411's Top 100 Movie/TV Characters: 90 - 81

Posted by Scott Rutherford on 02.05.2008

Installment two of the countdown that's setting the internet alight!

#100 - #91
#90 - #81
#80 - #71
#70 - #61
#60 - #51
#50 - #41
#40 - #31

One down, nine to go. After getting off to a hot start and a few surprise early entries (Shrek and Bart Simpson!) we settle down for the road ahead. Movie characters are still dominating the field and what an eclectic bunch they are. However, contained below are a few surprise entries given how low they appear on the list and also for even making it in the first place.

So instead of me sitting here talking you about it how about I cut to the chase and you can read for yourself…

#90 – Karl Childers

As Played By – Billy Bob Thornton
Where Have You Seen Them - Slingblade
Classic Dialog - Ummm hmmmm
Most Well Known Trait - The walk and the chin.
Write-Up By 411's - Tony Farinella
Karl Childers might seem like a simple man, but there's more than meets the eye with him. He spent a good portion of his life in a psychiatric hospital after killing his mother and her lover. Karl finally returns to his hometown of Arkansas and does his best to get his life together. Needless to say, it's not an easy task for Karl.

Thankfully, Karl is a wizard at repairing small motors for Bill Cox. While working for Bill Cox, he discovers that he loves French fries. He really, really loves French fries. Karl also loves to read. Karl reads the bible among other books in his spare time. Before long, Karl develops a friendship with a young child and does his best to help him deal with his mother's angry boyfriend. Karl even moves in with them.

Karl is one good friend. He's loyal, understanding, and kind. Not only that, Karl is understanding to all sexes. He develops a friendship with Linda's homosexual boss. Karl doesn't judge anyone or anything. He just wants to eat his French fries and read some books. That's a pretty nice life, isn't it? It's simple but effective for Karl.

I think we all know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover." Karl is living proof of that statement. Karl is not without his problems, but he's smarter than most people. He sees the big picture. He doesn't need fancy clothes or fancy technology to make him happy. He just wants good company, and he's more than happy.

I think we all could learn a thing or two from Karl.

Karl believes strongly in friendship and family. Even though his real family never treated him right, he's very good to Linda and Frank. Karl's not afraid to start over. Even after he's been rejected and turned down by other people, he's still open to others. Karl even goes on dates!

Karl's main flaw is probably his decision making. His heart is always in the right place, but he often makes poor decisions. Karl also has problems adjusting to the real world. Nevertheless, you can't get mad at Karl. He just doesn't know any better. In the end, Karl must return to the place he came from: the psychiatric hospital.

As weird as it might sound, I think Karl feels at home there.

The real world doesn't deserve Karl.

#89 – Martin Riggs

As Played By – Mel Gibson
Where Have You Seen Them - The Lethal Weapon movies
Classic Dialog - Hey, look friend, let's just cut the shit. Now we both know why I was transferred. Everybody thinks I'm suicidal, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me; or they think I'm faking to draw a psycho pension, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me. Basically, I'm fucked.
Most Well Known Trait - Redefining the "nutty cop" role.
Write-Up By 411's - Ben Piper
While the Mad Max movies firmly placed Mel Gibson in the public consciousness, it was the role of Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series that made him a bone fide A-List box office draw.

Riggs is not just an ordinary cop. He was once a Special Forces army ranger, which means he's had a lot more training that an ordinary flatfoot would receive. It makes him a true badass, in that there isn't many dangerous situations that he would find himself in that he isn't fully prepared to deal with. But the thing is, the guy takes a lot of chances, most notably with his own life and well-being in the balance, which causes his fellow officers, as well as the police psychologist to believe that the guy is freakin' off his rocker and has no business sporting a badge.

Enter Roger Murtaugh, (Danny Glover) a by the book, old school, about to retire no nonsense kind of detective. Forced to partner up with Riggs, Murtaugh finds himself to be his unwilling accomplice, as Martin persists on being a loose cannon. As their relationship gets more strained, Roger finally learns the truth; Riggs isn't crazy, he's borderline suicidal over the loss of his beloved wife.

What follows is a kind of mutual understanding and respect of one another. Roger now knows why Martin acts the way he does, and Riggs in turn gets to know Roger and his family. They develop a great working dynamic with one another, as Murtaugh does his best to prove that he's no dinosaur and the equal of Riggs as a cop. Martin returns the favor by proving him wrong, most memorably in a scene on a shooting range where Riggs takes the bullseye his partner made and trumps it by quickly turning it into a happy face.

