AFI's top 100 Heroes and Villains

**Mr-K** · 06 Jun 2003, 08:58 AM

The American Film Institute released another top 100 list recently. I missed it's showing on television but it still proved to be pretty interesting. The two characters to come out on top were Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) as the best hero and Hannibal Lecter as the greatet villain. That's all well and good but come on, Indiana Jones came in second place to Atticus Finch? Psh.

The hero catagory overall had made pretty good selection with their front runners: James Bond(3), Rocky Balboa(7), Ellen Ripley(8) and George Baily(9). Not too bad there. The villains also had some great characters but I don't know if I agree with the order: Norman Bates(2), Darth Vader(3 - should have won), Michael Corleone(11) and HAL 9000(13).

Really big names on the list that were higher up were:
Heroes:
Han Solo(13)
Superman(26)
Obi-wan(37)
Batman(46)
Terminator(48)

Villains:
The Alien(14)
The Shark(18)
Terminator(22) - Only character on there twice
Freddy Krueger(40)
The Joker(45)

Come on, Freddy Krueger at number 40? No Jason or any other famous horror villain? Shame. But overall not a bad selection. I hope I can catch a rerun of the show though.

Check it out for yourself

**Dolemite** · 06 Jun 2003, 12:11 PM

I watched that show on and off, and thought it pretty much sucked. There was another show on at the same time called "Dog Eat Dog" that had hot chicks competing in different water-based events in bikinis which was far more entertaining.

And yeah, Atticus Finch as the #1 hero? Bullshit. And as cool as Hannibal Lecter is, there's NO WAY he should have beat out Darth Vader as teh #1 villian. No way.

I hate "official" lists.

**Drewbacca** · 06 Jun 2003, 01:51 PM

I thought the selections were good. This is the film industry, it's not exactly meant to be the same demographic as males 18 - 30 or whatever.

Atticus is a better hero than Indiana Jones because he stood up for the little man, and had and practiced empathy throughout the entire novel. I personally thought Indiana Jones kicked more ass, but these are film buffs that do it for a living, they know what they're talking about.

**Sqoon** · 06 Jun 2003, 02:18 PM

Originally posted by Andrew
Atticus is a better hero than Indiana Jones because he stood up for the little man, and had and practiced empathy throughout the entire novel. I personally thought Indiana Jones kicked more ass, but these are film buffs that do it for a living, they know what they're talking about.

Agreed. It's easy to champion Indiana Jones since he has so many fantastic trademarks, but Atticus Finch is more realistic and commendable, and the idea that he's someone we can pass on the streets is a beautiful notion.

I'd rather watch three Indiana Jones movies than three Atticus Finch movies, but in the grand scheme of things, Finch deserved that top spot. (He's also a lot deeper than Jones. The scene where he kills that dog with one shot is probably one of the best in film history.)

**Yamcha** · 06 Jun 2003, 09:37 PM

I was just surprised what they showed on the program. They showed a bunch of violent scenes from The Godfather I/II, including the Sollozzo killing and Moe Green taking it in the eye, they showed parts of the jailbreak scene from Silence of the Lambs and Hopkins stabbing Norton in the gut in Red Dragon, and the chestbursting scene from Alien. They also had the scene of Scout and Atticus saying the word "nigger". It just kinda shocked me a bit how they showed that stuff on TV.

**Eightbitbreaks** · 06 Jun 2003, 09:51 PM

I need to watch TKAMB. I recently read the book and absolutely loved it.

I think Atticus deserved first. And Indy deserves second.

**arjue** · 18 Jun 2003, 11:50 AM

My advice - If you've read the book, stay away from the movie. It is soooooooo much worse.

and I think Norman bates should get #1 and Hannibal should be second. Darth Vader doesn't do anything very evil.