100 Greatest Villains

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

It's summertime, and I've decided to do another list or two. This one will rank the 100 Greatest Villains in Pop Culture. Let's start with 100:

100. Walter Peck



Who is he: An overzealous EPA representative/asshole.
What is he from: “Ghostbusters”
What has he done: Unleashed a horde of evil spirits onto New York City; though in his defense, he didn’t know what he was doing.
Intelligence: Looks like a lawyer, so he’s most likely pretty smart.
Power: Mainly through intimidation, meanness, and confusing people with legal jargon.
Vileness: He truly does have the best interests of New York in mind; he just doesn’t know what he’s doing and gets upset too easily when insulted.
Sway: Has a position of power in the EPA gets him results.
Purity: Determined to get on the Ghostbusters' case, either to shut them down or get some political glory.
Physical Prowess: Plain and simple; he's a stiff in a suit.
Name Coolness: "Walter Peck" isn't that cool, and adding an "-er" to the end of it makes it a synonym for penis.
Created by: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.
Portrayed by: William Atherton, who probably doesn’t like the role that pretty much made him famous. Atherton was also almost injured on the set when 200 pounds of shaving cream were dumped on him from a crane to simulate a torrent of molten marshmallow engulfing him, almost knocking him off his feet. And, after the big success of “Ghostbusters,” Atherton has said that people have yelled "Dickless" at him when they see him in public (Peck is called "Dickless" by Dan Aykroyd's character in the movie).

A group of supernatural spirit hunters, the Ghostbusters, become real popular in New York City. However, there’s one guy who doesn’t believe they are actually busting ghosts and has some legitimate concerns about some hazardous chemicals the group is using: Walter Peck. When he goes down to investigate, in a very curt and unpleasant way, he is met with nothing but sarcasm and patronizing from Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray). So, Peck comes back with a court order, the cops, and A ConEd electrician to shut the Ghostbusters down. He orders the electrician to turn off the Ghostbusters’ grid holding the ghosts they have captured. The grid explodes and evil spirits are unleashed on the City That Never Sleeps. A massive number of supernatural events spark chaos throughout the city as long-dead spirits run wild terrorizing the populace. Peck accuses the Ghostbusters of causing the explosion due to their own negligence and has them arrested. And, he has perfect timing as all this goes down while the minions of Gozer, Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster, have come to the living world, taken possession of Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) respectively, and are about to bring Gozer forth to start the Apocalypse. Eventually, the mayor of New York (David Margulies) summons the Ghostbusters from jail in hopes that they can explain the various supernatural phenomena. Walter Peck makes a series of baseless accusations that the Ghostbusters are con artists. However, none of the department heads at the meeting are able to support Peck's claims, and with Venkman persuading the politicians, the Ghostbusters convince the mayor to let them deal with the crisis. As for Peck, he ends up with a bunch marshmallow goop from the exploded Stay Puff Marshmallow man falling onto him.

When it comes to being a good villain, there's one thing that mere mortals can do well that most all-powerful, god-like supervillains cannot: simply annoy the hell out of you. And, Walter Peck is such an annoying dick, which is ironic because apparently he’s dickless.[/reference to the best joke in the movie] Now, Peck isn’t that evil. Walter Peck, legal representative of the Environmental Protection Agency, has a legitimate beef with the Ghostbusters as no one wants "noxious, possibly hazardous" chemicals in their neighborhood, and that's the EPA's business. And Dr. Peter Venkman certainly did patronize “Mr. Pecker” to the point of producing court orders against the boys. However, this man is a piece of crap. He isn’t a terror of “biblical proportions,” but he is a constant thorn in the Ghostbusters' side. Also, it is his fault that all the ghosts the guys caught were released into New York from the already-unstable containment grid. Though he may not have known what he was doing, he still unleashed all those evil spirits onto New York City. Not only that but he continued to attack and irritate the Ghostbusters, even while the Big Apple was facing doom for Gozer, a Sumerian God that sought to bring the end of the world. Luckily the Mayor of New York was able to see how much of a dick Peck was and allowed the Ghostbusters to save the day. It is poetic justice that this slippery, slimy operator was doused by an embarrassingly enormous glob of sticky Stay-Puft Marshmallow. As tough as this man's exterior was, perhaps that was the only way in this world to make him any sweeter.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

99. Sideshow Bob



Who is he: A culturally sophisticated criminal known to attempt to murder someone every once in a while.
What is he from: The Simpsons
What has he done: Tried to kill Bart Simpson, his family, his aunt Selma, and his hero Krusty The Clown. Also framed Krusty for robbery to take over his show, stole an atomic bomb to rid the world of television, and rigged the Springfield Mayoral election.
Intelligence: Yale educated and knowledgeable in the ways of high culture.
Power: Can easily be beaten in a fist fight, but has a power of persuasion that has allowed him to get his entire family to go along with his schemes.
Vileness: Willing to kill a child.
Sway: Was able to frame a celebrity and rig an election; also that power of persuasion.
Purity: Will do anything to succeed, but he hasn’t had much luck in the succeeding part.
Physical Prowess: Like a said, he can easily be beaten in a fist fight.
Name Coolness: “Bob” isn’t that cool, but adding “Sideshow” to it makes it a little cooler.
Created by: Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, and Matt Groening. They wrote the first episode Bob appeared in, “The Telltale Head.”
Portrayed by: Kelsey Grammer, though, the role was almost given to James Earl Jones. Grammer used his impression of Ellis Rabb, a man for whom Grammer had once worked, for Bob's voice. Grammer initially thought that Bob would be a one-time character, but the writers liked Grammer’s voice and love writing Bob episodes. Grammer calls him “the most popular character I've ever played.”

