Stealing the Show

Here's a look into my fascinating personal life: There are groups of folks I talk with pretty regularly about things like reading, writing, and movies--and those groups often, but not always, overlap. My point is, the other day our little movie group was chatting about our favorite characters. The discussion soon moved to favorite heroes/heroines, favorite villains, favorite sidekicks, and so on.

Finally one lady said, "Let's simplify it. Which ones are the most memorable?"

I, of course, can't let something like that go to waste. After all, I have a duty to post a SleuthSayers column every first, third, and fifth Saturday, rain or shine, and I know a good subject when I hear one.

So, since movies are a type of fiction and this blog's supposed to be about fiction . . . that's the first of today's two questions: Who do you think are the most memorable movie characters?

Before you answer, here are my own top ten:

Note to my friend Elizabeth Zelvin, who will say "John, these are mostly 'guy movies.'": You're right, Liz--but not ALL of them are . . .

1. Augustus McCrea (Robert Duvall, Lonesome Dove)

2. Al Swearengen (Ian McShane, Deadwood)

3. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, Aliens)

4. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell, Escape from New York)

5. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates, Misery)

6. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men)

7. Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman, The French Connection)

8. John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan, The Green Mile)

9. Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, Fargo)

10. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman, Die Hard)

Yes, I admit I cheated and included characters from a mini-series or two, and I also didn't count no-brainers like James Bond, Indiana Jones, Michael Corleone, Hannibal Lecter, Scarlett O'Hara, Rick Blaine, Norman Bates, Superman, Forrest Gump, Nurse Ratched, Darth Vader, Marty McFly, Ferris Bueller, Harry Callahan, Tony Soprano, Rocky Balboa, etc., etc.

Second question--and the real reason for the title of this post: Who do you think are the most memorable movie characters in a minor or incidental role? In other words, not one of the main characters? (Think Ronny Howard in The Music Man or Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.) I think some of these folks not only steal scenes; the steal the show.

Here, for what it's worth, are my choices: 

1. C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard, Bonnie and Clyde)

2. Vizzini (Wallace Shawn, The Princess Bride)

3. Private Hudson (Bill Paxton, Aliens)

4. Belle Rosen (Shelley Winters, The Poseidon Adventure)

5. The Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton, The Wizard of Oz)

6. Pea Eye Parker (Timothy Scott, Lonesome Dove)

7. Crewman #6 (Sam Rockwell, Galaxy Quest) 

8. Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley, The Natural)

9. Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison, The Green Mile)

10. Lyle (Burton Gilliam, Blazing Saddles)

11. Johnny Henshaw (Stephen Stucker, Airplane!)

12. The Stranger (Sam Elliott, The Big Lebowski)

13. Clifford Worley (Dennis Hopper, True Romance)

14. Customer in diner (Estelle Reiner, When Harry Met Sally)

15. The Governor (Charles Durning, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)

16. Short Round (Ke Huy Kwan, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)

17. Old-timer in saloon (Pat Buttram, Back to the Future III)

18. Dusty Davis (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Twister)

19. The Black Knight (John Cleese, Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

20. Captain Koons (Christopher Walken, Pulp Fiction)

21. Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine, Escape from New York) 

22. Diner waitress (Margaret Bowman, Hell or High Water)

23. Dr. Ray Reddy (M. Night Shyamalan, Signs)

24. Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost)

25. Beatrice (Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Men in Black) 

If you like trivia, and if you're really bored . . . which of the above 25 minor characters said the following? 

"All right, Hobbs, knock the cover off the ball."

"How 'bout some more beans, Mr. Taggart?"

"I'll get you, my pretty--and your little dog too."

"It's coming! It's headed right for us!"

"Ooooo, I love to dance a little sidestep . . ."

"Little man, I give the watch to you."

"Dirt in the fuel line--Just blowed it away."

"Docta Jones! Docta Jones! No more parachutes!"

"You been declared competent, son. Know what that means? It means you gonna ride the lightnin'."

"Hey, Snake--You don't wanta be walkin' around down there."

"It's only a scratch."

"Game over, man. Game over!"

"If you don't go out there, everybody everywhere will say, 'Clint Eastwood is the biggest yellow-belly in the West.'"

"Molly? You in danger, girl."

"Yeah, he asked me for some water. Sugar water."

"I been workin' here 44 years. Ain't nobody ever ordered nothin' but T-bone steak and a baked potato."

"My lord. Old Deets is gone. My lord."

"Don't open my pantry, Father. I found one of them in there and I locked him in."

"Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes."

"I changed my mind. I wanta go back."

"So you're a Sicilian, huh?"

"You see, Mr. Scott? In the water I'm a very skinny woman."

"The Dude abides."

"Incontheivable!"

"I'll have what she's having."

Before we stop this silliness, here are some runners-up:

Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn, Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

Dot (Frances McDormand, Raising Arizona)

Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek, From Dusk till Dawn)

Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen, Reservoir Dogs)

Principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones, Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Now, once again--What are your choices for most memorable movie characters, major and minor? Do you agree with me on any of the above? Have you created these kinds of unforgettable characters in your own fiction? 

In my case . . . well, I wish.