NationStates Jolt Archive

Of all the films you've seen, who do you think is the greatest film character you've seen? You can judge it based on any criteria. If you cannot decide on one, then listing a short few is fine by me.


Personally I'm torn between

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)
Jules Winfield from Pulp Fiction (Samuel L. Jackson)
Judah Ben Hur from Ben Hur (Charlton Heston)

Rick. Casablanca.

Hmm...

I'm torn between

James Bond
Ash (Evil Dead)
Indiana Jones

Ah, that guy who had all those super powers, he was cool what was his name? Oh yeah, Jesus!

Julia Roberts' character (whatever her name was) from Pretty Woman. What a great film, what a great character.

Jules Winnfield. Period.

Darth Vader.

Seriously, that guy is badass to the core. Except for A. at the end of the third movies, when he goes Noooooooooo!, and B. When Luke screws with his head at the end of number 6.


I mean, seriously he blows up planets, tortures people, and slaughters entire species for a living. How badass is that?

Indiana Jones
Sam (Lord of the Rings)
Obi-wan Kenobi
Yoda
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

My top four:

Hartman. Read my quote. Enough said.

Willie. Main character of Bad Santa. Enough said.

Spottswoode. Jesus titty-fucking Christ. Enough said.

Silent Bob. Enough said.

Bugs Bunny... and such a long career too

HAL9000 (2001 A Space Odyssey)

Herbie (the original one)... a Volkswagon Beetle

the Shark (Jaws)

as far as humans go.....

Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry movies)
General Ripper (Dr. Strangelove)
Han Solo
Rick (Casablanca)

Scaramanga (Christopher Lee)

He's the bad guy in "The Man with the Golden Gun", a Bond movie.

Dr. Frank N Furter - Rocky Horror Picture Show
Hedwig - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Patsy and Eddina - Ab Fab
Ash - Evil Dead Trilogy
Bugs Bunny - I'm with New Shiron on this one

Tyler Durden

Sorry, too many to choose from.

Tyler Durden
Good one :D

The Corleones. I can't pick just one.

My favs

Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)
Dracula (Bela Lugosi)
Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou)

Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Vincent (Collateral)

Malcolm Reynolds and/or River Tam (Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau, respectively) [Serenity]
Hannibal (Sir Anthony Hopkins)
Han Solo (Harrison Ford)
John Keating (Robin Williams) [Dead Poets' Society]
Will Dormer and Walter Finch (Al Pacino and Robin Williams, respectively) [Insomnia]

The Tramp - Charlie Chaplin. None of the others here listed (with the possible exception of Rick from Casablanca are anywhere near as iconic.

The Tramp - Charlie Chaplin. None of the others here listed (with the possible exception of Rick from Casablanca are anywhere near as iconic.
Christopher Lee isn't iconic? Noooo! :(

The Tramp - Charlie Chaplin. None of the others here listed (with the possible exception of Rick from Casablanca are anywhere near as iconic.

Oooh... Icons, then. Sam Spade?

Christopher Lee isn't iconic? Noooo! :(

Christopher Lee is iconic, but not to the same extent. Show John Q Random a picture of him and one of Chaplin in his role as the Tramp, and I'm pretty certain that more people would be able to name Chaplin. If anything the distinction here is that Christopher Lee in any role is pretty much as iconic as in any other, but not so with Chaplin: a question of whether we are talking iconic actors or iconic roles. Of course, the irony here is that Chaplin is so strongly identified with the role of the Tramp that few would be able to name the role he was actually playing.

Oooh... Icons, then. Sam Spade?

Overshadowed, for me, in both film and text by Philip Marlow.

Christopher Lee is iconic, but not to the same extent.
I guess you're right, but I blame the fact that bad guy's tend to die in the movies for that...

Overshadowed, for me, in both film and text by Philip Marlow.

Agreed. Both Hawks and Bogart did much better with Chandler's character, though I'd passed on Marlowe for being primarily a novel character.

If we want to look at novel characters who are good on screen, then I'm also rather impressed by Andy Serkis as Smeagol (and also by Billy Boyd singing).

Ripley, from the Alien movies.

Think about it. A being that has acid for blood, kills just by being born, can even survive in space for short periods of time, almost impossible to kill. Freakin' tough.

And there's only one being tougher in the whole Universe: Ripley.

Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)
CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow :rolleyes:

A being that has acid for blood, kills just by being born, can even survive in space for short periods of time, almost impossible to kill.

All of these qualities are also possessed by human beings: the evil of the Xenomorphs is just banal compared to common or garden human evil.

Ripley, from the Alien movies.

Think about it. A being that has acid for blood, kills just by being born, can even survive in space for short periods of time, almost impossible to kill. Freakin' tough.

And there's only one being tougher in the whole Universe: Ripley.

And the aliens have much more depth of character.

My personal favourite in Alien is the ship's cat.

All of these qualities are also possessed by human beings: the evil of the Xenomorphs is just banal compared to common or garden human evil.

Agreed.

I can make people scarier than anything you can put into latex.

The Tramp - Charlie Chaplin. None of the others here listed (with the possible exception of Rick from Casablanca are anywhere near as iconic.

Vito Corleone isn't iconic?

Vito Corleone isn't iconic?

No, just less of one that Chaplin in the role of the Tramp. Personally, I'd call Stanley Kowalski a more iconic role for Brando.

Harry Callahan.
The Man with no name.
Jack Torrance.

The Dude (The Big Lebowski)

1. Han Solo
2. Darth Vader
3. Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sideous
4. Yoda
5. Indiana Jones
6. Obi-Wan Kenobi
7. William Wallace
8. Sparticus
9. Moses
10. Cleopatra

Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange all from Reservoir Dogs. My favorite four from my favorite movie.