Bob began his career as Krusty the Clown's non-speaking sidekick. He had only won the job because he proved to be more of a comic foil than his younger brother Cecil, who had actually auditioned for the part. As the years went on, the Yale-educated Bob became increasingly angered at being overshadowed by Krusty's “dilapidated vaudeville antics” and continual abuse. Finally, he snapped and framed Krusty for armed robbery at the Kwik-E-Mart. He took over his show, making it more sophisticated by introducing culture and reading Man in the Iron Mask. Although the show was critically acclaimed, his reign was short-lived, as Bart Simpson exposed his plan and landed him in jail. Once his true character is revealed, Bob takes the position of evil genius in the series. Typical Sideshow Bob centered episodes involve Bob being released from prison and acting out a cunning revenge plan, which is foiled by Bart and Lisa. Frequently such plans involve attempting to kill someone, mainly Bart or, to a lesser extent, Krusty. In Bob's first scheme after his failed framing of Krusty, he married Selma Bouvier, Bart's aunt, in an attempt to gain money from her stock shares and then tried to blow her up on their honeymoon. He was foiled by Bart once again. After his second release he went after Bart, threatening him repeatedly and forcing the Simpsons to move to Terror Lake through the Witness Relocation Program. Bob follows, and after he apprehends the rest of the family, attempts to kill Bart. As Bart's final request, he sings him the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore. The distraction leads to Bob's arrest. He then rigged the Springfield Mayoral election, and planned to blow Springfield up with a nuclear bomb unless the city stopped broadcasting television. After this, Bob genuinely becomes redeemed, and instead his brother Cecil attempts to commit a crime. Cecil harbored resentment for Bob becoming Krusty's sidekick instead of him, and tried to frame him for embezzlement by sabotaging the Springfield Dam. Bob and Bart together foiled his plan and saved the town, but both brothers ended up in prison due to Chief Wiggum's stupidity. Bob is again released, and plots to kill Krusty using Bart as a suicide bomber, but later helps Homer discover who is trying to kill him. After the mystery is solved, however, he comes back to murder Bart. He finds he cannot do it. Bob moves to Italy, looking for a fresh start. There, he becomes mayor of a village in Tuscany and marries a local woman named Francesca, with whom he has a son named Gino, who resembles him. The Simpsons visit and Bob welcomes them with hospitality, on the condition that they not reveal his felonious past. However a drunken Lisa does just that, alienating him from his citizens. His wife and son do not abandon him though, and the three swear a vendetta on the Simpsons. The family later returns, and Bob fakes his own death and attempts to burn Bart alive at his funeral. However, he and his entire family are foiled and thrown in jail.

He may not be the most successful criminal in the world, but he is determined to get revenge on Bart Simpson. He has tried to kill the boy on numerous occasions and once brainwashed Bart into assassinating Krusty The Clown. However, like always, he failed. But, that has not stopped Bob. The man will stop at nothing and do anything to get Bart Simpson. He even faked his own death so that he could kill Bart. The man is the very definition of determination. However, Bob wasn’t always after Bart. His first two schemes, framing Krusty of robbing the Kwik-E-Mart in order to take over his show and marrying Selma so he could kill her and inherit some stock shares from her, were foiled by Bart. Since then, Bob has felt the Simpson boy has to die. Bob also has a desire to make Springfield go by his lifestyle. He took over Krusty’s shows to make it more culturally appealing, he rigged an election to become Mayor of Springfield, and he threatened to blow up Springfield with a nuclear bomb in order to rid the town of television. He is an evil genius who wants people to live like him and wants to rid the world of Bart Simpson. However, it seems unlikely he’ll ever succeed.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Tomorrow, numbers 98 and 97. Here are the hints:

Both are villains of comedies: one an educator and the other who likes TPS reports and staplers.

[Beav]

Randall Flagg better be on this list.

[JMA]

I wanna see Patrick Bateman. Now there's a villain with no redeeming qualities.

[Smokey McTrees]

Not to no-sell your list, but nothing will ever beat Wizard's list from a couple years back. It had Roddy Piper, Bruce the Shark from Jaws, and none other then the Joker at number 1! but that was my fave. That being said, I'm excited to read this one! I love it!

[Sir Woodrow]

May 12, 2008 18:59:34 GMT -5 Hulkshi Tanahashi said:

Tomorrow, numbers 98 and 97. Here are the hints:

Both are villains of comedies: one an educator and the other who likes TPS reports and staplers.

Is Ed Rooney one of them?

Ferris Bueller rocks.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

I made a little edit to the entries. I decided to add something about how cool the villain's name is. And, I put those things at the bottom with the rest of the items.

