This project was super-fun: Flavorwire editor Jason Bailey reached out to me to participate in the Flavorwire Best Movie Characters List, as a kind of “retort” to a ridiculous recent list run by Empire. Other writers participated: Jason, the great Nathan Rabin, and two Flavorwire writers, Alison Nastasi, and Judy Berman. Each of us had to submit a list of 20 characters. Jason then whittled each of our lists down to 10. We wrote a little paragraph for each of our final choices, and then Jason somehow, with much blood/sweat/tears, put them in order. It was so fun, and equally fun to see what everyone else picked. Naturally, there was some overlap – with many of us choosing the same characters.
I’m not a huge fan of lists, but they are fun to participate in. Our collective list is rather insane. I love it for its eclectic all-over-the-place-ness. And any time an editor is okay with me bloviating about Elvis Presley … I’m happy.
Without further ado: Best Film Characters of All Time.
I read through the whole list, but I wish there was a way to view the list without the maddening “next” arrows. You are right about its eclectic nature. Many of the listees were beyond my plebeian experience. I was glad you pushed through on Elvis (my hometown boy). I agree that his film work was under appreciated. I was also glad to see my personal favorites such as Indiana Jones and James Bond. Briefly I considered that some of these characters owed more to their book authors than to the film for their greatness, but perhaps not. I think that we can all agree that ‘film Bond’ has become far more than Ian Fleming’s ‘book Bond’ character could ever have been, as opposed to a character like Sherlock Holmes for whom the literary version will always be the standard for which ‘film Sherlocks’ strive. I also loved the inclusion of Marilyn’s character in “Some Like It Hot’. I was thinking that Jack Lemmon’s and Tony Curtis’ characters were arguable as well, but, then again, we really owe the credit for every male comedic cross-dressing character ever to Mr. Shakespeare. I was also pleased to see Travolta’s character, Tony, included (one of yours, I think). This was a character only a little older than I was when the movie came out, but living a life so different than mine he might have been in Star Wars. He opened my eyes to a wider world and I have been a huge Travolta fan ever since. I wondered about the absence of any scifi characters, having just read a book in the Dune series. As awesome as many of the scifi characters are I suppose they do largely owe their greatness to their literary authors rather than their film association. Finally, I couldn’t agree more with Marge. Mysteries and police procedures are my favorite entertainment genre and she stands out in a long line of beloved detectives and investigators. It is a difficult role to bring alive in a unique and different way. I now want to go look at the Empire list so I can look down and say how far superior I find your choices to be. Thanks, Sheila
Sugar Kane, yes! I was so pleased to see her!
Melanie, if you get a chance, I can’t recommend the Fargo series that played last year highly enough — Alison Tolman plays a wonderful Gundersonish Sheriff without any unpleasant form of echo and the show as a whole is spooky and strange and funny. Great performances, writing, direction all around.
I need to check out the Fargo series – I’ve been meaning to – but Supernatural and X-Files take up so much of my time. DAMMIT.
Put it on the list Sheila!!! Toot sweet!!!
Thanks, I will check it out. Is it on Netflix? Sounds like a show I would enjoy.
I don’t know if it’s on Netflix sorry! But I am sure you would enjoy it if you get the chance to see it.
Melanie – I agree, that that click-through format is irritating, although really common (websites need clicks!) Thanks for soldiering through despite the irritation! :)
For me, one of the challenges in coming up with my choices was to separate Performance from Character – I kept gravitating towards Great Performance as opposed to Great Character in and of itself. I think my Cary Grant choice walks that line – it’s a great performance – and is certainly important, historically, because it ensured that Grant would survive the switch to 1940s more serious cinema from wacko 1930s screwball. Many of his counterparts did not survive because they weren’t as smart with their character choices. But I think a case can be made for Devlin as a Great Character, too – representative of a certain kind of misogynist – it’s amazing how far Grant lets himself go without once winking to the audience like, “Remember how much you love me?”
