Which actor makes the best movie villian?

Having just watched "Dog Soldiers", I must nominate Liam Cunningham.

Alan Rickman has played very convincing goodies as well as baddies. For instance, in "Sense and Sensibility"

Andy
 
Sorry about bringing this back up, but thoughts of an older movie just hit me, because someone mentioned Tom Selleck. There was a movie called Runaway, where Selleck and his partner are cops that specialize in specialize in runaway robots, or maybe they are just regular cops.... Heck I don't remember, there's robots and other cool SF gadgetry, so it's set in the future, but a near future. Anyhow, the villian in the movie is brilliantly played by none other than Gene Simmons, who doesn't even really need to act to fulfill this part, it's like it's just so natural to him. It makes me wonder why he wasn't cast more often as a badguy.
 
stjames said:
Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde in Resivour Dogs.
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Does anyone here besides me think that some of the best movie villains came from most if not all Tarantino films ? (Including some you've already mentioned) Oldman, Roth, and Walken of course, Harvey Keitel (he never fails to deliver as a bad guy) Samuel Jackson (straight up bad MFer) And of course Ving Rames as Marcellus Wallace. What do you all think ?




Andrew
 
Mister Rogers, Peewee Herman and Captain Kangaroo and that baby with the unibrow on the Simpsons :D
 
They have to be bad guys in at least two showings:

Christopher Walken (his brief role in True Romance is about as chilling as anything I've ever seen)

Timothy Agoglia Carey (if you don't believe me, watch The Killers, or The Killing of a Chinese Bookie)

J.T. Walsh (as tarsier mentioned; his role in Breakdown is so creepy because he plays just a regular guy-- in other words, a real-life villain; also great in Sling Blade)

Morgan Woodward (from Cool Hand Luke and other infamous roles)

Lee Marvin (classic of all classics)

Ian McShane (plays one of the most superb fictional heavies of all time-- in HBO's Deadwood series)

Clancy Brown (menacing, frat-boy demeanor)

Henry Silva

Peter Stormare (just creepy)

James Cromwell (self-righteous prick)

Robert Mitchum (another classic menace)

Brian Dennehy (very underrated)

Of all these, I would say that the best villains are:

J.T. Walsh
Clancy Brown
Brian Dennehy
James Cromwell

All of the others are over-the-top, comic book villains. They may be scary at times, but they are caricatures of most truly evil men.
The four mentioned above are archetypes of every-day, true-life bastards. J.T. Walsh is your guy living next door, he could be your uncle. He happens to molest children or be a serial rapist, or be looking to put a hit out on your life. He's terrifying.

Clancy Brown is the frat-boy bully. Always grinning. Not likely to kill you, just make you miserable. And be damn good at it.

Brian Dennehy is the archetypal bad-ass small-town sheriff that is corrupt and will kill you if it suits his purpose-- a more mature bully. His cocky grin and swagger are a warning of things to come.

James Cromwell is the guy at the top. A self-righteous busy body who can easily convince himself that it is appropriate to wrongfully lock you up, or just kill you quietly. He can manipulate the system as far up as it goes.
 
Steve Buscemi in Fargo and Con-Air.

Elijah Wood and Nick Stahl in Sin City.

Brian
 
Here's a few of my favorite bad guy's:

- Jonathan Pryce as "Mr. Dark" in Something wicked this way comes.
- James Mason in Salem's Lot
- Tim Roth in Rob Roy (already mentioned a few times, but excellent!)
- Christian Bale in American Psycho
- James Earl Jones in Conan the Barbarian
- Ralph Fiennes as Untersturmfuhrer Amon Goeth in Schindler's list
- Jeff Goldblum in "Mr. Frost" ....great flic..

- My Buddy Dave's pick...Boss Hogg in Dukes of Hazzard :rolleyes:
 
Ian Mckellan , he was Gandolf in the LOTR, but in Apt Pupil he was a great character as a uncovered Nazi.

And Edward Norton in American History X, was a very good bad guy.

And Mark Harmon in the "Deliberate Stranger" was great, a TV film but a top notch villian performance.
 
fixer27 said:
And Edward Norton in American History X, was a very good bad guy.
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Edward Norton!

I had almost forgotten about him. Nominated for an Oscar in his first movie performance as Roy/Aaron St-st-st-st-stampler in Primal Fear. Seems it's the littlest most innocuous weasels you never expect that set my teeth on edge. Malevolent whimpering beady-eyed scheming little bastages.........:mad:


Yul Bryner was evil in West World but he seemed kind of....um....mechanical in that role.....:D



.
 
I read every single entry to make sure nobody had mentioned Yul Brenner in Westworld. Grr.
 
that's right! Ed Norton was an excellent bad guy in Primal Fear. And how could I forget Steve Buscemi's character in Con Air?
 
I'm gonna have to go with Christian Bale in American Psycho. I used to like the guy, but ever since I watched that movie several years ago I get chills just looking at him. Ick. Creepy, so very creepy...
 
Harvey Keitel makes the most wonderfully obsessed psychopaths, as in "The Duellists" and "Reservoir Dogs". Alan Rickman is very good, as was Lee Marvin (especially in "The Man Who Shop Liberty Valance") and Robert Mitchum (in "The Night of the Hunter"), Tony Perkins In "Psycho", and Gene Hackman in several films, including "Absolute Power".
 
Surprised no one has mentioned John Voight in Runaway Train, Bob Hoskins in the Long Good Friday, or William Smith as Falconetti in Rich Man Poor Man.
 
William B. Davis as the Cigarette Smoking Man (X files)
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith (Matrix)

I love totally amoral monsters who do the worst things because they believe them to be the right thing. Another excellent example of this type of villan would be the bad guy in Serenity. (Hero "I don't kill women and children." Villian responds, "I do.")
 
R. Lee Ermey as Drill instructor Hartmann in Full Metal Jacket.


The Hartmann character had some of the most memorable lines on film

"You will not laugh you will not cry, you will learn by the numbers i will teach you".

"Men i have failed, I have failed because you let me fail, so from now on when Pyle screws up, your going to pay for it"

"What the heck is that?"
"A jelly donut Sir"
 
Tilda Swinson as the Archangel in Constantine, She also plays the white witch in Narnia. She can be very creepy.
Alice Krige as the Borg Queen in Star Trek.
 
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