The Top 100 Movie Characters - Results (Results are in)

[chasmmi]

24: Colonel Hans Landa – Christopher Waltz, Inglorious Basterds

(56pts and 7 votes)

 

The character that finally made my spell checker give up on life and leave home, Hans Landa is the second character on this list to hatch from the mind of Quentin Tarantino. A Nazi who hunted Jews for occupational gain over ideological, Landa is the ambitious and ruthless villain of the story and if this list is anything to go by, far and away the film’s most memorable character.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bBEzI25r2U

 

 

23: Dr Emmett Brown – Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future 1-3

(58pts and 7 votes)

 

Everybody loves a lovable eccentric genius and they don’t get more lovable, eccentric or genius than Doc Brown. Christopher Lloyd has had his fair share of great characters in film history: Uncle Fester, Judge Doom, umm the scientist in Piranha 3D (a combined total of 0 votes between them, for shame BOF!!!). Doc Brown however is obviously the cream of the crop, he invented time travel for Pete’s sake!

 

Lloyd is everything you could want his character to be, he’s funny, zany, there’s slapstick coming out of his ears and he gets to fall in love to boot. In this rambling idiot’s humble opinion, Back to the Future is one of the few flawless trilogies in cinema with no weak installment. And Doctor Emmett Brown is one half of one of cinema’s greatest ever duos.

 

[chasmmi]

22: Jules Winnfield – Samuel L Jackson, Pulp Fiction

(60pts and 7 votes)

 

Does this surprise anybody? Sammy J is arguably the coolest guy in Hollywood and Tarantino may well be considered the coolest director. Could their joining forces have created anything other than awesomeness?

 

Samuel Jackson is one of those actors who when on form is an unstoppable force as an actor. Be it Jurassic Park, A time to Kill or Pulp Fiction, Jackson can do it all and do it with style. You don’t believe me? The following scene is all you need to see to know why he places so highly on our list:

 

 

 

21: Hannibal Lecter – Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon

(62pts and 6 votes)

 

Everyone’s favourite cannibal, the character who won the Best Actor Oscar despite only having about

16 minutes of screen time (the second shortest ever) and Hopkins was a force of nature as Hannibal Ernest Lecter (middle name invented by me) and he both delighted and horrified viewers in equal measure.

 

Silence of the Lambs was one of those rare films to win the Oscar Grand slam, one of those rare films to do its source material total justice, one of those rare films to be able to evoke every emotion a thriller should do and more so and one of those rare films to produce a character that will forever be immortalized in cinematic canon. This was the great Anthony Hopkins’ finest hour and my own personal favourite screen villain of all time.

 

[chasmmi]

A FINAL FEW STATS TO ENJOY

 

Obviously with 20 names still to be revealed, these stats can change quickly, but taking into consideration all the characters placed between 21^st and 555^th here are the top dogs in their respective fields:

 

Top Superhero: Batman

 

Top Bad Guy: Hannibal Lector

 

Top Female Character: Katniss Everdeen

 

Top Non-Humanoid Character: Gollum

 

Top Non-speaking Character: Scrat

 

Top Animated Character: Woody

 

Top Musical Character: Dorothy

 

Top Horror Character: Freddy Krueger

 

Top Comedy Character: Doctor Emmett Brown

 

Actor with most appearances in top 100: Jim Carrey

[rukaio101]

Outside of Indiana Jones and Ledger Joker, I honestly have no clue who's going to make the Top 10.

[chasmmi]

20: Obi Wan Kenobi – Alec Guinness, Star Wars Episode 4-6

(67pts and 5 votes)

 

“Can’t say I’m enjoying the film. … new rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day on wadges of pink paper—and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable.” What kind of idiot could say that of Obi Wan? Well Alec Guinness actually, but that’s how the Star Wars phenomenon worked, Star Wars was unlike anything the Box Office had ever seen or would see again and with it sent its main cast members into the upper stratosphere of best loved characters.

 

 

 

19: Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint – Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects

(68pts and 5 votes)

 

A small time con artist who may be the closest link to a murderous mob boss named Keyser Soze, Through Spacey’s character the whole plot of the film unfolds and a web of intrigue is spun that even at end credits can leave audiences not sure of exactly what they witnessed. I must stop now, through fear that I may have already said too much. 

 

Edited November 10, 2013 by chasmmi

[chasmmi]

18: Wall E – Ben Burtt, Wall E

(68pts and 6 votes)

 

Another Robot on the list, but this one is much nicer than Mean Old Hal. Wall E can convey as much emotion in his one repeated line as some of the greatest actors can show with the whole force of the English language behind them. The opening 20 minutes of Wall E is perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema of the 21^st century and the relationship between Wall E and Eve (264^th) is as real as any human relationship could be. It just goes to show that the greatest characters can sometimes come from the most unlikely of sources.

