Did you know that the phrase, “Girl, she’s so ratched,” is an homage to one of the top 10 movie villains of all time?
Okay, maybe not. All the cool kids say, “ratchet.” And, it has nothing to do with being sadistic, mean, or slightly jacked up. (Well, if you believe someone who is a foul-mouthed ho as “mean and jacked up,” but moving on.) I’d wax Boomer for years because I was convinced the word was “-ed” and not “-et.” In my delusional mind, which meant it was inspired by that hypnotizing, cantankerous broad, Nurse Mildred Ratched from the 1975 Oscar-winning story, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Louise Fletcher was a soft-spoken and kind-hearted woman from Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up a preacher’s kid on the heels of the Great Depression. Her parents were deaf, so her aunt taught her how to speak. And, if you know the beloved acceptance speech from the 48th annual Academy Awards, Fletcher finished her Oscar speech in fluent ASL, talking to her parents through television.
And that sweet, caring, and thoughtful person was the globally recognized sourpuss taskmaster known as “Nurse Ratched.” The force Fletcher put into that one character was enough to hail her as one of the elite villains of her day. And now, of any day.
Not for nothing, but if you look at her carefully, you may recognize someone else–Kai Winn from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The expression on her face was calm and blank as enamel, but the strain was beginning to show in other ways. By the way she jerked the adhesive tight as she could, showing her remote patience wasn’t what it used to be.
Chief Bromden, Narrator, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Oh, man! The woman was pure personified evil in SAS shoes! Without question, Nurse Ratched has a cemented landmark on this Top 10 list. Yes, she was that memorable. There isn’t a nurse alive who hasn’t had a dreadful day at work that wasn’t called “Nurse Ratched.” That’s a legacy most actors can’t match these days.
Depending on who you ask, Louise Fletcher is in the Top 5 (including yours truly…come at me, Interwebs) among the best movie villains, period. Pour some out for Louise Fletcher, who passed away in the privacy of her France home. She was 88 years old. #RIP
We’ll give her a posthumous honorable mention and call it square.
Here are the Top 10 Movie Villains of All Time.
MEMO: On our cinematic trek through oodles of teen slasher movies, we had to think being a true villain must be much more than impaling screaming white girls who drip over small rocks on a dirt road. In fact, it should be considered a top villain doesn’t have to kill and maim when the embodiment of fear can do the torture itself.
What makes one of the Top 10 Movie Villains is a malevolent force that commands a screen, owns a script, and does more damage between the ears of fans than burning someone in effigy (which a couple of these come close to doing anyway.)
So, due respect to Michael, Jason, Leatherface, and Freddy–not enough (good) acting. Also, if your thing is monsters, then gore is your thing. Of course, they’re evil and heinous, but the only thing causing fear is hearing or seeing them.
That means Xenomorphs, The Thing, Terminators, or even Jaws can return to their recessed mortal coils. This is about the person who became the role in such a way that generations know them, fans adore them, and even the most prude and staunch movie critics can’t separate them.
On with the show…
10. Alex DeLarge
I can almost hear the groans mixed with “Huh?” If you are a Stanley Kubrick fan, there’s no question about this person or his vaunted spot on this list. One of the most off-kilter people in movie history belongs here. Malcolm McDowell helped create Alex leading his band of merry Droog hooligans in A Clockwork Orange (1971). His performance sticks with you as a terminal disease–eats you up from the inside and makes you feel like crap.
If you checked our 4K DVD review, the United States Library of Congress chose the disturbing watch for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It’s also one of the most uncomfortable watches, like, ever!
Don’t believe it? One of the first scenes featuring Alex is him pummeling a writer to death for fun and yuks, then sexually assaulting the deceased’s wife while quoting “Singin’ in the Rain.” It’s “ultra-violent” in a way some slasher films can’t even touch! That’s a stellar villain.
9. Jack Torrance
The decay of the human mind is easily displayed in one of the most notable horror movies ever, The Shining (1980). And due respect to the preeminent quill of Stephen King, this movie is fantastic. And it all begins with Jack Nicholson‘s titular role as Jack Torrance.
His devolving from a kind-hearted family man to an ax-wielding maniac is as beautiful to watch as something like that can be. It’s the vista and creepy vibe of the Overlook Hotel that begins to jack with everyone, which leads to the occupant of the pistachio-shellacked Room 237 becoming the object of terror. Evil spirits, big wheels in the lobby, and those demon twins are nothing compared to the psychotic wrath of Jack Torrance.
8. Amon Goeth
Simply printing the name of the concentration camp commandant makes you sad. Watching Ralph Fiennes portray the ruthless force of Nazi hate in Schindler’s List is a distressing attack on your senses. He was so vitriolic in the movie that you forget this is a noir biopic. It begins to feel–literally, feel–like a glimpse into a time no one wants to remember.
With a steel-eyed visage that rarely changes, Fiennes creates a personification of every vile and sinister detail you have ever studied about Nazism. Goeth rules the Plaszow ghetto for sport. This is not an order from his Fuhrer; it’s a game he adores to play. He kills with zeal and without recollecting those victimized by his sardonic devices were ever human. It is agonizing to watch and a master class of acting to experience.
And then it dawns on you watching the movie that Goeth was real. It’s a glimpse into evil few movies can convey.
7. Hans Gruber
There hasn’t been a bad guy before or since Hans Gruber. When Die Hard filled theaters nationwide, Bruce Willis was the new hero du jour. Yet, just as many people were clamoring about Alan Rickman‘s portrayal of the high-rise terrorist and “exceptional thief.” He was well-groomed, waxed eloquent, and a conniving mastermind.
