Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by danj (A) on April 02, 2005 at 22:00:04

In Reply to: Bad guys... posted by Jeff Starrs on March 31, 2005 at 10:02:10:

Welles in Carol Reed's magnificent "The Third Man." It's a brilliant film with great performances all around but Welles positively shines as the ultimate smiling bad guy.

Cagney as the psychotic mamma's boy in Raoul Walsh's classic "White Heat" really gives me shudders.

Both films were made in 1949 - a good year for film villians.

One shudders to think how different these movies would have been with lesser actors in those key roles.

Honorable mentions: Edward G. Robinson in John Huston's "Key Largo", Bogie in Huston's "Treasure of Sierra Madre", Robert Mitchum in "Cape Fear" and "Night of the Hunter", Robert Shaw in "From Russia with Love", Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather Pt. II", and Bill Murray in "Mad Dog and Glory."

Most modern villans are written much too broadly and are unconvincing. The best ones in recent films are played by Anthony Hopkins, Ray Liotta, the CGI Golem, and the CGI T-Rex in the original "Jurassic Park."