// as opposed to a character like Sherlock Holmes for whom the literary version will always be the standard for which ‘film Sherlocks’ strive. //
Interesting observation. I agree. Bond has become his own thing. I liked the observation that Bond, the character, has been able to morph to meet the times.
I loved Nathan Rabin’s words on Marilyn Monroe. I think they were spot-on! Because of how much we know about her, and most of it is sad, it is so important to remember how FUNNY she is. Like, HILARIOUS. A brilliant comedienne and Some Like It Hot shows that in spades.
And thanks, in re: Tony Manero. YES. I mean – very few decades or moments in time can be summed up in ONE character. When I re-watch the film I am constantly amazed at how gritty and dirty it is – how realistic – I think the images of him disco-dancing take up all the memory chips about the film – but those sequences represent a beautiful escape from the awful-ness of life, the no-exit quality of his existence. It’s gorgeous. You could say it was what America was looking for – escape. It’s all there in that character.
And in re: sci-fi characters – Most lists like this are heavily sci-fi based. Superhero/comic book/sci-fi. These are the blockbusters. We wanted to provide an alternative. Every list has Darth Vader on it. A great character. But why just go over the same territory? There are so many other worthy contenders. But would be interested to hear who you would have included!
I was so happy to see so many foreign films represented – so many women represented – and not just as tokens.
// Mysteries and police procedures are my favorite entertainment genre and she stands out in a long line of beloved detectives and investigators. It is a difficult role to bring alive in a unique and different way. //
So true! I will never forget seeing Fargo for the first time. That character was something I had never seen before – in that kind of genre – or, I guess she does fit into the folksy investigator, who is under-estimated by her foes because she is who she is. I love her steely quality, her clear-eyed detective skills, her humor, her marriage. Beautiful character!!
DY-NO-MITE!
Looking forward to reading this one; some tough choices made I am sure!
fun list with great write-ups, and I can’t disagree with any entries! This is a game I could play for ever. Allow me to illustrate:
The Black – The Black Stallion — compelling and alien, central to the mystery, beauty and love that animates the film.
Maleficent – from Sleeping Beauty — character design and animation, Audley’s voice, greatest villain ever.
Sonny Wortzik — poor doomed Sonny W.
Mr Stevens – Remains of the Day – I mean I suppose Cheung takes care of your repressed unconsummated lovers, but Stevens makes a social structure and phenomena embodied and personal and painful.
Ennis del Mar
Susan Freaking Vance! Whose wrestling name would probably be “The Tornado”
Sir Not Appearing In This Film – now I’m just getting silly.
I thought of including Maleficent!!
Susan Vance. YES.
And oh – Black Stallion!
Mr. Stevens kills me.
It is a fun game and if I had to submit a list tomorrow there would be different things on it! Although some would stay the same – Norma Desmond, Ethan Edwards, Elvis. Probably Eunice Burns too, an all-time favorite.
Here’s my original list: Kind of boy-heavy, but so be it.
ethan edwards
eunice burns
devlin – notorious
Norma Desmond
Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp
Marlon Brando’s Godfather
Bette Davis – Margot Channing
Travis Bickle
Annie Hall
Vincent Vega
Alien’s Ripley
The “Elvis Presley” character in all of the Elvis pics
The Hanson Brothers – Slap Shot
Claude Rains – Casablanca
Howard Beale – Network
The Beast – Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast
Al Pacino Dog Day Afternoon
Warren Oates – Two-lane Blacktop
Jeff Bridges – The Dude
Heath Ledger – The Joker
Harry Lime – 3rd Man
a friend of mine on FB also added: Klaus Kinski in Aguirre Wrath of God – making me wish I had thought of including that one myself. What a total MADMAN.
My god so brutal, fifty characters from 120 years of cinema worldwide! Any list would change moment to moment.
And the question of performance vs character is a really interesting one and I think the emphasis shifts from film to film too, depending on how character and performance slots in. Like, Falconetti’s Joan of Arc is one of the greatest performances of all time — but greatest characters?
