Top 5 Movie Villains

Inspired by Barney's claim that the dude from No Country is the best villain since Vader. Here we go...

I rate villains by how good their quotes are as opposed to how dastardly they are, so:

5) Count Adhemar Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham
4) Charlie Prince
3) Darth Vader
2) Ming the Merciless
1) Bill the Butcher

(Defoe's Green Goblin almost made the list, and I feel like I'm the only one here that liked his take. Gollum was another, but I didn't feel he was heavy enough.)

1) Nurse Ratched - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Wins this easily in my opinion)
2) Darth Vader
3) Jack - The Shining
4) Annie Wilkes - Misery
5) Amon Goeth - Schindler's List

Keyser Sose has to be on my list.

Khaaaaaaaannnn!!!!!

Based on your criteria, Dr. Emilio Lizardo is a shoe-in.

S.

I agree that Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men is great villain. I also like:

5. Roy Batty, from Blade Runner. Rutger Hauer had such a compelling presence. His performance was eerie, and included a mixture of deliberate malice, indignation, and outrage at the injustice of his own short life. I could almost see him as the hero and Rick Deckard as the ruthless agent of an oppressive society.

4. The Terminator, from the first Terminator movie. Arnold Schwarzneggar is very good within in a specific limited range that is great for action movies. As the Terminator, he played a believable menace as an unstoppable engine of destruction in the shape of a man, with the occasional touch of humor. For several years in the '90s, I went as the Terminator for Halloween, and people loved the costume.

3. Hans Gruber, from Diehard. Intelligent, articulate and composed, he played such a smooth bastard that he was almost appealing. He got enough screentime that I could almost see the situation from his viewpoint, a heist movie gone wrong due to a ridiculous intervention by an unexpected hero. It was interesting to watch him adjusting his plan on the fly as he gathered more information.

2. The Joker, from The Dark Knight. A fascinating cypher who stole every scene with panache. He gave multiple and conflicting accounts of his own origin, and hinted at a deep philosophy. But ultimately, the Joker was an energetic nihilist, capable of doing absolutely anything ruthless, for no particular reason.

1. Alex, from A Clockwork Orange. Compared to the other mentioned above, Alex is just a young punk who keeps getting into trouble. But I put him #1 on my list because he had the unsettling effect of making violence, rape and destruction look like so much fun. He also had a very distinctive style, beyond his bizarre gang attire. He had so much enthusiasm for his warped life, and his love for the music of Beethoven was unsettling but infectious.

Sagrilarus wrote: Based on your criteria, Dr. Emilio Lizardo is a shoe-in.

So is David Lo Pan.

Edit: Shellhead, thanks for bringing up Hans Gruber... Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham bounces Count Adhemar from my list.

Damn SaMoKo for making Nurse Ratched his first pick, but he's right.

Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs

Alonzo from Training Day

Morris Day in Purple Rain

Rooney in Ferris Beuller's day off

In no particular order:

Blue Duck from Lonesome Dove: "I raped women, stole children, and burned houses, & shot men, run off horses, & killed cattle, and robbed who I pleased, all over your territory, and you never even got a good look at me until today!"

Darth Vader from Star Wars: "The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master"

Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: "Oh I almost forgot. He payed me a thousand. I think his idea was that I kill you. (laughing along with victim) But you know the pity is when I'm paid, I always follow my job through. You know that."

Max Cady from the original Cape Fear: "It's not necessary to lay a foul tongue on me my friend. I could get upset. Things could get out of hand. Then in self defense, I could do something to you that you would not like, right here."

The Alien from Alien: " *drooool* "

Dude from No Country, Warden from Shawshank, Vader (until prequels RUINSD him), Nurse Ratchid from Cuckoo... there's a good fifth one that escapes me for the time being.

I think to be a good villian, you have to either HATE him or FEAR him which is why Joker from Dark Knight is no good. he's too awesome. I feared Vader when I was a kid. I hated the warden from Shawshank, etc.

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List was really good too.

Mine is more generically "bad guys." They might not be villains, in the sense that the film might not have a hero. I am going to break the list into two parts: Coen Bros. bad guys and others.

1. Anton Chigurgh in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
"You need to call it. I can't call it for you. It wouldn't be fair."

2. Leonard Smalls in RAISING ARIZONA
"As a pup myself I fetched $30,000 on the black market. And that was in 1954 dollars."

3. Eddie Dane in MILLER'S CROSSING
"Jesus, I open my mouth, the whole world turns smart."

4. Charlie Meadows in BARTON FINK
"Look upon me! I'll show you the life of the mind!"

5. Loren Visser in BLOOD SIMPLE
"Who looks stupid now?"



1. Henry in HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER
"But if you strangle one, stab another, and one you cut up, and one you don't, then the police don't know what to do."

2. Max Cady in the CAPE FEAR remake
"You're gonna learn about loss."

3. Col. Hans Landa in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
"Because I'm aware what tremendous feats human beings are capable of once they abandon dignity."

4. Christian Szell from THE MARATHON MAN
"Is it safe?"

5. Count Orlok in NOSFERATU
"."

Col. Hans is a good one Jeb, but only in the opening sequence. He and the film in general is worthless after that.

Darth Vader wasn't a villian...He was a misunderstood anti-hero.


1.Hans Gruber: Die Hard

2.Baron Harkonnen: Dune

3.Thulsa Doom : Conan the Barbarian

4.Keyser Söze : Usual Suspects

5.Milady De Winter(Faye Dunaway) : The Three Musketeers(1973)

I don't rate these in any order but props to Hans Gruber, Joe Pesce in Goodfellas and Casino, Gene Hackman in Quick and the Dead, Shawshank Warden, Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China.

Just to be a little different, even if somewhat wrong.