best bad guy

[Jack Scorpion]

Mitchum in Cape Fear and Night of the Hunter
Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner
Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of NY
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet
Alien in Alien
The Birds in The Birds

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Rutger Hauer for sure, especially in THE HITCHER.

 

[Citizen Ed]

Peter Lorre in M

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Christian Bale in "American Psycho."

Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare in "Fargo."

Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs."

And my top pick:

Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in "Schindler's List."

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Nice tries...

but eh

 

[BellyTank]

Yep- that Swede, Peter Stormare is really bad!

B
T

 

[Twitch]

Edward G. Robinson personified the gangster of the 30s for me. "Myeah, you dirty rat!"

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Or in The Ten Commandments. "Myeah, where's yer Messiah now? Myeah!"

 

[Story]

Edward G. Robinson personified the gangster of the 30s for me. "Myeah, you dirty rat!"

Little Ceaser!

Muah! See?! You durty rhat!

 

[Doh!]

Burt Lancaster.

Burt Lancaster?!??

Yes, Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success. Damned near my favorite movie. If you've not seen it, he plays a Walter Winchell-type who decides to ruin a young man's life, just because the boy (Martin Milner) had the audacity to date Lancaster's sister.

Oh, and Tony Curtis helps him do it. Terrific film.

 

[Citizen Ed]

Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success.[/QUOTE]

Very good film.
Of more recent screen works, Gary Oldman in Leon the Professional exuded pure malice and evil all film long.

 

[adamgottschalk]

CLINT!

I can't believe not a single person mentioned Clint Eastwood. Baddest man that ever lived--but always on the side of good one way or another. Growing up (in the '70s), I had no better model of chivalrous manly bad-assness than Clint. I now have his face tatooed (along with the word DISSIDENT) on my left forearm.

But not only is he a bad ass in movies, he's been consistently and constantly making and writing great movies since 1976, when his first, Play Misty for Me, came out. He's made some of the best movies in history and his face has only appeared in some of them. Also, winning major points in my book, he's a big jazz fan, always has been (his first movie even). His son, Kurt I think, is an up-and-coming jazz drummer.

Bad right down to his progeny.

 

[Feraud]

I agree Eastwood is a great actor and director. But Clint never played a bad guy did he? I mean bad as in evil, low-down, wretched, lout as opposed to 1970's blaxploitation style bad.
He played anti-hero characters very well.
Clint played a prisoner (bank robber?) in escape from Alcatraz but the character wasn't as memorable a bad guy as the situation is. Even as Josie Wales the viewer would more than likely empathize with Wales' plight. Family murdered by "redlegs", friends murdered while trying to surrender to Union officials. Who could blame the guy for leaving a path of dead soldiers in his wake?

 

[adamgottschalk]

The Penguin

I agree Eastwood is a great actor and director. But Clint never played a bad guy did he? I mean bad as in evil, low-down, wretched, lout as opposed to 1970's blaxploitation style bad.

I get it now (maybe). First character that comes to mind as truly wretched is Danny Devito as the Penguin in Batman Returns from 1992. And Christopher Walken has played EVIL in several things I can't place right now.

 

[otterhound]

Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet

I'll second that. He made my skin crawl in that one.

 

[otterhound]

Most people probably didn't see this movie, but Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast was terrifying.

 

[Feraud]

Most people probably didn't see this movie, but Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast was terrifying.

Now he was bad! Not the kind of guy you want to let use your toilet! lol

 

[adamgottschalk]

Hopper and Kingsley

More votes for Hopper in Blue Velvet and Kingsley in Sexy Beast. Gotta be Hopper's best performance ever, and Lynch's best movie by far. Sexy Beast was a highly gripping and memorable movie. It's totally amazing to compare Kingsley's work in such a wide array of roles, from the love story of Betrayal, to Ghandi, to Sexy Beast. Wow.

 

[Feraud]

It's totally amazing to compare Kingsley's work in such a wide array of roles, from the love story of Betrayal, to Ghandi, to Sexy Beast. Wow.

Imho, that is the mark of a great actor! It is not how much money your movie grosses or a magazine calling you "The Sexiest Person of 2006".
It is the ability to love, hate, admire or despise characters played by the same person. A future thread should be about what actors display these qualities...

 

[DanielJones]

Allan Rickman as Elliot Mardon in Quilgey Down Under. Quite the slimey character. Then he played Hans Gruber in Die Hard, and more recently as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. Now that is a versatile actor who makes you hate the character. Oh, and can we forget him as the Sheriff of Notingham, quite the vile indevidual there.
Then you have Kevin Spacey as John Doe in 'Se7en'. Now there was a twisted villan. Gives me the hebegebes. Or how can we forget him in 'The Usual Suspects' as Keyser Soza. Briliant!
Or how about Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs.
Next we have Tim Roth as Archibald Cunningham on Rob Roy, a very disturbed indevidual.
Then we have Gary Oldman in his vast roles as villans. Not too many can top spme of the psychotic characters (like Detective Norman Stansfield in the Professional) that he portrays.
How about Wesley Snipes as Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man. Not the greatest action flic, but a great villan.
Now for one of the ladies, Kathy Batse as Annie Wilkes in Misery. Yikes!
Geoffrey Rush comes to mins as Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Carabbean, and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.
Now we mussen't forget Sir Lawrence Olivier as Dr. Christian Szell "The White Angel" in Marathon Man.

But the greatest Villan of all time has to be Dr. Evil.

Cheers!

Dan