Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoTop 10 Anti-Heroes in Film
October 30th 2006 01:33
Continuing from the recent blogs on Top 10 Villains and Top 10 Heroes, I've decided to venture on into the curious and highly-entertaining middle ground between the two... the Anti-Hero.
Just a quick run down... the way I perceive a character to be an anti-hero is that he (yeah, 'he' - couldn't really think of any decent female ones... Sarah O'Connor comes close but got nudged out by my Top 10) must match these criteria...
1. They must be the protagonist of the film.
That's pretty much it. A villainous character like Tony Montana can be seen as an anti-hero simply due to the fact that the film focuses on him. If a character like this is put up on the screen as a protagonist, and the audience isn't really given an opposing character they can identify with as the 'hero', then it takes away the whole 'hero/villain' duality. The villain becomes an anti-hero. A hero who doesn't actually do anything heroic. Likewise, if the 'hero' of the piece engages in acts that would normally be viewed as villainous, he loses his 'hero' status and goes into the same grey zone. So here are ten of my favourite anti-heroes.
Travis Bickle Robert De Niro, "Taxi Driver" (1976)
Travis is the archetypal anti-hero. We initially sympathise with him, but as his motives remain so unknowable and it becomes clear that he's not all there in the smarts department it becomes kind of hard to accept him as a heroic figure. At one point he tries to assassinate a political candidate for no good reason... he eventually 'redeems' himself by saving a child prostitute from the mafia but by this stage he's so fucked up that you don't really know where he's coming from.
Max Rockatansky Mel Gibson, 'Mad Max' (1979)
Max is probably the protagonist most easily identified with in this list, but the extent of his rage nudges him out of the 'hero' league. Max breaks away from his life and sanity to embark on a furious quest of unchecked revenge against a gang of bikers that murdered his wife and child. By the time of the third 'Mad Max' movie Max seems to have become a near-empty shell, just trying to get by in a post-apocalyptic hell of a future.
Jack Carter Michael Caine, "Get Carter" (1971)
The 70s were the age of the anti-hero. Carter represents a new wave of cinema, with Caine playing one of the coldest and most heartless heroes of British film. Like most anti-heroes, Carter is on a quest of revenge. However, unlike Mad Max and Paul Kersey (Death Wish), Carter was a cruel and harsh man before he set out for vengeance. He threatens and murders his way to the information he wants, at one point even callously letting a woman drown to death.
Ethan Edwards John Wayne, "The Searchers" (1957)
John Wayne was never more interesting than when he broke outside of his usual tough-as-nails old west hero screen persona. Director John Ford would utilise Wayne's charisma to unique affect in 'The Searchers', casting the straight-laced icon in a somewhat less-sympathetic role than what audiences were used to seeing him in. Ethan is very much the hero of the film, dedicating seven years of his life to tracking down his niece (who has been kidnapped by Indians). But he is also a man so twisted by racism that he intends to kill the wayward girl should she have turned native in the time she has been gone. At one point Wayne's character desecrates the graves of dead indians just out of spite, and whilst the film is deliberately enigmatic in regards to Ethan's background it's patently clear that underneath his appearingly heroic actions he is not a very nice individual.
Frank White Christopher Walken, "King of New York" (1990)
Where would this list be without Christopher Walken and his own brand of bad-arsed coolness? Walken's Frank White is an ex-con returning to gangland New York to reassert his place in the criminal underworld. He quickly sets about consolidating his power and gives no quarter to anyone who gets in his way - be they rival ganglord or police. What seperates Frank White from the usual high-flying American gangster is that he intends to re-distribute all his profits of his drug trade to the poor and needy of New York... it doesn't exactly make sense, but Walken has that edge of cheerful insanity and resolution that helps him see it through. A classy and underrated film with a classy and entertaining protagonist.
Blondie/The Man With No Name Clint Eastwood, "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (1966).