[biafra]

May 12, 2008 19:43:48 GMT -5 Beav said:

Randall Flagg better be on this list.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

It's countdown time, again. Here's number 98:

98. Dean Vernon Wormer



Who is he: Dean of Faber College.
What is he from: “Animal House.”
What has he done: Put the Deltas on “Double Secret Probation.”
Intelligence: He’s the dean of a university; you got to be pretty smart to be one of those.
Power: Need I remind you about “Double Secret Probation.”
Vileness: Hates partying, so he’s a buzzkill.
Sway: Can suspend and expel people from college, and partakes in a little blackmail with the town mayor.
Purity: Wants his college to run smoothly and will get rid of any trouble makers.
Physical Prowess: He’s a little old, but he could get pretty strong when he gets angry.
Name Coolness: “Wormer” is such a slimy name, great for a villain.
Created by: Douglas Kenney, Christopher Miller and Harold Ramis.
Portrayed by: John Vernon, but the role almost went to Jack Webb. However, Webb backed out because he was afraid the film would hurt his clean-cut image; and Vernon got the role.

The Delta house is the coolest fraternity on the campus of Faber College. However, their hard partying ways are pissing of the head of Faber College: Dean Vernon Wormer. He wants to kick the Deltas off campus. Since they are already on probation, he puts the Deltas on "Double Secret Probation" and orders Omega president Gregg Marmalard (James Daughton) to assign Doug Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf) the job of finding a way to get rid of the Deltas once and for all. The Deltas get under Wormer’s skin with many pranks, including Bluto, D-Day, and Flounder into sneaking Neidermeyer’s horse into Dean Wormer's office and giving him a gun and telling him to shoot it. Unbeknownst to Flounder, the gun is loaded with blanks. He can't bring himself to kill the horse and fires into the ceiling, but the noise causes the horse to have a heart attack and die. The next day, a chainsaw is required to remove the carcass, in rigor mortis, from the office. Luckily for Wormer, the Deltas grade point average drops incredibly low after Bluto and D-Day steal the answers to an upcoming psychology test stencil that has been planted by the Omegas, causing the Deltas to get every answer wrong. Wormer visits the Delta House to gloat as he tells them he only needs one more incident in order to kick them off the campus. Undaunted, the Deltas organize a toga party. Pinto (Thomas Hulce) invites Clorette (Sarah Holcomb), the cashier at the local supermarket; she turns out to be the underage daughter of shady Mayor Carmine DePasto (Cesare Danova). When she gets drunk and passes out, Pinto is tempted to take advantage of her (an angel and a devil appear over his shoulders and have a frank discussion of his choices); in the end, he takes her home in a shopping cart, where DePasto finds her and calls Wormer to complain. Wormer has his own problems as a drunken Mrs. Wormer (Verna Bloom) crashes the party (both figuratively and literally) and has sex with Otter (Tim Matheson). That turns out to be the last straw. Wormer calls for a trial to have their fraternity's charter revoked, which he uses his power to pretty have the Deltas lose. Their charter is revoked, and everything is confiscated. Bluto is horrified when they take “the bar, the whole smurfin' bar!” Then, Wormer gets another win over the Deltas when he has them all expelled because their grades are so low and notifies the draft board that they are all eligible for military service. However, it’s a hollow victory as Flounder pukes on him. And, later, the Deltas ruin the Homecoming parade. Years later, Wormer spends the rest of his days in a retirement home living senile bliss until some mentions the Deltas.

There have been many imitators to “Animal House,” which means there are many imitators to Dean Wormer. But, the original is still the best. He is such a stone-faced hard ass. This unscrupulous buzzkiller hates anyone who likes to party or get laid or have a few drinks. He wants college to be about learning and getting an education and to be prepared for the real world. Well, guess what pal!? The reason college was invented was so that kids could drink and party for four years without any consequences!!!! Your little “Double Secret Probation” can’t change that fact! And, yeah, you did sort of win. I mean, the Deltas got their fraternity charter revoked, and they were all expelled. But, that was only the battle! The war was won when the Deltas crashed that little parade of yours! Plus, Wormer ended up in a retirement home. John Blutarsky ended up as President of the United States of America. So, where’s your “Double Secret Probation” now, Mr. Wormer!?

[Bob Schlapowitz]

if Biff Tannen and Judge Smails don't make the cut, you've got some explaining to do.......

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

97. Bill Lumbergh



Who is he: The division Vice-President at Initech.
What is he from: “Office Space.”
What has he done: Emotionlessly micromanages his employees while engaging them with superficial small talk, and stole Milton’s stapler, the first of many things he did to make Milton’s life a living hell.
Intelligence: According to his information sheet when viewed by Bob Slydell, he has BS and MS degrees in physics from MIT.
Power: As the division Vice-President, he pretty much runs the place.
Vileness: Isn’t afraid to make people work on the weekends, steal items they hold near and dear, and basically make your work place a crappy place to be.
Sway: He can hire and fire people.
Purity: Will use passive-aggressive techniques to get people to follow the “Initech way.”
Physical Prowess: He looks like he’s in good shape, but if you were to challenge him to a fight, you could probably win; if he didn’t run away like a chicken.
Name Coolness: “Bill Lumbergh” = not cool.
Created by: Mike Judge.
Portrayed by: Gary Cole. He reprised the role in a Lumbergh cameo appearance on the animated series Family Guy episode “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz.”

