# The biggest wimp in the movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775 "2013-12-19T23:51:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/1 "2013-12-19T23:51:09Z")
You can name as many as you like… I’ll start off with just one… Michael Moriarty in _ **Pale Rider** _. I think he is the winner of this category hands down, and I’ll be interested to see who else comes up in this thread. His voice is high pitched, he has no distinguishing rugged features, and he just looks and sounds wimpy. Every time I see _ **Pale Rider** _, I want to go to La Hood California just to kick his ass. I know his character is supposed to be a milksop, but I don’t think anyone could have played it better. In fact, I can’t see Moriarty in anything now without thinking **WIMP**! He just oozes a “loser” quality, and his nasally voice pulls it all together. I think he was in the _ **Law & Order** _ series, and he just couldn’t pull it off. I think it also has something to do with his speech delivery/acting style… Both the characters in the movie and the speed of the movie itself seem to move faster than Moriarty. I don’t think in _ **Pale Rider** _, he is doing anything special… that is his natural pace. He speaks slower and moves slower, like the rest of the picture is in some sort of time warp around him. His voice is so annoyingly flat and toneless… The poor bastard could probably put himself to sleep by reading out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/2 "2013-12-20T00:05:07Z")
It’s a tie between Don Knots and Arnold Stang. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/3 "2013-12-20T02:00:46Z")
Don Knotts can act debonaire, even tough. My biggest wimp is Peter Ustinov. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/4 "2013-12-20T02:10:11Z")
Bill Paxton in _True Lies_ ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/5 "2013-12-20T02:12:12Z")
**the\_diego** : I recently caught “Topkapi” on tv, and, well, his character surely was one of the wimpiest of wimps. Heck, he even made Blackbeard wimpy! (Have you ever heard the version of Zoltan Kodaly’s opera “Hary Janos” where Ustinov does the narration and comic dialogue? Brilliant. He even makes Napoleon Bonaparte into a wimp!) Rob Schneider, in Judge Dredd, was annoyingly wimpy. Almost as irritating as Jar Jar Binks. That specific whiny kind of role is hellishly annoying. Eddie Murphy, as the Donkey, in Shrek, was also a real pain in the keister. He was also a wimp in The Haunted Mansion. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/6 "2013-12-20T03:46:10Z")
Dirk Diggler’s dad in Boogie Nights. He just sits there while his wife screams cruel things at Dirk. He seems to be moved in some way, but just sits there impotently. Which was probably the point. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/7 "2013-12-20T03:59:04Z")
You mentioned **Pale Rider** , but the entire town of \*\*High Plains Drifter \*\*was worse. The bit where the outlaws come to town and 20-some armed men run like a scene from Monty Python is truly pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/8 "2013-12-20T04:02:42Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > Bill Paxton in _True Lies_ But he had one of the best lines in cinema history. “I got a little dick, it’s pathetic”. 😃 He also didn’t exactly cover himself with glory in _Aliens._ ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/9 "2013-12-20T04:10:14Z")
Sam Lowry’s boss in Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/10 "2013-12-20T04:14:39Z")
William H Macy in Fargo. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/11 "2013-12-20T04:55:30Z")
twin pines George McFly is a real loser ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/12 "2013-12-20T05:01:25Z")
Jack Black in _Margot at the Wedding_. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/13 "2013-12-20T05:24:59Z")
Ransom Stoddard in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance deserves a mention, as well as Marshall Link Appleyard in the same flick. Also one of the best movies ever made. I do like the choices people made in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/14 "2013-12-20T07:14:55Z")
C-3PO ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/15 "2013-12-20T08:17:43Z")
Another oldie: the usual suspect Peter Lorre. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/16 "2013-12-20T08:35:27Z")
But no one has yet mentioned the original wimp: Wimpy from Popeye: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/h9JD6W1PU-s/hqdefault.jpg "Wimpy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9JD6W1PU-s) ---
**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:** [December 20, 2013, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/17 "2013-12-20T09:14:17Z")
Terry (Charles Martin Smith) in _American Graffiti_. > [@Driver8](#): > > Sam Lowry’s boss in Brazil. He had more than one; I assume you mean Mr. Kurtzmann (Ian Holm). ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/18 "2013-12-20T09:59:18Z")
Saul Rubinek as W.W. Beauchamp in “Unforgiven”? Although I suspect\* I \*might piss myself coming face to face with little Bill. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/19 "2013-12-20T14:00:52Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > C-3PO Left on the cutting room floor: [![](https://i.imgur.com/B6NSPvn.gif) ](https://i.imgur.com/B6NSPvn.gif) ---
**Author:** ![mufatango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@mufatango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mufatango)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775/20 "2013-12-20T15:04:17Z")
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-wimp-in-the-movies/676775.md?page=2)