It's never exactly made clear if Eastwood's character from these three films is the one and the same, but that the films are often collected together as 'The Dollars trilogy' and that Eastwood's character is often credited as 'The Man With No Name', I think it's pretty clear that this is the case. Eastwood's character here is the antithesis of the typical hero usually shown in American westerns... he cares very little for anyone but himself and often acts purely out of self-interest, he is usually motivated solely by money, and he isn't afraid to kill his opposition in cold blood. The comical end scene of 'For a Few Dollars More' sees him counting the stack of dead bodies on his wagon, calculating how much money they will bring him, and it pretty much sums up the modus operandi of the steely-eyed, wry gunslinger. This character is every bit as much an icon as Eastwood himself, and hence I couldn't write this list without mentioning him.
Alex de Large Malcolm McDowell, "A Clockwork Orange" (1971)
Another character it would be impossible to ignore in this list is young Alex from Kubrick's controversial masterpiece 'A Clockwork Orange'. Along with Travis, Alex is pretty much the definitive anti-hero. He rapes, he kills, he listens to classical music, and yet - I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he struggles against the cruel brainwashing he is subjected to. He'd be the villain of the film if he wasn't so charismaticly brought to life by Malcolm McDowell, and the lack of any other sympathetic characters doesn't exactly negate it either.
Henry Hill Ray Liotta, "Goodfellas" (1990)
Henry Hill is every bit the typical working gangster of modern America. In 'Goodfellas' we get his story via Ray Liotta, writer Nicholas Pileggi and director Martin Scorcese. Nothing is sugarcoated, we get his drug addiction, his philandering, his involvement in murders and heists... he wouldn't be that nice a chap to meet up with on the street. But by the time of the film's end, with all his friends either dead or aiming to kill him, you can't help but feel sorry for the broken hoodlum. Like most protagonists in gangster films, Hill is a man brought down by his own flaws rather than the law itself, and at times he comes across a pretty likeable guy.
Randle Patrick McMurphy Jack Nicholson, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1985)
It would be quite easy to simply view McMurphy as the hero of this film. Like Lucas Jackson in 'Cool Hand Luke', he is an anti-hero in the sense that he stands in defiance of a system that goes unchallenged in the real world. McMurphy is a common criminal who manages to skip gaol by faking mental illness, aiming to rest it up in a mental hospital instead. His nemesis there is Nurse Ratchett, a continuing representation of the authority McMurphy rallies against for the rest of the film. The fact that we cheer for McMurphy as he incites riots and rebellion throughout the hospital is testemant to Nicholson's charismatic performance and society's growing disdain for authoritarian institutions.
Popeye Doyle Gene Hackman, "The French Connection" (1971)
Hackman won the Academy Award for his portrayal of the real-life cop Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in this story of a rogue cop busting open a heroin-smuggling ring. Previously, in this genre, the cop would be the unquestioned hero of the piece. However, the changing mood of the outside world (see McMurphy vs. the authorities above, as well as fledgling anti-heroes such as Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt' in 1968) brought about a new era in filmmaking that would see a growing ambiguity in it's portrayal of 'heroes' and 'villains'. Doyle is one such ambiguous character. He's single-minded and hellbent on cracking open the drug trade, but has no qualms about beating up innocent people to get there, or driving his car into oncoming traffic! Cop heroes don't come much more racist, arrogant and borderline-criminal than Doyle, he even shoots a crook in the back at one point - something previously unheard of in film back in the 70s. And if the viewer has any remaining doubts regarding how they should be perceiving Doyle in the film, well, the ending will clear that right up!
Well, that's ten. As usual, I'm sure I've left a bunch out. Let me know who I missed!
Just a quick run down... the way I perceive a character to be an anti-hero is that he (yeah, 'he' - couldn't really think of any decent female ones... Sarah O'Connor comes close but got nudged out by my Top 10) must match these criteria...
1. They must be the protagonist of the film.
That's pretty much it. A villainous character like Tony Montana can be seen as an anti-hero simply due to the fact that the film focuses on him. If a character like this is put up on the screen as a protagonist, and the audience isn't really given an opposing character they can identify with as the 'hero', then it takes away the whole 'hero/villain' duality. The villain becomes an anti-hero. A hero who doesn't actually do anything heroic. Likewise, if the 'hero' of the piece engages in acts that would normally be viewed as villainous, he loses his 'hero' status and goes into the same grey zone. So here are ten of my favourite anti-heroes.
