I’m not talking about Riggs or Murtaugh, Jules or Vince, or Bill or Ted - those guys were partners. I want sidekicks. You know…Robin.
I’m thinking of this because I just caught The Untouchables on TV, and was reminded of how cool Andy Garcia’s character (Stone) was. Remember the train station scene? Where Stone is on his back, upside down, holding the stroller steady with one hand and with the other, he’s aiming at the bad guy, who’s using the informant for a shield?
Ness: “You got him?”
Stone: “Yeah, I got him.”
Ness then lowers his gun and Stone plugs the guy between the eyes. I thought, in the extremely unlikely event I’m ever in a full-scale war with organized crime, I want a guy like that to have my back.
Any others? Who are your favorite sidekicks in literature/film/TV?
Some will argue that he wasn’t really a sidekick, but I’ll nominate Archie Goodwin.
In the mystery genre. there are too many sidekicks like Dr. Watson and Captain Hastings, whose only job is to act awed by their friends’ brilliance.
Archie is smart and capable in his own right, and enjoys tweaking his boss’ sensibilities. That made him a rarity in his genre, and a perfect narrator, as well.
Captain Haddock. Accident-prone, alcoholic, foul-mouthed and with serious anger management issues {they don’t write kids’ stories like they used to}, but damned if you wouldn’t want him in your corner when the shooting started, particularly if his whiskey bottle had been shattered in the first salvo: “Bashi-Bazouks! Troglodytes! Billions of blistering bilious blue barnacles in ten thousand thundering typhoons!”
I always liked Gray Mouser. Both he and 7-foot Fafhrd are thieves and scoundrels, but the small yet able Mouser always seemed to sort of complement Fafhrd.
Nuriko rules! I wish I knew how to do spoilers, so I could discuss what happens to this character (notice the lack of gender pronouns.)
In Ranma 1/2, do Ukyo and Ryoga count as sidekicks? I know they’re rivals to Akane and Ranma, respectively, but they still fight alongside them when the situation warrants it.
I want to throw in a few Sailor Senshi, particularly Sailor Mars. But something tells me she’s not entirely happy with her status as a sidekick…
