The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time

[newyawker99]

http://www.premiere.com/article.asp?section_id=6&article_id=1539

See if you agree. :-)


100. Roger “Verbal” Kint
Played by Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995, dir. Bryan Singer)

He doesn’t look like much—a balding, palsied, sad-sack thief with a limp. But one thing Verbal can do is talk, and after surviving a botched drug deal and ensuing boat fire that’s left a slew of men dead, talk he does—to Special Agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), a cool cat who figures he has this mouse cornered. Verbal’s tale is fantastical, involving frame-ups, corrupt cops, a lawyer named Kobayashi, and an archvillain named Keyser Soze. His story’s so good, in fact, that it lands him back on the street, easy prey for the evil forces manipulating him. Until he undergoes one of cinema’s most unexpected transformations and disappears right before our eyes.

Defining Moment: Sitting alone in an office, awaiting interrogation, Verbal, seemingly bored, scans a bulletin board. You never know when you’re going to need a few details. (MGM DVD)

99. Kevin McCallister
Played by Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone (1990, dir. Chris Columbus) and one later film

“He’s only a kid, Harry—we can take him.” So says burglar Marv (Daniel Stern) to his partner in crime (Joe Pesci) as they prepare to raid a home whose sole inhabitant is an eight-year-old boy who was accidentally left behind when his family went away for Christmas. As Bugs Bunny might put it, they don’t know him vewy well. “This is my house. I have to defend it,” Kevin vows, devising ingenious booby traps that send the crooks tumbling. But it’s not just the cartoonish slapstick that made Alone one of the most successful comedies of all time: It’s the sweet heart and courageous tenacity of the kid himself.

Defining Moment: Standing in front of the mirror, Kevin proceeds to make pop culture history when he slaps aftershave on his cheeks, letting out a startled, piercing “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” (Fox DVD)


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[cheezus]

1. Han Solo

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

11. My first thought, absolutely!

:)

[Parrcrow]

2. Tommy in Goodfellas (Joe Pesci)

[MallRat]

3. Disagree with #1.

VITO Corleone?

If you're going to pick any character from the Godfather films, you have to pick Michael. The tragic arc that Pacino's character follows through films I & II is unlike any in American film...

...with Darth Vader a close second.

-MR, who refuses to recognize the very existence of Godfather III.

[sir_captain]

15. You should see Raging Bull

for another incredible tragic arc

and while I agree with you that Michael is in many ways a more important character, Marlon Brando totally makes the first movie, imho. He's so perfect that it's incredible.

[wryter2000]

4. Elwood P. Dowd

Totally bogus list without Elwood.

[Kahuna]

5. The Little Tramp at 24 and Stanley Kowalski at 85?????

Who votes on these lists? Annie Hall is #6? :eyes: And where is Gismo? Where is Humphrey Bogart's characters, Captain Queeg and Rick in Casablanca? Where's Rhett Butler? Where is Charles Foster Kane? :eyes:

[sir_captain]

13. Charles Foster Kane is on there

and yeah, little tramp should have been #1, easy

[Kahuna]

16. Thanks. I see Rick Blain also at # 19. "Play it again, Sam" prolly..

the most famous line in movie history and he's at #19. <shakes head> :eyesroll:

[BOSSHOG]

6. COL Jessup in "A Few Good Men"

You can't handle the truth.

[skypilot]

7. Carrie White makes the list

#63

[PragMantisT]

8. No Alexander deLarge from "A Clockwork Orange"?

But the terminator and rocky.

What a crock o' shit.

[Parrcrow]

14. Yeah he's on there

but way too low

[PragMantisT]

20. D'oh

#68
mea culpa!

[newyawker99]

9. kick

[FunBobbyMucha]

10. Are any Coen Brothers characters on the list?

The Dude? Walter? H.I. McDonough?

The Home Alone kid? Ferchrissakes...

