This is a list that critics more esteemed than I have worked on. The American Film Institute’s list of 50 Greatest Villains is HERE, along with their 50 Greatest Heroes. My list, on the other hand, is more of a personal one. These are the villains I’VE loved the most. I can’t argue that Cruella De Vil isn’t a great villain, she just doesn’t move me like the Predator does. Needless to say, the Predator doesn’t make the AFI’s list. So let’s get crackin’!
Hans Gruber
My favorite. Brought to life by Alan Rickman, Gruber actually does make the AFI’s list, at #46. The key to a great action movie (this one is Die Hard) is a great villain. Gruber is funny, cultured, and not playing around. His plan is sound…perfectly so. He just doesn’t count on Bruce Willis‘ John McClane (“a fly in the ointment…a monkey in the wrench”), in town on vacation and just the person to save us.
The Terminator
Satan
The Alien
Antonio Salieri
The Blair Witch
Jame Gumb
Hans Landa
The Predator
Another classic. Less well-known than the Alien, The Predator is its superior in almost every way. Equipped with laser firepower and heat-vision, predators are quad-jawed animals that hunt other species (who are at the top of their respective food chains) for sport. Immortalized in its battle with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Predator has made several unfortunate attempts to re-appear in films, from sequels to prequels, and out-and-out Alien battles.
The Terminator#22 on the AFI’s list, the Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is an unstoppable killing machine from the future. Well, unstoppable by anyone but Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). The Terminator was James Cameron‘s first attempt at larger-than-life sci-fi danger. Good start.
SatanThe biggie. Committed to celluloid dozens of times, the characterization that sticks in my mind is Rosalinda Celentano‘s chilling performance in Mel Gibson‘s divisive The Passion of the Christ. Maligned by many, awe-inspiring to many others, the film was, if nothing else, hugely successful. And Celentano’s pale, androgynous Satan, complete with demon-baby, is a villain that will stick with you.
The AlienWith acid for blood and a lust for human flesh, the Alien (Alien, etc.) is one of the freakiest monsters ever envisioned, and #14 for AFI. Designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger and brought to life by some of the greatest filmmakers of our generation (Ridley Scott, Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet), the Alien is the ultimate there’s-something-out-there-in-the-dark fright. Or the ultimate my-stomach-feels-a-little-funny worst case scenario.
Antonio SalieriOur most human villain, it is the ease with which we identify with Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) that makes him so frightening. Denied by God the skill to do the one thing he craves, Salieri must stand by and observe the brilliance of a buffoon. Milos Forman‘s Amadeus is a case study in human nature, and of its tragic ends.
The Blair WitchOur winner for least-seen villian. Never appearing on screen, the Blair Witch terrorized the kids of her titular Project via sounds, heavy breathing, and bloody handprints on walls. Seeing this for the first time was an incredibly intense experience; my friends and I went right home and watched Pleasantville, the pleasant-est movie we could think of, so that we 22-year-olds wouldn’t have to dream of the Maryland woods at night.
Jame GumbAn interesting one, Gumb (Ted Levine) never actually shares screen time in The Silence of the Lambs with Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who ranks #1 on the AFI’s list of all-time villains. Unkempt where Lecter is put together, Gumb is the stuff of nightmares where Lecter is the stuff of psychology texts. Until Lecter whimpers to a captive, “It puts the lotion on its skin,” Jame Gumb will be the scarier villain to me.
Hans LandaOur newest entry, Landa is the charming Nazi. In Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglourious Basterds, Christoph Waltz becomes something scarier than a Jew-hunting Nazi: he’s a Jew-hunting Nazi who’s smarter than you.
So, who scares you? Whose villainy knows no bounds? Who keeps you up at night? Discuss!
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COMMENTS
20 responses to “At the Movies: The Greatest Film Villain of All Time”
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John Doe (Kevin Spacey) in Seven has got to be on this list, too. I suppose you can't make a list like this without forgetting someone great.
I can't really approve of AFI's list — mainly because there are several movies in it for which a chief part of the pleasure in seeing the movie for the first time is thinking that the character is a good guy and not realizing until later that he's bad. Thanks, AFI, for spoiling that!
A less visceral objection is that they didn't think much about what they meant by VILLAIN. An non-human animal that just kills because that's what it does — that doesn't seem like a Villain, more like a mobile natural disaster. Thus their proposal, for example, of The Shark (from the movie JAWS) seems odd.
When i tried to think of my own favorite movie villains, I was curious to see that Nurse Ratched (from CUCKOO'S NEST) and Hannibal Lecter were also high in theirs.
