They're nuts! A crazy movie characters tournament! (2 Viewers)

SteveGon · Jan 18, 2003

Welcome to my Crazy Characters Tournament

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who's the craziest of them all?
Okay, I'm not really making light of a serious topic, but it's always interesting (and sometimes cathartic) to see actors playing psychotic characters - and they seem to enjoy it.
Anyway, who can forget Travis Bickle's mirror monologue, Colonel Kurtz's corpse-strewn compound, or Norman Bates and his mother?
That's what this tourney is all about - we're going to find out just which movie character is the nuttiest of them all.
The List

[*]The Abyss - Lt. Coffey
[*]Aguirre: The Wrath of God - Don Lope de Aguirre
[*]American Psycho - Patrick Bateman
[*]Apocalypse Now - Colonel Kurtz
[*]Batman - The Joker/Jack Napier
[*]A Beautiful Mind - John Nash
[*]Blue Velvet - Frank Booth*******
[*]The Bride of Frankenstein - Dr. Pretorius
[*]The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Dr. Caligari
[*]Cape Fear - Max Cady
[*]Carrie - Margaret White
[*]Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Roy Neary
[*]The Deer Hunter - Nick
[*]Dracula (1931) - Renfield
[*]Dr. Strangelove - Dr. Strangelove
[*]Dr. Strangelove - General Jack D. Ripper
[*]Event Horizon - Dr. Weir
[*]Fatal Attraction - Alex Forrest
[*]Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Raoul Duke/Hunter S. Thompson
[*]Fight Club - The Narrator
[*]Frailty - Adam Meiks
[*]Frankenstein - Victor Frankenstein
[*]Full Metal Jacket - Private Pyle
[*]Goldfinger - Auric Goldfinger
[*]In the Mouth of Madness - John Trent
[*]Interview With the Vampire - Lestat de Lioncourt
[*]The King of Comedy - Rupert Pupkin
[*]King Kong - King Kong
[*]Little Shop of Horrors - Orin Scivillo, D.D.S.
[*]The Lord of the Rings - Gollum
[*]Martin - Martin Madahas
[*]Misery - Annie Wilkes
[*]Mulholland Dr. - Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn
[*]Network - Howard Beale
[*]The Night of the Hunter - Reverend Harry Powell
[*]The Ninth Configuration - Killer Kane
[*]101 Dalmatians - Cruella De Vil
[*]Pi - Max Cohen
[*]Pink Floyd: The Wall - Pink
[*]The Pink Panther Strikes Again - Chief Inspector Dreyfus
[*]Platoon - Sgt. Barnes
[*]The Producers - Franz Liebkind
[*]Psycho - Norman Bates
[*]The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Riff Raff
[*]The Ruling Class - Jack Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney
[*]Santa Sangre - Fenix
[*]Se7en - John Doe
[*]The Shining - Jack Torrance
[*]The Silence of the Lambs - Hannibal Lecter
[*]Sisters - Danielle Breton/Dominique Blanchion
[*]Speed - Howard Payne
[*]Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Khan Noonien Singh
[*]A Streetcar Named Desire - Blanche DuBois
[*]Sunset Blvd. - Norma Desmond
[*]Taxi Driver - Travis Bickle
[*]Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead - Critical Bill
[*]To Die For - Suzanne Stone Maretto
[*]Tombstone - Johnny Ringo
[*]The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - Fred C. Dobbs
[*]12 Monkeys - Jeffrey Goines
[*]2001: A Space Odyssey - HAL 9000
[*]Unbreakable - Elijah Price
[*]Vertigo - John 'Scottie' Ferguson
[*]White Heat - Cody Jarrett