The plot of the original "Weapon" movie surrounds the investigation of a former military squad that has turned drug cartel. As things get more heated the cartel threatens Roger's family and well being by kidnapping his oldest daughter. It's at this point, even after being shot in the chest (while thankfully wearing kevlar) that Riggs really begins to take things personally. Never mind the fact that he gets tortured via electricity a little later on once he's captured by the bad guys. No, it's the fact that his new surrogate family that has taken him in as one of their own is threatened, where we see him the most passionate, the most driven, the most unstoppable. A true human Lethal Weapon.

Needless to say that Riggs saves the day, Murtaugh's family, and himself in the process. He now finds that he has the strength to continue on, now that he's been given a lifeline by Roger and his family to tether himself to.

Riggs and Murtaugh are one of the all time great buddy cop tandems in movie history. Their unsteady chemistry in the original carried over into familiarness, fondness and a sense of true brotherhood in further installments, which only added to the whole of their partnership, rather than detracting from it.

Martin Riggs ranks way up there amongst the all time badass movie cops, rubbing shoulders with Dirty Harry Callahan, John McClain, and Popeye Doyle. That is why he is a worthy inclusion into 411's list of the top 100 characters of all-time.

#88 – Father Dougal Maguire

As Played By – Ardal O'Hanlon
Where Have You Seen Them - Father Ted
Classic Dialog - I don't believe in organized religion
Most Well Know Trait - If he had a thought in his head it would be a first!
Write-Up By 411's - Ian Wright
To be honest I can't quite fathom the success that Father Ted had in the UK. Part of it was probably "ha ha aren't the Paddy's thick" type xenophobia but I'd like to think that it was the anarchic and chaotic appeal of the programme that made it huge.

That being said I certainly know why we Irish loved it. Grotesque
caricatures the characters may have been but we recognised ourselves in them, or if not we recognised people we knew. Father Jack is the violent, nasty, drunken side to our society, the hapless Father Ted the quintessential Irish "cute hooer" that's been running the country for the past century (the only difference being that he never got away with his scams) and Mrs. Doyle is the Mammy that we've all met when visiting someone's house who forces sandwiches and cake and tea down our throats as soon as you get through the door (no seriously, we're a modern, vibrant cosmopolitan European society, really, we swear).

But it was Father Dougal who represented one of the most beloved Irish archetypes, the "feicing eejit". There was no malice to Dougal, he was just thick; and that's forgivable because we all know a feicing ejit. Whilst the other characters in Father Ted represented parts of Irish life were either mildly reprehensible (at best) or just annoying (I'd sooner have a coffee thanks) Dougal was just too gormless and innocent to dislike. That's not to say that he wasn't capable of causing chaos to the same degree as the more actively violent Father Jack. He may not be able to remember much about his trip to Kildare other than the fact that he was wearing his blue jumper but the chaos he created there doesn't even match the time that he caused a plane crash. And even if they were "only nuns" what he did to those woman in Blackrock sounds quite horrific.

#87 - Freddy Kruger.

As Played By – Robert Englund
Where Have You Seen Them - Nightmare on Elm St films
Classic Dialog - I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy.
Most Well Known Trait - Than hand and the burnt face
Write-Up By 411's - George H. Sirois
Robert Englund once said about the Nightmare on Elm Street series, "You can never get enough backstory." In the case of Freddy Krueger, he's right. There's never been a modern-day slasher icon that's had as rich a history as the "Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs." Can you think of another character that was conceived in a worst possible way? In case you didn't know, his missionary mother was locked in an insane asylum over the holidays and raped hundreds of times by the inmates.

From there, Krueger went from foster home to foster home, eventually living with a pimp that would cut him with a straight razor as punishment. After a few years of this, Fred started to like it and he used to cut himself on his stomach to get a rise out of himself. (Some people try jerking off, to each his own.) Eventually, Fred lashed out at his foster father and killed him with his own razor. He was then free to do whatever he wanted, which was to inject fear into the happy and privileged children of the suburbs in Springwood, Ohio by stalking, kidnapping and killing them.

The rest, as they say, is cinema history. Fred gets caught and arrested, someone forgets to sign a search warrant so all evidence against him is inadmissible, and so the parents of Springwood track him down to the boiler room where he took the kids. They took gasoline, threw it all over, left a trail out the door, then lit a match and watched it burn.

There's so much that has gone into his character that, if he were just an ordinary serial killer, then that would be enough. But not Freddy, no. He had to push the limits even more by having a fantastic burned-to-a-crisp look, a stylish fedora hat, an iconic bladed right glove and the ability to invade his victims' dreams and kill them in their sleep. This has resulted in some of the most creative death scenes audiences have ever seen in films, such as dragging a girl up to the ceiling, controlling a boy like a marionette puppet by his veins and leading him to an open window, and turning a girl into a cockroach and crushing her in a roach motel.

