Come on: we’ve all seen a movie or read a book where we liked the bad guy and occasionally even secretely wanted him to win.
When did you want to cheer for the dark side?
Sid 6.7 (Virtuosity) was a great bad guy and probably my favourite.
Gary Oldman (the king of bad guy acting IMHO) in… well most of his roles actually…
Well? Who’s bad but cool?
Gary Oldman is the greatest bad guy ever, doesn’t matter which role.
Gary Oldman is the best bad guy actor. John Malkovich comes to a close second as well as Kevin Spacey (in his role in Seven).
The guy who was the bad guy in Die Hard -
and then the same guy when he was the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
(too lazy to look up his name right now)
He’s a great bad guy - I really wanted him to kill Kevin Costner.
Peter Wiggin? Talking about bad guys…
The bad guy in Die Hard and Robin Hood and Quincy Down Under is Alan Rickman, one the the best actors of our time IMHO. The King of the Bad Guys
Dr. Evil has become my favorite bad guy. I’d like to see him star in a movie showing the day-to-day life of an evil genius and his family. No Austin Powers, just Dr. Evil.
Jack Nicholson makes the best psychotic bad guy.
I think Jack N. is on top. Another really good BAD guy is Anthony Hopkins.
I was very happy when Ray Parker (Darth Maul) killed Liam Nieson. He was a cool bad guy.
And I agree with the posts about Alan Rickman, his eyes just look evil.
Alan Rickman also did an AWESOME job playing Grigori Rasputin.
BElieve it or not, Mark Hamill does a wicked joker on Batman and Superman adventures…his voice is just so twisted…
Slayers Next’s Chaos Dragon Gaav. Not sure why, he’s a fairly typical anime villian type. Maybe it’s the overcoat. Perfect mix of underdog, attitude, and massivly overpowered. Rare case where the head villian is much cooler than his underling.
His successor, Valgaav had his moments, too. Not to mention Sergei from Key the Metal Idol.
He wasn’t really evil, but Flying Chimpanzee (not the guy who got his package blown off by the fireball, the bandit leader) from Wing Chun was loads of fun. He was just enjoying himself so much it was hard to not laugh along with him.
Same goes for Billy Zane in Demon Knight. Well, he was really evil, but still fun.
And lets not forget Roy Batty from Blade Runner. Rutger Hauer is always cool, and Scott is one of the few directors who’s capable of creating a truly sympathetic and also totally monsterous villains.
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“That was irrational. Not to mention, unsportsmanlike.”
Yup. He played the Trickster on the short lived flash series, (a low budget version of the joker) and was absolutly perfect in that as well.
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“How can I miss you . . . if you won’t go away!”
Steve Buscemi - Those weird eyes pretty much say it all!
IMHO, two of the greatest bad guy performances are Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate and Henry Fonda in Once Uopn a Time in the West. However, contrary to the spirit behind the OP, I certainly didn’t feel myself rooting for them.
I can only see myself rooting for the bad guy if the protagonist is a total loser (the Kevin Costner Robin Hood is a good call), or in a comic book type movie where the bad guys are all about cool stuff.
In any other circumstance that comes to mind right now, the worse the antagonist is, the more I want him/her/it to receive its just desserts. The mark of a good ‘bad guy’ performance is just how strong a negative reaction the viewer has.
I agree with soup on Dr. Evil. Also I think Rick Moranis as dark helemet in Spaceballs was absolutely hillarious.
And how could I forget Babylon 5’s Rod Sterlingesque Mr. Morden.
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“I want to live just long enough to see them cut your head off and mount it on a spike, as a message that some favors come at too high a price. I want to look up at your severed head, and wave, like this. Can your associates arange that for me, Mr. Morden?”
Definitely Jack Nicholson and Anthony Hopkins.
John Malkovitch and Ving Rhames were a good team in ConAir.
I adore Alan Rickman, John Malkovich, Gary Oldman, and Clancy Brown as bad guys. (Clancy Brown was the sadistic guard in "Shawshank Redemption.)
Darth Vader. Easy. He has all the great qualities as a villain, and pulls it off looking cool. Not to mention it took 3 actors to portray him…
My 2nd fav. villain has to be Kirk Douglas in the old movie, The Villain. It was an old western-type movie which was basically a live action Road Runner and Coyote. He spent the whole movie chasing after the main character, Handsome Stranger (played by Arnold Schwartzeneger). Just remembering that movie makes me crack up…
3rd fav. would be the Dennis Hopper as the mad bomber in Speed. He fit the part perfectly, and was great.