Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26420

http://www.illinimedia.com/buzz/fal...81001/lead.html

Some are bullshit answers, some are really great (Trent from Swinders and their Number 1 choice, in particular).

Your comments on the list and then, a list of your own if you feel ballsy.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beatrice, Nebraska
Posts: 18816

I agree with some of the list, but the fact is that I haven't seen half the movies listed. I think the best choices, by far, were Jules and Edward Scissorhands.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: albany
Posts: 1386

Character: Long Duck Dong from "Sixteen Candles
the donger

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Registered: Jun 2001
Location: finding the new flesh after killing the old one
Posts: 1981

How the fuck is a character from a Nora Ephron penned movie in there and yet they go and miss one of the greatest movie characters of all time out? ...

Withnail from Withnail and I is one of the best characters ever adapted for the screen (from the Bruce Robinson book)

"Alright, this is the plan. We get in there and get wrecked. Then we'll eat a pork pie. Then we'll drop a couple of Surmontil 50's each, means we'll miss out on Monday but come up smiling on Tuesday morning."

"You can stuff it up your arse for nothing and fuck off while you're doing it!"

Withnail owns .. my favourite anti-hero

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3692

the linda fiorentino pick was one of mine that i KNEW wouldn't be on their list.
"Okay, Mr. Ed, whip it out." damn.

my other picks off the top of my head:

Harry Dean Stanton as Bud from Repo Man
Kurt Russell as Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China
Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart
Randall Tex Cobb as Leonard Smalls from Raising Arizona
Benecio del Toro as Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez in Traffic

i can't believe that their #1 pick didn't immediately spring to mind.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3692

and i'm going to add:

john turturro as Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski
that one guy that played Sho Nuff on Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Lat: 43° 42' 0 N, Long: 79° 34' 0 W
Posts: 2820

I *just* saw When Harry Met Sally on TV today. I don't think I would classify her character as one of the best ever. I do concur with thelma and louise and seven also. Johnny Depp is a good choice for Edward Scissorhands, I think, as he tends to portray a slightly off, slightly dark side very well...

But what about Benny and Joon? His character was awesome in that movie

Oh, and for lack of character, I would have to say the "laughter/psycho" in Black Christmas. For an eighties movie, it freaked the living shit out of me. Not your typical thrasher movie. Some people say it set presedence (sp) for many of the following eighties thrillers. I think the camera angles had to do with it also.
Problems with this task: The more convincing the actor, the better the character seemed. It's hard to separate script from the actor because they incorporate so much of themselves into their parts...

Tom Hanks in Big. He was meant for that part, I think. Every time I see that movie I want to give him a big hug.

Patch Adams. 'Nuff said!

Cube immediately sprung to mind, because although the acting was mediocre most of the time, the characters were well developed. The mathmatician, the teacher, the psycho, the idiot savant... I think the balance between them was wonderful!

I really liked Lydia from Beetlejuice... and Beetlejuice himself was pretty decent. I think I identified with Lydia more though, so I liked her a lot.

Sir Anthony Hopkins in Instinct. I thought his acting skills made the part even more believable. I love him as an actor though, so again, distinguishing his talent from the script is almost impossible for me.

David Bowie as the Goblin King from Labrynth. Also the guy with the talking hat had a great character! Along those lines, Olga in The Dark Crystal was cool too... and Flacor from the Neverending Story... I seem to be a suck for fantasy characters, hunh?

Okay, that's all I can think of off of the top of my head... I'd post more, but I want to give a chance to everyone else anyway

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

I really disagree with their choices.

So many comedy's... Doesn't that seem a bit odd, since many of those characters, despite their comic appeal, about only one dimension? Also, the dramatic pieces that they chose were terribly dry - the romance "Say Anything" character?

Pffft...

...

Amazing (IMO) characters:

- Robert De'niro in Raging Bull?
- Orsen Wells as Citizen Cane?
- Nick Nolte as the fucked up son in Affliction?
- Nick Nolte as the (whatever rank is right above captain) in The Thin Red Line?
- Samuel L. Jackson as Belmont in Jackie Browne?
- Sean Penn as cocaine existentialist in Hurley Burley?
- Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton in Vertigo?
- Kevin Spacey as the market rep. in the Big Kahuna?
- Dustin Hoffman as the autistic guy in Rain Man?
- Al Pacino as Serpico?
- Marlon Brando as Colnel Kurtz in Apocalyse Now?
- Alec Guiness as the English captain in The Bridge on the River Kwai?
- Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Psycho?
- Christian Bale as Jim in Empire of the Sun?
- Anthony Hopkins as Titus Andronicus in Titus?
- Billy bob Thornton as Jacob Mitchell in A Simple Plan?
- Jodie Foster as Ellenor Arroway in Contact?
- Ellen Bustyn as Sarah Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream?

Those are some.

