The Film Doctor's top 10 favorite characters
Having been tagged by Jason Bellamy of The Cooler and Kevin J. Olson of Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies, the Film Doctor pieced together some favorites, thereby betraying his preference for femme fatales, cyborgs, and sociopaths. Here they are in descending order:
10) The Terminator (but only in the first film). I like his singularly focused drive.
8) Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) in La Grand Illusion. Aristocratic cool personified.
7) Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) in Philadelphia Story. Another snotty, witty character. I like her high-pitched fake laugh.
6) Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) in Almost Famous: [in the middle of a class lecture] "Rock stars have kidnapped my son!"
5) Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) in Out of the Past: for his transcendent sleepiness.
4) Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) in White Heat: the definitive gangster sociopath.
3) Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) in Bull Durham: "I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology."
2) Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) in Streetcar Named Desire: "When we first met, me and you, you thought I was common. How right you was, baby. I was common as dirt. You showed me the snapshots of the place with the columns. I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it."
1) My all-time favorite character: Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) in The Last Seduction. As Mike Swale tells her in a phone message: "I love you--I'm sure you feel the same way--I'm sure you love you too."
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Lastly, I tag Screen Savour, Wonders in the Dark, Flickhead, Cinema-o-rama, and Andrew of Gateway Cinephiles if they feel like it, or anyone reading this post.
Comments
I'm exposing my unsophisticated self to the good Doctor's probing judgement:
A ranked list isn't in me, but I have loved these characters:
Gary Sinise as Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump,
Michael Jeter as Eduard Delacroix in The Green Mile,
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clousseau in The Pink Panther,
Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa in Casablanca,
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface,
Kathy Bates as Evelyn in Fried Green Tomatoes,
Kirk Douglas as Spartacus,
Elizabeth Taylor as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf.
Tim Curry as Frankenfurter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Hard to stop once you get going...
Speaking of Cody Jarrett (great choice), how about his mother (Margaret Wycherly), affectionately known as Ma?
Now that you've stolen him, though, I think I'll go with Jane Greer's femme fatale. Somehow, I actually prefer her. :-)
Thanks, Tom. Yes, Cody's mom makes all of the difference in White Heat. I tried to find a picture of Cody sitting on her lap.
Thanks, Alexander. I'm glad to hear that we share an appreciation for Out of the Past, one of those films I don't mind watching over and over indefinitely. It's the ultimate mannered noir.
As for Terminator - good pick. I remember seeing this unknown film for the first time in the theater with my younger brother, and we laughed out loud when he 1)steps on the toy truck and 2)is fixing his eye and hears the knock on the door, scrolls through the possible responses, and then chooses a memorable one. Awesome character!
You are right about idiosyncrasies of these fav character lists. I was surprised by how several of mine came from the 80s, I guess a formative period for me.
Yes, Roberta is the more fully fleshed out of the two. I'm still kind of surprised that I picked Susan, but I like her nonchalance and attitude, the way she dries off an armpit with the blow-dryer. She is something of a rock and roll cliche, but Madonna pulls it off.