I have a friend who recently posted a list from a website calling itself ‘Premier’ that named ‘The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.’ He was shocked and appalled that Darth Vader was languishing at #84 on the list below such spares as Private Benjamin, Doctor Evil, The Dude, and a host of others. While I agreed that this was a travesty, I quickly noticed a few notable absences from the list, and the more I looked the more great characters were simply missing from the list, while others, such as Gollum were inexplicably placed near the top of the list.
This is where the obsessive compulsive part of my personality kicked in. I began to look at their list with a more critical eye. The fist thing I noticed was that some of the characters seemed to be shoe-horned into the list, and often these characters were female. I’m not trying to say that there are no great female characters in movie history, but it may be a fair indictment to accuse the industry for not writing strong female roles, especially in the early years of cinema, and perhaps just as much today. This may well be the case, but I don’t think the cure for it is to falsely elevate existing female roles above their actual station as ir appears that Premier did (Bonnie from Bonnie and Clyde and Private Benjamin a two good examples).
I further fed my obsession by attempting to think if all the good characters that they left off their list. I came up with another 109 examples, some more strong than others and quite a few whose omissions were simply egregious. Then, I sat down with all 209 names and made my own Top 100 Movie Characters of all Time list. The biggest deficiency of my list is the fact that I have not seen all of the old classics (though I am currently on a classic movie binge). Characters like Fred C. Dobbs of Treasure of the Sierra Madre and a few others may suffer unfairly because of this, but I have no regrets about leaving a character like Ninotchka off the list because I, my family and my friends have never heard of her (shoe-horned).
I tried to take several things into account. How well the character endures, how much effect the character has had on popular culture, the importance of the character and whether that role or the movie it was associated with received awards while it was out. Accepting the possible shortcomings and the obvious advantages of my list, I am putting it out, and still argue that it is much better than the list provided by Premier. Enjoy.
1. Don Michael Corleone of The Godfather: Part II
2. Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane
3. Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Scarlett O’Hara of Gone With the Wind
5. Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark
6. William Wallace of Braveheart
7. Darth Vader of Star Wars
8. Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs
9. Robin Hood of The Adventures of Robin Hood
10. Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz
11. Rick Blaine of Casablanca
12. Oskar Schindler of Schindler’s List
13. General George S. Patton of Patton
14. Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty
15. Maximus Decimus Meridius of Gladiator
16. Cool Hand Luke of Cool Hand Luke
17. Shane of Shane
18. Marshall Will Kane of High Noon
19. George Bailey of It’s a Wonderful Life
20. Vito Corleone of The Godfather
21. Tom Joad of The Grapes of Wrath
22. Moses of the Ten Commandments
23. James Bond of Dr. No
24. Andy Dufresne of The Shawshank Redemption
25. Jake La Motta of Raging Bull
26. Forrest Gump of Forrest Gump
27. Sparticus of Sparticus
28. Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
29. Doc Holiday of Tombstone
30. Jefferson Smith of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
31. T.E. Lawrence of Lawrence of Arabia
32. Ben Hur of Ben Hur
33. Jim Stark of Rebel Without a Cause
34. Rooster Cogburn of True Grit
35. E.T. of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
36. Batman of Batman
37. Randle McMurphy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
38. Frankenstein of Frankenstein
39. Spock of Star Trek
40. Spiderman of Spiderman
41. Dracula of Dracula
42. Superman of Superman
43. Harry Potter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
44. Gordon Gekko of Wall Street
45. Navin Johnson of The Jerk
46. Norman Bates of Psycho
47. Gunnery Sgt. Hartman of Full Metal Jacket
48. Karl Childers of Sling Blade
49. Butch Cassidy of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
50. Dirty Harry Callahan of Dirty Harry
51. Ferris Bueller of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
52. George Taylor of Planet of the Apes
53. Daniel E. ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger of Rudy
54. Jeff Spicoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High
55. Tarzan of Tarzan the Ape Man
56. Jake Blues of The Blues Brothers
57. John Rambo of First Blood
58. Captain Quint of Jaws
59. King Kong of King Kong
60. Willy Wonka of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
61. Mary Poppins of Mary Poppins
62. The Terminator of The Terminator
63. Jules Winnfield of Pulp Fiction
64. Mrs. Robinson of The Graduate
65. Rocky Balboa of Rocky
66. Tommy DeVito of GoodFellas
67. Raymond Babbitt of Rain Man
68. King Arthur of Camelot/Excalibur
69. Annie Wilkes of Misery
70. John McClane of Die Hard
71. Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley of An Officer and a Gentleman
72. Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell of Top Gun
73. Mad Max Rockatansky of Mad Max
74. Sandy Olsson of Grease
75. John “Bluto” Blutarsky of Animal House
76. Jack Torrance of The Shining
77. Baronin Maria von Trapp of The Sound of Music
78. Hedley Lamar of Blazing Saddles
79. William Cutting of Gangs of New York
80. Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street
81. Ralphie Parker of A Christmas Story
82. Max Cady of Cape Fear
83. Regan MacNeil of The Exorcist
84. Jason of Friday the 13th
85. Mrs. Doubtfire of Mrs Doubtfire
86. Carrie White of Carrie
87. Carl Spackler of Caddyshack
88. Captain Marko Ramius of The Hunt for Red October
89. Captain Hook of Peter Pan
90. Norma Rae of Norma Rae
91. Mona Lisa Vito of My Cousin Vinny
92. Sally Albright of When Harry Met Sally
93. Marge Gunderson of Fargo
94. Sergeant Martin Riggs of Lethal Weapon
95. Crash Davis of Bull Durham
96. Marty McFly of Back to the Future
97. Inigo Montoya of The Princess Bride
98. Bo ‘Bandit’ Darville of Smokey and the Bandit
99. Lane Meyer of Better Off Dead
100. Curly Washburn of City Slickers
Just to prove that I did my homework, here are the other 109 that were considered, but did not make the list in alphabetical order (my friend hates it when I do this):
Frank Abignale Jr. of Catch Me If You Can
Gust Avrakotos of Charlie Wilson’s War
Arthur Bach of Arthur
Howard Beale of Network
Hans Beckert of M
Judy Benjamin of Private Benjamin
Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver
Blondie of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Frank Booth of Blue Velvet
Borat of Borat
Erin Brockovich of Erin Brockovich
Oda Mae Brown of Ghost
Truman Burbank of The Truman Show
Truman Capote of Capote
Chance the Gardener of Being There
Margo Channing of All About Eve
Inspector Clouseau of The Pink Panther
Conan of Conan the Barbarian
Frank Costello of The Departed
Jane Craig of Broadcast News
Paul Crewe of The Longest Yard
David Crockett of The Alamo
Melanie Daniels of The Birds
Daphne/Jerry of Some Like it Hot
Donnie Darko of Donnie Darko
Rick Deckard of Blade Runner
Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange
Norma Desmond of Sunset Boulevard
Phyliss Dietrichson of Double Indemnity
Dil of The Crying Game
Fred C. Dobbs of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Lloyd Dobler of Say Anything
Antoine Doinel of The 400 Blow
Michael Dorsey/Dorthy Michaels of Tootsie
The Dude of The Big Lebowski
Lt. John J. Dunbar of Dances With Wolves
Napoleon Dynamite of Napoleon Dynamite
Wyatt Earp of Gunfight at the OK Corral
Eathan Edwards of The Searchers
Sergeant Elias of Platoon
Dr. Evil of Austin Powers
Irwin ‘Fletch’ Fletcher of Fletch
Gaylord ‘Greg’ Focker of Meet the Parents
Fogell or ‘McLovin’ of Superbad
Axel Foley of Beverly Hills Cop
Alex Forrest of Fatal Attraction
Gandalf Of The Lord of The Rings The Fellowship of the Rings
Ghandi of Ghandi
Happy Gilmore of Happy Gilmore
Jake Gittes of Chinatown
Godzilla of Godzilla
Holly Golightly of Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Gollum of Lord of the Rings
Joel Goodson of Risky Business
Aurora Greenway of Terms of Endearment
Clark Griswold of Vacation
Annie Hall of Annie Hall
Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe) of The Last of the Mohicans
Pee Wee Herman of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
Sherlock Holmes of The Hound of the Baskervilles
J.J. Hunsecker of Sweet Smell of Success
Mrs. Iselin of The Manchurian Candidate
Paul Kersey of Deathwish
Lt. Kilgore of Apocalypse Now
Ray Kinsella of Field of Dreams
Roger “Verbal” Kint of The Usual Suspects
Stanley Kowalski of A Streetcar Named Desire
Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire
Harry Lime of The Third Man
The Little Tramp of Mabel’s Strange Predicament
Logan 5 of Logan’s Run
Jerry Maguire of Jerry Maguire
John Malkovich of Being John Malkovich
Terry Malloy of On the Waterfront
Jim Malone of The Untouchables
Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever
Kevin McCallister of Home Alone
Tony Montana of Scarface
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart of Amadeus
John Nash of A Beautiful Mind
Captain Marc Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Ninotchka of Ninotchka
Danny Ocean of Ocean’s Eleven
Henri ‘Papillon’ Charriere of Papillon
Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde
Rev. Harry Powell of The Night of the Hunter
Tom Powers of The Public Enemy
Miranda Priestly of The Devil Wears Prada
Buford Pusser of Walking Tall
Matthew Quigley of Quigley Down Under
Jessica Rabbit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Ellen Ripley of Alien
Ratso Rizzo of Midnight Cowboy
Rose Sayer of The African Queen
Ebenezer Scrooge of A Christmas Carol
Edward Scissorhands of Edward Scissorhands
John Shaft of Shaft
Han Solo of Star Wars
Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon
Steve Stiffler of American Pie
Willard Stiles of Willard
Dr. Strangelove of Dr. Strangelove
Alan Swann of My Favorite Year
Catherine Tramell of Basic Instinct
Virgil Tibbs of In the Heat of the Night
Susan Vance of Bringing up Baby
Dr. Peter Venkman of Ghostbusters
Ace Ventura of Ace Ventura,: Pet Detective
Vivian Ward of Pretty Woman
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