BEST SCREEN VILLAINS
I want to see how other screen villains hold up to Bruce Dern's Asa Watts
shareAlan Rickman as Hans Gruber was an amazing screen villain who deserved an Oscar.
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MovieChat Forums > The Cowboys (1972) Discussion > BEST SCREEN VILLAINS
scorpio "DIRTY HARRY" can be up there . thay wernt the muscle heads thay put in movies now.. the ones of old had a creepier psycolgical hold on the viewer.
Tony Musante in >THE INCIDENT creates on of the most frigtening also.
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Both "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson in Dirty Harry) and "Albert Ganz" (James Remar in 48 Hours) have been mentioned, to which I will add "Buffolo Bill" (Ted levine in Silence of the Lambs) and Harry Reikle (Christopher Plummer in The Silent partner) - Plumber is simply terrifying!!!
shareGreat to see a shout-out to Christopher Plummer in 'Silent Partner.' I always look for that film to pop up on cable during the holidays and am disappointed it's not yet in rotation. Captain Von Trapp made a surprisingly convincing villain from the first moment you see him in the Santa suit. Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Watched 'The Cowboys' on AMC this weekend and flashed back to seeing it as a 10 yr. old in the theater. It has three of the key ingredients for a great western: beautiful scenery, a bad-ass villain, and John Wayne. Bruce Dern raised the bar for those who followed. And he could act. I also love sci-fi and that same year - 1972 - my folks let me see 'Silent Running' on the big screen. It has shades of 'Star Wars' & 'Wall-E' years before Lucas and Pixar. And there was Bruce Dern heroically saving trees, instead of getting his face bashed into them by the Duke.
Some of my favorite villains:
Martin Kove in Karate Kid
Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II
Louise Fletcher in Cuckoo's Nest
Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear
Anthony Perkins in Silence of the Lambs
Jaquoin Phoenix in Gladiator
Denzel Washington in Training Day
I'd put Blue Duck, from Lonesome Dove ahead of Watts, but Dern really knew how to play a villain we love to hate.
"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae
I would say Richard Boone in "Hombre". One the worst, rotten, lowdown villians in movie history. Paul Newman and Boone go toe to toe in this great western. Very memorable lines between the both of them.
shareGary Oldman has done two good "Villians" charectors
Dirxyl Spivey in True Romance. Swinging that lamp back and forth to intimidate
Clarence...
Drexl Spivey: Now I know I'm pretty, but I ain't as pretty as a couple of titties
Stansfield in Leon; the Professional.When he was holding the gun on Mitilda in the mens room asking her if she wanted to join her dead brother that he had killed?
Stansfield: It's always the same thing. It's when you start to become really afraid of death that you learn to appreciate life. Do you like life, sweetheart?
Yup...Bruce Dern is a great bad guy..But I think one that is right up there (if not surpasses) is Andrew Robinson as the 'Serpico' Killer in 'Dirty Harry'..
Dern was always great as a villain. But here are three equally good bad-guys that immediately come to mind (in no particular order):
- Walton Coggins as Boyd Crowder in 'Justified.'
- Tim Roth in 'Rob Roy.'
- Joe Pesci in 'Goodfellas.'
Tim Roth's villain in Rob Roy was worthy of Game of Thrones and way before GoT.
You nailed it with Tim Roth....in fact for both Roth in Rob Roy and Dern in Cowboys they made such an impression on me I began to actively seek out their work.
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