henley]

Dammit, it's not a list of greatest movie heroes without John MacReady (Spencer Tracy's character in Bad Day at Black Rock). Fie, I say!

[Croesus]

Nice to see folks here read Plastic? Have you given to Plastic today? 🙂

HAL9000 and "The Alien" are villains? Give me a fucking break!!! Did these people even watch these movies?

Look, HAL9000 was programmed to lie; this fucked up his thinking patterns; if anyone was a villain it was the damn government who programmed him.

As far as the Aliens are concerned, they are just doing what they do. Its like making a cheetah into a villain for eating a gazelle. Sure, the aliens may be clever and what not, but I doubt they view themselves as villains, they're just trying to propagate. Hell, in _Alien: Resurrection,_ its the damn government which creates a hive. If anyone in those films are the villains its characters like Burke and those that back him ("the company" in _Alien,_ less so in _Aliens,_ fully so in _Alien 3_, and the damn government in the fourt film).

I'm going to be pissed all day about this; dumbass jerks.

[david f]

hey croesus,

(someone get our friend a beer!!!)

what about the Terminator? in T2, it was that ^&*&*#%*& kid who was the bad guy, John Conner. gawd he was annoying.

Bad Day At Black Rock is a definite good one to have there. what about The French Connection -- gene hackman's character was totally motivated by self interest and greed.

The Third Man -- fantastic. The Manchurian Candidate -- wonderful.

just take a deep breath, read the national review, and you'll calm down...

cheers!! 🙂
drf

[Croesus]

drf,

Then National Review tends to make my blood boil actually. 🙂

[david f]

hey Coesus,

as much as stoopid (sic) pop culture gaffes?

actually, you and Laz were great yesterday! thanks for the informative discussion!

but when you write "dumbass jerks", i'll have you know, it's pronunced, "Doo-Maaas"

cheers,
drf

[Damon W. Root]

Where the hell is Shaft? And what about Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny--those little heroes stopped a war and defeated Saddam at the same time!

[Craig]

Completely off topic...but definately good news
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lismok053317860jun05,0,2193790.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

[SM]

Gordon Gekko was a villain ? This unpends my moral universe !!! Must ... reread ... book of virtues ....
What about Spiderman ?

[Croesus]

SM,

Well, Gecko is sort of slimey, though his desire for wealth in itself is not evil (his desire to screw people over in the process might be though). Its not the goal, its how you get there in other words. 🙂

[david f]

Croesus,

hmmmmm. double entendre?

and, gentlemen, that's "geiko".... you know, save 15% or more on your next Hugh Grant special in your car...

Batman should be a.. a... aquman can kick his ass.

drf

[Luca Brasi]

Why is Travis Bickle listed as a villian?

[Jesse Walker]

Am I the only one who'd like to see Anthony Hopkins kill and eat Gregory Peck?

[Croesus]

Jesse Walker,

Because you are a pot loving libertine, that's why!!!! 🙂

[Croesus]

Stick a "why" in front of Jesse's comment, and my comment makes sense. I hate it when I read shit that isn't there. 🙂

[Jack]

This list seems rather arbitrary in how characters are allocated. Why are Butch & Sundance "heroes" while Bonnie & Clyde are "villains", when they're all robbers? I'd also love to see how the ballot was structured to get so many female characters on. I'm not arguing that female characters can't be heroic, but c'mon Marge Gunderson from "Fargo" is hero #33 and Ben-Hur isn't even on the list?!

[James Merritt]

"As far as the Aliens are concerned, they are just doing what they do. Its like making a cheetah into a villain for eating a gazelle." -C

Indeed. I don't believe I saw the shark from "Jaws" on the list, who was in the same boat as the Aliens, and who changed Americans' recreational behavior easily as much as "Alex" in "Fatal Attraction" did!

Also, note that "Man" was the winning villain from Bambi. But did you see any movie that showed generic "Man" as a hero on the list? I didn't. It is irony of irony that the number one "hero" is -- A LAWYER and a white male besides. This alone qualifies the awards show as a comedy presentation for Emmy purposes next year.

All in all, the 50/50 list was better than TV Guide's similar lists tend to be, but still only fluff, and a pretty lame rationalization for a 3 hour prime-time clip show (produced for AFI by Schwarzenegger for Governor committee, no doubt!). But as reasons go, it beats fictional WMDs.

[Tom Hynes]

I am too lazy to do it, but I haven't seen any good statistical analysis. Categorize heroes and villains by sex, sexual orientation, race, species (human, animal, alien/monster) and (government agent/non government agent) Are certain groups overrepresented as villains and underrepresented as heroes? (Go Lassie!) Does it change over time? Someone with time on their hands can fire up the old Excel spreadsheet.

[Dakota Loomis]

Boo Radley should be on the hero list right after Atticus. Lawyers and reclusive introverts, saving the world together. Gotta love fiction.

[joe]

The Alien and the Shark count as villians because they were presented as villians, as were Bonnie and Clyde. It isn't unusual for criminals and innocent animals to be good guys or bad, depending on the needs of the script.

What about Mr. White? What about Vincent Vega?

[HH]

Spider-Man probably should have replaced Batman sincet they made the villains the stars of those movies... but I'm guessing AFI wouldn't feel "right" about honoring a movie just over a year old.

[GrubbRobinson Josh]

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