And then again for some the character’s iconic stature or the way the character is held to mean something greater is a relevant criterion and for others it’s just not. How did you not overthink this?! So I might actually plump for Lorre over Bogart in Maltese Falcon despite what Spade means just because Cairo is so memorably and entertainingly WEIRD. (Insert your Madeline Khan character or choice here!)
Love seeing the rest of your list.
Margot Channing and Captain Renault are huge yeses for me! And Aguirre is an inspired choice.
Your love for the Hanson Brothers warms my heart.
off the top of my head and trying to avoid people like Sarah Connor who I might guess would be in also be in the Empire list some others:
Kirill from Eastern Promises
Bronson from Bronson
Darryl Kerrigan, patriarch of The Castle
Bucky Haight from Hard Core Logo
Mavis from Young Adult
Colonel Mandrake from Dr Strangelove
I need to stop or I will start to feel guilty for not going to bat for more of my faves!
MAVIS. YES.
It was brutal. I had to be brutal in whittling mine down!
I love that Marge Gunderson is #1, and that Mrs Chan is in there.
I’d add the Yojimbo character, as played by Toshiro Mifune. Incredibly influential.
And Le Samourai, as played by Delon. Because reasons.
Yes, Alain Delon was on my first rough list – that went up to 40, before I narrowed it down – a brutal process. One of my favorite flat-affect performances. Also: his Beauty which is almost an assault. Mavis in Young Adult qualifies for flat-affect character as well – it’s hard to make flat-affect interesting or compelling. But it’s unforgettable when it works!
I was very happy to see Mrs. Chan as well – although I think her performance in “Actress” (also called “Center Stage”) is the best work she’s ever done. But maybe the character of Mrs. Chan is more memorable.
Yes, Delon, good one!
Oh, and Wednesday Addams!
and referencing back to an older conversation: How about Hud? What do we think about that? Or is that just a character MADE by the performance?
I think maybe Newman’s character in Slap Shot also might be one of the Greatest Characters ever. I mean, the plaid pants and fur-collared plether coat alone …
Reggie Dunlop is a contender! The costume choices, the foul mouth. Well he is sexually liberated now!
Hud raises a great question — the character as written is electric and scary — but it’s Newman who makes him thrilling and alluring — and the way it operates in tandem and contrast to his star persona — shades of the relationship between Ethan Edwards and Wayne? Hud’s a complex one. If I were to choose a Newman character I might go more simple: probably Butch. The character would be funny and probably still iconic without Newman — but he takes the humour in such a delightful Newmany direction. And the beauty! Or maybe I would go for Henry Gondorff because of the way Newman makes his dissolution and sharp intelligence
and obvious burning lust for Johnnyso alive.OH MY GOD I LOVE PAUL NEWMAN
Here’s the East of Eden screentest. Warning you: powerful sexuality, side by side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1sLlcarbu4
// Or maybe I would go for Henry Gondorff because of the way Newman makes his dissolution and sharp intelligence and obvious burning lust for Johnny so alive. //
HAHAHA! I love your strikeout capabilities – hilarious!
Newman was so good in those buddy movies because he seems open to those homoerotic possibilities, right? Have you seen the screen-test for East of Eden, with him and James Dean onscreen together? It’s too much beauty – it’s too much sex – you want them to just kiss and get it over with.
Paul Newman is just the best. And he worked with his beauty in such interesting ways – and remained beautiful until the end. But he let himself age. Bold – something that Burt Reynolds was not able to manage – and many others. It’s almost like Paul Newman treated his beauty like an accident (which it was) – he wore it easily, casually – he could use it when he wanted to, but other than that, he just let it alone and let it do some of the work for him. A fascinating dynamic!
Oh man. Wednesday Addams. Yes!
How about Robert Newton as Long John Silver in Treasure Island? The pirate’s pirate and a very great performance indeed. Ha Harrr
So many great characters left off such a short list, of course.
