Words: Violet
Yes, there have been innumerable lists of the best villains, heroes and so forth – but my list differs from most and identifies many villains that most haven’t thought of. For instance why is it that Hannibal Lector gives everyone the willies in The Silence of the Lambs when Buffalo Bill goes around skinning people to make himself a… dress of all things?! Here are the (thinking man’s) best movie villains of all time.
John Hammond (Jurassic Park and The Lost World)
John Hammond (portrayed by Richard Attenborough) is the billionaire CEO of InGen who, over the course of the three Jurassic Park films (although he doesn’t appear in the third), is responsible for the terrifying deaths of hundreds of people due to his greed.
Jabba the Hutt (Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Darth Vader gets all the attention, but at least he has some dignity. If nothing else, Jabba is a walking (slithering?) advert for not overdoing it on the Ben & Jerry’s.
Mr Joshua (Lethal Weapon)
Gary Busey’s Mr Joshua should surely get a mention for biggest weirdo villain in film. In one of the scenes his commander actually gets him to burn his arm with a lighter to ‘prove his allegiance’ – ouch!
The Child Catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
The character that launched a thousand nightmares. Even now, the Child Catcher as portrayed by Robert Helpmann is enough to make grown men with tattoos and stuff squeal and hide behind the sofa.
Harvey Dent (Batman)
Forget Bane, banish the Joker from your thoughts – the real villain of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is smarmy publicity-hunter Harvey Dent, as portrayed by Aaron Eckhart.
Pinkie (Brighton Rock)
Forget that Sam Riley nonsense, Richard Attenborough’s portrayal of Pinkie in the 1947 version of Brighton Rock is excellent – as is his dress sense!
Captain Dudley Smith (LA Confidential)
James Cromwell’s magnificently corrupt cop is brilliant at playing Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe against each other in this period noire.
Alexandra ‘Alex’ Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
The term ‘bunny-boiler’ entered the cultural lexicon with this film and Glenn Close is one of the scariest women in film – ever!
Don Logan (Sexy Beast)
Hilarious – though terrifying at the same time, Sir Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan is a true cockney nut-job. “You’ve got beautiful eyes… Are they real?” is amongst his more normal turns of phrase…
Begbie (Trainspotting)
I would provide a quote from Robert Carlyle’s Begbie, but for the fact that everything he says is expletive filled. He also spends most of his time glassing people.
Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs)
“It rubs the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again.” Ted Levine’s character certainly cuts to the chase as well as cutting peoples skin off…
Caesar (Bound)
Caesar may get the wool pulled over his eyes by his girlfriend – who’s cheating on him with another woman – but that doesn’t stop Joe Pantoliano from being the conniving sociopath that he is.
Elliot Carver (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Choosing just one Bond villain is a tough call, but media baron Elliot Carver from the under-rated Tomorrow Never Dies won out eventually. Not only are his plans for world domination a damn sight more creative than usual, he’s also by far the most believable of 007’s adversaries (though to be honest that’s still not saying much).
Mick Taylor (Wolf Creek)
Despite the boring name, Mick Taylor (portrayed by John Jarratt) is absolutely terrifying. He gets his jollies by slaughtering road trippers in the Australian outback and he’s absolutely brutal – for me the scariest of them all.
By Guy de Vito
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