• Wondering which camera, gear, computer, or software to buy? Ask in our Gear Guide.

Where or where have the bad guys gone?

Slugwriter

Slugwriter

Movie Bad guys are as important as the heros.

Some of the best movie villains have made an impression on Cinema, that without them, the way we look at films wouldn't be the same. The classic battle between good and evil. The war for good, the war for evil.

For a while, I was worried good villains were dying out. But, of course, they weren't. I was very happy in 2007- and 2008. Two great villains bombed their way into the silver screen. The Joker (Best supporting actor) and Chigurah (Best Supporting Actor lol). Not only did both performances control the movie, and sometimes it seemed the movie was built around each character, not purposely. Or purposely. Either way, when they were on the screen, I couldn't help from getting the chills or giggling at the badass psychotic nature of each character. Especially how each character reflects society in some way. Especially the Joker. He is the 21st century! And even though he is psycho, what he says really speaks something about how hypnotized society is. Hypnotized from religion and the federal Bank and well, everything that isn't art.

But anyways, what are your favorite Villains and why. Tell me YOUR THOUGHTS.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
yup, i sure did. except the leads, everyone else in the movies was speaking in italian, i think. they dubbed them all.

did u know that TGTBTU is actually a prequel to A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More?

if u didnt, ill let u find out for urself y. itll be more fun for u that way if u love these movies as i do. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think on some of these suggestions we might be confusing villains with anti-heros. To me a villain is pure evil...he has no personal desire or motivation from anything other than pure evil. An anti-hero is not a true villain. William Munny is the one glaring character from this list that I don't think is truly villainous. I think he's more of an anti-hero.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Consider this though Uranium,

Nobody believes that they are ALL bad. We all operate with the assumption that we are good at some level. Sometimes a sickness of the brain causes someone to think that the bad things they are doing are really "good."

The Best bad guys in movies are just like that. They aren't doing EVIL because they want to be evil, they THINK they are doing GOOD.. Revenge becomes a virtue, The Lord Of Darkness SHOULD reign on earth, that woman needs to die because shes a dirty wh*#$ .. get me?

If your bad guy is bad, hes bad because he "hates his dad and wants virtuous revenge" or "wants to get the chicks, 'cause he wants love too"

FYI: This is how I feel about movies... real people who DO TRUE EVIL, should be administered 9mm of therapeutic lead at the earliest opportunity.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The Best bad guys in movies are just like that. They aren't doing EVIL because they want to be evil, they THINK they are doing GOOD.. Revenge becomes a virtue, The Lord Of Darkness SHOULD reign on earth, that woman needs to die because shes a dirty wh*#$ .. get me?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I think we're in agreement. I separate "bad guys" from "villains." Bad guys are motivated by a misplaced sense of what is right. Villains are like the psychos in torture porn movies. Anti-heros are doing right in non-traditional ways.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Uranium City said:
William Munny is the one glaring character from this list that I don't think is truly villainous. I think he's more of an anti-hero.
Click to expand...

Munny was without question the villain. He could definitely tell right from wrong. By the beginning of the movie he's already famous for killing women and children. He took a contract on the lives of 2 men. Then kills the lawmen that were attempting to extract justice for a murder.

There has to be some differentiation between main character and hero. Munny was a villain.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Uranium City said:
Oh yeah, I think we're in agreement. I separate "bad guys" from "villains." Bad guys are motivated by a misplaced sense of what is right. Villains are like the psychos in torture porn movies. Anti-heros are doing right in non-traditional ways.
Click to expand...

I think the same motivation applies to villains, though Iv never seen a movie like that! Forbid I ever do!
As bad as people can be, they still THINK they are good at some level. Here there be madness, and the week willed had better tread carefully..
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Munny was without question the villain.
Click to expand...

I question it. He's not a hero, definitely, but I can't call him a true villain either. He only takes the job in the first place to give a better life to his youngsters. He only kills the sherriff's posse for stringing up his best friend. As I see it, Little Bill is the far more villainous character, both for what he does to English Bob and to Ned. His only feelings upon his death are that he deserves none of this, because he was building a house. That's it. Empty and vacant, no moral compass other than manufactured law.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A villain is the opposite reactive force, opposed to the Hero. The bad guy can be one of many opposing forces.