Speaking of seafaring great characters – I’d include Quint from Jaws!
These are so much fun! You make a great point about seperating character from performance, it’s hard to do.
Many of my favorites show up here, Ripley, Don Corleone, The Dude, Harry Lime, Norma Desmond. I’ll throw out a few more that I consider a bit overlooked/underappreciated:
Walter Sobchek – The Big Lebowski. I love The Dude, but the more I see the movie, and I’ve seen it way too many times, the more convinced I am that Walter is the key to the whole thing. He’s the energy of the movie, offsetting the Dude’s inertia.
Tommy Devito – Goodfellas. I could put Jimmy Conway or Henry Hill here too, but Pesci’s character was the essence of the movie, my favorite film. He also wrote the ” What’s so funny about me” scene, perhaps my favorite scene in all of cinema.
Bridgette Gregory/Wendy Kroy – The Last Seduction. We’ve discussed this role before, my favorite femaile movie character.
Gordon Gekko – Wall Street. Yeah he won the Oscar, but the character is even more meaningful now than he was then. He made is argument so convincingly that, in essence, Greed has won.
Catherine – Jules and Jim. Self explanatory.
Neal McCauley- Heat. I find this character mesmerizing.
Judah Rosenthal – Crimes and Misdemeanors. A man coming to grips with and rationalizing his own evil behavior. He is so logical about it that it’s chilling. If HE can do this, what can I do?
Stud Cantrell – Long Gone. Do whatever you can to find this movie Sheila.
Bluto – Animal House. This was my “Dog Day Afternoon” I saw it in the theater when I was 9, and even though I didn’t get most of it, I knew that Bluto was something else from the moment he pees on the pledges pants in his first scene.
Daniel Ciello – Prince of the City. This is one where I have a tough time seperating the character from the performance, one of my favorites. Breaks my heart every time.
Ugh, I could do this all day but will stop for now.
// Ugh, I could do this all day but will stop for now. //
Ha! Keep going! It’s fun, isn’t it.
Bah – Gordon Gekko, of course! Looking for those figures what totally symbolize an era – I mean, he is classic. // but the character is even more meaningful now than he was then. // So true. As prophetic as Howard Beale was.
On Walter in Lebowski: // the more convinced I am that Walter is the key to the whole thing // hahahahahaha I can so see that. And how many times is he quoted, in pop culture? Like, all the time!
Fascinating your memory of Bluto! Bluto is a force of nature.
// This is one where I have a tough time seperating the character from the performance, one of my favorites. Breaks my heart every time. //
Yes. Great performance.
Judah in “Crimes” is fascinating – and yes, chilling. Because how dispensable is that Huston character to him? How easily was it for him to get her out of the way? I mean, the guy is reprehensible – and he just has a much better “game face” than his sleazebag brother. And how awesome was Jerry Orbach, stepping in as replacement and just owning that scene?? LOVE HIM and still miss him.
Out of all of the characters in Good Fellas I would pick Tommy too. Because he’s the reality – he lacks the glamor of Liotta. I think it’s some of DeNiro’s best work too – in a not very flashy part. But boy does that guy live onscreen. Also: that one slow push-in to DeNiro’s face, smoking and looking down the bar … thinking/scheming/planning. I am sure you know the moment I mean.
My brother has gone off on long half-hour riffs on that moment and I wish I had him on tape. Basically, to boil it down: what DeNiro is doing in that moment is high camp. It’s practically burlesque. It is the most obvious showy “twirling-mustache-villain” behavior in the world. You can’t believe he even gets away with it. This is why I get annoyed when people go on and on about De Niro’s subtlety or realism or whatever. I don’t think subtelty or realism is what DeNiro brings to the table at all – although he usually seems “real”. What I think what he brings is a willingness to go that far – as far as he goes in that one Good Fellas moment, which I would argue is as far/or even farther than the mirror moment in Taxi Driver – but it’s in that realm – he is willing to push a moment into sheer caricature – and make it work. It’s a silent-movie-villain moment – no language, nobody else onscreen – one of my favorite moments in the movie – and one of my favorite moments in his career.