Through a series of six films - eight if you count Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Freddy vs. Jason - we watched the character of Freddy Krueger come out of the shadows and evolve into a wise-cracking sadistic anti-hero that audiences both love to hate and love to love.

Freddy's success can be traced back to several different sources. Obviously, there's Wes Craven, the writer-director of A Nightmare on Elm Street, who first created this iconic character. There was Frank Darabont and Chuck Russell, who – while co-writing the third film – gave Freddy his sick sense of humor. There was Renny Harlin, the director of the fourth film, who gave Freddy his larger-than-life anti-hero persona.

And of course, there was Robert Englund himself, who brought Freddy to life more than anyone could have ever hoped. His manic energy and physicality have given this character a presence above and beyond the mute stalker mannerisms of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. And unlike Jason and Michael, nobody else other than Robert Englund could play Freddy. (They tried, in a brief shower scene during the second film, and they failed.)

It's a combination of all these elements that have helped make Freddy Krueger not only one of the ultimate horror icons, but deservedly one of the top 100 characters in film & television.

#86 – Tyler Durden

As Played By – Brad Pitt
Where Have You Seen Them - Fight Club
Classic Dialog - Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
Most Well Known Trait - Being a rather destructive figment of someone imagination
Write-Up By 411's - Scott Rutherford
Brad Pitt was BORN to play Tyler Durden. So often overlooked as an actor of any great depth, he found the perfect fit in the manic, magnetism of The Narrators subconscious consciously playing out in the real world. Tyler Durden is the anarchist living in us all, he's the dirt underneath your fingernails and the bile you spit at the things that contain you. In essence, he's everything you wish you could be.

Fight Club was a rare movie for my generation, a movie for males that wasn't some dumb action tale with a muscle-bound thug paying the lead who had a line for every occasion or the wimped-out sensitive guy who wins the pretty girl in the romantic comedy. This was a thought out and murky tale of how the world was killing the spirit inside and then finding something, anything, to make you feel like you weren't alone and empowered by the though of it. But what does this have to do with Tyler?

Tyler was the catalyst. He was the figure that created mayhem (pun intended) as a way to fight the world that was smothering them. It was a character that at once charismatic and raw. He was the leader of men but could not stand out in a crowd if that was what he wanted. It was quite simply, the role Brad Pitt was born to play.

Often typecast in movies and in real life this was a role that he managed to change everyone's opinion of him as an actor. While most would have ruined this role in a blaze of chewed scenery and acting ham, he managed to strike a balance that highlighted the rough edges of the character but rather than have it splash over the screen in flamboyance he coiled it up and used it to create tension that builds slowly and steadily over the course of the movie until the car park fight where Pitt just lets it all hang out. It was a great example of when to unleash and when to play it close. You need give credit to Brad Pitt, he managed to create one of the most vivid and long lasting characters in recent cinema history because in an age where great character performances have dated badly and not held up (Cuba Gooding Jr's Rod Tidwell from Jerry Maguire anyone?), his portrayal of Darden will remain true for decades to come.

Tyler Darden is an icon of cinema and pop culture. It was a character that defined a generation for men that didn't have anything to latch on to. While ultimately he didn't give us many answers to our question he did give voice to our discontent and us wanting to feel anything in a world where emotions don't matter...even if it was pain.

#85 – Obi Wan Kenobi

As Played By – Alec Guinness, Ewan McGregor
Where Have You Seen Them - Star Wars Universe
Classic Dialog - Use the force, Luke.
Most Well Known Trait - Helping create Darth Vader.
Write-Up By 411's - George H Sirios
For hundreds of years, we have seen in various forms of media the archetype character known as "the mentor." He or she is the old wise one that has mastered something that they intend to pass down to the main character. Thirty years ago, writer-director George Lucas created his version of the mentor when he gave us Obi-Wan Kenobi. As originally played by the late Alec Guinness in 1977's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Obi-Wan was referred to as a "strange old hermit," an old man who was called Ben by Luke Skywalker, and throughout this series, we see a slow reveal of one of the most fascinating characters in film and television history.

