# Who are the best villians in movie history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131 "2008-12-07T14:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/81 "2008-12-09T14:38:04Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Agreed. He was the ONLY memorable thing from that movie, but man was he memorable. I can still remember that nasty look on his face as he takes off in a helicopter after being freed from his armored truck.. Someone here described it as banal indifference, and it was a good description. He looked at Tom Cruise like he was a pimple that needed squeezing. I couldn’t help but notice that he shared _very_ little screen time with Cruise in that movie. I have to wonder if that’s because PSH is a _hugely_ more talented actor than Cruise is. You definately didn’t pay much attention to Cruise when the two of them were on the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/82 "2008-12-09T14:56:33Z")
Christopher Walken as Gabriel in **The Prophecy**. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/83 "2008-12-09T15:07:47Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Cruella De Ville (How could nobody have mentioned her yet?) I think her last name is actually “De Vil”. They were basically calling her the devil. I’ll nominate one from a bad movie that no one has ever seen, but which holds a place in my bad-movie-lovin’ heart: pirate captain Dawg Brown, from [**Cutthroat Island**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vKBhvxBpN4), played by Frank Langella. In this clip, you can see one of his more fun lines: “We can’t leave yet, captain. We haven’t got enough food on board.” **“We need less mouths.”** (shoots the complaining deckhand) ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/84 "2008-12-09T15:15:03Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Rosemary’s Baby has Guy Wodehouse. He lets his wife be drugged, raped and impregnated by Satan without letting her in on the plans because he wants to get his big break in show biz. His explanation to her is “They promised me you wouldn’t be hurt and you really haven’t been, have you? If you had a baby and it died, it would be much worse. And we’re getting so much in return, aren’t we, Ro?” > > In response she spits on him. Excellent choice! I would also like to second the mention of Harry Lime from The Third Man mentioned previously. My nomination has to be Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/85 "2008-12-09T16:30:45Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > carnivorousplant: > > No, being a cold-hearted social-climber does. In that case, we should add Becky Sharp from _Vanity Fair_ – but the only [film adaptation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_(2004_film)) I’ve seen does not play her that way, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/86 "2008-12-09T16:51:05Z")
Gary Oldman in The Professional. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/87 "2008-12-10T05:05:08Z")
I am hopeful it will be Adrian Veidt in **Watchmen** “Do it? Dan, I’m not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I’d explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.” Another great one: Donald Sutherland in [Eye of the Needle](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082351/). No fuss, no speeches, but anyone who gets in his way is dead in a snap. And another: James Cromwell in [LA Confidential](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/). Yes, the same actor who played goofy Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family, taciturn but endearing Farmer Hoggett in Babe, and the drunken but brilliant Zaphram Conchrane in ST-First Contact can play a stone killer. His eyes were COLD. Cold as a circle of hell where it snows helium on souls not even worthy of of the devil’s punishment. “Do you have a valediction, boyo?” \ ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/88 "2008-12-10T05:16:34Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I think her last name is actually “De Vil”. They were basically calling her the devil. 'Cause we _really_ needed that joke explained. I think they were also trying to say she’s cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/89 "2008-12-10T13:07:23Z")
> [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](#): > > [Quote=Max Torque] > I think her last name is actually “De Vil”. They were basically calling her the devil. 'Cause we _really_ needed that joke explained. I think they were also trying to say she’s cruel. [/QUOTE] And yet she doesn’t scare me. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/90 "2008-12-10T13:37:00Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Nazis. Any Nazis, but especially the Nazi major who got his face and body melted in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Now that was an e-vil Nazi. Josef Goebbels in _Downfall._ Scarier because he was real. At least in Ep. IV, I think Gov. Tarkin was scarier than Vader. I mean he blows up a whole planet just because he can’t wait to play with his new toy. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/91 "2008-12-10T16:38:49Z")
I think Kiefer Sutherland has played some good villains: **Robert Doob** - Eye for An Eye - “You know I really don’t like Kiddy p\*\*\*y, but what I’m willing to make an exception.” **Freddie Lee Cobb** - A Time To Kill - "You can’t blame a nigger for being a nigger, no more than you can blame a dog for being a dog. But a whore like you, co-mingling with mongrels, betraying your own. That makes you worse than a nigger. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll leave you tied up here naked. First, it’ll just be bugs eating at ya. One day, maybe two. That sun’s gonna be cooking you. And animals… they’re gonna pick on your stink. They’ll come looking for something to eat. " **Bob Wolverton** - Freeway - “That’s not all I did to grandma!” **Lt Jonathan Kendrick** - A Few Good Men - "Pfc. William Santiago is dead, and that is a tragedy. But he is dead because he had no code. He is dead because he had no honor, and God was watching. " **Ace Merill** - Stand By Me - "You got two choices. You leave quietly, we take the body. Or, you can stay, we beat the shit out of you, we take the body. " ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/92 "2008-12-10T17:08:35Z")
**Amon Göth** in _Schindler’s List_. **Lord Voldemort** in the Potter movies (same actor, Ralph Fiennes) I’m also a fan of Gary Oldman’s **Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg** in _The Fifth Element_, although some probably regard it as too lightweight a movie. **Thulsa Doom** , James Earl Jones, in _Conan the Barbarian_? ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/93 "2008-12-10T17:25:26Z")
Donald Sutherland in\* Eye of the Needle\*? Yes, yes, yes! Pierce Brosnan in The Fourth Protocol. Beautiful and nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/94 "2008-12-10T17:28:16Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > And yet she doesn’t scare me. 'Cause you don’t have an attractive fur pelt that she can make into a coat. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/95 "2008-12-10T18:03:08Z")
Timothy from _A Long Kiss Good Night_. He’s the vamp to Geena Davis’ action-heroine. He’s smarmy, good-looking, and you can tell he _relishes_ his job. He throws knives at Samuel Jackson’s crotch. He even gets a chance to partially redeem himself by sparing his daughter Caitlyn, thinks about it a moment, and decides to let her die along with her mother. Another Kiefer Sutherland villain – David from _The Lost Boys_ (still the best vampire movie ever made). ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/96 "2008-12-10T18:09:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Annie Wilkes, “Misery” My all-time favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/97 "2008-12-10T18:23:28Z")
I’d have to go with Darth Vader, the xenomorph from Alien, HAL9000, Norman Bates, Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein, the Terminator, and Ernest Stavro Blofleld. Why them? They are the villains that are so iconic, so memorable, so distinct, that you dare not duplicate them lest you be accused of plagiarism. Even a nod in their direction suggests an homage. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/98 "2008-12-10T18:45:23Z")
The cinematic embodiment of evil is undeniably (go ahead try and deny it) Noah Cross from _Chinatown_. ---
**Author:** ![WPA-Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WPA-Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPA-Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/99 "2008-12-10T21:30:21Z")
Rosa Kleb SPECTRE Agent #3 in From Russia With Love. (Along with Blofeld, Kronsteen, and Red Grant) ---
**Author:** ![Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calredic)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/100 "2008-12-10T23:23:32Z")
Gene Hackman as John Herod in _The Quick and the Dead_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131.md?page=6)