Arnold's Character in Commando.

Bernie As he is hanging over a cliff:"I thought you were going to kill me last?"

Arnold:"I lied."

*walking back to the car*

Arnold's companion:"What happened to Bernie?"

Governator:"I had to let him go."

The Tramp - Charlie Chaplin. None of the others here listed (with the possible exception of Rick from Casablanca are anywhere near as iconic.

Bugs Bunny is very inconic

CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow :rolleyes:

I was wondering whether someone would pick up on that. :)

Darth Vader.

Hannibal Lector, for sure. :D

Waht! No mention of Cool Hand Luke?

HAL9000, Alex from Clockwork Orange, Winston from 1984 (I never watched the movie, but I assume he's the same as in the book), Yoda (the old one, not the Computer one - he lost his Muppetness)...
I probably forgot heaps.
Oh, and Neela from Emergency Room ;)

If you're talking about the greatest film character in MY mind, then:

Posey, The Dirty Dozen
Ash, The Evil Dead Trilogy
The Man With No Name, The Dollars Trilogy
Zatoichi, The Blind Samurai Series

But if you mean greatest in the sense of iconic then:

Tramp, The Tramp
Darth Vader, The Star Wars Saga
Indiana Jones, The Indiana Jones Trilogy
Godzilla, Three Billion Godzilla Movies
Bugs Bunny - N/A
Mickey Mouse - N/A
Hannibal Lector (By Anthony Hopkins) - Silence of the Lambs
Alien - Alien Trilogy (The 4th doesn't exist in my mind)

Hannibal Lechter
Michael Madsen's character from Reservoir Dogs (Help me out Horrible Shenanigans)
Alex from Clockwork Orange
The T1000 (The bad Terminator from T2)
Ed from Shawn Of The Dead
Silent Bob

Jack Ryan from Patriot Games (Harrison Ford (http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/paramount_pictures/patriot_games/harrison_ford/patriot.jpg))

Indiana Jones from The Last Crusade (also Harrison Ford (http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/paramount_pictures/raiders_of_the_lost_ark/harrison_ford/raiders8.jpg) , I liked his character better than in Raiders)

James Bond from From Russia With Love (Sean Connery (http://www.kinomarkt.ch/Autogramm/SeanConnery.JPG))

Ok heres my picks.

Leon the Professional, from Leon the Professional (Jean Reno)
Zatoichi the blind swordsman (dont know the name of the actor... the one from the old movies not Beat Takeshi)
Ichi, from Ichi the Killer
Raoul Duke, from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Ash, from the Evil Dead movies

All of these characters will kick your pansy ass 3 ways from Sunday (well, maybe not Raul Duke but hes still cool) and not even think twice about it.

James Bond
(Russell Crowe) from Gladiator, don't remember the name.

(Russell Crowe) from Gladiator, don't remember the name.

Marcus Aurelius.

Of all the films you've seen, who do you think is the greatest film character you've seen? You can judge it based on any criteria. If you cannot decide on one, then listing a short few is fine by me.


Personally I'm torn between

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)
Jules Winfield from Pulp Fiction (Samuel L. Jackson)
Judah Ben Hur from Ben Hur (Charlton Heston)

I vote for none other than Dirty Harry Callahan. He's just incredibly though.

Personal Choices:

Magenta - Rocky Horror Picture Show
Willie Wonka - Willie Wonka and the Chocolate factory
Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko (one of the best movies ever made)
All Jack Nicholson's characters.

Napoleon Dynamite

Michael Corleone from The Godfather
Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars

I think I have to go with Chaplin's Tramp.

But I'm exceptionally biased on this matter.

K (MIB)
Todd (Soldier)
Marcus Aralius (Gladiator)
Ra's A Ghoul (Batman Begins)
Morpheus (Matrix)
Ramerez (Highlander)

Ok heres my picks.

Leon the Professional, from Leon the Professional (Jean Reno)
Zatoichi the blind swordsman (dont know the name of the actor... the one from the old movies not Beat Takeshi)
Ichi, from Ichi the Killer
Raoul Duke, from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Ash, from the Evil Dead movies

All of these characters will kick your pansy ass 3 ways from Sunday (well, maybe not Raul Duke but hes still cool) and not even think twice about it.
Leon is a fantastic character. It's been a while since I've seen that movie.

Indiana Jones
Tyler Durten
Duke [Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]

Jules Winfield (Samuel L. Jackson) Pulp Fiction. Gets some cool lines (Bible quote, Quarter-Pounder/Royale speech) and some emotional stuff. Also survives the whole film. (By the way, the Royale stuff is true. I checked)
Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando/Robert De Niro) Godfather 1 and 2. Kills a bunch of people, then makes peace.
Any Groucho Marx character. The guy ALWAYS cracks me up, but my favourite has to be Dr. Crackenbush (or whatever his name is) in A Day at the Races.
Any Christopher Lee character. He's got to be the most menacing actor ever, but he nearly always dies :( .
Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) Star Wars IV,V and VI. THE iconic movie villain. Rivals The Tramp and Rick.
The aforementioned Tramp and Rick.
James Bond (the Connery one) numerous films. Connery is the iconic Bond.
Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) Raging Bull. OK so he's a real person, but who's counting?

Leon is a fantastic character. It's been a while since I've seen that movie.
Was it called somehting else in the US as in the UK it was just called Leon?

Was it called somehting else in the US as in the UK it was just called Leon?

I think it was called "The Profesional" in the US, and a few cuts were made to the US version iirc.

Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy) He's hilarious and adorable at the same time.

It would have to be Tyler Durden from Fight Club, played by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Anyone who watched this movie as I did, and happened to understand it, would have to agree.