Great Films where the "Baddie" is the central character?

sxt

and /or "wins" in the end

"Pyscho" is the the only film that springs to mind off the top of my head...

Sound of Silence

I recall that "Chigurh" in No Country for Old Men got away pretty much scot free, save for a broken arm.

Daniel Plainview in There Will be Blood, despite being a dispicable human being for the most part, manages to live right to the end and even gets to club that preacher with an ol-bowling pin and steal his milkshake!

It is quite rare in films for this to happen. I'll see if I can remember any more.

Manach

Avatar - How could the Space Marines have lost to oversized smurfs.

Harry Angstrom

Practically every Quentin Tarantino film that's ever been made. That's the beauty of his films. The lines are always blurred. Much better than most of the Hollywood fodder where the goodies are always the central characters and they triumph over the baddies in the end.

dark crystal

sxt wrote: »

and /or "wins" in the end

"Pyscho" is the the only film that springs to mind off the top of my head...

Norman Bates doesn't win in that film, though. He's sitting in a police station at the end, after being caught and apprehended just as he's about to kill the Vera Miles character.


I guess the most obvious ones for me would be One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Chinatown (Although I suppose it could be argued that Louise Fletcher and John Houston weren't the main characters per se)

How about Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, Jeepers Creepers, Basic Instinct, Saw 2 and Halloween.

Landoflemon

American Psycho - even if it was all in his head!

recyclops

I would say silence of the lambs, I know buffalo bill is kidnapper but hannibal is the main baddie, IMO

dark crystal

MaxSteele wrote: »

Scarface.

He certainly doesn't win at the end!!

DazMarz

Inside Man: while technically the good guys, the robbers are the winners in the end.

First Blood: Rambo gets away with everything he's done, more or less. And for the antagonist in the film, Teasle also gets away with everything, apart from a few flesh wounds to his legs, he does not appear to get censured or anything in the end.

Rec: zombie/possessed girl wins in the end, I think...

Heat: one of the robbers gets clear away, taking a full share of the heist money and getting away. Fine, he has to abandon his life, but he still gets away from the law with all that money.

K.Flyer

Batman "The Dark Knight"
Joker stole the show

Corkfeen

A Clockwork Orange probably counts even if you sympathise with him at the very same time.

Landoflemon wrote: »

American Psycho - even if it was all in his head!

Someone has misunderstood American psycho....

Icarus Wings

The Pink Panther (1963) - In a comical sense, everything seems to backfire for the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in the original!

The Wicker Man (1973) - An unsettling ending where the unveiling of the islanders' web of lies and savage pagan rituals result in a man paying the ultimate price. I'm refusing to acknowledge the existance of the Nicolas Cage remake...:mad::o

Mickeroo

Corkfeen wrote: »

Someone has misunderstood American psycho....

Always thought it was pretty open to interpretation myself.

The King of Moo

Frankenstein (1931), though it's hard to describe the creature as an out-and-out villain, particularly thanks to Karloff's excellent, sympathetic performance.

The Day of the Jackal is another good example, not only because it spends so much time with The Jackal, but also because it never bothers to try to make him sympathetic.

The Third Man has Harry Lime as a pretty unscrupulous yet charming character. Though he's not in the film that much, he really is the central character, as everything revolves around him.

Raging Bull is one of my favourite films but it's entirely focused on an obnoxious brute of a man whom you still find yourself sympathising with at time.

_coinin_

Would Batman (1989) be one?It was mostly focusing on the Joker... From dusk till dawn, main character was a baddie.

Dozen Wicked Words

Collateral would fit the bill I think, Tom Cruise certainly not a good guy in it, although maybe he is portrayed as "not that bad" because hes killing other "baddies". Enjoyable enough film until the last, stupid 10 minutes.

Why did he need to get his comeuppance?

dark crystal

Without meaning to be too pedantic, the OP mentions baddies who are one of the central characters and who 'win' at the end. Loads of the choices so far include baddies being killed or arrested; i.e, not winning.


Saying that, I wonder would Point Break count -

Bodhi wasn't killed or arrested...

I love Point Break

Mickeroo

dark crystal wrote: »

Without meaning to be too pedantic, the OP mentions baddies who are one of the central characters and who 'win' at the end. Loads of the choices so far include baddies being killed or arrested; i.e, not winning.


Saying that, I wonder would Point Break count -

Bodhi wasn't killed or arrested...

I love Point Break

I don't think Point Break counts because Utah was the main character not Bodhi.

Besides I always took it the Bodhi died at the end, but I guess we'll never know brah

razorblunt

Ordinary Decent Criminal - what do you mean that film never happened?

dark crystal

Mickeroo wrote: »

I don't think Point Break counts because Utah was the main character not Bodhi.

Besides I always took it the Bodhi died at the end, but I guess we'll never know brah

Yeah but even if he did die, he did it his own way in his own time. Duuude.

Mickeroo

razorblunt wrote: »

Ordinary Decent Criminal - what do you mean that film never happened?

I'm pretty sure that film is actually called National Lampoon's The General.

RobbingBandit

Goodfellas would be one where the bad guy who flips wins in the end.

johnny_ultimate

List posts deleted as per the forum charter. It's not that hard to say something relevant to the topic rather than just a film name.

Dozen Wicked Words

The Usual Suspects fit the bill? Keyser Soze is a Baddie, the central character of sorts and walks away scot free at the end. Any film with the late, great Pete Postlethwaite in is fine by me.

promethius

dark crystal wrote: »

Yeah but even if he did die, he did it his own way in his own time. Duuude.

bodhi may have lived or died (personally i think he could have survived that wave no problem) but how many of us can say we truely lived bru?

he's out back somewhere waiting for his set either way..........

