I was thinking the other evening about James Bond and realized that usually, there was a very good number two villain in his movies. In that way he could match wits with number one and match fists with number two.
In my mind the best was Odd Job (I think he was so much better than Jaws)who served as alter ego for Goldfinger. I was wondering about other great number two villains. Not just in Bond films, but in others. Can you think of many?
Other than Bond films, I was rather hard pressed to come up with many.
Blondie Cannotbekilledbyhangingerson from Die Hard.
John McLaine kills his nerdy brother so Blondie is out for revenge!
He also carries an awesome machine gun. (A Steyr Bullpup? I don’t know from guns)
Aryan O’Riggswifemurderer from Lethal Weapon 2.
The evil South African diplomat’s number 2 is also the guy who killed Riggs wife years ago when he was hired to kill Riggs.
I nominate Ben Stiller in Happy Gilmore.
“You’re in my world now, Grandma.”
Happy Gilmore also has, IMHO, perhaps the greatest comic villian of all time: Shooter McGavin. He makes my skin crawl. In the best possible way.
But now you’ve got me thinking. Darth Helmet & Mel Brooks in Spaceballs were a fantastic “villianous” pairing. So were Richard Lewis & the Sherriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood Men In Tights. Mel Brooks had that whole dynamic down pat, it would seem.
Okay, I’ll let someone add some real villians now. But Ben Stiller & Shooter McGavin remain, in my opinion, the best comedic villian-duo ever.