[Kahuna]

12. Yes there are. Check out the list.

:D

[Mr. Blonde]

17. The Dude

[newyawker99]

19. Hi Mr. Blonde!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

18. The Complete List

1. Vito Corleone of The Godfather
2. Fred C. Dobbs of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. Scarlett O'Hara of Gone With the Wind
4. Norman Bates of Psycho
5. James Bond of Dr. No
6. Annie Hall of Annie Hall
7. Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. Ellen Ripley of Alien
9. Jeff Spicoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High
10. Gollum of Lord of the Rings
11. Margo Channing of All About Eve
12. Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane
13. Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird
14. Randle McMurphy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
15. Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs
16. Robin Hood of The Adventures of Robin Hood
17. Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz
18. Carl Spackler of Caddyshack
19. Rick Blaine of Casablanca
20. Virgil Tibbs of In the Heat of the Night
21. Susan Vance of Bringing up Baby
22. Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver
23. Eathan Edwards of The Searchers
24. The Little Tramp of Mabel's Strange Predicament
25. Gordon Gekko of Wall Street
26. E.T. of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
27. Marge Gunderson of Fargo
28. Captain Quint of Jaws
29. Daphne/Jerry of Some Like it Hot
30. King Kong of King Kong
31. Norma Desmond of Sunset Boulevard
32. Holly Golightly of Breakfast at Tiffany's
33. Ratso Rizzo of Midnight Cowboy
34. Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde
35. Dr. Evil of Austin Powers
36. Alex Forrest of Fatal Attraction
37. Jake Gittes of Chinatown
38. Willy Wonka of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
39. Michael Dorsey/Dorthy Michaels of Tootsie
40. The Terminator of The Terminator
41. Jane Craig of Broadcast News
42. "Dirty" Harry Callahan of Dirty Harry
43. Forrest Gump of Forrest Gump
44. Jules Winnfield of Pulp Fiction
45. Mary Poppins of Mary Poppins
46. John McClane of Die Hard
47. Mrs. Robinson of The Graduate
48. John "Bluto" Blutarsky of Animal House
49. Chance the Gardener of Being There
50. Blondie of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
51. Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street
52. Howard Beale of Network
53. Ninotchka of Ninotchka
54. Frank Booth of Blue Velvet
55. The Dude of The Big Lebowski
56. Alan Swann of My Favorite Year
57. Tom Powers of The Public Enemy
58. Phyliss Dietrichson of Double Indemnity
59. Lt. Kilgore of Apocalypse Now
60. George Bailey of It's a Wonderful Life
61. J.J. Hunsecker of Sweet Smell of Success
62. John Shaft of Shaft
63. Carrie White of Carrie
64. Rocky Balboa of Rocky
65. Edward Scissorhands of Edward Scissorhands
66. Navin Johnson of The Jerk
67. Inspector Clouseau of The Pink Panther
68. Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange
69. Terry Malloy of On the Waterfront
70. Judy Benjamin of Private Benjamin
71. Rev. Harry Powell of The Night of the Hunter
72. Lloyd Dobler of Say Anything
73. Norma Rae of Norma Rae
74. Tony Montana of Scarface
75. Dr. Strangelove of Dr. Strangelove
76. Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever
77. Annie Wilkes of Misery
78. "Mad" Max Rockatansky of Mad Max
79. Hans Beckert of M
80. Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon
81. Aurora Greenway of Terms of Endearment
82. Jack Torrance of The Shining
83. William Cutting of Gangs of New York
84. Darth Vader of Star Wars
85. Stanley Kowalski of A Streetcar Named Desire
86. Melanie Daniels of The Birds
87. Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
88. Raymond Babbitt of Rain Man
89. Sandy Olsson of Grease
90. John Malkovich of Being John Malkovich
91. Mrs. Iselin of The Manchurian Candidate
92. Dil of The Crying Game
93. Harry Lime of The Third Man
94. Rose Sayer of The African Queen
95. Oda Mae Brown of Ghost
96. Tommy DeVito of GoodFellas
97. Ace Ventura of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
98. Antoine Doinel of The 400 Blows
99. Kevin McCallister of Home Alone
100. Roger "Verbal" Kint of The Usual Suspects

http://www.premiere.com/article.asp?section_id=6&article_id=1539&page_number=12&preview=

[geniph]

21. Atticus Finch should be higher than #13

but I'm grateful he's up there. My all-time favorite movie archetype.

Interesting list - it's one of the only lists on which I'm pretty sure I've seen every single solitary one of the movies listed.