DazMarz

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Jack Sparrow is an anti-hero/rogue/sort-of-villain throughout, being very self-serving and while he's charming and pretty likable, he's a bit of a baddie nonetheless. And he always wins, all the time. Through being a cute hoor and generally just lucky.

juan.kerr

dark crystal wrote: »

He certainly doesn't win at the end!!

And it's overated.

Elfinknight

Pitch Black.
Riddick wins at the end of that.

WatchWolf

recyclops wrote: »

I would say silence of the lambs, I know buffalo bill is kidnapper but hannibal is the main baddie, IMO

Clarice is the central character.

Lecter is only on screen for something like 15 minutes, and he's only really there to be sexy, help out with the case and (above all) psychoanalyze Clarice to give us more of an insight into her character.

Scruffy Sandra

Best one of all.....The Omen

When Damien turns around at the very end at his (step)father's funeral, and breaking the "fourth wall", looks straight into the audience and does a little knowing grin.

Absolutely brilliant!

spacecoyote

Doesn't quite fit the bill but Der Untertag, main character is Hitler,who obviously doesn't win.

The most disturbing thing for me is you actually almost find yourself feeling sorry for him (until u remember its Hitler)

And the main character in old boy certainly couldn't be classed as a good guy!!

Corkfeen

Mickeroo wrote: »

Always thought it was pretty open to interpretation myself.

Think the book defined the ending moreso for me. Scarred though. :pac:

Another one that is coming to mind is 'Bronson' but I'm not sure if I even categorise the character as a real villain.

dark crystal

Just to re-post two other good examples which were deleted, Primal Fear and Arlington Road.

Two rare examples of Hollywood allowing the bad guy to triumph and two sucker punch endings.

Dozen Wicked Words

The Vanishing (the ?Dutch original) is another where the Bad Guy wins, the ending gave me nightmares for weeks as a teenager when I saw it. Haven't been able to watch it since. Saw the US remake which was crap but it had a happy ending, zero nightmares!!! Its a lose/win.

JP Liz V1

dark crystal wrote: »

Just to re-post two other good examples which were deleted, Primal Fear and Arlington Road.

Two rare examples of Hollywood allowing the bad guy to triumph and two sucker punch endings.

+ 1 on Primal Fear an amazing debut performance from Edward Norton and a good twist as well

tony1kenobi

Any Robin Hood film.He is a thieving bastard.And he always wins.

Ant

In some films, the "bad" central character is portrayed in a sympathetic light and it's often the case that while they're not good, they're the least worse character out of a bad lot. e.g. "Get Carter" features a violent criminal who's on a mission of vengeance - but those he attacks are more morally depraved.

I'd say most gangster films feature the baddies as the primary characters e.g. Godfather, Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs, etc. I'd also suggest 'Catch Me if You Can'. The Tom Hanks charactor is the hard-working agent trying to bring the central character to justice.

More recently, Frédéric Bourdin, the central character in The Impostor was a master of deception and manipulation and by no means a "good guy". The protagonist in last year's Snowtown is definitely a "baddie" - even if he's not the worst of a bad lot and is also, in some respects, a victim himself.

There have been a few complaints about films being suggested where the baddie doesn't win at the end. The OP was looking for Great Films where the "Baddie" is the central character. Also, note the "or" in "and /or":

sxt wrote: »

and /or "wins" in the end

The sole example provided, Psycho was another indicator that winning isn't a prerequisite for this thread.

kryogen

Tim Robbins character in Arlington Road springs to mind

kdevitt

Memento - Guy Pearces character is essentially killing for kicks.

Sort of off topic re: American Psycho - the director was quoted as saying she feels she failed as a movie maker by having people come out of the cinema thinking he'd imagined all the murders.

D-FENS

Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal

A2LUE42

I think fallen would be a good one, even though the baddie keeps changing bodies.

krudler

dooferoaks wrote: »

Collateral would fit the bill I think, Tom Cruise certainly not a good guy in it, although maybe he is portrayed as "not that bad" because hes killing other "baddies". Enjoyable enough film until the last, stupid 10 minutes.

Why did he need to get his comeuppance?

I loved Collateral aside from the final act, where throughout the movie it doesnt go how you're expecting it to, then it turns into conventional

chased by the bad guy, would have been much more effective if Jada Pinkett had been killed and Cruise just vanished

Landoflemon

Corkfeen wrote: »

A Clockwork Orange probably counts even if you sympathise with him at the very same time.

Someone has misunderstood American psycho....

Perhaps I did misunderstand, I've seen it a lot and read the book, but I'm still unclear what he did or didn't do, if Paul Allen is alive, who is Patrick Bateman etc, but a lot does seem to go down without him getting in any way reprimanded!

One of my favourites because I think it's an experience, but maybe I'm taking it all too literally.

Rented Mule

Every horror movie franchise comes to mind.

Temaz

'The Day Of The Jackal' focuses on the would be assassin.

Mannix1888

K.Flyer wrote: »

Batman "The Dark Knight"
Joker stole the show

The Joker (Jack Nicholson) also stole the show in Tim Buton's 1989 Batman. The Anton Chigurh character in "No Country" was the best "baddie" I've seen in recent flicks.

paikea

I just realized after reading the first two pages that this is by large a spoiler thread...:eek:

e_e

There Will Be Blood

crank_1975

What about Faster? The Rock's charachter is wrongly imprisoned but he does some bad things once he gets out.....

TwoShedsJackson

Seven. OK the bad guy dies but has a great exit and takes someone interesting with him...

Tomk1

White Heat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Heat
Not sure if this fits, an old one, James Cagney plays the sole central character, a murdering gangster, though he dies by his own hand in the end rather than taken alive, you can't help to sympathise with him when he says those famous words:
" Made it, Ma! Top of the world "