 

 

 

17: Forrest Gump – Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump

(70pts and 8 votes)

 

The first actor to have two characters in the top 30 and the first character to receive 8 votes. Forrest Gump was the peak of one of the greatest hot streaks in cinema. At a time when everything that Tom Hanks touched seemed to turn to gold (or at least gold-plated Brittanium), Forrest Gump sent us on an emotional rollercoaster that only the stoniest of hearts could not be moved by. How one character could endure so much and still emerge from it all with a smile on his face and infinite good will in his heart. This was a role that showed the full range of what Tom Hanks was capable of and treated us to a glut of classic scenes, immortal lines (I just felt like running, stupid is as stupid does, Life is like a box of chocolates… need I go on?) and one of the best damn dramatic character we will ever see in our, our children’s or our grandchildren’s lifetimes.

 

[chasmmi]

16: Martie Mcfly – Michael J Fox, Back to the Future Trilogy

(75pts and 8 votes)

 

Talking about asking the question: “Remember when Actor X was the man?” We now move onto Michael J Fox, everyone’s favourite movie teenager and a kid that just wanted to get back to 1985 in one piece. With fantastic on screen chemistry with Christopher Lloyd, I defy you not to love this guy and everything he goes through. Back to the Future is a classic to end all classics and the actions and reactions of Marty could never be surpassed.

 

 

 

15: Jason Bourne – Matt Damon, The Bourne Trilogy

(76pts and 8 votes)

 

Hey folks, did you see this one coming? Bourne annihilates Bond and surges into the top 15. I love the character but to me this is one of the biggest surprises on the list and I say that as a guy who isn’t complaining about it. Bourne was a great character and Damon plays him to a tee. The improvised fight scenes, the narrative and the action set pieces are all fantastic and this is another rare franchise without a weak installment (at least not if you consider the Damon Trilogy as a separate entity to Legacy). Well done Mr. Bourne. (Phew I got through that whole blurb without getting sucked into a pun about Damon being Bourne to play this role).

 

[chasmmi]

14: Jack Sparrow – Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean 1-4

(79pts and 9 votes)

 

Ah yes, that wonderful time back when Johnny Depp was still a good actor. Part of me wonders about the thought process of our voters when place Jack so high. I only wonder this because I see Sparrow’s character as being the embodiment of diminishing returns in a film character. If one takes the first film as a standalone I can agree with this position completely, it maybe could be even higher. However by the third film (I didn’t even bother with the 4^th) it could be argued he had deteriorated to a mere parody of his awesome self of before.

 

Regardless of my opinion, what’s done is done and Jack Sparrow is our 14^th best character of all time. Well done that man.

 

 

 

13: John Rambo – Sylvester Stallone, Rambo 1-4

(85pts and 7 votes)

 

Stallone’s tortured Vietnam vet showed the world that he was not going to be a one megahit wonder and should never be underestimated as a performance. If there ever was an actor who gets unfairly label as a man of little talent, it’s Sly. This man can act, direct and write a film yet he’s clearly a talentless muscle meathead because he sounds a bit thick when he speaks. Thank god that there are people on this forum that get the genius of this man and can place one of his greatest creations on the verge of the top 10.

 

Rambo is a legend and long may he live on. Hell, roll on part 5 if it happens, I’m still game to see what else this character can throw at us.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiIWdTuKJho

[rukaio101]

Is Obi Won Kenobi, Obi Wan Kenobi's Chinese half-brother?

 

Also, Verbal Kint at 19?! For shame, Box Office Forums.

 

Also also, while I have no objections to him being on the list, I really don't think Bourne deserved a place this high.

Edited November 10, 2013 by rukaio101

[chasmmi]

Is Obi Won Kenobi, Obi Wan Kenobi's Chinese half-brother?

 

 

It's fixed

[chasmmi]

12: Ellen Ripley – Sigourney Weaver, Alien 1-4

(94pts and 9 votes)

 

The ultimate female badass and survivor. Ellen Ripley faced the purest killer in the universe - the perfect organism – and she won, not once but 4 times. The evolution of the Ripley character through genres spanning survival horror to pure action and everything in between gives her a range that few characters on this list can boast. Like Linda Hamilton, Ripley is not exactly the sexiest female cinema has ever given us, but she may well be the best female cinema has ever given us. In my eyes it isn’t even a competition.

 

 

 

11: Tony Stark – Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man 1-3, The Avengers

(94pts and 11 votes)

 

Do you remember growing up and for years dreaming that they would finally make an Iron Man film? Nope, yeah neither do I as to the non-comic book fan; Ironman was a nobody (I didn’t even see the first film until on DVD about a year after home video release), the only superheroes worth any consideration of my time were Super, Spider and Bat. Fast forward to 2013 though and Tony Stark is THE A-List superhero, the best of them all and the coolest of the cool to go with it.