Bill Lumbergh is the Division Vice-President at Initech. He callously tells Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) to work on the weekend, who doesn’t come in because a psychiatrist put him in a hypnotic state of relaxation and didn’t snap him out before he died of a heart attack. Lumbergh even torments Peter with things he hasn’t even done. When Drew (Greg Pitts) learns that Peter is dating Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), Drew warns him to wear a condom because she has been “around.” Peter inquires who all Joanna has had sex with, and Drew answers “Hell, Lumbergh f***ed her!” He is talking about a different Lumbergh, but the very thought that Joanna could have had sex with Bill Lumbergh gives Peter nightmares. Peter isn’t the only one Lumbergh torments. In fact, the main receiver of Lumbergh’s torment is Milton Waddams (Stephen Root), a soft-spoken, fixated collator who mumbles to himself incessantly (most notably about his co-workers borrowing his stapler) and is repeatedly harassed by management. First, Lumbergh takes away Milton's beloved red Swingline stapler. Then, he keeps having boxes put into Milton’s cubicle. Next, he refuses to answer Milton’s questions about his paycheck; The Bobs, two consultants brought in to bring down expenses by downsizing and outsourcing, stopped sending his paychecks, fixing an accounting glitch wherein Milton had, unknown to him, been laid off years earlier but continued to come to work and be paid. And, finally, he moved Milton’s desk to a cockroach-infested storage room in the basement. However, Milton snaps and sets the Initech office building on fire, having warned several times that he would "set the building on fire" throughout the film, destroying all the computers and the virus code that Peter, Michael Bolton (David Herman), and Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu) put into the Initech computers to embezzle money from the company. In a deleted scene on the “Office Space” DVD, Peter asks Michael and Samir at the end of the movie “Did any of you attend Lumbergh's funeral?” they all shake their heads. It is implied that he perished as a result of the fire.

Bill Lumbergh is a stereotypical corporate middle-manager who spends most of his time wandering the office with coffee mug in hand, wears white-collared shirts, suspenders and a belt (a fashion faux pas). He isn’t an angry boss who yells at his employees about his disappointment. He’s much worse. Lumbergh uses passive-aggressiveness to express his anger and disappointment. He comes off as cold and emotionless. He micromanages and often asks his employees, such as Peter Gibbons, to come in to work on Saturdays. He is obsessed with making sure all the office's paperwork, such as TPS reports, is done perfectly, no matter how pointless it may be. He will point out every single mistake that they make, making them feel worthless. He sounds like a prick with his unholy drawl, saying “What's happening?” as a greeting, and telling an employee they're going to have to do something undesirable by starting his sentences with, “m' yeah, I'm gonna need you to” or “if you could just go ahead and,” as well as ending these requests with “That'd be great.” His speech patterns are the essential of the emptiness of linguistic conventions at work. He represents the impersonal and oppressive business practices that Peter despises so much. Peter refers to Bill as “all that is soulless and wrong.” However, the worst thing that Lumbergh has done isn’t in the movie. The irony of the character's popularity is noted in GQ/Details Men. Style.com, “[T]he guy who stops by your desk and says, “Mmm, yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you to come in on Sunday,” is now an integral part of the soul-crushing corporate culture Lumbergh was created to satirize in the first place.” Lumbergh’s evil is spreading out into the REAL WORLD!!!! In short, Bill Lumberg is a slimy white collar overlord. He crushes people’s spirits by pointing every mistake they make, uses psychological techniques to show disappoint and get people to do what he wants, and makes people hate their jobs. And, now, he’s has created an entire generation of middle-managers that will do the same thing.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Tomorrow, numbers 95 and 96. Here are the hints:

One hurls insults at people from his comfy tower, and one has gone crazy thanks to the war in Vietnam.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Countdown time. Here's 96:

96. The French Taunter



Who is he: A French knight.
What is he from: “Monty Python And The Holy Grail.”
What has he done: Endlessly hurls insults and a cow at King Arthur and his knights.
Intelligence: Quick witted.
Power: He’s a knight.
Vileness: Will cruelly insult people.
Sway: He’s a subordinate; he has a master.
Purity: Likes to insult people.
Physical Prowess: He’s a knight, but he’s also French.
Name Coolness: Sounds like a lame pro-wrestler.
Created by: Monty Python.
Portrayed by: John Cleese, who also played Sir Lancelot Second soldier in opening scene, Man in plague scene with body, the Black Knight, Villager in Witch Scene, and Tim the Enchanter in the movie

King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his knights (John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle) are on a quest to find the Holy Grail. They come across a castle and call out for someone. They are met by the French Taunter. Arthur request shelter for the night and even agrees to let the lord of the castle to join them on their quest for the Holy Grail if he gives them shelter. However, the Taunter lies to Arthur, saying that his master already has a Holy Grail. When Arthur asks to if he and his knights can have a look at it, he denies them. And then, the insults rain down on Arthur and his knights. Arthur gets mad and threatens to storm the castle. So, the Taunter has a cow thrown from a catapult at them. Arthur leads his men on an impromptu siege, and the Taunter has more farm animals thrown at them. This proves too much for Arthur, and he has his knights split up to search for the Grail. Later, Arthur and Sir Bedevere (Jones) come across Castle Aaargh. As they genuflect to pray to God, a sheep lands on them. It’s the French Taunter, again! Arthur commands the Frenchman to let them into the tower, but he refuses. Arthur tries to break the door down, but the Taunter drops some brown on them. Arthur and Bedevere walk off defeated.

