re: The Top 15 Greatest Movie Villains of the Last 25 Years

My updated list with Gollum added

1) Annie Wilkes (Misery) (1990)
2) The Joker (The Dark Knight) (2008)
3) Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men) (2007)
4) Amon Goeth (Schindler's List) (1993)
5) Captain Vidal (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006)
6) Hans Landa (Inglourious Basterds) (2009)
7) Agent Smith (The Matrix) (1999)
8) Norman Stansfield (The Professional) (1998)
9) Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs) (1991)
10) Gollum (The Lord of the Rings) (2001-2003)
11) Commodus (Gladiator) (2000)
12) Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) (1996)
13) Bill the Butcher (Gangs of New York) (2002)
14) Lotso (Toy Story 3) (2010)
15) Scar (The Lion King) (1994)

quote:

---

Paul and Peter - Funny Games

---

Just came to post this.



Plus this bitch.

Yea you're right. My bad

quote:

---

03. Amon Goeth, Schindler's List (1993)

---

He's #1 for me, partially because he was a real person and partially because Fiennes did an absolutely masterful job of playing him.

I'd urge everyone to go read about the behind the scenes stuff with Schindler's List. They brought in several of the survivors of Goeth's camp to serve as extras during filming, and one of them almost had a nervous breakdown when she saw Fiennes in costume because he looked and acted just like the real Goeth.

quote:

---

Yeah, I'm going to go with AFI over you goobers. According to them, villains don't have to be antagonists.

---

that's cool can you ask them who is the hero of the Godfather then? Or at least if there is no hero how can there there be a villain?

How about Cameron Alexander from American History X

Lecter in Red Dragon and Hannibal is the villain.



He's more of an anti-hero in Silence of the Lambs. His character as a whole is a villain. But based on one movie (Lambs) he isn't.





As compared to Vader who, in New Hope and Empire is one of the greatest villains of all time, as opposed to Return of the Jedi where he's a sympathetic character and not really a villain at all. The Emperor is.

quote:

---

Lecter is not a villain, and the seemingly hypnotic form of his performance has made people label him incorrectly constantly (and laud him incorrectly, he isn't THAT good). He's scary, he's evil, but he isn't THE antagonist.

And even villain is a difficult word to use, it's too closely related to the idea of narrative and who is the focus.

---

Yeah I know I'm late to the thread but I totally agree. The scenes with Lecter fascinated me but did not scare me where as the scenes with Buffalo Bill had me on the edge of my seat.


Not sure who I'd pick for a top 15. I'd have to think about it some.

Scorpio - Dirty Harry

quote:

---

Isn't anyone who is "villainous" a villain by definition?

---

That's the crux of the debate, is a movie villain simply a character that does bad or "evil" things? In which case shouldn't Robin Hood be considered a villain since he is generally breaking the law? What about Han Solo? He's breaking the law and in the past worked for a gangster, a "vile gangster" even.

quote:

---

I've always thougt you could make a case that Michael Corleone is the hero then a villain. Couldn't you say the Godfather 2 was one of those man vs himself deals?

---

I think he is clearly the protagonist of The Godfather. In part II it is a contrast between him and his father. Vito basically turns to crime to get ahead and provide for his family, where as Michael pushes his family away and puts "The Family" aka the business above all else.