But I digress.
Now I’m thinking about Woody Allen movies and I think one of the greatest charcters in all of them – rivaling Annie Hall – is Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives.
“Fucking Don Juans.”
I can’t remember what song is playing during that Good Fellas push-in to De Niro’s face – Cream or somebody like that, but I’d have to go back and check.
or maybe Jethro Tull? I am not in the position to verify the song right now and it’s driving me crazy!
“that one slow push-in to DeNiro’s face, smoking and looking down the bar … thinking/scheming/planning. I am sure you know the moment I mean”
It’s Cream’s Sunshine of Your Life. Yeah, one of the best shots in movie history. It’s in slow-mo, and you can see him decide to kill Maury, all with his eyes.
Ooh – I knew it was Cream – thank you Todd!!
And so so glad you feel the way you do about that shot.
He is literally leering, practically rolling his eyes in his lust to kill his enemy – it’s just incredible to me, every time I see it, that he gets away with THAT broad a performance – in CLOSEUP.
He’s a master. That’s about the most fearless he has ever been in my opinion – and the way he smokes the cigarette.
It’s another reminder, too, of one of the points of the film – that these guys were always “performing” on some level. Their lives were showy – they were “acting.”
Very very different from the more traditional mood in Godfather, right?
These guys are ambitious but low-on-totem-pole guys – so they have to “act” a lot.
Scarlett O’Hara
Colonel Kilgore
Alex DeLarge
HAL (for flat affect)
Harry Tuttle (from Brazil)
Seeing Pee Wee on the list made me very happy.
Pee Wee. I know. I mean … there really isn’t another character out there that is that “type.” He’s himself. Nobody else like him.
Oooh. HAL. Alex is a good call, too.
Colonel Kilgore too is totally iconic – the craziness of the Vietnam War encapsulated – even more so than Brando or Hopper in that movie.
Max Bialystock.
I want to throw in Jake Gittes and Noah Cross and Evelyn Mulwray – but I think those are all amazing performances rather than great characters. Not sure why I feel that way.
I’m tempted to throw in Frank Nitti, if Billy Drago’s amazing face counts as a character.
Interesting, yeah. I feel like Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson gave some pretty iconic performances – but yeah, you run up against that performance/character divide.
Maybe Randall McAdams in Cuckoo’s Nest – out of Nicholson’s long career, with so many good roles – that one seems like one of the biggest “characters” of the bunch, a character that has cast a long long shadow.
I also love Garrett Breedlove and Eugene O’Neill – but those are Jack.
For me, Eugene O’Neill represents Jack’s best work. If you ever get a chance to watch the documentary special feature on the anniversary release of REDS – Nicholson has some great great comments about playing that role, and how he saw his part in it. Also, Beatty’s comment that he really liked “Jack as a romantic figure.”
Not many people saw him in that way – which is ridiculous, considering how powerful he is in those couple scenes he has in REDS.
You know, a case could be made for Sgt. Sefton in Stalag 17, too. Billy Wilder always said that it was his favorite character in any of his movies – and closest to his own outlook in life (which says a lot).
Great performance from Holden, too – but it’s the character that really lands, I think.
Robert Eroica Dupea – I think this is Jack’s best character, as opposed to his best performance. Haunting, that final shot lingers forever.
One of my favorite final shots in any movie ever. Because you’re left to just … deal with it.
I remember Jim Emerson wrote a whole big blog post about that final moment. I miss Jim and his blog!
Ooo, I didn’t see that Emerson post, I will have to look for it. I loved Scanners, doubly because it led me to your blog. Not sure if Jim is okay and still writing, I hope so.