There are many villains in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” However, the French Taunter stands out for many reasons. For one, his insults are hilarious. They are endless, unnerving, and just bring out the hate in people. Another reason is that he’ll insult people from his comfy tower and throw things down onto his enemies, but he won’t come down to fight them face to face. He’s a coward, and his cowardly piss Arthur off because he wants to get his hands on him, but the French Taunter won’t come down from that damn tower. We’ve all been there. We wanted to get our hands on someone or something, but we couldn’t; and it just pissed us off even more. Finally, of all the villains in the movie, the French Taunter actually gets the best of Arthur. The Killer Rabbit is killed. The Black Knight gets all his limbs chopped off. But, the French Taunter gets away with taunting the Knights, throwing farm animals at them, and dumping that brown crap on Arthur. Sure, the Knights Who Say Ni sort of, but they weren’t as bad as this guy. The French Taunter is an annoying man who can easily piss and get away with it.

[Lupin the Third]

Sweet, the French Taunter! I loved that guy! ;D

Also, I thought Sideshow Bob should've been alil higher up on the list, but that's my own opinion. Hopefully, Cell makes the list.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

95. Col. Kurtz



Who is he: An Army Colonel who went insane fighting in Vietnam.
What is he from: “Apocalypse Now.”
What has he done: Command a legion of Montagnard troops in Cambodia; betrayed his country and killed fellow American soldiers.
Intelligence: Military strategy and some philosophical knowledge, but his insanity could affect his intelligence.
Power: Can persuade people to do his bidding much like a cult leader.
Vileness: Will kill people or have them kill easily.
Sway: Can get any of his followers to do what he says.
Purity: He seems contempt to live in Cambodia but will do anything to say free in the jungle.
Physical Prowess: Kind of fat.
Name Coolness: He falls under Military Default Syndrome, i.e. if you have a military rank, then it automatically makes your name cool. The only exception is “Weiner.”
Created by: Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, with some influence from Joseph Conrad.
Portrayed by: Marlon Brando, who appeared on set massively overweight, despite his character's description as sick and emaciated. The majority of Brando's dialogue had to be improvised, despite the short time during which the actor was available.

U.S. Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) has returned to Saigon; a seasoned veteran, he is deeply troubled and apparently no longer fit for civilian life. A group of intelligence officers approach him with a special mission: go up-river into the remote Cambodian jungle to find Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, a former member of the United States Army Special Forces. They state that Kurtz, once considered a model officer and future general, has allegedly gone insane and is commanding a legion of his own Montagnard troops deep inside the forest in neutral Cambodia. Their claims are supported by very disturbing radio broadcasts and/or recordings made by Kurtz himself. Willard is ordered to undertake a mission to find Kurtz and “terminate... with extreme prejudice.” Willard studies the intelligence files during the boat ride to the river entrance and learns that Kurtz, isolated in his compound, has assumed the role of a warlord and is worshipped by the natives and his own loyal men. Another officer, Colby (Scott Glenn), sent earlier to kill Kurtz, may have become one of his lieutenants. Willard begins his trip up the Mekong River on a PBR (Patrol Boat, Riverine), with an eclectic crew composed of obstinate and formal Chief Phillips (Albert Hall), a Navy boat commander; GM3 Lance B. Johnson (Sam Buttons), a tanned all-American California surfer; GM3 Tyrone, a.k.a. “Mr. Clean” (Laurence Fishburne), a black 17-year-old from “some South Bronx crap-hole”; and the New Orleanian Engineman, Jay “Chef” Hicks (Frederic Forrest), who Willard describes as “wrapped too tight for Vietnam... probably wrapped too tight for New Orleans. The lighting and mood darken as the boat navigates upstream and Willard's silent obsession with Kurtz deepens. Along the way they encounter many dangers, and Clean gets killed. They eventually find Kurtz’s camp. As they approach the outskirts of Kurtz' camp, Montagnard villagers begin firing toy arrows at them. The crew opens fire until Chief gets hit by a real spear and dies, but not before trying to force Willard onto the spear as well. After arriving at Kurtz' outpost, Willard leaves Chef behind with orders to call in an air strike on the village if he does not return. They are met by a borderline-psychotic freelance photographer (Denis Hopper) who explains Kurtz's greatness and philosophical skills to provoke his people into following him. Brought before Kurtz and held in captivity in a darkened temple, Willard’s constitution appears to weaken as Kurtz lectures him on his theories of war, humanity, and civilization. Kurtz explains his motives and philosophy in a famous and haunting monologue in which he praises the ruthlessness of the Viet Minh: “If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment. Because it's judgment that defeats us.” While bound outside in the pouring rain, Willard is approached by Kurtz, who places the severed head of Chef in his lap. Coppola makes little explicit, but we come to believe that Willard and Kurtz develop an understanding nonetheless; Kurtz wishes to die at Willard’s hands, and Willard, having subsequently granted Kurtz his wish, is offered the chance to succeed him in his warlord-demigod role. Juxtaposed with a ceremonial slaughtering of a water buffalo, Willard enters Kurtz’s chamber during one of his message recordings, and kills him with a machete. This entire sequence is set to “The End” by The Doors, as is the sequence at the very beginning of the film. Lying bloody and dying on the ground, Kurtz whispers “The horror... the horror,” a line taken directly from Conrad's novella. Willard walks through the now-silent crowd of natives and takes Johnson, who is now fully integrated into the native society, by the hand. He leads Johnson to the PBR, and floats away as Kurtz’s final words echo in the wind as the screen fades to black.