After saving Luke from a gang of sand people and revealing his true name, Obi-Wan immediately begins telling Luke the truth about his father – with one major truth being told "from a certain point of view" – and gives him his father's lightsaber. During the journey from Tattooine to Alderaan, Kenobi continues to teach Luke the ways of the Force, hoping to train him into becoming the first of a new generation of Jedi Knights. And on the Death Star, Kenobi makes the ultimate sacrifice by giving himself up to the Force and becoming a disembodied voice still urging Luke on to victory. During the next two films, Obi-Wan returns to Luke, but as an apparition guiding Luke to not give into hate and to bury his feelings deep down. In short, even after his death, Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most inspirational teachers in film to Luke Skywalker, playing an integral part into his transition from simple farm boy to Jedi Knight.

16 years after the final Star Wars film, we were given a whole new side of Obi-Wan in the Prequel Trilogy. This time, he is played by Ewan McGregor and we get to see a young, confident padawan learner who is given the task of taking on Anakin Skywalker as his padawan a bit too soon. After his own master Qui-Gon Jinn is killed, Kenobi takes on a fatherly role that turns into a big brother role as Anakin grows up. As Obi-Wan says in Return of the Jedi, he thought he could train Anakin just as well as Yoda, but he was wrong.

When Anakin betrays the Jedi and turns towards the Dark Side, Obi-Wan looks at this as his own personal failure. When he trains Anakin's son 20 years later, he not only succeeds where he failed before, but he redeems himself in his own eyes as Luke redeems his father.

And no matter how old he is, he can use a lightsaber like it's nobody's business.

#84 – The Man With No Name

As Played By – Clint Eastwood
Where Have You Seen Them - A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More & The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Classic Dialog - I don't think it's nice, you laughin'. You see, my mule don't like people laughing. He gets the crazy idea you're laughin' at him. Now if you apologize, like I know you're going to, I might convince him that you really didn't mean it.
Most Well Known Trait - He took no shit from NOBODY
Write-Up By 411's - Chad Webb
In 1964, moviegoers were introduced to the Spaghetti Western by legendary filmmaker Sergio Leone. By 1966, he had concluded a series of films called "The Man with No Name" trilogy, because that is how people referred to the lead character, portrayed by Clint Eastwood. To be truthful, this is a misnomer because Eastwood has names in all three movies. In A Fistful of Dollars he was Joe. In For a Few Dollars More he was Monco, and in The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly he was of course, Blondie. Name or no name, the label stuck, and it sounds better than "The Blondie Trilogy."


Clint Eastwood was 34 years old when he received his big break. Leone snatched him up, and this western icon knocked us off our feet, and would continue to do so through numerous films in the future. All the public knew of Eastwood was that he starred in a television series called Rawhide. That perception would change soon enough. If John Wayne is known for his raw toughness, The Man with No Name is the epitome of everything cool. He is the personification of the word, and no one can take that away from him.

While some might criticize the Man with No Name due to the fact that his debut was based on a remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo, and the actor Toshiro Mifune, over the course of the trilogy, he developed an undeniably imperishable identity all of his own. He is another character that speaks only when absolutely necessary. He is an outsider and an outlaw, a mercenary and an anti-hero.

It is impossible to deny the influence this character has had upon the western genre. He held all the attributes that the John Wayne and Alan Ladd personas frowned upon. He views himself as priority number one, and his ruthlessness is well manifested. While some debate still exists on whether or not it really is the same person in each movie, why bother arguing? No matter what anyone says, it will be commonly accepted that it is the same "Man with No Name" in all three stories. He has the distinguishing poncho, hat, lambskin vest, and silver plated gun. These mythical and significant qualities make him destined for this list.

#83 – Agent Fox Mulder

As Played By – David Duchvony
Where Have You Seen Them - The X-Files
Classic Dialog - I would never lie. I willfully participated in a campaign of misinformation.
Most Well Known Trait - The ultimate true believer
Write-Up By 411's - Trevor Snyder
We all want to believe in something. Whether it be fate, love at first sight, God, or the afterlife, we cling to the hope that, although we can't prove it, those things we want to exist are actually out there.

Perhaps that's why millions of viewers found it so easy to become enamored with Special Agent Fox Mulder, whose dogged pursuit of the truth turned The X-Files from a cool little water-cooler cult show into a full-blown pop-culture sensation. Over the course of a little more than seven seasons, and one feature film, we followed Mulder, excellently played by David Duchovny, as he searched for the facts behind not only his sister's disappearance, but the unsolved (and potentially supernatural) mysteries of the world in general.

Of course, it couldn't be easy for him (the should would have hardly been interesting if it had been), and so Mulder faced obstacles every step of the way, not the least of which were his doubting superiors – some of whom were just too close-minded to even begin to accept Mulder's theories, and others who were actually a part of the vast-conspiracy that Mulder was trying to uncover.

