The American Film Institute's Top 50 movie villains

The Herald-Sun ^ | 05jun03 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Top 50 movie villains

05jun03

1. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), The Silence of the Lambs

2. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), Psycho

3. Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), The Empire Strikes Back

4. The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), The Wizard of Oz

5. Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

6. Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), It's a Wonderful Life

7. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), Fatal Attraction

8. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), Double Indemnity

9. Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), The Exorcist

10. The Queen (voiced by Lucille LaVerne), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

11. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), The Godfather Part II

12. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), A Clockwork Orange

13. HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), 2001: A Space Odyssey

14. The Alien (Bolaji Badejo), Alien

15. Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), Schindler's List

16. Noah Cross (John Huston), Chinatown

17. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), Misery

18. The Shark, Jaws

19. Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton), Mutiny on the Bounty

20. Man, Bambi

21. Mrs. John Iselin (Angela Lansbury), The Manchurian Candidate

22. The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), The Terminator

23. Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), All About Eve

24. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), Wall Street

25. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), The Shining

26. Cody Jarrett (James Cagney), White Heat

27. The Martians, War of the Worlds

28. Max Cady (Robert Mitchum), Cape Fear

29. Rev. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), The Night of the Hunter

30. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), Taxi Driver

31. Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), Rebecca

32. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway), Bonnie and Clyde

33. Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), Dracula

34. Dr. Szell (Laurence Olivier), Marathon Man

35. J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), Sweet Smell of Success

36. Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), Blue Velvet

37. Harry Lime (Orson Welles), The Third Man

38. Rico Bandello (Edward G. Robinson), Little Caesar

39. Cruella De Vil (voiced by Betty Lou Gerson), One Hundred and One Dalmatians

40. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), A Nightmare on Elm Street

41. Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway), Mommie Dearest

42. Tom Powers (James Cagney), The Public Enemy

43. Regina Giddens (Bette Davis), The Little Foxes

44. Baby Jane Hudson (Bette Davis), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

45. The Joker (Jack Nicholson), Batman

46. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), Die Hard

47. Tony Camonte (Paul Muni), Scarface

48. Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), The Usual Suspects

49. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), Goldfinger

50. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington), Training Day

Source: The American Film Institute

[mikeb704]

These two don't deserve recognition? I demand a recount.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I can't believe that this one did not make the list.

I have to admit that the play was better but the movie chills quite nicely

[gcruse]

One that sticks in my mind was Richard Widmark, when he pushed a woman in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs.

[Born on the Storm King]

I honestly do not see how Hannibal Lector is scary---I would just simply give him a good knuckle sandwich!

[sharktrager]

Keep in mind that psychopaths often are immune to pain, and stronger than their appearance would suggest.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

What about Klaatu, the alien fascist in The Day the Earth Stood Still?

Or self-righteous killer Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath?

Or Jefferson Smith, wrecker of the Constitution, in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?

[supercat]

Man, Bambi

A villain who never appears on-screen and whose voice is never heard?

[supercat]

What about Klaatu, the alien fascist in The Day the Earth Stood Still?

I preferred Eros (Dudley Manlove) for the alien visitor role. Your stupid minds are just so STUPID STUPID STUPID!

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

One thing's sure. Inspector Clay is dead. Murdered.

And somebody's responsible!