Sorry, I just really didn't like their choices

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

oh - and most important - maybe even the best of all time:

Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindlers List.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"this means no characters based on books, plays, other films, television shows or real people. These are the characters who have left us with a lasting impressions years after we first saw their film, and the characters who have made us watch the same film over and over again just to see that favorite part for the seventieth time."

I'm teh fool with women.

I'm lame like it was a fashion to go out of.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3692

reflecting on feral's picks:

i think there's a line between what is a good character and what is a good actor.

I was tempted to list al pacino as michael corleone and orson wells as the police chief from touch of evil, as well as kevin spacey in american beauty, but i felt that those choices would be better described as instances of great acting, not necessarily great characters. i mean, choosing BBT in simple plan or nolte in affliction, i think those were fantastic acting jobs (throw ellen burstyn in that pile, too) but as characters, i don't find myself coming back to them without putting the actor first in my mind. With, say, john turturro as Jesus Quintana, there is no john turturro. It's all the character. It's not even the lines he says, it's the lines you KNOW he would say in any given situation. A character with a life outside the actor, someone you could base a comic book adaptation upon.

as an aside, that post reminded me of the only good thing about Carlito's Way, that is, Sean Penn as the coked up lawyer, a great character.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

some others

Shelly "The Machine" Lavine (Jack Lemmon) - Glengarry Glen Ross
Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) - Christine
Dave (Dennis Christopher) - Breaking Away
Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) - Stand By Me
Owen (Danny DeVito) - Throw Momma From the Train
Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman) - Leon/The Professional

Hmm I think my choices suprise myself.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 10152

Pacino as Sonny in "Dog Day Afternoon" ranks high on my list.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 3030

The people who made that list are on crack. Dumb and dumber? Terminator? Yikes.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9456

One of my all time favorite characters is Floyd from True Romance. A small part, but an eternal character. "Don't condescend to me, man...I'll fuckin' kill you, man...."

I thought the characters in Rez Dogs were pretty good too. But that movie was awash with good actors, good acting, good dialogue, and good directing so its hard to draw the line.

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location: toronto
Posts: 1612

Haven't read the list, but:

Terence Stamp in The Limey.
Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy.

That is all.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Holy shit
Posts: 1083

I'd agree with many of the choices here. Yet I find it hard to pick out really great characters in some of the more comtemporary films.

My all time classics would have to include...

Orson Welles (Harry Lime) - The Third Man.
This character get to say one of the best lines in cinema.
"In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance"...pause for effect... "In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

Jean-Louis Barrault (Baptiste) - Les Enfants du Paradis.
Under normal circumstances I hate mimes. Yet this endearing little frenchman would definitly be high up on my list. This film is full of great characters, the female lead, Garance, is also a strong contender. For me, this is the best love story on film.

Kathy Bates (Anne Marie Wilkes) - Misery.
I don't care what other roles Kathy Bates does in the future, she will always be Annie Wilkes. I don't know if I'll ever let a woman tie me up in bed again.

Jack Nicholson (Randle Patrick McMurphy) - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Possibly Nichloson's best role, skirting a fine line between sanity and insanity, he was made for this role. Nurse Mildred Ratched is a great character, there's a funky sexual vibe between her and McMurphy.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9826

quote:

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Originally posted by cornelius

"In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance"...pause for effect... "In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: canadian rockies
Posts: 1526

hmmm...

My top 15 or so in no real order. I didn't follow thier rules about being soley movie characters but my pics are based on characters which trancend the movie into pop culture. Not the best performances but the most influential movie characters.


1. Rick from "Casablanca"

2. Vin from "The Magnificent Seven"

3. The Cooler King from "The Great Escape"

4. John Shaft from "Shaft"

5. Bluto from "Animal House"

6. Kane from "Citizen Kane"

7. Darth Vader from "Star Wars"

8. Randle McMurphy from "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest"

9. Raymond from "Rain Man"

10. Lt. Colonel Bill Killgore from "Apocalypse Now"

11. Hanibal Lecter from "Silence of the Lambs"

12. Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver"

13. Renton from "Trainspotting"

14. Kaiser Soze from "Usual Suspects"

15. James Bond from well... James Bond movies



selah.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9456

quote:

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Originally posted by bowmore
14. Kaiser Soze from "Usual Suspects"

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3692

michael ironsides or whoever it was that played clarence boddicker on Robocop. good character.

also, miguel ferrer as Albert on Twin Peaks. He played almost the same character on Traffic, that is, a dickhead that is correct.

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Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 105

that list sucks. i hated meg ryan in when harry met sally. uptight and neurotic, thats her schtick, and she does it in every movie. its too easy a character to play.

i would add johnny depp as gilbert grape, in 'whats eating gilbert grape'. that is a great movie and i think johnny brought him to life.

juliette lewis & woody harrelson as micky & mallory knox, from natural born killers. the peak of thier careers and they made those characters.

Registered: Apr 2002
Location: sitting in the waiting room
Posts: 622

i think i'm the only person on earth who hated that movie...natural born killers i mean..

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