Wild Card List

[*]The Abominable Dr. Phibes - Dr. Anton Phibes
[*]The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai - Lord Whorfin
[*]Affliction - Wade Whitehouse
[*]Akira - Tetsuo Shima
[*]Arsenic and Old Lace - Aunt Abby & Aunt Martha
[*]The Bridge on the River Kwai - Colonel Nicholson
[*]The Caine Mutiny - Captain Queeg
[*]The Conversation - Harry Caul
[*]Dead Ringers - Beverly & Elliot Mantle
[*]Dirty Harry - Scorpio Killer
[*]Halloween - Dr. Sam Loomis
[*]Harvey - Elwood P. Dowd
[*]Heavenly Creatures - Pauline Parker & Juliet Hulme
[*]Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - Henry
[*]The Hitcher - John Ryder
[*]The Invisible Man - The Invisible Man
~~[*]Lolita~~ ~~- Humbert Humbert~~
~~[*]Memento~~ ~~- Leonard Shelby~~
[*]Payback - Porter
[*]Peeping Tom - Mark Lewis
[*]Police Academy - Zed
[*]Reservoir Dogs - Mr. Blonde
[*]The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Dr. Frank N Furter
[*]Romeo is Bleeding - Mona Demarkov
[*]Seven Samurai - Kikuchiyo
[*]Spider-Man - Norman Osborne/The Green Goblin
[*]The Talented Mr. Ripley - Tom Ripley
[*]Targets - Bobby Thompson
[*]The Tenant - Trelkovsky
[*]Tenebrae - Peter Neal
[*]What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - Baby Jane Watson
[*]A Woman Under the Influence - Mabel Longhetti

SteveGon · Jan 18, 2003

The following are suggestions, not nominations - you'll have to do that yourselves.

Megalomaniacs with an axe to grind:
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Deadly obsessions/paranoia:
Vertigo
The Conversation
Fitzcarraldo
Crazy for their mothers:
Santa Sangre
Psycho
White Heat
The Big Apple can drive you crazy:
Taxi Driver
Fingers
Biblical nuts
Se7en
Night of the Hunter
War is hell on the psyche:
The Ninth Configuration
Apocalypse Now
Odds and ends:
Targets
Peeping Tom
Again, those should give you an idea of what we're looking for. I reserve the right to throw out any nominations I deem unfit.

When nominating, please give both the movie title and the character name, as well as a brief plot synopsis if the film is relatively unknown. Thanks!

Richard Kim · Jan 18, 2003

I'd like to nominate:
Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver
Norman Bates in Psycho (1960)
Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980)
Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now
The Narrator in Fight Club
Gollum in LOTR: The Two Towers (obsessed with something to the point of it consuming their lives.)
Hope that's not too much to handle.

SteveGon · Jan 18, 2003

Good picks!

One thing: let's stick primarily to human characters. Gollum is fine, and I'll accept a few other non-human entries, but let's not overdo it. Thanks!

ChuckDeLa · Jan 18, 2003

Sounds like fun, I'll chime in with my noms and seconds a little later.

In the meantime... people, while you're pondering your nominations for this tournament, PLEASE don't neglect the epic Characters Tournament that Vickie is running! She's put a lot of work into it, but we need more people providing their input!! Right now, only about 5 people are contributing. Nominations are still open!

SteveGon · Jan 18, 2003

Dome Vongvises · Jan 18, 2003

nominations
Private Pyle Full Metal Jacket
Reverand Harry Powell Night of the Hunter
Nick The Dear Hunter
second
Jack Torrance Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
Gollum Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers
Travis Bickle Taxi Driver
Norman Bates Psycho
I have two noms, 1 second, and all my thirds.

Vickie_M · Jan 18, 2003

Thanks Chuck!

Nominate:

Bess McNeill - Beaking the Waves (Emily Watson)

Grima Wormtongue - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Brad Dourif)

Charles Bushman - Sling Blade (J.T.Walsh)

Don Lope de Aguirre - Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Klaus Kinski)

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald - Fitzcarraldo (Klaus Kinski)

Second:

Apocalypse Now - Colonel Kurtz
The Deer Hunter - Nick
Fight Club - The Narrator
Full Metal Jacket - Private Pyle
The Night of the Hunter - Reverend Harry Powell

Third:

The Lord of the Rings - Gollum*
Psycho - Norman Bates*
The Shining - Jack Torrance*
Taxi Driver - Travis Bickle*

ChuckDeLa · Jan 18, 2003

Boy, this was a hard list to narrow down!

Nominate:
Frank Booth - Blue Velvet (Dennis Hopper)
Howard Beale - Network (Peter Finch)
Rupert Pupkin - The King of Comedy (Robert DeNiro)
HAL 9000 - 2001: A Space Odyssey (Douglas Rain)
"The Mantis" - Red Beard (Kyoko Kagawa)

Second:
Bess McNeill - Breaking the Waves (Emily Watson)
Don Lope de Aguirre - Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Klaus Kinski)

Some more I would have nominated if I had more noms (hint hint!):
Jeffrey Goines - 12 Monkeys (Brad Pitt)
Leonard Zelig - Zelig (Woody Allen)
Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper - Dr. Strangelove (Sterling Hayden)
Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall)
Carol White - Safe (Julianne Moore)
Bruno Antony - Strangers on a Train (Robert Walker)

Bill J · Jan 18, 2003

Third:
Apocalypse Now - Colonel Kurtz

SteveGon · Jan 18, 2003

Vickie and Chuck: I'm going to throw out Charles Bushman from Slingblade and "The Mantis" from Red Beard as they were minor characters with relatively little screen time. I know they were crazy, but I'd like to stick with characters that had bigger parts. Sorry, I should have clarified that.

