TOP 5 CHARACTERS IN FILMS WHOM YOU WANTED TO GET AWAY WITH THEIR CRIMES

Because I like listening to myself talk (well type but whatever) and we, all deep down, like lists.

Self-explanatory, and it doesn’t matter whether they do get away with it or not or whether they are villains or heroes, amoral or just human.

1. Asami in Audition (I couldn’t care less for the old geezer)
2. Jack Nicholson in The Passenger
3. the mental patients in Bedlam
4. Farley Granger and John Dall in Rope
5. the lovers in Gun Crazy

I am pretty sure a lot would include the guy in Peeping Tom…. =O

Neil McCauley in Heat…

Wow, very suprising choice Neil…

I told him to drop that Brenneman bitch…

Yeah, rope is a good one.

1. Richard III in, well, Richard III
2. Julien Tavernier in Elevator to the Gallows
3. Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas
4. Sam Lowry in Brazil
5. Bill in Kill Bill

Louis in Kind Hearts and Coronets
James Mason in Odd Man Out
Joker in The Dark Knight (hate to reference it, but he’s enjoyable)
Humbert Humbert in Lolita (two Masons!)
Nakadai in Harakiri
Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction

Let’s just say my two Masons count as one… then we’re down to a list of five…

For me, it all boils down to one man…

Jef Costello in LE SAMOURAI

if anyone deserved it, it’s him. suave motherfucker.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Continuing the Kubrick line, I’d have to say Johnny Clay from The Killing. He meticulously plans this ‘perfect’ heist, it almost falls apart and then just as he and we think he’s about to get away, a little dog comes along and throws all his perfectly laid plans to hell. And it was all out of his control. You’ve got to feel sorry for that guy.

Khan in Star Trek 2. A lot of his people died, including his wife, and he was marooned on an inhospitable planet. No wonder why he hated Kirk so much.

Dingnan from Bottle Rocket but part of me doesn’t want to rob him of being caught :)

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in Valkyrie ;)

What’s his face in Talk to Her. It was true love… :, (

Yes, the hero of Kind Hearts and Coronets. A good one, how could I possibly forget that one? Stupid Hollywood code, couldn’t let people with justified crimes get away with it.

And I have also forgotten my dear CARRIE. Carrie should have wiped all the pig’s blood in John Travolta’s face.

Martin Balsam’s character Green, in the original The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (1974).

@Armand

really?!? as much as i love Martin Balsam, the fact that his disgruntled ex-motorman was petty and greedy enough to involve himself w/ Blue/Grey/Brown.. drives me nuts how cavalier he was. The sneeze that tipped Matthau off at the end has got to be the most satisfying thing in all of cinema… hell, first time i saw the film i yelled at the screen in joy

that ending to the original Pelham was truly satisfying….so anti-climactic :D

See, Max, and Traag-1, this is the wonderful thing about film. I, on the other hand, was profoundly disappointed that he got caught because of the irony of it all if he had gotten away with it. Not so much a matter of wanting to see the good guys lose as much as seeing the least likely guy win… and he very nearly pulled it off. That being said, I will confess that the look on Matthau’s face after Balsam makes the final error is one of the great filmic moments of that decade.

@Armand

Yeah, if anyone of the four “deserved” the money, it was Mr. Green.

@Max
If I read your sarcasm correctly, Max, precisely.

Roy Batty. He just wanted to live.

surprised nobody mentioned harry lime…

Actually Franz does get away with it in “Berlin Alexanderplatz”
And so does Linda Fiorentino in “The Last Seduction.”

My Five

1. Pepe Le Moko — especailly as palyed by Tony Martin in “Casbah”
2. Michel Poiccard (Belmondo) in “Breathless”
3. Tom Ripley in “Plein Soleil” (but not in “The Talented Mr. Ripley”)
4. Gayle Sondergaard in “The Letter”
5. Another vote for Roy Batty.

I can’t believe I’m the first to mention Sonny Wortzik in “Dog Day Afternoon”!

Thomas Crown. The guy is like GI JOE… He’s got everything!

Kasper Gutman

Im-Ho-Tep/Ardath Bey

Kim Jung Il/Alien Cockroach

George Spiggott

and of course, The Deadly Mantis

More than any of these fellows though, I would have loved to see Darth Vader get away with his crimes in Star Wars if it would have spared us the sequels.

I knew “Dog Day Afternoon” with the original cast.