Paul’s Ten on Tuesday: Bad guys, bad guys…

Someday I’ll probably have to go back to writing my own responses to Ten on Tuesday, but not just yet.

This week’s topic, “10 Favorite Villains From the Movies,” is another one tailor-made for my
husband the movie maven, so here’s another guest post from Tall Paul.
Interestingly, a couple of them also made an appearance in
his earlier guest post naming “10 Favorite Movie Characters.” Is that support for the idea that the bad guys are just more interesting? Hmm…

I don’t care for gore or slasher movies, so you won’t find Mike Meyers, Chucky, or Pinhead here.

The Joker (Heath Ledger) from The Dark Knight.
Yeah, I know it’s a pretty recent performance, but, I could not take my
eyes off of the screen when he was on. Frighteningly intelligent with
no remorse or morality. The fact that you never find out who he is or
why he does what he does only adds to his creepiness.


Professor Fate
(Jack Lemmon) from The Great Race.
A wonderful over-the-top performance by Jack Lemmon. He is not as smart
as he thinks he is, so it is great fun to watch his plans fail. The
fact that he has Max (Peter Falk) as his assistant only adds to his
ineptitude.

Otto (Kevin Kline) from A Fish Called Wanda. “Don’t call me stupid!” I loved Kevin Kline in this movie. His Oscar was well deserved.

Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) from Animal House.
“The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is
me.” “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”


KAAAAAAAHN!
(Ricardo Montalban) from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Sometimes I love overacting, and this is one of those times.

Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) from Star Wars episodes IV, V, and VI. Don’t agree with me? I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman) from Quigley Down Under.
A rancher who is set on killing the Australian Aborigine so he can take
their land. Alan Rickman played him as smart, witty, and evil. I loved
hating him in this movie.


The Shark (Bruce)
from Jaws.
Like a lot of movie goers, I stayed out of the ocean for awhile after
this movie. Hell, I stayed out of the deep end of the pool!

High Priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) from The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. No evil laugh. No evil look. Just confidence, a smile, and, oh yeah, the magical powers of an undead Egyptian High Priest.

Magneto (Ian McKellen) from X-Men. This is what happens when Gandalf goes bad. “We are the future, Charles, not them. They no longer matter.”

Runners up:
The Black Knight (John Cleese) from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “‘Tis but a scratch!”
White Goodman (Ben Stiller) from Dodgeball. “Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!”
Sheriff Cobb (Brian Dennehy) from Silverado.
Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) from Stardust.

So who are some of your favorite movie baddies?

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12 comments

  1. “I can’t believe I threw up in front of Dean Wormer.”
    “You threw up ON Dean Wormer.” Great character to include in the list of bad guys!

  2. A Fish Called Wanda is my favorite movie! I did a Way Back Wednesday on the movie several weeks ago.

    The rest of the villians are also great – asshoooooole!

  3. Bruce and Khan are great choices. I wouldn’t have thought of Otto since it was a comedy, then again, I came up with Dr. Evil.

  4. I tried to post earlier today, but the word verification was being mean. 🙁

    I am right there with Paul as to Heath Ledger’s Joker. He was just the right amount of crazy and I loved that he was a smart villain. I like my villains to have brains.

  5. Thank you for the kind comments. I enjoyed reading some of the other responses. I totally agree with Mike on Jar Jar Binks (Ashoooooole!)

  6. Fate, Otto, Wormer… oh wow, you dug deep and really came up with the gold. I thought also about Kahn, but I decided against it. Though I think it would have been good to pair him up with Nick Nack (Scaramanga’s assistant in The Man With the Golden Gun). “Hey boss, da plane, da plane!”

    Jar Jar isn’t technically a villain. Just a bad idea.