Good vs Evil

America's favourite heroes and villains assembled


by empire |
Published on

The American Film Institute has clearly got a lot of free time on its hands. Somewhat bored one night in the pub, the organisation decided to launch a truly fascinating study that would definitively identify America's top heroes and villains. Whoop-de-doo. The front-runners in this profound and truly ground-breaking study were Hannibal Lecter (heading the baddies) and Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird (leading the goodies). The sixth in the AFI's series of '100 lists' this role call of fictional figures held little in the way of surprises with Indiana Jones, James Bond, Casablanca's Rick Blane and High Noon's Will Blane making up the rest of the heroes' top five and familiar names like Clarice Starling, Ellen Ripley, George Bailey and Rocky Balboa all appearing within the top ten. Norman Bates, Darth Vader, The Wicked Witch of the West, and Nurse Ratched followed Lecter as the ones Americans love to hate, closely followed by such shady characters as Fatal Attraction's Alex Forrest and The Exorcist's Regan Macneil - aka the demon, Pazuzu. Well we don't know about you but our lives have been enriched. If you're extremely desperate for something to help waste away the morning then the entire list can be found below - but be warned, we take no responsibility for brain haemorrhages or similar boredom-related side-effects. The Heroes 1. Atticus Finch - To Kill A Mockingbird 2. Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark 3. James Bond - Dr. No 4. Rick Blaine - Casablanca 5. Will Kane - High Noon 6. Clarice Starling - Silence Of The Lambs 7. Rocky Balboa - Rocky 8. Ellen Ripley - Aliens 9. George Bailey - It's A Wonderful Life 10. T. E. Lawrence - Lawrence Of Arabia 11. Jefferson Smith - Mr. Smith Goes To Washington 12. Tom Joad - The Grapes Of Wrath 13. Oskar Schindler - Schindler's List 14. Han Solo - Star Wars 15. Norma Rae Webster - Norma Rae 16. Shane - Shane 17. Harry Callahan - Dirty Harry 18. Robin Hood - Adventures Of Robin Hood 19. Virgil Tibbs - The Heat Of The Night 20. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid - Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid 21. Mahatma Gandhi - Gandhi 22. Spartacus - Spartacus 23. Terry Malloy - On The Waterfront 24. Thelma Dickerson & Louise Sawyer - Thelma & Louise 25. Lou Gehrig - The Pride Of The Yankees 26. Superman - Superman 27. Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein - All The President's Men 28. Juror #8 - 12 Angry Men 29. General George Patton - Patton 30. Luke Jackson - Cool Hand Luke 31. Erin Brockovich - Erin Brockovich 32. Philip Marlowe - The Big Sleep 33. Marge Gunderson - Fargo 34. Tarzan - Tarzan The Ape Man 35. Alvin York - Sergeant York 36. Rooster Cogburn - True Grit 37. Obi-Wan Kenobi - Star Wars 38. The Tramp - City Lights 39. Lassie - Lassie Come Home 40. Frank Serpico - Serpico 41. Arthur Chipping - Goodbye, Mr. Chips 42. Father Edward - Flanagan Boys Town 43. Moses - The Ten Commandments 44. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle - The French Connection 45. Zorro - The Mark Of Zorro 46. Batman - Batman 47. Karen Silkwood - Silkwood 48. Terminator - Terminator 2: Judgment Day 49. Andrew Beckett - Philadelphia 50. General Maximus Decimus Meridius - Gladiator The Villains 1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs 2. Norman Bates - Psycho 3. Darth Vader - The Empire Strikes Back 4. The Wicked Witch Of The West - The Wizard Of Oz 5. Nurse Ratched - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 6. Mr. Potter - It's A Wonderful Life 7. Alex Forrest - Fatal Attraction 8. Phyllis Dietrichson - Double Indemnity 9. Regan Macneil - The Exorcist 10. The Queen - Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs 11. Michael Corleone - The Godfather Part II 12. Alex De Large - Clockwork Orange 13. Hal 9000 - 2001: A Space Odyssey 14. The Alien - Alien 15. Amon Goeth - Schindler's List 16. Noah Cross - Chinatown 17. Annie Wilkes - Misery 18. The Shark - Jaws 19. Captain Bligh - Mutiny On The Bounty 20. Man - Bambi 21. Mrs. John Isel- The Manchurian Candidate 22. Terminator - The Terminator 23. Eve Harrington - All About Eve 24. Gordon Gekko - Wall Street 25. Jack Torrance - The Shining 26. Cody Jarrett - White Heat 27. Martians - The War Of The Worlds 28. Max Cady - Cape Fear 29. Reverend Harry Powell - The Night Of The Hunter 30. Travis Bickle - Taxi Driver 31. Mrs. Danvers - Rebecca 32. Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker - Bonnie And Clyde 33. Count Dracula - Dracula 34. Dr. Szell - Marathon Man 35. J.J. Hunsecker - Sweet Smell Of Success 36. Frank Booth - Blue Velvet 37. Harry Lime - The Third Man 38. Caesar Enrico Bandello - Little Caesar 39. Cruella De Vil - One Hundred And One Dalmations 40. Freddy Krueger - A Nightmare On Elm Street 41. Joan Crawford - Mommie Dearest 42. Tom Powers - The Public Enemy 43. Regina Giddens - The Little Foxes 44. Baby Jane Hudson - Whatever Happened To Baby Jane 45. The Joker - Batman 46. Hans Gruber - Die Hard 47. Tony Camonte - Scarface 48. Verbal Kint - The Usual Suspects 49. Auric Goldfinger - Goldfinger 50. Alonzo Harris - Training Day

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