What makes a great villian?

A great villian can really make a film, but what is it that makes a great bad guy? Who are some of the best?

I find that some of the most disturbing villians to be the ones that are disturbed. Quite a few are completely psycho. For example Norman Bates still gives me the creeps and Hannibal Lector

I can think of a couple foes that couldn't wait to see them get what they had coming to them. Bruce Dern as Long Hair in The Cowboys and Mr. Blue in the original Pelham 123.

A great villian knows how to really get at the hero like Belloq in Raiders. He makes Indy mad as hell and knows it. That's pretty evil.

Some baddies are just plain creepy. Like Roat in Wait Until Dark and Toht of course.

Honorable mentions: Darth Vader, Dark Helmet, Mr. Potter

__________________

Keyser Sooze!! All that is mystery. Spaceys best.

Hannibal Lector. All that scares man. Hopkins flexing.

Frank from Once Upon A Time In The West. Henry Fonda showing why he'll always be the best Fonda.

Bruce the shark from JAWS. If it actually worked we would have had less of Shaw & Dreyfuss.

Darth Vader. Few know he was a Dr Doom ripoff, and Dr Doom's still alot cooler.

Judge Smails. "Because some people just dont belong!" R.I.P. Ted Knight

The Heath Ledger Joker. Jack Nicholson fans dont fret as hes always the best villain no matter what hes playing.

Ledger. Joker.

__________________
Latest Review: The Ugly Truth

A bit of understanding or reasoning , more so mystery and intrigue - normally those who's interest are that to plague or set back others.

__________________

In the documentary accompanying the traveling Star Wars show a few years back Lucas admitted to Vader being a ripoff... there was no mention of Dr. Doom though. He said the entire screenplay, including Vader's helmet, was influenced most heavily by The Seven Samurai.

I'm pretty sure that Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress was an even bigger influence on Star Wars.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Maybe... but look at the pic i posted... see anything Vader like?

I know, but I thought I read somewhere Dr Doom was a factor in his look. If Im wrong I feel great shame. Oh yeah The Hidden Fortress was ripped off. LOL! Kurasawa couldve made millions with how many times he was ripped off. Seven Samurai was so much better than Magnificent Seven that alone deseved a lawsuit.

Surely, Shirley.

This is a mock-up comparison of Vader and a warrior in The Hidden Fortress. I've never really noticed the similarities before. The Hidden Fortress has a similar plot and characters though to Star Wars. But I also think that Star Wars is similar to The Wizard of Oz (1939).

It was...just look at the extras on the DVD...





Darth Vader..the whole outfit and the mask...and the voice..now there;s a great villain that no one can forget.

__________________
My 100 ALL-TIME FAVE Movies

Oh fine.

Go look at the documentary I'm talking about though where Lucas talks about Seven Samurai. I know I'm not confused because I was picturing scenes in my head from Seven Samurai as he was talking about it. I've never seen Hidden Fortress so I wouldn't have had that reference.

Anyway, I've seen lots of documentation to support your claim that he was influenced by Hidden Fortress as far as the narrative and plot goes.

Just saying, at this point, that he also references Seven Samurai with particular regard to Vader's garb (which is the part of Tongo's post I was referring to versus the narrative storyline of Star Wars).

Nobody's wrong. We're both right and on the same side. I saw The Hidden Fortress in San Jose in the mid 1980s when it was rereleased in the U.S., and that was the tagline for it, that Star Wars was based on it. It was impressive on the big screen, but it was still edited. It was almost as if they just chopped the first 15 minutes off the film. It's much more satisfying restored on DVD.

Lucas claims that the first few scenes of Hidden Fortress when the two guys walk together was the inspiration behind 3PO and R2

i say the classic killers

Freddy Kruger

Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers

1,2 Freddy is coming for you
3,4 better lock your doors
5,6 grab a Crucifix
7,8 stay up late
9,10 never sleep again

Ah, good one! I never hated Fonda so much. He was great.

To answer the topic, what makes a great villain is either they are so horrible and mean, you want them to die realllllllly bad (like Fonda above).

Or they're incredibly entertaining (like Ledger).

Great villains that made me either scared or mad:

Wicked Witch of the West (best eva!)
Nurse Ratched
Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter (talk about creepy!)

I looked at my list of favorite movies and like none of them have memorable villains. I gather they don't really matter to me much. But my favorite has to be Ledger's Joker. Love him.

Fonda was okay but i liked mary shaw in that 2007 movie

Dead Silence

A great villan is a character who is a little complex. He is the silent character who just watches other characters and then strikes when it is the opportune moment. Then you do have that creepy side of them and i agree that Hannibal Lector is there on the creepy scale. I hate it when villains go into rants and start monologuing. A villain needs to plan out his ideas and then be quick to act them out.

good sound effects.

Villians got one big advantage: They don`t have to fight for the symphaty of the masses. This facts makes them often more interesting than the brave heroes. My favourite villians in order of their evil badness:

The T-1000. An elegant, totally focused killing machine. So cool.

Close Second: Charles Dance as `Benedict` in "Last Action Hero"

Henry Fonda as `Frank` places third. Also one one of my favourite movies.

Keyser Sooze, the original Terminator (Part 1) and the T-X (awful movie by the way) complete my diabolic All-Star-Team.

Here are some movie characters I find detestable, not as characters, but as people/creatures... assuming they were real.

Of course I must add that there are two categories of villains in my mind. Those who can possibly be real... Michael Douglas in Wall Street, DeNiro in Goodfellas and those who are cartoons... Darth Vader in Star Wars and of course Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs.


Anyway here's my most favorite hated villain in the history of film as I know it.


Bert Gordon in The Hustler played by George C. Scott - complete greed and egotism. He's successful at the expense of others, mainly as a gambler and hustler who takes advantage of other gamblers and hustlers and promotes them, while destroying them and those who care about them. He's entirely unlikeable and his ideas of winners and losers is American perversion at it's strongest. Yet Bert Gordon while being unlikeable has a type of magneticism that draws people to him. Of course he's not far off from the people we see every day whether they are our bosses or coaches because winning and money are all that matters right? Our bosses and coaches aren't as extreme or evil as Bert Gordon is but many are certainly a watered down version. I do believe money and winning get in the way of what is important in life, and there's that quote, "capitalism leads to cannibalism," which is true because in order for one person to make money, another person must lose money. In order for there to be a winner, there must be a loser. He is what is wrong with American when we go to far with the idea of success.
George C. Scott is brilliant in his portrayal of the character. He's sauve and he uses logic and we think of him as wise, and in so many ways he is, but he's entirely disgusting. Never once does he ham up the performance or venture into cartoon territory.

__________________
"A candy colored clown!"
Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=26201