Col. Kurtz is smurfed up. War has driven him crazy, and he has responded by becoming a warlord in the jungles of Cambodia. He has also taken some other soldiers with him. He is sort of like a cult-leader, spouting out philosophical beliefs to these men and persuaded them abandon their country and duty to it to join him. The interesting thing about Kurtz is that he has no evil motives or intentions. Basically, he just wants to live on his patch of jungle with his men. But, he will kill anyone who dares to take him away and put an end to his warlord ways. But still, he just wants to be left alone. What makes Kurtz such a great villain is how haunting he is. The man’s madness is contagious. It is a disease that is spreading among other people. He is a Typhoid Mary of insanity that can infect anyone who gets near him. Just look at Willard. He becomes obsessed with Kurtz soon after getting the assignment to kill Kurtz. He will do anything to complete his mission. There is a scene where Chief spots a sampan and against Willard's advice they make the boat stop and inspect it. While Chef searches the sampan, one of the civilians makes a sudden movement causing Clean to open fire on the wooden boat killing almost all the civilians, save for one badly wounded survivor. An argument breaks out between Willard and Phillips over whether to take the survivor to someplace where she can receive medical attention. Willard ends the argument by shooting her, then calmly stating “I told you not to stop.” He killed an injured civilian so that he could continue on his journey to find Kurtz. Kurtz’s mystique is so enchanting that it has affected a man he has yet to meet. Hell, it becomes too much for Kurtz himself, who basically wishes to die. Willard does kill him and leaves, but Kurtz is not dead. His memory will live on, haunting Willard for the rest of his life.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Tomorrow, numbers 94 and 93. Here are the hints:

A child star gone crazy, and a man with appendages of precious metals.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

It's time for more villains. Here's 94:

94. Baby Jane Hudson



Who is she: A former child start.
What is she from: Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (book (1960), movie (1962), and TV movie (1991))
What has she done: Crashed her car while driving drunk, which paralyzed her sister Blanche and ended her promising film career in the novel. In the movie, she serves her sister dead rats and parakeets for meals, kills Elvira with a hammer
Intelligence: Well, she’s an actress and didn't have to do much to keep Blanche hidden away in the upstairs bedroom.
Power: Her sister depends on her.
Vileness: It wasn't just the rats for lunch. It was a lot more, and between sisters, it cut deep.
Sway: Is an absolute terror at times, but kept a piece of her Baby Jane sweetness and innocence around just in case.
Purity: So jealous and bitter, Jane did everything she could to make her sister suffer. She just couldn't let go of the spotlight either.
Physical Prowess: Her moral ugliness manifested in a physical and frightening way in her later years. And, she is older and therefore weaker physically, but easily able to overpower her invalid sister.
Name Coolness: “Baby Jane” sounds a little cool.
Created by: Henry Farrell.
Portrayed by: Bette Davis in the 1960 film, who had real life tension with Joan Crawford. The stars reportedly bickered over salaries and who would receive top billing. A great deal of friction was apparently also generated mid-production by Joan and Bette's very different acting styles -- Davis played Baby Jane to the excessive, hysterical hilt, while Crawford tended to cower and remain passive and understated. Lynn Redgrave in the 1991 TV movie, which had her real-life sister Vanessa Redgrave as Blanche.

Novel: The novel deals with two aging sisters, Jane and Blanche Hudson, who are living alone together in a Hollywood mansion. Jane, a former fair haired child star of early vaudeville known as "Baby Jane," was spoiled, pampered, and given all the attention of her father, while her older sister, Blanche, was practically ignored as she lived in Jane's shadow. Their roles reversed, however, after the death of their parents due to influenza, when both children moved to Los Angeles to live with an aunt. Blanche was favored for her dark haired goddess looks and was even encouraged to pursue a film career. Blanche became a star while Jane, who also worked in films, was not successful. Blanche had a clause in her contract stipulating her studio make a picture with Jane for every picture that they make with Blanche. At the height of her success, Blanche was paralyzed when her car crashed into the big iron gates in front of the mansion where she and her sister lived. They were returning from a party that night and Jane was drunk. When the police found her, Jane could not remember what happened. She was held responsible and accused of the attempted murder of her sister. Nothing came of the charge, but Jane's film career ended with Blanche's career. Now, years later in 1959, Jane, a slatternly and alcoholic former child star, and Blanche, a disabled former reigning screen goddess, continue to live together in the same mansion in a neighborhood that is no longer fashionable. Jane resents having to live in the shadow of her sister, who became more famous than she ever was, and who is now being remembered because of a revival of her films on television. Jane hates having to cook, clean and care for Blanche, an invalid who is stuck upstairs in her bedroom, but has nevertheless managed to keep her good looks. Blanche, whose only other contact with the outside world is Elvira Stitt, a weekly cleaning woman, and her telephone conversations with her doctor and attorney, finds she is growing old in the shadow of her mentally ill sister. She decides to sell her mansion and move them to something nicer and easier to take care of. She then calls her lawyer and tells him she is planning to sell. She hears the extension downstairs click. Jane, who eavesdrops on her sister's calls, believes that Blanche wants to sell the house and put her away in a mental hospital. Blanche, who sees Jane's sinister, brooding mood swing beginning, tries to talk to her sister about her decision. Jane will not listen, however. In a drunken daze, Jane decides to revive her childhood singing and dancing act of Baby Jane, reasoning that Fanny Brice had success with Baby Snooks. She then hires a musical accompanist, Edwin Flagg. As reality topples crazily into eerie fantasy, Jane abuses her sister with monstrous cruelty while embezzling her money to buy liquor and revive her childhood act.

