# Top 5 Movie Villains of all Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291 "2014-12-27T19:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/21 "2014-12-28T03:57:21Z")
Didn’t read any other responses yet, these are the first that sprang to mind. 1. Hans Gruber - Die Hard 2. Archibald (Cunningham?) - Rob Roy 3. Hannibal Lecter - Silence of the Lambs 4. Khan - Star Trek 3 5. Creepy Nazi with glasses - Raiders of the Lost Ark ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/22 "2014-12-28T04:05:38Z")
Charles Napier in the Blues Brothers (starting at about the :30 second mark: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/roMmt-69VQU/hqdefault.jpg "Blues Brothers Charles Napier") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roMmt-69VQU) ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/23 "2014-12-28T04:23:53Z")
My other choices have already been mentioned. I nominate Leonard from Memento. It’s a strange movie where a good argument can be made for the protagonist also being the villain. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/24 "2014-12-28T04:32:00Z")
Answering “five actors whose presence as ‘the bad guy’ makes the movie worth watching” instead. With one noted exception, they also play other kinds of roles; they’ve even been known to play different bad guys. Alan Rickman, Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Nicholson, Lee van Cleef (did he ever play a good guy?), Sergi López. Honorable mentions to Jean Reno, José Coronado and Luis Tosar. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/25 "2014-12-28T05:49:00Z")
Nurse Ratched ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/26 "2014-12-28T18:38:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Lee van Cleef (did he ever play a good guy?) Good question. IMDB credits him with roles in 171 movies/TV shows. He must have worn a white hat in there somewhere. ETA: I spoke too soon. See **[Lee Van Cleef - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Van_Cleef)** ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/27 "2014-12-28T18:47:32Z")
_Dolores Umbridge_ in Harry Potter. I know Voldemort was the big baddie, but at least he was knowingly evil and after power. Dolores was evil in the pursuit of goodness/justice. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/28 "2014-12-28T19:38:48Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Good question. IMDB credits him with roles in 171 movies/TV shows. He must have worn a white hat in there somewhere. > > ETA: I spoke too soon. See **[Lee Van Cleef - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Van_Cleef)** He was a good guy in the title role of the ninja themed TV show _The Master_. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/29 "2014-12-28T19:43:02Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > But he isnt a human being (I think) and the mask doesnt allow the actor to emote. He’s more machine than man, now. Twisted and evil. But James Earl Jones packs more menace into his voice than half the actors in this thread could convey with their entire body. That being said: Tim Roth as Archibald Cunningham in _Rob Roy._ ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/30 "2014-12-28T19:52:12Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > He was a good guy in the title role of the ninja themed TV show _The Master_. MST3K had a blast with that one. It also features Demi Moore’s first appearance, or at least a very early one. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/31 "2014-12-28T19:59:28Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Gregory Anton in _Gaslight_ was an evil villain. That was Charles Boyer. Also, Peter Lorre in _M_. Or do foreign films not count? He was pretty creepy in _Mad Love_ as well: the original mad scientist. Gustav von Seyffertitz as Mr. Grimes in _Sparrows_ was pretty much irredeemably evil, and very scary. Donald Crisp as Battling Burrows puts evil right on screen in 1919, by doing something horrifying right in front of the camera for the first time, and shocking the crap out of audiences in _Broken Blossoms_. He traps his teenaged daughter in a closet, and we see the trapped Lillian Gish, terrified and hysterical, in a very famous scene; then she decides to come out and face him, and he beats her to death; she dies right in front of the camera. It’s probably on youtube, although I’ve never looked, because I have a file of the whole movie. They’d have to be on my list. I second Orson Welles in _The Third Man_, but I think Peter Cushing’s character in the original _Star Wars_ “holding Vader’s leash,” is actually more evil, although not as scary. Does the villain have to be human? If not, I nominate Bruce, the shark in _Jaws_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/32 "2014-12-28T20:16:49Z")
Y’all have named many of my easy-to-hate types so I’ll just put up a few names to add to whatever poll comes from this thread: Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) from _Tombstone_ Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) from _Schindler’s List_ Malak Al Rahim (Gene Simmons) from [Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094293/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_117) This third one may need a bit of support for his villainy potential. If you allow for the “most cathartic demise” to establish how bad the dude was it will be hard to beat [this scene!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIzCUhafhSQ) It might be worth a spinoff thread to find the most fulfilling death scene ever. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/33 "2014-12-28T21:03:19Z")
No particular order… [ul] [li]Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men[/li][li]Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest[/li][li]Hannibal Lecter, Silence of the Lambs[/li][li]The Joker, Dark Knight[/li][li]Archibald Cunningham, Rob Roy[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/34 "2014-12-28T21:20:46Z")
This far down, and no one has mentioned Henry Fonda in _ **Once Upon a Time in the West** _?!? :eek: :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/35 "2014-12-28T21:51:33Z")
I was going to say Dr. Simon Bar Sinister but the cartoon version was far more villainous than the movie version. ---
**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 28, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/36 "2014-12-28T22:52:46Z")
Kate from East of Eden – evil for the sake of evil Cruella de Ville from 101 Dalmations – so she could have a puppy skin coat Kurtz from Apocalypse Now – to use evil methods to win an evil war that was not worth winning Hyman Roth from Godfather II – it amused him to set his old partner’s sons against each other ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/37 "2014-12-28T23:54:27Z")
I thought Hyman Roth wanted revenge for the execution of Moe Green? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/38 "2014-12-29T00:00:00Z")
Alan Arkin as Harry Roat in “Wait Until Dark.” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/39 "2014-12-29T00:59:32Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Alan Arkin as Harry Roat in “Wait Until Dark.” Oh, yeah; forgot about him. That’s a good one. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291/40 "2014-12-29T01:14:51Z")
Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell) in _The Long Goodbye_ Noah Cross (John Huston) in _Chinatown_ Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) in _Sexy Beast_ Eddie Dane (J. E. Freeman) in _Miller’s Crossing_ Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) in _Schindler’s List_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-movie-villains-of-all-time/708291.md?page=3)