Chuck: good suggestions except for Carol White. I haven't see Safe for a few years, but I don't remember her as being crazy. Granted, she had a hard time dealing with her condition, but she didn't really go loco.
Vickie: I'm not sure about Grima Wormtongue. Was he really crazy? I only saw TTT once (sorry) and I don't remember much about him.
Has anyone else seen Fingers? Great movie with Harvey Keitel that came out a few months ago on DVD. I did a write-up on it in the Expanding Horizons thread.

ChuckDeLa · Jan 18, 2003

Chuck: good suggestions except for Carol White. I haven't see Safe for a few years, but I don't remember her as being crazy. Granted, she had a hard time dealing with her condition, but she didn't really go loco.

I realize that it's rather open to interpretation, but "her condition" is that she IS loco.

No biggie, though.

With the Mantis gone, I'll nominate:

Jeffrey Goines - 12 Monkeys (Brad Pitt)

Click to expand...

Ric Bagoly · Jan 18, 2003

Nominate-
Mr. Blonde aka Vic Vega-Reservoir Dogs (Michael Madsen)
The Joker aka Jack Napier-Batman (Jack Nicholson)
Billy Bibbit-One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Brad Dourif)
Sir Edward Gull-From Hell (Ian Holm)
Raoul Duke aka Hunter S. Thompson-Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (Johnny Depp)
Second-
Frank Booth
Rupert Pupkin
Howard Beale
HAL 9000
Third-
Nick
The Narrator
Private Pyle aka Leonard Lawrence

JenB · Jan 18, 2003

Second:
The Joker aka Jack Napier-Batman (Jack Nicholson)
Third:
HAL 9000

ErikG · Jan 18, 2003

Nominate:
Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) Silence of the Lambs
Lt. Coffey (Michael Biehn) The Abyss
Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) American Psycho

Travis Olson · Jan 18, 2003

Noms:

John Doe - Seven
Howard Payne - Speed
The Deacon - Waterworld
John Trent - In the Mouth of Madness

ErikG · Jan 18, 2003

Nominate:
Dr. Weir (Sam Neil) Event Horizon
Scorpio Killer (Andrew Robinson) Dirty Harry
Second:
Frank Booth-Blue Velvet
John Trent-In the Mouth of Madness
John Doe-Se7en
Third:
The Joker-Batman

SteveGon · Jan 19, 2003

Regarding Safe:

I realize that it's rather open to interpretation, but "her condition" is that she IS loco.

Like I said, it's been awhile. Didn't she develop a severe allergy to cleaning products and such? (yeah, I know that's just touching the surface of what the film is about) I've thought about picking up the DVD, but it's a bit pricey.
List updated.
Okay, we seem to be getting a lot of noms for your regular old crazy badguys: Howard Payne, Frank Booth, The Deacon, Scorpio Killer, etc. That's fine but I'd just as soon not have the tourney weighted heavily towards those types. I'll accept a few more of those, but that's it.
As for what else can be nominated, I'm thinking of Scottie Ferguson's obsession in Vertigo, Harry Caul's paranoia in The Conversation, Cody Jarrett's impending breakdown in White Heat, Bobby Thompson going over the edge in Targets, and Vincent Kane's delusion in The Ninth Configuration, to name just a few.

Click to expand...

SteveGon · Jan 19, 2003

Ric, after giving it some thought, I'm going to toss Billy Bibbit - he just seems out of place here. If you'd like to nominate Pink from The Wall, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Granted, he had a drug problem, but the seeds of his insanity were planted long before that.
And that's what I'm getting at here: I'd like to see more of the interesting headcases. Too many routine crazy/eccentric villains and this tourney would turn into a snoozefest.

Rob Tomlin · Jan 19, 2003

Third: Rupert Pupkin
Reverend Harry Powell
Nominate Max Cady (Cape Fear 1991- played by De Niro)

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They're nuts! A crazy movie characters tournament! (2 Viewers)

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