Movie: As the film opens in 1910, six-year-old Baby Jane Hudson becomes an enormously successful child star in vaudeville while her older sister, Blanche, is forced to remain quietly in the background. As the two reach maturity in the 20's and early 30's, however, Jane loses both her appeal and her talent, and Blanche develops into a beautiful and renowned film actress. Then, at the height of her career, Blanche is crippled in an automobile accident for which the alcoholic Jane is held responsible. As the years pass, the two sisters become virtual recluses in an old mansion, where the slatternly and guilt-ridden Jane (Bette Davis) cares for the helpless Blanche (Joan Crawford). When she learns Blanche is planning to sell the house and perhaps place her in a home, Jane plots a diabolical revenge. She serves her sister trays of dead rats and parakeets, tears out her phone, and keeps her a prisoner in her bedroom. She even resorts to killing their black maid, Elvira (Maidie Norman), with a hammer when the woman becomes suspicious and threatens to go to the police. Jane is also planning to make a comeback and has hired the obese pianist Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono) to accompany her. But when Edwin discovers Blanche gagged and bound to her bed, he runs hysterically from the house. Realizing he will go to the police, Jane drags Blanche into a car and drives to a nearby beach. There Blanche confesses that she had arranged the automobile accident and had intended to kill her sister to avenge herself for the years of humiliation she had spent in the shadow of Baby Jane. As the police arrive upon the scene, the now totally deranged Jane goes into her song-and-dance routine of long ago.

Baby Jane is one crazy bitch! The former child star saw her fame disappear as she got older and while her sister began to enjoy a fabulous career as a glamourous Hollywood star. And then, a car accident forced her to be her sister’s guardian. Her jealousy and bitterness over losing her own fame and having to take care of the sister she despised transformed Baby Jane into a very ugly person, physically and mentally. Jane enjoys terrorizing Blanche, from preventing all outside contact and serving her rats for lunch. However, Jane is very lonely; but the only person can turn to for love is the very person she despises. Unwilling to turn to her sister for love, she turned back to the public in the hopes that she could recapture her childhood glory. Like I said, this woman is just plain crazy, whipping back and forth between jubilation, rage, and misery. She just can’t stand the fact that her sister was more popular and successful than her. So, she takes it out on her. And, she so desperately crazes that popularity and fame. Baby Jane is just so down right bitter and angry about her lot in life that she descends into madness and evil!

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

93. Auric Goldfinger



Who is he: The treasurer of SMERSH (novel), gold smuggler (movie)
What is he from: Goldfinger (book and movie)
What has he done: Tried to blow up Fort Knox in order to increase the value of his own gold.
Intelligence: Criminal genius and very economically smart.
Power: Runs a criminal empire with many henchmen.
Vileness: Tried to kill James Bond with a laser beam that would slice him in half starting at his crotch. You have to be an evil son of a bitch to that. I mean, even if Bond had some how survive, his genitals would be destroyed. That’s just cold.
Sway: Can have anyone killed.
Purity: Wants to make himself very rich, so he’s greedy as hell.
Physical Prowess: He’s fat.
Name Coolness: It’s pretty cool.
Created by: Ian Fleming.
Portrayed by: Gert Fröbe, who did not speak English well, was dubbed in the film by Michael Collins, an English actor. In the German version Fröbe dubbed himself back again.

