Hucklebug Episode 171: RIP Art Clokey, Miep Gies, Eric Rohmer, Jay Reatard, Teddy Pendergrass, Jan Gabriel, Stuart McGehee, shout-outs, movies (Bet: none; Stennie: American Teen), highlights and lowlights, fuck-offs and you-rules, Top Five Movie Villains.
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed by Otis Redding, Lee Rocker, and Frank Sinatra.
This was my villains list from facebook:
5. Hans Gruber
4. HAL9000
3. Dr. Rene Belloq
2. Ernst Stavro Blofeld
1. Jack Wilson
I’d stick by that list mostly, but now I’d probably move HAL up to #2 and perhaps consider one of Stanwyck’s femmes fatale (like Phyllis Dietrichson) for #5.
Jack Wilson as Shane’s counterpart is probably the most evil character I’ve ever seen in a movie. The way he just sits there drinking his coffee, rarely speaking, you can tell he’s not exactly experiencing a conflicted conscience. And when he clearly outdraws Stonewall (played by the great Elisha Cook, Jr.) and guns him down coldly….uh, wow.
Top 5 TV characters next? ‘Cause I’ve got a good list of those.
And since it was all a ruse just to get me to do it, I suppose I should mention that my audiobook of Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night is finished. Go here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=6f8f7ba6310afc70ab1eab3e9fa335cac29be828a5ce8616
You WOULD have had 6 comments had the blog not eaten my comment as I was typing it on Friday, and then I ran out of time; I had to recreate it on Saturday 🙁
Excellent movie villains! Good picks all. If you remember my comment from last week I mentioned a villain shoe-in from the 60’s. Here’s a hint:
Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Villain: No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.
Goldfinger!
Some of my top villains:
* Yosemite Sam
* Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series
* Maleficent, the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty
* Mr. Dark, from Something Wicked This Way Comes (a simply marvelous performance from Jonathan Pryce too).
* Captain Hook from Peter Pan
* Bill from Kill Bill
* Hitler in Downfall
My number 1 villain:
Senator Roark (played by Powers Boothe) in Sin City
If you’ve never been to or organized a Surprise party, that might be a “new thing to do per week” item. Pete & I did the classic “hide in the dark until they open the door and yell SURPRISE!” thing for the first time on Saturday – it was fun!
My Villains:
1. I personally had a crush on Tim Curry as the Devil in “Legend” when I was a young girl, but maybe it was because of the gothic costume he gave his conquests – he knew how to dress a lady!
2. I concur on Wicked Witch!
3. Lena Lamont (to stay with my Singing in the Rain fetish) – bitch of Hollywood knew how to use her movie contracts and her fame to fuck people over. “AND I CAEEEEN’T STAN ‘EM!”
4. For some reason Medusa keeps popping up…a sad lady, I think.
It seems like everyone forgot David Bowie as Jarath the Goblin King from Labyrinth!
2. Joan Crawford, Mommie Dearest
3. Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) – The Fifth Element
4. Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) – Apocalypse Now
5.Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) – The Silence Of The Lambs
I know Sweeny Todd is a villain, but there are so few villains who break into song, I refuse to put him on my list.
Love the show!
Sorry for the prolonged absence. Been listening, but keep forgetting to leave comments!
Bet, you’re right, David Warner is awesome in TIME AFTER TIME, as well as most roles. (Also was a great villain in that movie. Hint hint.)
I liked AMERICAN TEEN better than others who questioned the “truth” of that documentary. The one young girl, Hannah Bailey, is just about the coolest girl that ever lived. Plays in a band, is attractive but doesn’t know it or care, and is hysterically funny. Those of us who look fondly back at our formative years can remember the Hannah Baileys. And I’m sure there were male counterparts.
Villains:
1. I second Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in MOMMIE DEAREST. I love how evil she is. So bad it’s good.
2. Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes in OLIVER! Scared me as a child, and always affected my perception of Reed. His notoriety as a violent drunk didn’t help.
3. Robert Mitchum in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. You’ll notice this list is mostly of adults being evil toward children. I’m glad I caught this at a later age, cause Mitchum is terrifying as a preacher who stalks two kids in search of hidden money.
4. M. Emmet Walsh, BLOOD SIMPLE. Before NO COUNTRY, the Coens gave Walsh a great role as an unstoppable, bloodthirsty tracker. Just chilling.
5. (TIE) The shark in JAWS and the house in POLTERGEIST. These two non-human villains get in your head, mostly because you never know when they’re gonna jump out at you. Spielberg helped create two of the scariest PG movies ever made.
6. And speaking of non-human villians: The unseen evil in Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD 2, which is basically just represented by the camera charging at its victims with a motoring engine on the soundtrack. It’s low-budget slapstick horror with some camera trickery and a brain. Groovy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnIB4M6w1dE
Oh and HAL-9000 is the ultimate, in what might be my favorite flick of all time. To me, 2001 is in the canon of “stop what you’re doing and watch till the end” flicks.
I just remembered another great one: Mrs. Danvers, from Rebecca (also a literary figure). Well played by Judith Anderson, and pretty damn scary.
I’m with Patrick on 2001. I first saw it when I was 14 and it still seems as formidable now, after dozens of viewings.
I haven’t finished listening to this episode, but it’s getting close to podcast time. Better comment! I bought a new ipod so I’m finally getting caught up. I OF COURSE listened to all 3 round table episodes and loved them. And was sorry I couldn’t be there.
I was going to leave a comment last week with my favorite movie characters but after immediately thinking Inigo Montoya I drew a blank. He’s great and all, but I must like SOMEONE else, don’t you think? I’m at the gym right now, riding the cycle and thinking about villains. I’ve got 3 so far.
By the way – I put a picture on FB today especially for you gals…
Ok, home from the gym, villains in hand. Is it too late, I wonder?
5. Ursula the Sea Witch, from the Little Mermaid. I just love her. She’s make an awesome Halloween costume.
4. Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate in The Great Race: “Push the button, Max!”
3. Hedley Lamarr, from Blazing Saddles. I got there on my own, Bet, and couldn’t agree more.
2. Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham, in the godawful version of Robin Hood with godawful Keven Costner and that ghastly, ghastly godawful Bryan Adams song. He wasn’t just good because everything else around him stunk. He was just bad sexy good.
1. Darth Vader! Just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it’s not true! He is the personification of evil, and has always scared the crap out of me.
By the way, I spent most of last weekend on my audiobook and I didn’t even finish the forward. Man! My voice is ANNOYING! How do you people stand it?
Ferris Bueller, like George Clooney, can get away w/ the slight obnoxiousness, IMO, because they make up for it with charm. Nevertheless, here’s a fun little exercise: Watch FBDO followed by Election.
Five (or more) great villains, in no particular order:
The Terminator:
“It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!” Always struck me as a pretty apt description of Dick Cheney.
The Joker, The Dark Knight
Bridget Gregory/Wendy Kroy, The Last Seduction
Linda Fiorentino does a Stanwyckian turn as a femme fatale in this neo-noir from 1994.
Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men
Nurse Rached, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Mr. Potter, It’s a Wonderful Life
Again with the Dick Cheney association: see Obama’s inauguration.
Shere Kahn, The Jungle Book
George Saunders. So deliciously evil.
Hannibal Lecter, Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs
Has Gruber, Die Hard
Bob Ewell, To Kill a Mockingbird
I just loved Bet’s Betty Rubble laugh in the stinger of this ep. It made me smile.
Thanks for helpful information you catch up us with your instructional explanation.