Whom Do You Consider The Greatest And Most Memorable Characters In All Of Cinema ?

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BAYLOR

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And what makes them so great and so memorable ? This covers all film genres and includes animated films as well. :)
 
The Maltese Falcon The character Sam Spade detective. Hardboiled and unsentimental noir detective and very much unforgettable.:cool:
 
Luke Skywalker is basically a Messiah or Galahad figure. I'd say Darth Vader is the greatest film villain.
 
Clint Eastwood in the Spaghetti westerns, by a country mile. Working with Leone he redefined the depiction of the west.

Runners up Steve McQueen in Bullitt
and Harrison Ford in Witness
Actually I'm going to add Tilda Swinton in Orlando She cut that finely balanced role perfectly.
 
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DiCaprio's Danny Archer from Blood Diamond; a mercenary with his heart in the right place.
Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley for strength of character in the face of extreme work conditions and physical peril, as well as emotional resilience to personal loss.
Dalton's James Bond for the jadedness and 'cruel smile'.
Clive Owen's Theo Faron from Children of Men, for the selfless hero beneath the broken man.
Michael Gambon's take on Albus Dumbledore, the father figure we'd all want.
And, of course, Robert Shaw, Roy Schieder AND Richard Dreyfus from Jaws, all for inhabiting three realistic, driven individuals with their own goals and prejudices, and for making quite possibly the best triumvirate in cinema.
 
Lots of great mentions.

I agree on Bond (in general, but Timothy Dalton ranks as my favourite Bond. It's a shame he didn't want to be tied to the role.)
Star Wars had a lot. Luke, Han and Leia. I would even go as far as to add Rey.
Star Trek had their trifecta in Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
Ellen Ripley is a great movie heroine.
Sarah Connor from the Terminator movies.
I think Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry movies is up there with Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns.

What about the Marvel Movies? Okay, they're by the numbers but they are enjoyable. Or are they considered more to be memorable comic book characters?

I think the bad guys have the best and most memorable roles.

Hans Gruber in Die Hard stole the movie.
Darth Vader in the Star Wars Trilogy
Khan and his chest. (and the recent death of Christopher Plummer makes be think of General Chang. Although i'd argue that he hasn't really made it into the zeitgeist of the general public.)
Arnie's Terminator is always watchable, although i prefer the mindless killing machine of the first one.
 
Harry Callahan [Dirty Harry] from the early movies. The epitome of the maverick so-unhip-he's cool cop. Pragmatically, he always worked for what he thought was right. I think you can draw a straight line from Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon to Harry Callahan. Its just a nice coincide that they are both set is San Francisco.
 
For me Dirk Bogart, (Sydney Carton) from Tale of Two Cities. A man suffering through an unrequited love but in the end he sacrifices himself for the woman who doesn't love him. One of the great books ever filmed.
 
Definitely agree with Hans Gruber. In fact Alan Rickman was a brilliant baddie. Think of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves; an instantly forgettable move if it wasn't for the Sheriff of Nottingham. And he (almost) steals the show as Snape in Harry Potter.
 
paranoid marvin said:
Definitely agree with Hans Gruber. In fact Alan Rickman was a brilliant baddie. Think of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves; an instantly forgettable move if it wasn't for the Sheriff of Nottingham. And he (almost) steals the show as Snape in Harry Potter.
Click to expand...

And Alan Rickman was great in Galaxy Quest as Alexander Dane / Dr Lazarus. :cool:
 
Live-action:
  • Captain Jack Sparrow
  • The Addams Family
  • Indiana Jones
  • Darth Vader
  • Heath Ledger's Joker
  • Obi-wan Kenobi (Old and young versions)
  • Loki (MCU)
  • Betelgeuse
  • Davey Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)
  • Frankenstein's Monster
  • The Invisible Man
Animated:
  • Jack Skellington
  • Judge Claude Frollo
  • Hades (Disney)
  • Maleficent
  • Ramses (Prince of Egypt)
  • Scar (The Lion King)
  • Wallace and Gromit
  • Miles Morales (Into the Spider-verse)
Not an exhaustive list, to be sure, but still.
 
Without a lot of thought:

-Gwynplain - The Man Who Laughs
-Hotelportier - The Last Laugh
-Philbert Bono - PowWow Highway
-Angel Eyes/Sentenza - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
-Bernardo O'Reilly - The Magnificent Seven
-Sabata - Sabata films
-Doc Brown - Back To The Future Films
-Randal McMurphy - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
-Inigo Montoya - Princess Bride
-Inspector Charles Dreyfuss - Pink Panther Movies
 
Piman25 said:
Oh and:
Child Catcher - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Click to expand...

Played by Robert Helpmann He was amazing in that part.

Benny Hill was also in that film as the toymaker. He was great comedian and damned good actor.
 
For me Sean Connery's James Bond. James Bond may be the most iconic of characters and Sean Connery was the most iconic Bond.
 
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