100 Greatest Movie Characters

[Dimmauk]

Who Was Overlooked in the '100 Greatest Movie Character' List?
by Jonathan Crow    December 2, 2008

Any time anyone compiles a "Best of" list they are practically begging for an argument. And British movie magazine Empire has thrown down the gauntlet by releasing its list of the 100 greatest movie characters of all time. Here are their choices for the top 25:

25. Yoda (Empire Strikes Back)
24. Ash (Evil Dead)
23. Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry)
22. Red (The Shawshank Redemption)
21. Michael Corleone (The Godfather series)
20. Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump)
19. Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction)
18. Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver)
17. Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
16. Neo (The Matrix trilogy)
15. Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
14. The Terminator (The Terminator series)
13. Gollum (The Lord of the Rings trilogy)
12. John McClane (Die Hard series)
11. James Bond (007 series)
10. Vito Corleone (The Godfather I & II)
9. Ellen Ripley (Alien quadrology)
8. Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy)
7. The Dude (The Big Lebowski)
6. Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones series)
5. Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
4. Han Solo (Star Wars trilogy)
3. The Joker (The Dark Knight)
2. Darth Vader (Star Wars series)
1. Tyler Durden (Fight Club)


Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden There are a few problems with this list. First, "Fight Club" is a great flick, but number one? Is Tyler Durden really better than Indiana Jones, James Bond, or Charles Foster Kane? Really?

Second, there are numerous characters from the same film series. "Star Wars" gets a whopping six characters -- including Boba Fett, who looked cool but had maybe ten minutes of screen time in the first trilogy. "The Lord of the Rings" gets three slots and "Anchorman" gets two. While these are all fine films, think of how many characters from other great movies didn't make the cut as a result?

Third, the list skews young and male, which makes sense since Empire's readership does as well, but it does make the final product unsatisfying. Only twelve out of the hundred characters are female, only eight characters are from films made before 1970, and only two are from non-English language movies. To put this in prespective, the nation of France -- the country that invented cinema -- has the same number of movie characters on this list as the "Saw" franchise: one.

Fourth, there were a lot of major, iconic characters that were just plain absent. So we've compiled a list of 25 other characters that weren't on the Empire list, but should have been. Of course, by posting this, we know we are also just asking for a fight.

25. Willy Wonka (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
24. Khan (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
23. Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever)
22. Dr. Evil (Austin Powers series)
21. Mad Max (Mad Max trilogy)
20. Annie Wilkes (Misery)
19. John Rambo (Rambo series)
18. Superman (Superman, Superman II)
17. Popeye Doyle (The French Connection)
16. Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels (Tootsie)
15. Jake La Motta (Raging Bull)
14. Annie Hall (Annie Hall)
13. Will Kane (High Noon)
12. Norma Desmond (Sunset Blvd.)
11. Harry Lime (The Third Man)
10. Gordon Gekko (Wall Street)
9. Yojimbo (Yojimbo, Sanjuro)
8. Tracy Flick (Election)
7. T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
6. Colonel Kurtz (Apocalypse Now)
5. Shaft (Shaft)
4. Jake Gittes (Chinatown)
3. Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany's)
2. Mr. Miyagi (The Karate Kid series)
1. The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin's films)

Honorable Mention: Dr. Strangelove (Dr. Strangelove), Howard Beale (Network), Fletch (Fletch), Margo Channing (All About Eve), Max Bialystock (The Producers), Otto (A Fish Called Wanda), Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride), McLovin (Superbad), Madison (Splash), Navin R. Johnson (The Jerk), Inspector Clouseau (Pink Panther series)

Complete list
The 100 Greatest Movie Characters| 100. Martin Riggs | Empire | www.empireonline.com


I was surprised at who wasnt on the list, and who the #1 pick was.

[Brien]

Jason borne!

[Sonomaa]

tyler durden was an amazing performance by pitt, I saw that movie 7 times in the theaters, I cant get enough of it

[Callisto]

Shaft should most definitely be on the main 25.

[Dimmauk]

I can think of a bunch better than Tyler Durden

[Headspace]

Lester Burnham wru?

Also fuck going through all 100, that site is slow as hell.

[Dimmauk]

Lester Burnham wru?

Also fuck going through all 100, that site is slow as hell.

Yeah I was lurking their forum looking for a list.

[Andarvi]

Kevin McAllister - Home Alone 1/2, wru?

[Obev]

Charlie Croker.

[Correction]

http://i36.tinypic.com/r0qknc.jpg

NEO? NEO?? Are you kidding me? Don't talk to me about Neo! Neo!?!

[archibaldcrane]

France -- the country that invented cinema

wat

[Blabj]

Jake Gittes by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown was an awesome performance.

However I fundamentally disagree with all these best-of lists just because there's no real benchmark or way of judging. A good performance is a good performance, to compare one to another doesn't really work in my books.

[Dimmauk]

The fact that James Bond, the Terminator, and Alex DeLarge arent on the top 25, just makes me wanna smash things.

[Blabj]

James Bond isn't really a single entity since each actor brings a different style into their acting in the role. You couldn't say that Roger Moore's Bond is the same as Dalton's or Craig's.

[Dimmauk]

James Bond isn't really a single entity since each actor brings a different style into their acting in the role. You couldn't say that Roger Moore's Bond is the same as Dalton's or Craig's.

Oh and im dumb, Bond is 11.

[Blabj]

Sods law I barely read the OP I just looked for the most obscure role that impressed me the most and commented about how good it was in order to further the image of me being some kind of intellectual type.

We both lose.

[ferigor]

Oh and im dumb, Bond is 11.

the terminator was also #14.

[Dimmauk]

the terminator was also #14.

LMAO! yeah I kept looking at the second list. 2xstupid on me.

[miokomioko]

Aragorn should have been high on that list.

[Belipo Jones]

yeah its just like the top whatever number guitarists lists no ones gonna ever agree especially about whos number 1

tyler durdan was good but not number 1

i dont kno who should be 1 but no him