# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/101 "2008-12-10T23:51:40Z")
Al Pacino as “John Milton” in _The Devil’s Advocate_. ---
**Author:** ![Catsmeow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Catsmeow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catsmeow)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/102 "2008-12-11T02:24:35Z")
John Malkovich as Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons. Mmm deliciously hard hearted and just so…wrong. Vicomte de Valmont: You see, I have no intention of breaking down her prejudices. I want her to believe in God and virtue and the sanctity of marriage, and still not be able to stop herself. I want the excitement of watching her betray everything that’s is most important to her. Surely you understand that. I thought betrayal was your favorite word. Marquise de Merteuil: No, no…“cruelty.” I always think that has a nobler ring to it. And Glenn Close as Marquise de Merteuil was just as delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/103 "2008-12-11T18:26:52Z")
Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman [Here’s to plain speaking and clear understanding.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033870/quotes) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/104 "2008-12-11T18:42:15Z")
[Longshanks, King Edward I](http://theland.antgear.com/patrick_mcgoohan.jpg) as the newlywed porking tyrant in **Braveheart**. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/105 "2008-12-11T18:43:10Z")
The man with no eyes from Cool Hand Luke ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/106 "2008-12-11T18:56:46Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > And yet she doesn’t scare me. Then no evil thing will! ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/107 "2008-12-11T19:18:11Z")
I nominate Henry Fonda, as Frank, in Once Upon A Time In The West. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/108 "2008-12-11T19:52:43Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Darth Vader, “Star Wars” and sequels He stands out as a cert U villian (for those outside the UK, it’s a villian anyone of any age can watch in the cinema), who keeps chilling as you grow up. Yul Bryner’s gun slinger in Westworld was pretty good for someone who had basically one line to repeat again and again. I guess it added to the simple relentlessness of his onward march. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/109 "2008-12-11T20:51:58Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > [Longshanks, King Edward I](http://theland.antgear.com/patrick_mcgoohan.jpg) as the newlywed porking tyrant in **Braveheart**. But Edward didn’t pork the newlywed- it was one of his underlings, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/110 "2008-12-11T20:56:22Z")
It’s been awhile but I think you’re right. Thanks. Okay then… off with that Lord’s head! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/111 "2008-12-11T21:08:00Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > But Edward didn’t pork the newlywed- it was one of his underlings, wasn’t it? Nobody porked her onscreen except William Wallace. It was, however, suggested by the narrator (e.g. Robert the Bruce) that Edward I planned to pork her. In real life, of course, Edward the Longshanks actually married the young French girl himself; he was 60 when he married 17-year-old Marguerite. (he was widowed from Eleanor, who he by all acocunts loved very much.) He and his teenaged bride had three children so I guess he porked her. His son, Edward II (not his first but the others all died as children) also married a French princess (though she wasn’t called by that title) but she wasn’t nearly as nice as Sophie Marceau’s character, believe me. Despite the movie’s suggestion, Edward I was actually dead before they got married and had had misgivings about the arrangement. Edward II really was probably a bisexual, not a homosexual as is suggested in the movie, and he wasn’t a wimp, either. ---
**Author:** ![Parthol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Parthol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parthol)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/112 "2008-12-11T21:19:24Z")
I have always been partial to the Incarnation of Evil (played by David Warner) in **Time Bandits**. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/113 "2008-12-11T22:05:33Z")
Hades in Disney’s Heracles. A pretty forgettable film, except for him. The Thing in _The Thing_. Though you could argue it’s not really a villain. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/114 "2008-12-11T22:12:06Z")
All the best ones have gone, but I thought Tim Curry’s Lord Of Darkness in Legend was a pretty good villian. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/115 "2008-12-11T22:25:13Z")
Stephen Dorff in _Blade_, Gary Oldman in _The Professional_, and from TV: The Cigarette Smoking Man from _X Files_. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/116 "2008-12-11T23:01:38Z")
Bob Gunton as Warden Norton in _The Shawshank Redemption_. Soulless, corrupt bastard, made worse by pious hypocrisy and abuse of authority. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/117 "2008-12-11T23:14:51Z")
Shere Khan from Disney’s Jungle Book. George Sanders nailed it! Other than that there are a few that everyone probably knows. Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Dr Strangelove (does he count?) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/118 "2008-12-12T02:03:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Nobody porked her onscreen except William Wallace. Wait, the gal who got porked on her wedding night wasn’t Wallace’s lady love, it was Morrison’s ([Tommy Flanagan](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281107/)). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/119 "2008-12-12T04:57:16Z")
Wilson. He was fast, fast on the draw. Kurt Dussander, from Apt Pupil Palance and Mckellan, two of the greats ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131/120 "2008-12-12T05:21:34Z")
McKellen also made a wonderfully evil, sly villain in his 1930s British Fascist take on _Richard III_. And DeNiro as Mr. Cyphre in _Angel Heart_. Brrrrrrrrrrr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-best-villians-in-movie-history/476131.md?page=7)