Travis Bickle Robert De Niro, "Taxi Driver" (1976)
Travis is the archetypal anti-hero. We initially sympathise with him, but as his motives remain so unknowable and it becomes clear that he's not all there in the smarts department it becomes kind of hard to accept him as a heroic figure. At one point he tries to assassinate a political candidate for no good reason... he eventually 'redeems' himself by saving a child prostitute from the mafia but by this stage he's so fucked up that you don't really know where he's coming from.
Max Rockatansky Mel Gibson, 'Mad Max' (1979)
Max is probably the protagonist most easily identified with in this list, but the extent of his rage nudges him out of the 'hero' league. Max breaks away from his life and sanity to embark on a furious quest of unchecked revenge against a gang of bikers that murdered his wife and child. By the time of the third 'Mad Max' movie Max seems to have become a near-empty shell, just trying to get by in a post-apocalyptic hell of a future.
Jack Carter Michael Caine, "Get Carter" (1971)
The 70s were the age of the anti-hero. Carter represents a new wave of cinema, with Caine playing one of the coldest and most heartless heroes of British film. Like most anti-heroes, Carter is on a quest of revenge. However, unlike Mad Max and Paul Kersey (Death Wish), Carter was a cruel and harsh man before he set out for vengeance. He threatens and murders his way to the information he wants, at one point even callously letting a woman drown to death.
Ethan Edwards John Wayne, "The Searchers" (1957)
John Wayne was never more interesting than when he broke outside of his usual tough-as-nails old west hero screen persona. Director John Ford would utilise Wayne's charisma to unique affect in 'The Searchers', casting the straight-laced icon in a somewhat less-sympathetic role than what audiences were used to seeing him in. Ethan is very much the hero of the film, dedicating seven years of his life to tracking down his niece (who has been kidnapped by Indians). But he is also a man so twisted by racism that he intends to kill the wayward girl should she have turned native in the time she has been gone. At one point Wayne's character desecrates the graves of dead indians just out of spite, and whilst the film is deliberately enigmatic in regards to Ethan's background it's patently clear that underneath his appearingly heroic actions he is not a very nice individual.
Frank White Christopher Walken, "King of New York" (1990)
Where would this list be without Christopher Walken and his own brand of bad-arsed coolness? Walken's Frank White is an ex-con returning to gangland New York to reassert his place in the criminal underworld. He quickly sets about consolidating his power and gives no quarter to anyone who gets in his way - be they rival ganglord or police. What seperates Frank White from the usual high-flying American gangster is that he intends to re-distribute all his profits of his drug trade to the poor and needy of New York... it doesn't exactly make sense, but Walken has that edge of cheerful insanity and resolution that helps him see it through. A classy and underrated film with a classy and entertaining protagonist.
Blondie/The Man With No Name Clint Eastwood, "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (1966).
It's never exactly made clear if Eastwood's character from these three films is the one and the same, but that the films are often collected together as 'The Dollars trilogy' and that Eastwood's character is often credited as 'The Man With No Name', I think it's pretty clear that this is the case. Eastwood's character here is the antithesis of the typical hero usually shown in American westerns... he cares very little for anyone but himself and often acts purely out of self-interest, he is usually motivated solely by money, and he isn't afraid to kill his opposition in cold blood. The comical end scene of 'For a Few Dollars More' sees him counting the stack of dead bodies on his wagon, calculating how much money they will bring him, and it pretty much sums up the modus operandi of the steely-eyed, wry gunslinger. This character is every bit as much an icon as Eastwood himself, and hence I couldn't write this list without mentioning him.
Alex de Large Malcolm McDowell, "A Clockwork Orange" (1971)
Another character it would be impossible to ignore in this list is young Alex from Kubrick's controversial masterpiece 'A Clockwork Orange'. Along with Travis, Alex is pretty much the definitive anti-hero. He rapes, he kills, he listens to classical music, and yet - I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he struggles against the cruel brainwashing he is subjected to. He'd be the villain of the film if he wasn't so charismaticly brought to life by Malcolm McDowell, and the lack of any other sympathetic characters doesn't exactly negate it either.
