Greatest Movie Characters

tobehonestwithy

Was in the pub with my mates after the United match on Tuesday. We were chatting about No Country For Old Men and it seemed to be unanimous that Javier Bardems character' Anton Shighur was one of the great movie characters in recent years. - definietly one of the scariest :eek:

Just wondering what your opinion is of the greatest characters of all time - I am sure this has probably been done before but I am new here and havent seen any similar thread.

In comedy it has to be Lloyd bridges in Hot Shots:

Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson is dead. So is Mo Green, Tataglia, Barzini, the heads of all the five families. It is at moments like these, my dear friends, that we must ask ourselves: "How can this not be part of some larger plan?" Do good men like Dead Meat Thompson just blink out one day like a bad bulb? I mean, one minute you're in bed with a knockout gal... or guy, and the next, you're a compost heap. Doesn't that bother any of you? Because it scares the living piss outta me!

:pac::pac:

Duggy747

What's that sound? That's the sound of this thread getting locked the fùck down.

Anyways, +2 on Lloyd Bridges, always a joy to watch him in both Hot Shots!

Be a tough one for me, so many choices:

ED-209
The man with no name
Terminator
Predator
Xenomorph (Alien)
Rambo

tobehonestwithy

why would it get locked down?

grames_bond

in....before she gets locked!!

best movie charachter is sam jackson in pulp fiction-such a bad ass m*therf*cker!!

kaimera

Bond
Indy
Frank Drebin

...to name three.

skaramanga

Jack Walsh Midnight Run.
Jonathan Mardukas: Did she hurt you, Jack?
Jack Walsh: Yeah, she did.
Jonathan Mardukas: I'm sorry.
Jack Walsh: What're you sorry about?
Jonathan Mardukas: I'm sorry you're hurt.
Jack Walsh: I'm not hurt.
Jonathan Mardukas: You just said you were hurt.
Jack Walsh: I'm not hurt.
Jonathan Mardukas: I just asked you if you were hurt and you said "Yeah, I'm hurt."
Jack Walsh: That's because you made me say that.
Jonathan Mardukas: Jack, you're a grown man. You're in control of your own words.
Jack Walsh: You're goddamn right I am. Now here come two words for you: Shut the **** up.


Also Bette Midler performance in Outrages Fortune was outstanding

Jeddy 3

Marge Gunderson - Fargo


"So that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don't you know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well, I just don't understand it. "

Lawless_Samurai

+ alot of whats been mentioned already!


One that sticks out that hasn't been mentioned is Maximus

Maximus: My name is Gladiator.
[turns away from Commodus]
Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.
Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
[Commodus trembles in disbelief]

Red Hand

tobehonestwithy wrote: »

why would it get locked down?

The mods in this forum don't like people making lists of things.


I'll throw in Tuco from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Creature

John Matrix from commando. His surname is Matrix FFS.

Lawless_Samurai

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

I'll throw in Tuco from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

In keeping with the Dollars Trilogy you have to give a mention Colonel Douglas Mortimer. What a character!!!

Creature wrote: »

John Matrix from commando. His surname is Matrix FFS.

That is fair point!

tobehonestwithy

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

The mods in this forum don't like people making lists of things.


I'll throw in Tuco from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

cheers mate. I didnt realise that. I cant edit the title to Favourite can I?

Red Hand

Ha, I think Clint Eastwood's Man with no name from the Sergio Leone trilogy will feel left out considering he wasn't mentioned.:)

cheers mate. I didnt realise that. I cant edit the title to Favourite can I?

Don't think so, but you could pm a mod of this forum, and ask them to edit it?

Maybe they will be in a good mood and leave this thread open as it is?

grames_bond

another mention must go to john mclaine, the man who made the wifebeater fashionable!

Lawless_Samurai

How could we leave out Tyler Durden....!?

faceman

These threads have been let slip lately for some reason.

How do you define a great movie character? Is it just someone who is "cool" which always seems to be the way with these threads

tobehonestwithy

i suppose its each to their own on they want to determine the greatest.

It could be sub-categorised to

Funniest
Scariest
Coolest
Sexiest - Obviously a 'toss up' if you pardon the pun between Jolie in everything and Megan Fox in Transformers

Pigman II

Indiana Jones > Everything else.

tricky D

Miller in Repo Man = Tracey Walter

Cactus Col

Doc Brown in the Back to the future movies.

tobehonestwithy

Cactus Col wrote: »

Doc Brown in the Back to the future movies.

Good Call!

Trotter

The Dude! Jeff Lebowski. A legend

Lawless_Samurai

Lehiff from Intermission

Did for dublin scumbags what Brad Pitt did for pikeys in Snatch (almost!)

The Bollox

Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.

I love the sense of apathy when he kills people. Bale is a very gifted actor, alas I don't think he's gifted enough to save T4

Miguel_Sanchez

Johnny in Mike Leigh's Naked.

David Thewlis nailed that character so well.