 

Robert Downey Jr. didn’t just put in a good performance, he created an icon and set the ball rolling on the most ambitiousness cinematic project ever: The Avengers. DC and their numerous misfires are proof of how fragile a grand scheme can be. If Downey had fucked up, Thor, Hulk, Captain and the Avengers were all done for. Iron Man made everything that has come since, possible and that is why he received the joint-highest number of votes for any character.

 

[chasmmi]

so, 90 down...10 to go...

[chasmmi]

10: Don Vito Corleone – Marlon Brando, Godfather Trilogy

(99pts and 5 votes)

 

If you exclude the two one vote wonders, Don Corleone received the highest average number of points per vote. Is this a sign that people either loved him or hated him as a character, or that not enough members have watched the Godfather? It’s hard to say but what cannot be denied is that he is one of those mistakable characters that you cannot help but know, even if you’ve never seen the films. The power of the performances in Godfather really make you feel that Pacino, Deniro and co and folks you wouldn’t want to mess with in real life, their mannerisms feel so natural so innate and this is topped off by the best of them all: Marlon ‘Don Vito’ Brando,

 

For the record the records for the whole Corleone Family reads as follows:

 

Don Vito: 10^th, Michael: 32^nd, Vito (deniro): 132^nd, Fredo: 380^th, Sean: 539^th.

 

[rukaio101]

I liked him, just not enough to put him on my list.

 

Besides, i enjoy being hipstery and putting choices no-one else will vote for on my list.

[chasmmi]

9: John McClane – Bruce Willis, Die hard 1-5

(107pts and 8 votes)

 

Everyone’s favourite Christmas hero is our first character to break the 100 points mark. Despite the odd lesser installment of the franchise, Willis’ casting for the role originally raised eyebrows as up till that point he was mostly known for being a sitcom star, however it was a perfect decision and gave action fans the third member of the Holy Action movie trilogy with Arnie and Sly.

 

I think the sign of a good character can be measure by how much an audience craves a new installment, especially off the back off a poor previous outing (Just look at the insanity surrounding Star Wars even from some who would argue that the last four films in a row have been disappointing). Now very few films will be as poorly received this year as Die Hard 5, but the popularity of the character and how Bruce plays him means that many will still look forward to a 6^th in the hope that we can once again see the classic John McClane of old.

 

[chasmmi]

8: Yoda – Franz Oz, Star Wars Episode 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

(113pts and 9 votes)

 

Winner of most popular non-humanoid character Yoda is. And so in stupid Yoda voice must talk and much hilarity bring it will. Ah screw that! Yoda is the sage of wisdom within the Star Wars universe and is one of the films’ most quotable characters. The backlash of Jar Jar Binks in the prequels may sometimes blind people to the fact that there was once was a time that not only could Lucas made a good film, but he could also create endearing and massively popular alien characters.

 

[Sam]

The little Tramp - Charlie Chaplin 69th

I'm the sole voter of that. 

 

You all suck for not voting for him btw 

[rukaio101]

Huh. While I knew Yoda was popular, I expected him to only reach around 20th place.

 

 

I'm the sole voter of that. 

 

You all suck for not voting for him btw 

I know. I'm scum for forgetting.

[chasmmi]

7: The Terminator – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator 1-3

(118pts and 10 votes)

 

One of the few (maybe even the only) characters on this list to be popular as both the hero and the villain, it is a no-brainer that Terminator should go down as the most popular mechanoid/cyborg/robot on our list. The first introduction of the Terminator is a classic scene of cinema and one that plays to all of Arnie’s strengths: Shirtless and little to no dialogue. J

 

Directed masterfully by James Cameron, The opening two films revolutionized the action genre in the way that a new Cameron film often revolutionizes whatever genre he puts his mind to. Adding to that completely reversing the Terminator’s role in part two from hunter to protector was a work of genius and something that kept the character fresh. The character is also a testament to the aura and charisma that Arnie Possess (or at least possessed). He may have been just a bodybuilding Austrian with little grasp of English, let alone acting, but he truly owns this role and the success of the character goes to prove that there must have been something special about that guy.

 

[chasmmi]

6: Luke Skywalker – Mark Hamill, Star Wars Episode 4-6

(123pts and 9 votes)

 

Yet another member of the Star Wars clan in the upper echelons of our list, Luke Skywalker is the hero of the original saga. Even though other characters may have got the best lines or scenes, Luke was the linchpin of the story, the pour soul charged with trying to bring order to the universe at a time of darkness and evil reigning supreme.

 

Poor old Luke had to deal with so much in his three film outings: his mentor was killed in front of him, his father was an evil dark lord trying to kill him and everyone around him and the love of his life was his sister. No wonder he turned to spending all his time with his robot friends for large swathes of the narrative.