May 5, 2004
Greatest Movie Characters of All Time
Gothamist has been considering Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time for a while, given that the list could have been even more weighed towards recent films, it's pretty good. Premiere ignores films about living people, instead preferring to give "priority to people who never were—but who are always with us movie lovers." Of course, we have a few quibbles (how can Ethan Edwards rank lowered than Gollum, how is Rick Blaine only at 19 but Fred C. Dobbs at 2), but that's the nature of these lists - they get you thinking. And we were happy to see Phyliss Dietrichson and Rev. Henry Powell (pictured right) on the list, as well as Antoine Doinel (but how can Ace Ventura rank higher than him?), we were impressed that Jeff Spicoli made it to number 9. And the number one? Vito Corleone, whose figure has loomed large.
Some of the New York characters on the list: J.J. Hunsecker, John Shaft, Annie Hall, Margo Channing, Gordon Gekko, Susan Vance, Travis Bickle, Ratso Rizzo, King Kong, John McClane and Bill the Butcher. One of Gothamist's favorites is Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels from Tootsie.
Just a few of our "Where is" thoughts: Max Fischer, Spinal Tap, Madeline Elster/Judy Barton, The Warriors, and Popeye Doyle
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no rupert pupkin (king of comedy)?
The list is oddly good and bad. I mean, I think Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher was great, but, you're right, that's not Rupert Pupkin.
"i love mr. powell lots and lots"...a great character and a great movie!
if there was an honorable mention category, it wouldn't be complete without the character played by albert brooks in lost in america (david something).
i just saw the ads. i don't think i really noticed them before, but i know they suck now. gothamist is on its way to being my salon.com of 2004.
later.
Why is "Darth Vader" (Star Wars) in 84th place?! Darth Vader is such a memorable character and is definitely a lot more of a powerful cultural icon than many others that have been placed above it. But maybe the list isn't in any particular order.
And what about James Stewart's affable Elwood P. Dowd, from Harvey?
I think if we were the Salon.com of 2004, we'd be submitting you to ultramercials before you even get to read the posts. Sorry that you're disappointed but a blog's gotta eat, and the ads are a way for us to cover our bandwidth, technology and other incidental (like Little League - which will get its own update - or renting speakers for the NY Bloggers Talk) costs. I'd love the site to be ad-free, but shelling out hundreds of dollars a month for our server and hosting out of our own pockets wasn't working out.
I was also going to post about Vader's low rank. And the smile I got from seeing that Belushi's "Bluto" made the list.
Peter Finch's Howard Beale is a good call but #52 seems a bit low (does he count as a NY character?). Surprised that Boo Radley (sp?) didn't make it in; although Duvall's screen time is minimal, the character itself had such an impact in the film.
What about Lloyd Dobler? He's not a character, he's an archetype!
Where's "Woody Allen of virtually any Woody Allen film."?
technically, he might be the most oft-utilized character in the history of film.
Of course, Woody gave the character to Kenneth Branagh and once to Jason Biggs.
I would've liked to see some attempted steps off the beaten path (but well, I guess it is Premiere after all) Naked's Johnny or Dead Man William Blake might've been nice. Also, I know it's listed at 95 but what is with Oda Mae Brown of Ghost, eep.
Tony montana - 74th place .... Should be in top 10 , if not top 5 .
" Her womb is so polluted ........ "
Only one glaring ommission as far as I can tell: Marty McFly.
MARTY MCFLY!!!
(good call)
How about Edward G Robinson's "Johnny Rocco" from "Key Largo?"
russel crowe - gladiator
will smith - mib
keanu reeves - matrix
eddie murphy - beverly hills cop
jason voorhees - friday the 13th
steve mcqueen - the great escape
beetlejuice - beetlejuice
just a few id like to see take the ace ventura spot haha.
or the old mae brown spot for that matter.