Maybe I should have put this in "Entertainment"....oh, well.....
My favorite movie villains are…….DA-DA-DA-DA!!!!!
Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter.
Notice I didn’t say "of all time"; that would be a misnomer----I haven’t seen every movie ever made, and there may be a villain or three out there somewhere to eventually challenge my choices for the title.
Now, reasons for my choices? Let’s do this in order of appearance, shall we?
Darth Vader first appeared, like a wraith (and to some really cool music), out of the smoke and fog of deadly combat aboard a Rebel Blockade Runner in the hot summer of 1977. Over six feet tall, dressed threateningly in black and with a chest full of electronic, life-sustaining gizmos, he glanced around uncaringly at the corpses of the dead rebels scattered about the deck, victims of his white-armored Imperial Stormtroopers. The creepy/cool sound of his breathing fascinated and chilled the bones of many a youngster in that summer. He lifted the rebel captain of the vessel, by the throat, and with one hand, at that, and asked, in an undeniable tone "Where are those transmissions you intercepted? What have you done with those plans?" When the man failed to provide him with the answers he sought, Vader simply crushed his throat and tossed him away, ordering loudly and equally undeniably for the troopers to "tear this ship apart until you’ve found those plans, and bring me the passengers! I want them alive!"
My personal favorite Vader line came when the officers were all seated around the big table, meeting aboard the Death Star with Governor Tarkin.
General Tagge, the architect of the massive weapon, declared Vader a fool because of his belief in the Force, when this, the Death Star, was obviously the "ultimate force in the universe".
Hearing his hateful words, Vader, across the room, casually lifted his finger. The stream of vitriol was choked off, literally, by the sounds of the man’s choking. At this, Vader merely replied: "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
Soooooo cool. Wouldn’t it have been great to be able to do that to a few of your enemies at school?
Vader was simply the coolest, and when it was revealed, in 1980 in "Empire", that he was Luke’s father; WELL! Jesus Christ himself never revealed any information of greater impact to Saint John.
He remained, through all three films, the cool villain, rightly bringing fear and awe into those around him. Right up to the very end of "Jedi", when he taunted Luke, the last Jedi, with the possibility that, if he couldn’t be turned, perhaps his sister could. But, when the Emperor was pouring out waves of his powerful Force Lightning in an attempt to kill his son, the novice Knight Luke Skywalker, he stepped forward and, using the last of his great strength, hoisted the Emperor above his head and threw him, still sparking forks of lighting, over the railing and into the heart of the new Death Star’s reactor core miles below. Thus he fulfilled his destiny to bring balance to the Force, by being the only Sith Lord ever to draw away from the Dark Side and kill his master, as well.
With the ten little words "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….." Lucas assured that his story, having already happened, in an unnamed time and place, would never really become dated. This means that Vader and the others will live on forever in the hearts of nerds like me and people who just like good, decent, wholesome stories. Whether they have good dialogue or not.
Doctor Hannibal Lecter, eminent psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial murderer, first appeared in an 80s movie called "Manhunter", I believe, but was played by someone else. That person's identity is unimportant.
The character originated in a book called "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris. It wasn’t until 1991, however, that we first glimpsed this purely sociopathic monster in his truest form; that of Anthony Hopkins, in "The Silence of the Lambs".
Interestingly enough, however, in this film, Lecter, incarcerated in an asylum for the criminally insane, is portrayed not as a villain, but rather as a sort of anti-hero, assisting, albeit on his own twisted terms and in his own manner, FBI Agent Clarice Starling in her pursuit of the serial killer known as "Buffalo Bill", so named for the fact that he skins his victims, all females. He uses the tanned skins to "change" his sex.
Lecter’s actual appearances in in the film are minimal and for the most part incidental, but so powerful was Hopkin’s performance that it overpowered the "real" villain, and also garnered him the Best Actor Oscar for that year (the film was also Best Picture, and Hopkin’s co-star, Jodie Foster, also won for Best Actress. Its director, Jonathan Demme, won the award as well).
I mean, when you think "Silence of the Lambs", do you think "Buffalo Bill" or "Hannibal Lecter"? See my point?
Anthony Hopkins was the perfect choice to portray the well-bred, mannered, chillingly intelligent and manipulative Lecter. Other actors, I think, could have brought something to the role; Christopher Walken excels at playing aberrant characters, and I think perhaps he could have pulled it off well enough. Perhaps even Robert Duvall; he could easily attain the required intensity. But these actors, brilliant as they are, somehow lack the necessary grace.
Only Hopkins, I think, could have given the character its best shape; in the strict, lightly lisping, cold diction of his voice, the repressed madness and violence, held in check only by his manners and intellect, but visible in the way he holds and carries himself, and clearly audible in his tone. Not mention the contempt he feels for those around him. Only Hopkins.
Hannibal Lecter appeared in "Silence", "Hannibal" and the prequel "Red Dragon"; all excellent movies, and great books, as well. I recommend them all.
The opening sequence of "Dragon" portrays the capture of Lecter by the FBI agent he was assisting, Will Graham. Graham, a profiler, was searching for a killer that turned out to be Lecter himself. He attempts to kill Graham but is shot by his seriously wounded victim, and is captured and tried for his crimes, and is sentenced to the asylum.
Lecter, in the familiar confines of the asylum, helps Graham much the same way he "later" helped Starling, to capture another killer. This one the self-styled "Red Dragon"; the pathetic, disfigured victim of child abuse, Francis Dolarhyde.
Dolarhyde, his ego destroyed by the verbal, psychological and physical abuse of his grandmother and obsessed with a two-hundred year old painting, "The Red Dragon" is convinced that, with each murder he commits, the closer he comes to his "becoming" the powerful Dragon. Lecter, seeing this new interaction with the agent Graham as a diversion, a game to be played, dispenses his advice in riddles and half-revelations, a Lecter trademark, in exchange for certain gratuities; a French chef to cook his dinner, for example. Books, or perhaps more time in the exercise yard or gym. His needs, after all, are small.
Hannibal Lecter is perhaps the perfect villain; utterly disciplined, cold and calculating, intelligent and oh-so-manipulative. But at the same time so mannerly. You hate him, but kind of hate yourself for hating him, because he’s so polite, really. He delivers his contempt, and delights in torturing others, with such calmness and pure etiquette.
The best ever, in my book (besides Vader, of course).