Henry Hill Ray Liotta, "Goodfellas" (1990)
Henry Hill is every bit the typical working gangster of modern America. In 'Goodfellas' we get his story via Ray Liotta, writer Nicholas Pileggi and director Martin Scorcese. Nothing is sugarcoated, we get his drug addiction, his philandering, his involvement in murders and heists... he wouldn't be that nice a chap to meet up with on the street. But by the time of the film's end, with all his friends either dead or aiming to kill him, you can't help but feel sorry for the broken hoodlum. Like most protagonists in gangster films, Hill is a man brought down by his own flaws rather than the law itself, and at times he comes across a pretty likeable guy.
Randle Patrick McMurphy Jack Nicholson, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1985)
It would be quite easy to simply view McMurphy as the hero of this film. Like Lucas Jackson in 'Cool Hand Luke', he is an anti-hero in the sense that he stands in defiance of a system that goes unchallenged in the real world. McMurphy is a common criminal who manages to skip gaol by faking mental illness, aiming to rest it up in a mental hospital instead. His nemesis there is Nurse Ratchett, a continuing representation of the authority McMurphy rallies against for the rest of the film. The fact that we cheer for McMurphy as he incites riots and rebellion throughout the hospital is testemant to Nicholson's charismatic performance and society's growing disdain for authoritarian institutions.
Popeye Doyle Gene Hackman, "The French Connection" (1971)
Hackman won the Academy Award for his portrayal of the real-life cop Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in this story of a rogue cop busting open a heroin-smuggling ring. Previously, in this genre, the cop would be the unquestioned hero of the piece. However, the changing mood of the outside world (see McMurphy vs. the authorities above, as well as fledgling anti-heroes such as Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt' in 1968) brought about a new era in filmmaking that would see a growing ambiguity in it's portrayal of 'heroes' and 'villains'. Doyle is one such ambiguous character. He's single-minded and hellbent on cracking open the drug trade, but has no qualms about beating up innocent people to get there, or driving his car into oncoming traffic! Cop heroes don't come much more racist, arrogant and borderline-criminal than Doyle, he even shoots a crook in the back at one point - something previously unheard of in film back in the 70s. And if the viewer has any remaining doubts regarding how they should be perceiving Doyle in the film, well, the ending will clear that right up!
Well, that's ten. As usual, I'm sure I've left a bunch out. Let me know who I missed!
| 149 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Little Angry Doll
Falling Haiku Leaf
Inner West Life
Mine - Johnny Deep as Hunter S.Thompson
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
The Bride/Beatrix Kiddo - 'Kill Bil vol 1 & 2' Uma Thurman...come one, she's a Mother of a badass(asin)
And...oh please don't hate me for this...'The Submariner', Kevin Costner's character in 'Waterworld'.
So call me wet...bad and KC-centric it may have been...I liked this movie!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
An alternate ten that i love, off teh top of my head so Im sure Ive missed loads of greats-
Lee Marvin in Point Blank (the original Get Carter)
Jean Reno in Leon: The Proffesional
Mickey Rourke in Angel Heart
Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep
Steve McQueen in Bullitt
Al Pacino in Carlito's Way
Charles Bronson in Once Upon A Time In The West
Gabriel Byrne in Millers Crossing
Tomisabro wakayama in Lone Wolf and Cub or Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo
Chow Yun Fat in The Killer
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
and yeah I have a secret love for Kevin Costner too, so it's all good.
Comment by the bitch is back
Bitch Loves to Gossip
The Bitch Is Back
as far as paul newman antiheroes go ... I know everyone probably prefers lucas jackson and fast eddy, but harper's just so damn witty he sucks you into supporting every other indifferent, bastardly, selfserving thing he does. rad character, rad movie.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Comment by Josh Z
Also love the characters from Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. They were losers trying to gyp the system. Lovable losers though. Most of them.
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Roy Batty in Blade Runner ...
but your list was very much on the money ...
(on a separate note, curious as to where you've accessed all your pics without having to give any copyright credit ... ?)
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
ie. "used here in reference to commentary on the films, which qualify in Australia under fair dealing use."
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by BlackWarrior
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
They do share some similarities in that they both undergo a catharsis at the end of their respective films... and neither of them is particularly redeemed *despite* the best efforts or opinions of those around them. I know 'Taxi Driver' inside out but it's been quite a long time since I saw 'A Clockwork Orange' so maybe a re-watch is in order...
thanks for stopping by BlacKWarrior.