The top 50ish anti-heroes.
50. Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase), “Vacation” films.
49. Figzy (Ray Liotta), “Cop Land”.
48. Tom Stahl/Joey Cussak (Viggo Mortensen), “A History of Viloence”.
47. Steve Zissou (Bill Murray), “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”.
46. Harold Shant (Bob Hoskins), “The Long Good Friday”.
45. Budd (Michael Madsen), “Kill Bill”.
44. Seth Gecko (George Clooney), “From Dusk Till Dawn”.
43. Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), “Gran Torino”
42. Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey), “Lone Star”.
41. Marv (Mickey Rourke), “Sin City”
40. Harry Stoner (Jack Lemmon), “Save the Tiger”
39. John Russell/Hombre (Paul Newman), “Hombre”.
38. Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson), “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”.
37. Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey), “The Manchurian Candidate”
36. Butch (Bruce Willis), “Pulp Fiction”
35. Frank Castle/The Punisher (Thomas Jane), “The Punisher”
34. The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan), “Watchmen”
33. Randy “the Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke), “The Wrestler”
32. Robert Erocia Dupea (Jack Nicholson), “Five Easy Pieces”
31. Han Solo (Harrison Ford), “Star Wars Trilogy”
30. Humbert Humbert (James Mason), “Lolita”
29. D-FENS (Michael Douglas), “Falling Down”
28. Otis “Bad” Blake (Jeff Bridges), “Crazy Heart”
27. Carter (Michael Caine), “Get Carter”
26. Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride (Uma Thurman), “Kill Bill”
25. Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), “Watchmen”
24. The Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven
23. Mickey and Mallory Knox
22. Larry Dimick/Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), “Reservoir Dogs”
21. The Dude (Jeff Bridges), “The Big Lebowski”
20. George (Bob Hoskins), “Mona Lisa”
19. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), “All That Jazz”
18. Bill Gunn (David Carradine), “Kill Bill”
17. Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), “Jackie Brown”
16. Batman (Christian Bale/Michael Keaton), “Batman”, “Batman Returns”, “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”
15. The Wild Bunch, “The Wild Bunch”
14. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russel), “Escape from New York/LA”
13. Yojimbo/Man with No Name (Tishiro Minfune and Clint Eastwood), “Yojimbo”/Man with No Name trilogy.
12. Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), “Watchmen”
11. Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood), The Dirty Harry films
10. Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
9. Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro), “Taxi Driver”
8. Walker (Lee Marvin), “Point Blank”
7. Magneto (Ian McKellan), X-Men films
6. William Munny (Clint Eastwood)
I know I’ll catch flack for this, but why do you think the film is call “Return of the Jedi”?
5. Darth Vader, “Return of the Jedi”
Didn’t a little piece inside of you scream YESSSS when he killed Eli Sunday?
4. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), “There Will Be Blood”
3. Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges), “The Door in the Floor”
I will fight this one to the death. Yes he’s crazy and evilish, but he ends the war, kills Hitler and has a serious sense of honor and chivalry.
2. Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), “Inglorious Basterds”
1. Ethan (John Wayne), “The Searchers”
Frank Mengarelli
I like it! You had me gripped as soon as I saw Clark Griswold. Nice to see Clint’s latest creation in Gran Torino make the list, and Hans Landa from Inglorious – testament to the quality of those two more recent films.
I had a ”Vacation” trend set in my lists. Check out my 50th villain on my top 50 villains list.
And that is why Clint Eastwood is the man! Great List, Frank!
I had my doubts at first, but you thoroughly convinced me that Hans Landa is an antihero. Which kinda pisses me off because it means I’ll have to go back and change “villain” to “antihero” in all the posts I did about him!
I sorta knew Ted Cole would show up in the top 5, and I love how Bill — who most people would categorize as a villain — AND Beatrix Kiddo are included.
Ah Colonel Landa at #2, I’m still not convinced that he is an anti-hero but I’m getting there
Great list Frank! Tweeted.
I wasn’t sure myself, but Frank made a convincing argument. Col. Landa DOES end the war — even if it’s on his own terms — and does let Shoshanna live. Although I’m not convinced he didn’t spare her life so she’d have to live with the memory of her family’s massacre.
So yeah, I could go both ways. It’s really a very fine line between bad guy and antihero.
I’m on the fence about Bill. On one hand his child is being taken away from him, on the other hand you don’t (try to) kill the mother of the child.
That’s a great list. Must have taken forever to put it together…
Budd isn’t the protaganist. Doesn’t count. More like amiable enemy.
Also, Landa’s chivalry could easily be misogny, and his honor doesn’t extend past ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘lets have a drink’. He is one suave motherfucker, though.
(on the other hand)
I guess he is the closest to a main character IB’s got.
Michael Caine is the man.
Shoshanna is the main character smidge, though Landa is in beginning, middle, and end.
So if a hero and a convicted Austrian war criminal (re: villain) had babies, aside from it being breaking news, it also would signal the birth of an ANTIHERO!
Golly you sure are a smartypants.
I’m not surprised, but happy to see DDL in the Top 10. I really must watch There Will Be Blood, I’ve no excuse as the DVD has been sitting on the shelf for some time now.