It doesn't matter if they think they are evil or good. If they are the villain, they are the villain
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A villain is the opposite reactive force, opposed to the Hero.
Click to expand...

Here's where we often confuse protagonist/antagonist with hero/villain. Protagonist is the character with the strongest plan; antagonist is the character who stands in the way of that plan. Regardless of trope. As such, you can have a protagonist villain.

Think Henry in "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." Or Jackie Brown. Or even Daniel Plainview.

More commonly you see an antagonist villain: a villain who most strongly opposes the protagonist's plan. For this, think Nurse Ratched in Cuckoo's Nest vs. McMurphy's anti-hero protagonist.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Uranium City said:
I question it. He's not a hero, definitely, but I can't call him a true villain either. He only takes the job in the first place to give a better life to his youngsters. He only kills the sherriff's posse for stringing up his best friend. As I see it, Little Bill is the far more villainous character, both for what he does to English Bob and to Ned. His only feelings upon his death are that he deserves none of this, because he was building a house. That's it. Empty and vacant, no moral compass other than manufactured law.
Click to expand...

Villain - n 1: a wicked or evil person

So lets over look the assumption that it's morally justifiable to kill people in order to give a "better life" to two seemingly healthy, self sufficient kids with at least 1 caring parent to raise them. I'll revisit that in a minute.

First I'd like to address the following statement:

Little Bill Daggett: You'd be William Munny out of Missouri. Killer of women and children.
Will Munny: That's right. I've killed women and children. I've killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you did to Ned.

By any measure, killing women and children is pretty evil. Now, I know what you're thinking, maybe the children had no moral compass other than manufactured law and thus it is fine to kill them, but still... they're children. (editorial note: this was intended to be humorously sarcastic and on rereading it, sounds kind of dick-ish. Sorry in advance, if anyone takes it that way.)

Now, going back to the "better life" argument; he wasn't looking for a better life for his kids. His life with the kids and the fevered hogs was hard on him, not them. So he was reverting to what came easy to him, killing people, to make himself a better life.

As for English Bob and Ned, they were assasins and he was a sheriff. Beating them was his job. The fact that English Bob and Munny lived through an encounter with Bill is an argument against his villainy. Bill could have killed either, or both, and justifiably so. The whore even told Munny that Bill didn't mean to kill Ned. Little Bill was not a cold blooded killer like Munny.

Also, he wasn't just building a house, he was planning a lifestyle for himself and a future, presumably because he was getting older. That's not empty, it's what most people work their whole lives for. He just felt entitled to the fruits of his labor.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Jeremy, it's a pleasure to consider your well defended points.

I still disagree, at least in part, however.

I agree Munny was a villain. This is plain. But within the action of the film, I lean towards him being an anti-hero who perhaps accesses his villainous side one more time.

(Am I splitting hairs finely enough?)

Eastwood spent his early career defining the Western anti-hero character (in the Leone films and beyond). I thought of "Unforgiven" at the time (and still do) as the ultimate Eeastwood Western role, the capstone of his Western roles. I still see him as il buono and not il brutto.

If this spirited debate proves anything to me, it's that complex characters are always more fun to consider and be challenged by than simple black and white ones.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If a Villain is the main character, he is still the Villain. He may be the main character, or the Protaganist, but the protagonist does not mean they are the hero.

Hero: Good.
Villain: Bad.

Protagonist: Main character
Antagonist: Opposing Character.

Pretend A Serial killer is the main character of a film. He is the Protagonist, and the villain. Now lets pretend, a cop is chasing him down. The detective is the Antagonist, and the hero.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I agree Munny was a villain.
Click to expand...

I would agree with UC. At this point in time of the film his good, late wife cleaned him of all the evil he had done in the past. The justice he did at the bar was justified by what Little Bill did to English Bob, Ned and how he controlled the town (and visitors) like a dictator.

Munny even gave the innocent a chance to leave where as Bill wouldn't have. He would have had all his men killed just to make sure Munny was dead at the end.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top