Empire’s Top 100 Movie Characters
Once upon a time, Empire magazine took it upon themselves to say, “Who cares about the AFI and their snooty lists?” and instead chose their own list of the greatest movies of all time. Or technically, their readers did.
Now, they’ve struck again. Empire magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters.
While I admittedly enjoy the AFI lists and corresponding TV specials, they are definitely coming from a more “artsy” perspective. Though I have yet to really dig in and read Empire’s thought process on each of these entries, they seem to be a good balance of popular and artistic, recognizing cinematic achievements that were not merely critical, but also (in many cases) that go beyond being merely popular, too. Whatever the case, you’ll notice it’s a rather geek-centric list in many ways.
Still…while I find much to agree with, some entries (or at least their placement) earn a skeptical look from me. I mean, Hans Gruber on the list in the top 20? White Goodman (from Dodgeball) on the list…at all?
The list is below, but head over to Empire for full entries with memorable quotes and reminiscences. Then sound off…I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions about who’s on (and who’s off) the list!
- Tyler Durden (Fight Club)
- Darth Vader (Star Wars)
- The Joker (The Dark Knight)
- Han Solo (Star Wars)
- Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, etc.)
- Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones trilogy)
- The Dude (The Big Lebowski)
- Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)
- Ellen Ripley (Alien, etc.)
- Vito Corleone (The Godfather)
- James Bond (Goldfinger)
- John McClane (Die Hard, etc.)
- Gollum (The Lord of the Rings)
- The Terminator (The Terminator)
- Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
- Neo (The Matrix)
- Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
- Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver)
- Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction)
- Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump)
- Michael Corleone (The Godfather Part II)
- Ellis “Red” Redding (The Shawshank Redemption)
- Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry)
- Ash (Evil Dead series, Army of Darkness)
- Yoda (Star Wars)
- Ron Burgendy (Anchorman)
- Tony Montana (Scarface)
- Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings)
- Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood)
- Jigsaw (Saw series)
- Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings)
- Jason Bourne (The Bourne series)
- Tequila (Hard Boiled)
- Rocky Balboa (The Rocky movies)
- Maximus Decimus Meridius (Gladiator)
- Harry Potter (The Harry Potter movies)
- Edward Scissorhands (Edward Scissorhands)
- Donnie Darko (Donnie Darko)
- Marty McFly (Back to the Future)
- Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
- Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)
- Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)
- The Man With No Name (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly)
- Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)
- Amelie Poulain (Amelie)
- Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
- Blade (Blade)
- Tony Stark (Iron Man)
- Walter Sobchak (The Big Lebowski)
- Quint (Jaws)
- Mal Reynolds (Serenity)
- George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life)
- Luke (Cool Hand Luke)
- Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
- Lt. Frank Drebin (The Naked Gun)
- Juno MacGuff (Juno)
- Brick Tamland (Anchorman)
- Rick Blaine (Casablanca)
- Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
- Ace Ventura (Ace Ventura, etc.)
- R.P. McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
- Mathilda (Leon: The Professional)
- Wall-E (Wall-E)
- Withnail (Withnail & I)
- White Goodman (Dodgeball)
- The Bride (Kill Bill)
- Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)
- Napoleon Dynamite (Napoleon Dynamite)
- Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)
- Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)
- Snake Plissken (Escape from New York)
- V (V for Vendetta)
- Jack Torrance (The Shining)
- E.T. (E.T.)
- Marge Gunderson (Fargo)
- Dr. Emmett Brown (Back to the Future)
- Ed (Shaun of the Dead)
- Axel Foley (Beverly Hills Cop)
- Boba Fett (Star Wars)
- Norman Bates (Psycho)
- Wolverine (X-Men trilogy)
- Marv (Sin City)
- Mr. Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)
- Agent Smith (The Matrix trilogy)
- Vincenzo Coccotti (True Romance)
- Roy Batty (Blade Runner)
- Dracula (Dracula)
- Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
- Princess Leia Organa (Star Wars)
- The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
- Scarlett O’Hara (Gone With the Wind)
- Randal Graves (Clerks)
- Martin Q. Blank (Grosse Pointe Blank)
- Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story)
- Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street series)
- Ethan Edwards (The Searchers)
- Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs)
- Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane)
- HAL-9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
- Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon series)
Reader Comments
Yeah…..no…
James Bond not in the top 10?
Yoda not in the top 20?
Boba Fett at 79?!
Are these people high? =P
And yes, I agree, Dodgeball has no place on any sort of Top 100 Best anything lists…
I have to admit to not having seen most of those movies, but I think they missed a couple of pretty remarkable characters when they left out John Nash from A Beautiful Mind and John Keating from Dead Poets Society.
I would agree with the majority of this list in it’s selection, just not the placement. And a lot of these characters are too similar to be on the same list – like Hannibal Lector and Jigsaw or John McClane and Martin Riggs.
I kind of think that – even though I loved WALL*E – cartoon characters shouldn’t be on the list. I’d even make a case against E.T. and Yoda (the CGI version). And what’s the deal with HAL-9000? It was just a computer.
These characters are made great by the actors who physically portray them; even when some of them have existed numerously on screen and even before they made it to film (like The Joker or Gollum).
I ran across this article and have to say I agree with some of their nominees.
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/empire-100-movie-characters.html
Very nice, Bryan. I agree with some of those nominations, too — and the list gives me a few more films I need to see. It also addresses what was woefully missing (and still, I think, is) from either list: Star Trek characters. Khan’s a valuable addition, but did we seriously go 125 characters between two lists without mentioning Kirk or Spock?
And Drew, I hear where you’re coming from, but I disagree. I see no reason why a cartoon character should be disqualified. Ultimately, the quality of a character comes from the strength of their lines and their performance. An animated character has just as much of a shot at the first of those as a live-action one does, and I think many voice actors would give you a pretty nasty look if you implied that a voice performance is somehow less than a full-body one.
Lastly, I’d add that one thing I did like about this list is that they sometimes they took a character as a whole, and sometimes they took specific performances. James Bond, for example, played by many people in over 20 movies, but they singled out Connery’s performance in Goldfinger. I think, at that point, the inclusion of that version of the Joker or that version of Dracula makes it an acceptable thing.
As for the “similar characters” thing…you may have a point there!
Just my rebuttal.
More characters I think should have been on the list:
Max Fischer and Herman Blume (Rushmore)
Dignan (Bottle Rocket)
Milton Waddams (Office Space)
Cole Sear (Sixth Sense)
Buddy Israel (Smokin’ Aces)
David (A.I.)
William Somerset and John Doe (Seven)
Leonard (Memento)
Ben Wade (3:10 To Yuma – 2007)
Derek Zoolander (Zoolander) – If “Dodgeball” is on the list, then Zoolander should be also.
Jack Skellington (Nightmare Before Christmas) – I concede to Aaron’s point.
Jay and Silent Bob (Clerks thru Strike Back) – I group them together since they’re never apart.
And almost every role Benecio Del Toro has played. He’s one of my favorite actors.