# \_\_\_\_\_\_ never plays a villain, except in \_\_\_\_\_\_ **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771 "2009-07-21T20:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/21 "2009-07-21T22:14:11Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I meant to add: > > Morgan Freeman never plays the villain, except in Wanted, where he manipulating assassins to do kills that are not deemed by fate. > > I’m watching this movie right now. Lucky Number Slevin. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/22 "2009-07-21T22:20:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Morgan Freeman never plays the villain, except in Wanted, where he manipulating assassins to do kills that are not deemed by fate. Freeman’s breakout role was in _Street Smart_, where he played a pimp. Re: Fred MacMurray > [@astorian](#): > > He’s also exposed as the real bad guy at the end of “The Caine Mutiny.” I’ve always thought that final scene with José Ferrer falls flat.He chews out the other officers for turning on Queeg instead of helping him. But people had tried to help Queeg; there was the helmsman who tried to tell him that they were about to cross their own tow cable, the sailor who told him there was an extra key to the food locker. Queeg berated them or ignored what he was told. Queeg could not be helped.I remember **Eddie Albert** as a good guy, probably mostly from _Green Acres_, but he was a definite villain in the original _The Longest Yard_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/23 "2009-07-21T22:26:03Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > So…the exception…is? > > 😕 Oh, right. Forgot the point of the thread. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/24 "2009-07-21T23:00:14Z")
Jimmy Stewart played one of the bad guys in Bandalero in 1968 with Dean Martin and I seem to recall Raquel Welch. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/25 "2009-07-21T23:00:26Z")
Denzel Washington is usually the good guy. In _Training Day_, well, he was not such a good guy. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/26 "2009-07-21T23:08:06Z")
Javier Bardem / No Country For Old Men Love him, haven’t seen all his movies yet, but he’s usually a good guy. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/27 "2009-07-21T23:10:19Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Jackson was a scary junkie whose father had to kill him, in “Jungle Fever.” > > And Glover was a rare black serial killer, in “Switchback.” Ah. Never saw those. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/28 "2009-07-21T23:11:19Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > And also Unbreakable :smack: That one I did see. Repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/29 "2009-07-21T23:15:06Z")
Walter Matthau in Charade. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/30 "2009-07-22T01:01:54Z")
Samuel Jackson also played a villain in **Coming to America** - he plays a robber who gets taken out by Eddie Murphy. I’ll offer Ronald Reagan, who played a villain in Don Siegel’s version of **The Killers**. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/31 "2009-07-22T01:18:45Z")
Robin Williams in _Insomnia_. Oh, and _One Hour Photo_. Bill Murray in _City of Ember_. John Lithgow in _Blowout_. Merv Griffin in _The Man with Two Brains_. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/32 "2009-07-22T01:49:44Z")
Danny Glover was also the bad guy is _The Color Purple_ - REALLY bad guy! ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/33 "2009-07-22T02:56:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > John Lithgow in _Blowout_. He’s currently filming (or has just wrapped) a season-long arc as a serial killer on the show _Dexter_. He twittered a few interesting tidbits about it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/34 "2009-07-22T03:04:49Z")
I believe Sean Connery’s only role as the outright villain (as opposed to a criminal protagonist) was in _The Avengers_. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/35 "2009-07-22T03:07:53Z")
Wasn’t Lithgow also the villain in the Stallone movie set in the mountains, where he was some sort of rescue worker? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/36 "2009-07-22T03:15:23Z")
_Cliffhanger_? Didn’t see it, but I’ll stand corrected, on the strength of the _Dexter_ thing (which I also haven’t seen). ETA: Come to think of it, I forgot about Lord F\*ckwad in _Shrek_. And wasn’t he in _Buckaroo Bonzai_? Never mind. Lithgow is a horrible choice. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/37 "2009-07-22T03:22:54Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Wasn’t Lithgow also the villain in the Stallone movie set in the mountains, where he was some sort of rescue worker? Yeah, he was the villain in Cliffhanger. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/38 "2009-07-22T03:27:36Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > \*\*Samuel Jackson \*\*also played a villain in **Coming to America** - he plays a robber who gets taken out by Eddie Murphy. > I’ll offer Ronald Reagan, who played a villain in Don Siegel’s version of **The Killers**. (my bolding) Samuel Jackson was more comic relief than a villain. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/39 "2009-07-22T03:29:36Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Tom Cruise in Collateral. > > I wish Tom Cruise would play villains more often. My choice entering this thread. Cruise and Fox were excellent in this movie Kostner also played a villian in “A Perfect World”, even though he was a good guy and protector of “Buzz”. A killer nonetheless. I’ll say John Wayne in Ghengis Khan. He was so **BAD**. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/40 "2009-07-22T04:00:55Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > (my bolding) > Samuel Jackson was more comic relief than a villain. Perhaps not a villain, but most certainly a "bad’ guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771.md?page=3)