The Artist

i know this is old but Laurel and Hardy was my favourite characters.

johnny_ultimate

Trotter wrote: »

The Dude! Jeff Lebowski. A legend

Character that instantly popped into my head when I saw the thread title. The world would be a far better place if we all looked up to Jeffery Lebowski's example:

I'll tell you what I'm blathering about... I've got information man! New **** has come to light! And ****... man, she kidnapped herself. Well sure, man. Look at it... a young trophy wife, in the parlance of our times, you know, and she, uh, uh, owes money all over town, including to known pornographers, and that's cool... that's, that's cool, I'm, I'm saying, she needs money, man. And of course they're going to say that they didn't get it, because... she wants more, man! She's got to feed the monkey, I mean uh... hasn't that ever occurred to you, man? Sir?

Max Fischer also springs to mind as a favourite. A character who is just so insane and odd, but you can't help but like him. He did write and direct a hit play, of course.

As for more realistic characters... Clememtine from Eternal Sunshine springs to mind. A lot of it is Kate Winslet, but her character is perfectly written as well. You can instantly understand why Joel is both attracted and repulsed to her. There are so many one-dimensional love interests out there, but Clementine is the character that holds Eternal Sunshine together (well, along with Kaufman's borderline perfect script, and Gondry's inspired direction), and is probably the most instantly memorable character in recent cinema.

Other character who also leave an impression would be Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (terrifying to say the least), Annie Hall (similiar to Clem from ETSOTSM in many ways - truly well drawn love interest) and Malcolm Reynolds (OK, just cause he kicks ass).

Wacker

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Ha, I think Clint Eastwood's Man with no name from the Sergio Leone trilogy will feel left out considering he wasn't mentioned.:)



Don't think so, but you could pm a mod of this forum, and ask them to edit it?

Maybe they will be in a good mood and leave this thread open as it is?

At the risk of being pedantic, I'll point out that Duggy 747 did mention him!

We have been lucky in the last year as to of the most memorably evil movie characters ever conceived were seen in Daniel Plainview (There Will be Blood) and Anton Chigurgh (No Country for Old Men). I'd give the edge to Plainview, but it is really close. "Bast*rd from a basket!" just about scrapes it over "Whats the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?"

To go back a little bit (to the 70s), Popeye Doyle from the French Connection deserves a mention. That guy must have had some seriously high blood pressure. 'Dirty' Harry Callaghan had nothing on him. At some point I'd like to see some of the old Jimmy Cagney movies; we played an awesome gangster from all accounts.

Johnny Ultimate, I absolutely love the scene you quoted. The Dude is so inarticualte there. That whole movie is packed with awesome characters, even if they have just a couple of lines. For instance, Jackie Treehorn (why did he take his doodle of a giantly endowed dude with him?), the Malibu sheriff (throwing the coffee mug!), Karl Hungus ("meine despatche says that you have a problem with deine cable"), Jesus Quintano ("You said it man! Nobody f*cks with the Jesus!), that weird artist guy with the crazy laugh, etc.

longshanks

frank white, the king of new york

or tom hanks in big. i like hanks in everything though

Pigman II

longshanks wrote: »

i like hanks in everything

Do you like him in Antonio Banderas?

grames_bond

The Bollox wrote: »

Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.

I love the sense of apathy when he kills people. Bale is a very gifted actor, alas I don't think he's gifted enough to save T4

i agree with you insofar as bateman is an amazingly wirtten character, someone you should hate but dont! but i disagree in that i think bale will really change the terminator franchise for the good!!

Kur4mA

Earl Bassett and Valentine McKee from Tremors.

[Monster slams into a concrete retaining wall]
Earl Bassett: Stupid son-of-a-bitch, knocked itself cold!
Valentine McKee: Cold, my ass, he's dead! We killed it. We killed it! ***** you!*

Valentine McKee: STAMPEDE! Stampede, Earl! Get out of the way, get out of the way!
Earl Bassett: [waking up] You dumb ****. I was in a stampede once. Five hundred head, all hell-bent for the horizon.
Valentine McKee: Now, exactly how many cattle are required for a stampede, Earl? Is it three or more? Is there a minimum to 'pede?
Earl Bassett: I wish they'd stampede up your ass.

calahans

Withnail
The Dude
Willy wonka
As someone said Johnny from Naked

2-ShortDa5foot5

Don Vito Corleone from the Godfather, Brando at his finest!

Sam 'Ace' Rothstein from Casino (De Niro)

Tyler Durden

Lloyd Bridges from Hot Shots, BRILLIANT!
( Remember the part where he has a painting of the runway up on his wall in the office, and he thinks it's a window )

Frank Drebin from Naked Gun:
Frank Drebin: "What's the motive here...?"
Ed Hocken: "Sex Frank?"
Frank Drebin: No.... not right now Ed, we've got police work to do!"

Trent from Swingers (Vince Vaughn)
"You're MONEY baby!"

Chris Sheherlis from HEAT (Val Kilmer)

The Joker from Batman (1989)

Dawson's character from The Rules of Attraction (Supposed to be Patrick Bateman's brother)

Withnail

Michael Myers from Halloween

grames_bond

2-ShortDa5foot5 wrote: »

Dawson's character from The Rules of Attraction (Supposed to be Patrick Bateman's brother)

SEAN yesiamascumbag bateman you mean, ye he is a great character, as are most of the characters written by bret easton ellis! i think i like patrick better tho! (is that a bad thing!?)