Monday, March 28, 2011

The Good, The Bad, The Morally Ugly

There were three types of characters found in classic movies: the hero, the villain and the anti-hero. Being the list-making person that I am (and also being bored out of my mind), I am going to name five of my favorites from each category.

HEROES
Tom Joad, The Grapes of Wrath
George Bailey, It's a Wonderful Life
Will Kane, High Noon
Terry Malloy, On the Waterfront
T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia

VILLAINS
Harry Lime, The Third Man
Harry Powell, The Night of the Hunter
J.J. Hunsecker, Sweet Smell of Success
Norman Bates, Psycho
Mrs. Iselin, The Manchurian Candidate

ANTI-HEROES
Charles "Chuck" Tatum, Ace in the Hole
Sidney Falco, Sweet Smell of Success
"Fast" Eddie Felson, The Hustler
Michael Corleone, The Godfather trilogy
Han Solo, Star Wars trilogy

2 comments:

  1. Haha love Sidney Falco, one of my favourite characters ever.

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  2. I would argue with Michael Corleone as an anti-hero, and replace him with one of Humphrey Bogart's morally ambiguous characters, or one of Jimmy Stewart's western heroes in Anthony Mann's work.

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