Novel: In the novel, Auric Goldfinger is a 42-year-old expatriate who emigrated at age 20 in 1937 from Riga, Latvia. He is 5 feet tall, has blue eyes, red hair, and has a passion for his tan. Goldfinger is typically a German-Jewish name, and the protagonists of the novel know this, but neither Bond nor Mr. Du Pont think Goldfinger is Jewish. Instead, Bond pegs the red-haired, blue-eyed man as a Balt, and, indeed, Goldfinger proves an expatriate Latvian. Now a UK commonwealth citizen naturalized to Nassau, he has become the richest man in England, though his wealth is not in English banks and he hasn't paid taxes on it. Rather, it is spread as bullion in many countries. Goldfinger is the treasurer of SMERSH, Bond's nemesis. Goldfinger is obsessed with gold, going so far as to have yellow-bound erotic photographs, and have his women painted head to toe in gold so that he can make love to gold. (He leaves an area near the spine unpainted, but painting this area also is what kills Jill Masterton, as in the film). He is also a jeweler, a metallurgist, and a smuggler. When Goldfinger first meets Bond in Miami, he claims that he is agoraphobic; a ploy to allow him to cheat a previous acquaintance of Bond's at a game of two-handed Canasta. Bond figures out how Goldfinger is managing this, and blackmails him by forcing him to admit his deception. Goldfinger is also an avid golfer, but is known at his club for being a smooth cheater there, also. When Bond contrives to play a match with Goldfinger, he again cheats the cheater by switching Goldfinger's Dunlop 1 golf ball with a Dunlop 7 he had found while playing. Goldfinger is the owner of "Enterprises Auric A.G." in Switzerland, maker of metal furniture, which is purchased by many airlines including Air India. Twice a year, Goldfinger drives his vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost car from England to Enterprises Auric. Bond learns that Goldfinger makes dead drops of gold bars for SMERSH along the way, and that his car's bodywork is 18 carat (75%), solid white gold under the ploy that the added weight is armour plating. Once at Enterprises Auric, his car is stripped down, melted and made into seating for an airline company that Enterprises Auric is heavily invested in. The planes are then flown to India where the seats are melted down again into gold bars and sold for a much higher premium rate; 100 to 200% profit. “Operation Grand Slam” is Goldfinger's codename for his scheme that involves “knocking off” the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Through the use of a nerve agent (GB, also known as Sarin), Goldfinger plans to poison the water supply at Fort Knox, killing everyone at the base. From there, Goldfinger would use an atomic warhead designed for a Corporal Intermediate Range Guided Missile that he had purchased for one million USD in Germany, to blow open Fort Knox's impregnable vault. With the help of American gangsters, Goldfinger would then remove roughly 15 billion dollars in gold bullion by truck and train, and escape to the Soviet Union on a cargo boat. Bond foils Goldfinger’s plan by getting word to Felix Leiter of the impending operation, by means of a message taped inside an airliner toilet. With the help of The Pentagon, Leiter is able to stop Goldfinger and foil the operation. But Goldfinger escapes. Later, Goldfinger and his henchman learn from SMERSH who Bond is, and determine to take him with them in defecting to the Soviet Union. They pose as doctors to incapacitate crew and passengers (including Bond) with drugged inoculations. Then they hijack the BOAC Stratocruiser, carrying Goldfinger's total savings of gold. The hijacked plane is headed for Soviet Union airspace. In the novel, Goldfinger's henchman Oddjob meets his end by being sucked through an airliner window after Bond pierces it with a knife. Goldfinger then attacks James Bond by kicking him. Bond and Goldfinger have a brief struggle, which Bond ends, after being described as "going berserk" for the first time in his life, by strangling Goldfinger to death by hand. Bond then turns to the pilots and forces the airplane to turn back from its intended flight path, and this causes it to ditch in the ocean after running out of fuel. The airplane sinks rapidly due to its payload of gold, and Bond and Pussy Galore are the only survivors.

Movie: Goldfinger is a gold smuggler, accomplishing this feat by having a car built with gold body castings and transporting it via airplane. Once the car arrives at its destination, Goldfinger has the body-work re-smelted. Goldfinger is also an avid golfer who plays with a Slazenger 1 golf ball (changed from a Dunlop in the novel presumably for legal reasons). He is defeated, however, when he is tricked by Bond after attempting to cheat. Auric Goldfinger owns many properties throughout the world including “Auric Enterprises, AG,” which is the headquarters for most of his smuggling operations. Located in Switzerland, it is where Bond nearly gets cut in half by an industrial laser when Goldfinger has him bound to a table; but he lets Bond live and takes him to a stud-farm in Kentucky called “Auric Stud.” Goldfinger plans to detonate a bomb in Fort Knox. The destruction and contamination of the gold is the objective, so that the value of Goldfinger's own gold would increase tenfold. However, Bond foils his plans. After his plan to contaminate the gold is thwarted, Goldfinger kidnaps Bond and plans to take his vengeance before fleeing to Cuba. During a struggle aboard an airplane, his golden pistol goes off and shatters a window. In the fate suffered by his henchman Oddjob in the novel, he is sucked out to his death.

Goldfinger is arguably the most famous Bond villain. He pretty much set the standard for Bond villains. He has a very complicated plot in order to achieve his goal. He has a henchmen with a certain quirk to kill people (Oddjob and his razor-tipped bowler that he throws at people). In fact, the movie he appears in pretty much set the standard for the set-up of the other Bond movies: Bond is put in some elaborate that he somehow escapes, the villain has Bond at the place where his scheme will take place, and Bond foils it. However, that’s not the only reason Goldfinger such a great villain. He is greedy, which is a good requirement. He is ruthless, willing to kill any to achieve his goal. And, he has this aura around him. It gives off bad vibes. You can just tell by looking at him that Goldfinger is a bad guy. And, he thinks big. He just doesn’t want gold; he wants to monopolize the gold market. And, he’s willing to set off a nuclear bomb in order to do it. He is ruthless, cunning, and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. And, he loves only gold.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Tomorrow, numbers 92 and 91. Here are the hints:

Some bloodsuckers, and a villain who likes to fight in the streets.