Most movies would have an eff-bomb hurling simpleton leading a gang of baddies, but Alan Rickman took the same role to the top 10 movie villains of all time. The guy had a devious plan and had no qualms about killing people, but somehow, you loved watching him gain steam. Fun fact: It was his first movie role. And, one other thing, Christmas movie!
6. Norman Bates
Alfred Hitchcock‘s signature film, Psycho, made history by ensuring people for the next 30 years didn’t shower behind a curtain. Anthony Perkins plays the “mother” of all movie villains. At first, he’s a mild-mannered guy who just can’t get a date. And then, you realize this mama’s boy has a few more layers to peel from his rotten onion. Beneath his calm demeanor is a twisted guy who enjoys his free time wearing pearls, some Jimmy Choos, and a flowing taffeta to accent his hairy legs.
The guy killed his mother but kept her doing the Weekend at Bernie’s bit for those relaxing mother-son fireside chats. The shower scene is history as one of the most righteous plot twists ever seen on camera. Yet, in the last 30 seconds of the movie, watching Perkins slowly switch from victim to villain is mesmerizing.
5. Anton Chigurh
No Country for Old Men is an excellent case study for storytelling, mastery of pace, and film adaptations. Among any list of Top 10 movie villains of all time, there will be spirits, demons, people with mental conditions, and cold-hearted killers. However, perhaps the first zombie villain was Anton Chigurh. The mop-top assassin’s body without a soul was played to perfection by Javier Bardem. The guy probably has a slower pulse than No. 3 on this list.
One flip of a coin and squeeze of an air pump and it’s church. (Yes, we know it’s called a bolt pistol used to put cattle down). Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers could learn a thing or two about determination and relentless pursuit from Chigurh. The man walks in the dark while he’s in broad daylight. He is a complete mystery, which is why he belongs here, forever.
4. Michael Corleone
What Al Pacino does in The Godfather trilogy is so much fun to watch. It’s a clinic of how the downward spiral of the human condition quickly becomes drunk frat boys on a Slip-N-Slide. When we meet the young Corleone, he’s a war hero with an adoring girlfriend (Diane Keaton) who understands his dad’s business but wants nothing to do with it. And then, life gets in the way.
In one movie alone, he falls precipitously from loyal man to avenging son to cold-hearted genius. Throughout his journey, we understand his plight in a memorialized tragic story arc that very few others can compare in the history of film. You don’t have to be a slasher or night stalker to be one of the all-time top 10 movie villains. You must know the dark, live in it, and yank hard to draw everyone into it. Sure, dear old dad never wanted this life for his baby boy, but Michael Corleone adapts to villainy better than most ever could.
3. Hannibal Lecter
The turn of the 1990s gave us one of the most blood-curdling and spine-tingling villains ever. Anthony Hopkins was already respected among fans and critics, but Jonathan Demme put the Cannibal moniker on Hopkins. Now, everyone wants to know what Fava Beans taste like with wine. The Silence of the Lambs was a horror movie to rekindle interest in the horror genre. And Hopkins did it with class.
Like the aforementioned Hans Gruber, Dr. Lecter brought a little panache to a Top 10 movie villains of all time search. And, in case you were wondering, this is the GOAT of double-meaning sentences. What was he doing for dinner again? I remember clapping and laughing when I heard that. Admittedly, I’m a little troubled, but that was superb writing.
2. The Joker
The top two forces of evil are almost obligatory on any breakdown of movie villains, but that’s only because no one can outperform them. In the number 2 position, we have seen different iterations from various actors, but it all boils down to one thing–a public menace for one private feud. And, to date, no one has encapsulated the villainous actions and cause of chaos better than Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.
Think about it: There really hasn’t been a “bad” Joker. At all! They have all created a different glance into his dark, kaleidoscope soul. Some have been better bat-ess crazy psychos several fries short of a Happy Meal (Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero). Others have been great at plotting and executing plans–and people (Mark Hamill). We have a brooding presence of mischief with untapped potential (Jared Leto, Barry Keoghan) and one incredible origin that will never be matched in DC Comics (Joaquin Phoenix).
But, if you want to see the typhoon of terror capable from Clown Prince of Crime, watch Heath Ledger in action. Until Leto, Keoghan, or Phoenix is allowed to do some damage, no one is coming close to being one of the best movie villains.
1. Darth Vader
No surprise, right? No concoction of evil has ever been more omnipresent in a film than in Darth Vader. Throughout the Star Wars trilogy, no more intimidating presence has existed. So much so that it took two men to make such a villain–David Prowse and (the newly retired) James Earl Jones. Then, along came Hayden Christiansen. At first, Vader was a Sith Lord who struck fear into the hearts of anyone in the universe. Then, when you least expected it, he was a villain who became a diabolical and complex character.
The originals showed us his path. The prequels featured his ethos. The sequels gave us his legacy. Unless you’re an awful retread of a rebooted slasher film, a villain never needs nine films to determine his worth and way. Yet, that’s what Darth Vader received for all of them in some form. Once you discover Darth Vader, you will never forget him.
Nerd or not. Sci-fi fan or not. The Dark Side of the Force has cut through many genres and been bellowed by hundreds of actors. Whether a fictional shoot or a real-life depiction, the doing of this diabolical ruler is galactically renowned and universally feared. That’s his polarity and strength. One word for the man is all you need: Vader.
Featured Image Credit: United Artists/Fantasy Films
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.