In the face of so many cover-ups and false hopes, a lesser man might have given up. Luckily, for both the character and the audience, Mulder was driven on by one simple thing – his absolute belief that he was right. So intense was this belief, in fact, that he even eventually won over Special Agent Dana Scully, the skeptical partner originally assigned the job just so that someone would be watching Mulder (and although Scully did not make our Top 100 list, I'd like to take this moment to give her a special shout-out, since Mulder just wouldn't be the same without her).

I can only assume that if I spent my life being laughed at by my colleagues and never being able to find concrete evidence of my claims, it would start to war down on me and leave me a depressed mess. And yet, throughout it all, Mulder managed to maintain his sardonic sense of humor, dry wit, and hopeful demeanor. For Mulder, it wasn't a matter of "if" the answers would ever be found, but "when."

I can think of no better evidence of the character's appeal than the general lack of interest in The X-Files that followed Duchovny's departure (sure, the fact that the writers clearly lost their way didn't help any, either, but still…). Without Mulder as our guide, it just didn't seem as important to find the truth. Perhaps that's why fans have never given up hope of Mulder's return (as of this writing, it seems as if a second X-Files film is finally on the way). We want to believe. Now, we just need Mulder to show us how again.

#82 – Dr. Gregory House

As Played By – Hugh Laurie
Where Have You Seen Them - House
Classic Dialog - Would the world be a better place if people never felt guilty? Makes sex better. Shoulda seen her in the last months of our relationship. Lot of guilt. *Lot* of screaming.
Most Well Known Trait - The cane, the pills and the sarcasm.
Write-Up By 411's - Leonard Hayhurst
While doctors on television have been portrayed as kind and fatherly for years, House is not the first egotistical curmudgeon to come along (he has a lot in common with Dr. Craig of "St. Elsewhere"). What makes House unique in the pantheon of television doctors and a fascinating character study is his total disregard for the individual. House has respect for human life, but in the most general of terms. House's immense god complex is no more evident than in his single-minded drive to out smart the universe and solve its mysteries on his terms. In a fit of cosmic karma, it feels like the universe finally struck back by giving him a permanent limp following an accident. This in turn has given House a dependency on painkillers, which is slowly unraveling him while also strangely giving him a never before humanity. While we are focusing more on the character than the actors, Hugh Laurie has done a magnificent job of walking the tightrope of complexities that make up the character. In lesser hands, House would be too acidic to be palpable to viewers. Every episode of the series is an acting master class with Laurie in the role. House is that rare character than can draw vile and sympathy, disdain and respect and jeers and cheers at the same time.

#81 – David Brent

As Played By – Ricky Gervais
Where Have You Seen Them - The Office (UK)
Classic Dialog - There are limits to my comedy. There are things that I'll never laugh at. The handicapped. Because there's nothing funny about them. Or any deformity. It's like when you see someone look at a little handicapped and go 'ooh, look at him, he's not able-bodied. I am, I'm prejudiced.' Yeah, well, at least the little handicapped fella is able-minded. Unless he's not, it's difficult to tell with the wheelchair ones.
Most Well Known Trait -Having no self-censor button
Write-Up By 411's - Tim O'Sullivan
Now and again, a television show comes along that truly encapsulates the mood of a real-life situation. It's turned into a bit of a cliché, but everyone who's ever worked in an office or perhaps even just for a boss, has interacted with a Brent-type. That's why it hit people. His character only appeared on our television screens for fourteen episodes, but Ricky Gervais' simple, yet genius creation has still made this elite one hundred. Yes, he is inspired by Spinal Tap and Larry Sanders but he still oozes originality in his own right.

British television shows making a significant impact across the pond is even rarer than music artists doing so. With that in mind, the global success of The Office truly signified how great this show had to be. When it won two awards at the Golden Globes, people outside the UK sat up and took notice. Brent evolved into a comedy icon and Gervais a worldwide star. A remake was created for U.S audiences and that has become one of the country's most successful sitcoms, this decade.

95% of his appeal is down to the pure comedic element of Brent's persona, but in the final episode of season two, we saw the raw complexity of his neurosis flood out as he dealt with being fired. It showcased Gervais' true acting credentials, and added dimensions to the character in the process. But it's his comedy moments that stand out the broadest. "There's been a rape up there", what he would do to The Corrs, the looks to the camera and the countless cringe moments are the epitome of his genius. The first-time viewings of each episode are the hardest I've laughed at any comedy in my life. Plus, he's right…..people do just think Dolly Parton's a big pair of tits.