As a moviegoer for
more than 70 years, I’ve seen some great movies, some not so great, some really
bad ones, some trying but failing to be deep and meaningful, some reveling in
their shallowness. I was born the year The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind
were released. My mother started taking me to the movies shortly after that. I
saw some movies that were definitely not PG rated. I can still remember being
afraid of The Thing and delighting in An American in Paris.
Many times I disagree
with the critics. I don’t call them and tell him what I think of their reviews,
so now that there is an internet for anyone to babble on, I add my voice. I’m
sure there are many of you who will disagree with my assessments. Some of you
will agree. I hope to hear from all of
you.
It’s time for those hisses and boos. This month I present
you with some of the great villains and villainesses (I know it’s not a word
but I like the sound of it) in movies. The role of a good villain can make an
ordinary film memorable. It can make or break a promising career for an actor.
After Cuckoo’s Nest, did Louise
Fletcher ever do anything important? Did Bruce Dern ever lack for work? Then
there are stars that could play heroes or villains and still be loved. Angela
Lansbury was the super villain in the Manchurian
Candidate and the loveable Jessica Fletcher in television’s Murder, She Wrote.
Villainesses
Kathy
Bates: A New York stage actress before
coming to Hollywood, Bates hit it big as Annie Wilkes in Misery. She won an Oscar for Best Actress. As bad as it was for
James Caan, it was really painful to watch this performance. My legs kept
twingeing. What a truly terrifying film. In Delores
Claiborne, Bates plays a suspected murderer. Mild stuff.
Angela
Lansbury: At age 18, Lansbury played the
maid in Gaslight. Her attitude toward
Ingrid Bergman helped establish her as a villain. Her portrayal as Laurence
Harvey’s mother in The Manchurian
Candidate makes her one of the most despicable of movie villains.
Louise
Fletcher: Who can ever forget Big Nurse
in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
Here was a woman who really loved her job and the power it brought. Fletcher’s
career went nowhere after this film.
Margaret
Hamilton: As the wicked witch of the
west, Hamilton cackled her way to stardom. Although a good villain in an
enchanting film, her powers just evaporated.
Barbara
Stanwyck: In Double Indemnity, she runs circles around Fred MacMurry and leaves
him holding the bag. I rather liked this villain.
Glenn
Close: She has two memorable villain
roles: Fatal Attraction, in which she
earned my dislike not by her treatment of Michael Douglas but her boiling of
the family pet; 101 Dalmatians, in
which she again has dastardly plans for small animals.
Bette
Davis: In the horror film, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Davis
looks the part. She is very, very, wicked.
Villains
Sir
Lawrence Olivier: As the angel of death
in The Marathon Man, he confirms my
belief in the evil of dentists.
Gary
Oldman: In The Professional, he plays a crazy villain. The combination is
terrifying.
Orson
Wells: In The Third Man, Wells gives new meaning to the black market. His
stealing of needed penicillin is so wicked I couldn’t appreciate his acting. In
Touch of Evil, his portrayal of a
slimy sheriff was delicious. Unfortunately, hero Charlton Heston was cast as a
Mexican.
Javier
Bardem: His role in No Country for Old Men may have been the consummate villain’s role.
Bardem’s dead-eyed, unemotional villainy was second to none.
Robert
Mitchum: Sleepy-eyed Mitchum causes real
terror in Cape Fear and Night of the Hunter. Both films still
haunt me.
Bob
Gunton: Didn’t you keep wishing for
come-uppance for Gunton as the prison warden in The Shawshank Redemption? And didn’t it feel great when it
happened?
Sir
Anthony Hopkins: Talk about delicious,
Hannibal Lecter was too convincing in The
Silence of the Lambs.
Charles
Coburn: It’s getting more difficult to
determine the worst villain. Coburn certainly gets a vote for the “kindly”
doctor in Kings Row. Yes, he’s the
one who amputated the legs of Ronald Reagan. He did this out of spite, not
necessity. Ouch.
Bruce
Dern: A villain in any number of
westerns, his role in High Noon
stands out. Also, he was responsible for the death of Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby. Boo, hiss.
Anthony
Perkins: Here’s another crazy villain. In
Psycho, Perkins created a truly
memorable character. This film is so familiar that almost everyone knows about
the Bates Motel and why they wouldn’t want to stay there. This is one of the
scariest films ever.
Gene
Hackman: In Unforgiven, it’s the sheriff who’s the villain, not the gunslinger.
Henry
Fonda: Cold-eyed Fonda is chilling in the
classic Sergio Leone western, Once Upon a
Time in the West.
Honorable Mentions: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct,
Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success,
Paul Muni in Scarface, Raymond Burr
in Rear Window, Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator, Rutger Hauer in Bladerunner, and Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs.