My others didn't appear at all:
* The Chief of the Blue Meanies ("A thing of beauty… destroy it forever!" Yellow Submarine)
* Wackford Squeers (from the 1983 RSC version of Nicholas Nickleby)
* The Drill Sargent (from FULL METAL JACKET)
* Ralph Gorse (from THE CHARMER)
A fun sub-category would include villains we like to laugh at/with, for example Gladys Leeman in Drop Dead Gorgeous.
But one villain I enjoyed watching, even though he's over the top, is Don Logan in Sexy Beast. Kingsley chews up the scenery even when quietly sitting still.
Dwight! Yes and yes to both Gladys Leeman ("Amer-I CAN!") and Don Logan. Two great, under-appreciated movies.
Being, first and foremost, a Star Trek fan, I nominate the Borg – the collective which strips you of your individuality to become a drone to their will. "Q Who" and "Best of Both Worlds part 1" have to be amongst the most pulse-racing Science Fiction episodes ever penned.
Thanks Howard! My favorite from the world of Star Trek would be Khan. I still remember the shock of sitting in that darkened theater and watching Ricardo Montalbán seize that picture and turn it into one of the best movies of the year. (And it had competition! Blade Runner, ET, The Thing, Fanny and Alexander, Tootsie, etc.)
Speaking of Fanny and Alexander (one of the great movies of the last 40 years), the character of the bishop in F&A deserves a nod for the villain list.
By the way, I heartily agree with Howard's implicit extension of the list to include great TV shows. The distinction between a dramatic work playing on TV and one in theaters always seemed arbitrary to me — the art form is really the same and there is good and bad stuff produced in both.
This is a fun thread… thanks to Nick for the idea!
WHAT? NO VOLDEMORT IN AFI'S LIST???
I think Francis Dolarhyde (played by Tom Noonan) in Manhunter is my favorite. And Barry the Blade in Snatch's character is a pretty fantastic villainous creation. I'll try to think of more, but Dolarhyde came to mind immediately. Thanks for this fun and smart post Nick!
Great post! In my personal list, I would also include Mama Fratelli from The Goonies, Heath Ledger's Joker, Lord Humungus in Road Warrior, Terence Stamp in Superman 2, and maybe an honorary tv-mention for Newman.
Oh, the mayan Father in Apocalypto is an awesome villain. I like that, even though he's villain, he's also a good father who cares about his son in the same way that the hero's father cares about the film's main character.
JZ – Boris the Blade. Love that he gets nailed by that car and just keeps on truckin'. I prefer villains with a funny bone; that's why Gruber and Landa made my list. Nothing's scarier than someone who can laugh with you one minute and slit your throat the next. Comedy villains are great, too: how 'bout Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) in Office Space?
Darn – forgot to mention Guy Ritchie's brilliant description of Boris (Rade Schreze-something), one of the greatest one-sentence depictions of villainy ever: "Bent as the Soviet sickle and hard as the hammer that crosses it."
Sorry to keep commenting on my own post, but I thought of another one! Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) or, more accurately, Carl Stargher's subconscious, in The Cell. Truly freaky.
Nick, that reminds me of another crucial one: The Boil from How To Get Ahead in Advertising. Great great film!
I thought Brick Top from Snatch was the better villain. He has a whole menagerie of death (dogs and pigs) that makes him even creepier. In the Guy Ritchie vein, Rory Breaker is a villain you can laugh at.
Alex, Clockwork Orange.
Nurse Ratched. Maybe the most creepy/hate-inspiring to me.
And it's a crime that Jack Nicholson's character from Cuckoo's Nest isn't on the hero's list. And I would also put Andy Dufresne from Shashank on there, even though he sort of splits honors with Red.
And what about some more female ones, like Bette Davis in now, voyager?
I love How To Get Ahead in Advertising. Thanks JZ…..
I like the List, Nick, especially, the Predator, Die Hard, and the Silence of the Lambs killer. Others that came to mind, Jack Torrance (along with perhaps Delbert Grady), Max Cady (De Niro) from Cape Fear, and the Robert Mitchum character in "Night of the Hunter." After looking at the AFI list, Kathy Bates in Misery was a good choice, though some like Bonnie & Clyde (heroes not villains) not so much. On a lighter note, Biff Tannen and Dean Wormer.
Since you've brought her up, Ron, Kathy Bates in Misery is one of several examples in the AFI list that bothered me. A huge part of the pleasure of seeing Misery for the first time was thinking of her as a basically nice gal and only as the movie unfolded seeing her differently.
When you tell people in advance of seeing the movie that she's a Villain then you rob them of that experience.