Favorite Film Characters Meme

This of course got me thinking about my own personal most influential and/or favorite characters and so here we are. But rather than declaring, I felt more like learning, so I thought I'd spread a little meme around.

Following the standard meme structure I'm tagging five film bloggers and asking them 'What are your favorite 10 characters in film?'

The rules:

1a.) I capped myself at ten, but don't let that number stop you.
 
2.) Tag 5 more film bloggers when you're done, email them, let 'em in on it, link back.
 
3.) Read their posts and enjoy!

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9.) Nosferatu. Very few film fans need an introduction to Dracula's freakier, rattier / battier alter ego. Nosferatu was a great way to make Dracula more terrifying, less human and further from lawsuits of the Bram Stoker Estate, who sued F.W. Murnau for making the original film without permission. Nosferatu is definitely a freakishly frightening dude, and a completely original slant on the machismo-exuding Count Tepes, whether the original Max Shrek in the 1922 Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror, or Klaus Kinski in Herzog's 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre. Besides, he's one of the iconic silhouettes on my title bar, I need to given him his proppers. 

 

7.) Frank Serpico - Serpico (1973). Does it count if the character is an actual person? This is one of my highest rated films for the simple fact that his character is so real. NYC Police Office Frank Serpico was a man who didn't take bribe money, and for it he got shot in the face (not a spoiler, the movie starts out that way). Based on the true story of a man who went against the system to uncover corruption in the police force, Frank Serpico is a great character because he's a loose cannon, his relationships fail, he hates his career, he's even a bit of a bum, he's an honest man in a dishonest union and most of all, he has genuine human fear, and that terror expresses itself constantly. By the way, the real Serpico's still out there, he's even got his own blog. Neat eh? 

6.) Charles 'Chuck' Tatum - Ace in the Hole a.k.a. The Big Carnival (1951). Larger than life itself, Tatum is the glibbest type of reporter. He's as charismatic as a politician but there's this streak of the creepy Carney to him. "I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog." He's manipulative and driven to make a story out of a molehill. And when the dame says "I've seen some hard-boiled eggs before, but you - you're 20 minutes", you'll understand what she means.

5.) Mista Pink - Above all the other Reservoir Dogs (1992) trying to escape a diamond heist gone wrong, he's the standard, the center of the bell curve by which we may judge the others. He doesn't have a bunch of huge secrets like Mister Orange, he's no good-guy soft-heart like Mister White or a super-villain like Mister Blonde - he's your average diamond thief and a gitchy dude at that, who, as you all know is just trying "to keep it professional!". Yeah and as one of the iconic silhouettes on my title bar, what did you expect?

4.) 'Lih-tole' Alex DeLarge of A Clockwork Orange (1971). Well you probably know him, if only by the poster of him all tied up, strapped to a chair with his eyes machine-forced open. Our ultra-violence loving, gulliver-tolchoking droog gets his fill of the old in-out when sent to prison for reprogramming. That programming has some unforeseen side effects which pose the question: should justice really come by any means? His story may burrow fundamental roots into your sense of punishment, which makes Anthony Burgess' character ever-important. And while we're at it, anyone who can pull off cane, derby, false eyelash and jock on the outside of his pants and look super-cool, well, that's something worthy of a videy.

3.) Toshiro Mifune's played countless roles (actually only around 177) but the suave justice-loving malignance-ending bodyguard Man-With-No-Name Sanjuro Kuwabatake / Sanjûrô Tsubaki / The Samurai  from Yojimbo (1961) and its sequel Sanjuro (1962) is just the type of guy we can look up to. He's wise beyond his years, witty with Warrior Code wisdom and about a million times better than his western nameless shootist counterpart in the inferior unauthorized rip-off A Fistful of Dollars. Sorry Clint. Don't feel bad, you get yours later.

2.) HAL 9000 - of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), though he's also in 2010: The Year We Made Contact (1984). Evil computer runs amok a million miles away from Earth while astronauts lie powerless in his wake. His creepily smooth voice sends shudders up our spines when he closes airlocks with matter-of-fact apologies, and is more than enough to make HAL 9000 one of cinema's best villains. He's definitely one of mine. Even Wall-E tributed him recently. Good for you Disney. 

1.) The Stranger - High Plains Drifter (1973). Frankly, I thought it would be harder to pick my favorite character of all time. From obvious choices like Darth Vader to film history constants like Bond, I was pleasantly surprised that it took less than two minutes for me to say "Definitely The Drifter". The character studied in this film begins as one of the most malicious, evil men that ever splashed celluloid, what with rape and murder as his first acts. But as the story unfolds we learn that there is  somehow a poetic method to his madness on several different levels, not to mention having a conclusion that is one of the best in movie history.

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11.) Since writing this post, I have discovered an 11th favourite character that has left an indelible impression on me and he definitely needs mention. It is Trent, the insane White Supremacist from Shock Corridor. Seldom have I felt such a genuinely profound message as I did from the speeches of Trent. The man's mind is clearly broken from the weight of American racism and he acts out in such a venomous hate that it becomes the highlight of the film. His story is then given such a great contextual weight by his lucid monologue, telling us how his brain was broken under the crushing weight of being a vanguard of civic responsibility and freedom. Amazingly emotionally uplifting social commentary.