I did a quick Google search and didn’t find it – I know I didn’t imagine it but I can’t find it – maybe it was lost when it was transferred over to Rogerebert.com? Also it looks like all his fantastic comments were also lost – which is such a bummer. The conversation was what helped make that place so special.
He talked about how long that camera stays there in the final shot – and what that camera placement/shot meant visually. How it expressed a certain kind of malaise/unease/melancholy – but now I’m not remembering. I might have linked to it myself – I’ll check.
I know he had some serious health problems – a heart operation, I think. I have not seen him around in ages – but I know he’s still out there.
and let me know if you remember the music playing in that Robert De Niro moment I mentioned upthread. It’s driving me crazy!!
Yay – I found it through putting “Emerson” into the Search box on my own site!!
It was in his tribute-piece to Laszlo Kovacs when he died – not as indepth as I remembered, but he does capture the feeling/meaning/mood of that great final shot.
http://www.rogerebert.com/scanners/l%C3%A1szl%C3%B3-kov%C3%A1cs-in-memory
Jeez, I hope that link works. And turns out I was wrong – his great comments section was transferred over.
Yes the link worked, thanks! I love in the shot that she can see the truck he is on, but not see him in it. It’s like he is there, but not there. Maybe my favorite final shot ever.
Wishing Jim the best of health (and you too by the way Sheila!)
More great ones:
Royal Tennenbaum
Morris Buttermaker (Original)
Jack Horner
Scotty J
Amber Waves
Screw it, every character in Boogie Nights
Boobie Miles
Lloyd Dobler
Larry Gopnik, A Serious Man
// It’s like he is there, but not there. //
Right.
Such ambiguity just does not exist now. I might be missing some examples. But that shot screams “1970s nothingness-malaise” to me – and it’s just a style that is not … in style anymore. At all. Great great ending.
I’m doing good – going on vacation tomorrow. Into the wild with intermittent cell phone/internet use. I need it!!
These are all very good additions to our ongoing list!
Piper Laurie in Carrie, too – I considered including her.
Enjoy your trip! Glad you are well!
Blake, Glengarry Glenross (Alec Baldwin)
Shosanna, Inglorious Basterds
Rupert Pupkin
Randy “The Ram” Robinson
John McClaine
Hans Gruber
Monty Brogan, Jacob Elinsky, and Frank Slaughtery, 25th Hour
Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels
Jack Forrester, Jagged Edge
Bozz, Tigerland
Mason, Snowpiercer
Ha – smiling at many of these. Shoshanna! One of my favorites. I wrote that horrendously long piece about a 3-second moment she has in the film. Love her – looking fowrad to seeing her latest directorial effort! I think it’s called Breathe.
And Rupert Pupkin. Oh dear. Yes. I actually knew a real Rupert Pupkin once. It is an excruciating experience.
Loved your piece on that reaction shot of hers. Every time I see the movie I hope she lives, but she never does. Kinda like Goose in Top Gun.
I could have said Hans Landa, but Shosanna is the one that sticks with me, laughing through the flames.
A real Rupert Pupkin? Wow!
// laughing through the flames. //
Goosebumps every time.
Yes, “my” Rupert Pupkin was in undergrad with me. He was deaf, and was convinced he was the second coming of Judy Garland. Literally. He would walk by himself across the Quad singing “Zing Went the Strings” at the top of his lungs. Not kidding- you could hear him coming 5 minutes before he arrived. His deafness has nothing to do with the story – except that he was tone-deaf (because, you know, he couldn’t hear) – and so his fantasy of singing like Judy Garland was – like watching a little kid singing into a hairbrush in his bedroom. And yet he was doing it at his senior thesis project. And you wanted to feel bad for him – but he was so grating, and annoying, and omnipresent – you couldn’t turn around without him standing right there. But it was mainly his one-man show – presented to the entire department – where he sang all Judy Garland numbers – every single song he sang (horribly) was from her catalog – and he re-created all the famous dance routines (even the duets – which he did by himself – making it even triply crazy because some of the songs like “We’re a Coupla Swells” – uhm – depend on there being more than one person singing/dancing) – and it was so purely delusional that it was mortifying to watch. Like, upsetting, actually. One of my friends had to get up and leave because it was too painful.
I have no idea why the administration didn’t just encourage him to drop out. But it was a big state school, not a conservatory atmosphere. They couldn’t get rid of him.
He played my boyfriend in a Lanford Wilson play and it was excruciating because all of my rehearsals and scenes were with him. This all may sound mean – but honestly, he wasn’t just a victim of all us meanies – he was 100% unpleasant to be around. Narcissistic. He was almost like that Kristen Wiig one-up character from SNL. Zero social skills. His only personality was I Want To Be Judy Garland.
I bet he’s still out there. Tormenting open mic nights with his screeching version of “You Made Me Love You.”
That is quite a story!! Delusional, obsessive people are actually very interesting on film, but less so in real life!
Peace on Todd R. Here I was driving myself crazy trying to decide between Tanner, Kelly and Amanda and I forgot the obvious answer all along was….Buttermaker! Of course! Now I can sleep!
On a more serious note, I find the discussions about performance/character especially fascinating. Then you add “persona” and it makes the head explode. The triangulation required of actor and viewer alike when John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe is giving one of their great triple-performances (as their imagined movie-star selves, as an actor playing a part and as the part itself) is worthy of volumes. I’m not gonna think too much on it just now, though. I need that sleep.
And peace be on you, Sheila, on your well-earned break and beyond!
Maerose Prizzi. The Anjelica Huston comment from Crimes and Misdemeanors got my wheels spinning. She’s up there in Wendy Kroy territory.
Oh, I’ve never seen Prizzi’s Honour or Crimes and Misdemeanors (I know), but Huston’s Lilly Dillon from The Grifters must surely be up there, she blows that movie apart.
That’s another great character of hers.
I was just looking at her listing on IMDB, I didn’t realize she’d done voice work in all the Tinker Bell CGI movies. Why those don’t have a Brony-ish following is beyond me.
Oh man, The Grifters. She was ice-cold in that – LOVE her performance. I love her, in general.
Glad I took the time to click through it all–there were characters I was happy to be reminded of (Tuco! Jackie Brown! Marge!) and some I need to meet (how did I not know about The Master? Fixing that immediately).
I loved your last lines on Tony Manero, about escapism being a valid part of any survivor’s toolkit. Very true but often forgotten. And two characters from other movies in Travolta’s “golden age”: Betty Rizzo and Sissy (Urban Cowboy). Love them in that way where you almost catch yourself going, “I wonder how they’re doing?” What happened next? Where’d they end up? Those are my favorite kinds of characters, where for me they live long after the movie’s over.
Oh Ilyka – The Master. As a Scientology watcher and shit-disturber for many years now – I can’t even believe that this movie exists – and that basically the cult has crumbled. Unbelievable!!
Hoffman is incredible – and so is Joaquin. it is an unbelievable portrait of a con man – a total charmer – a snake-oil salesman. So so good!!
// about escapism being a valid part of any survivor’s toolkit. Very true but often forgotten. //
Totally! People who judge survivors for deflecting or “running off” into escapism have never faced real trauma or difficulties – or they just do not see the value in sheer fun, glamour, a vivid dream-world. Considering the dead-end-street of Tony Manero’s life – his devotion to beauty and dance and his own dream-space is so admirable. He’s such a star!!
// Love them in that way where you almost catch yourself going, “I wonder how they’re doing?” What happened next? Where’d they end up? //
Oh yes! I love it when movie characters make me feel that way.
Jeff Spicoli
Pvt. Vasquez- Aliens
Bradley Whitewood Sr.- At Close Range
Georgie Amberson
Gunnery Sgt. Hartman- Full Metal Jacket
Max Cherry- Jackie Brown
Dewey Finn- School of Rock
Frank “T.J.” Mackey- Magnolia
Rudy Ruettiger