In 2007 Total Film Magazine writers compiled lists of the 50 greatest heroes and villains in movies. Harrison Ford’s portrayal of archaeologist Indiana Jones was number 1 on the Heroes list, with Batman second while his most famous adversary, the Joker, was first among the villains. This was despite the list being compiled before the release of the second of Christopher Nolan’s superhero trilogy, The Dark Knight, which featured Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal of the Joker.
The top fifty movie heroes of all time are:
- 1 Indiana Jones
- 2 Batman
- 3 Rocky Balboa (Rocky)
- 4 James Bond
- 5 Superman
- 6 Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
- 7 Spiderman
- 8 Neo (The Matrix)
- 9 Han Solo (Star Wars)
- 10 The Incredible Hulk/Bruce Banner
- 11 Donnie Darko
- 12 Maximus Decimus Meridius (Gladiatior)
- 13 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- 14 Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity)
- 15 Spartacus
- 16 Wolverine (X Men)
- 17 Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)
- 18 George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life)
- 19 Philip Marlowe (Murder, My Sweet)
- 20 Mr Lee (Enter the Dragon)
- 21 Cherry Darling (Planet Terror)
- 22 John McClane (Die Hard)
- 23 Rick Deckard (Blade Runner)
- 24 Lassie
- 25 Dewey Finn (School of Rock)
- 26 Bree (Transamerica)
- 27 Mr Davis (12 Angry Men)
- 28 Thelma and Louise
- 29 Virgil Tibbs (In the Heat of the Night)
- 30 Optimus Prime (The Transformers: The Movie)
- 31 Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs)
- 32 The Terminator
- 33 Ashitaka (Princess Mononoke)
- 34 Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)
- 35 Father Merrin (The Exorcist)
- 36 Rooster Cogburn (True Grit)
- 37 Kenji Watanabe (Ikiru)
- 38 The Tramp (City Lights)
- 39 The Man with No Name (A Fistful of Dollars)
- 40 Ellen Ripley (Alien)
- 41 Laurie Strode (Halloween)
- 42 Spongebob Squarepants
- 43 Rachel Stein/Ellis de Vries (Black Book)
- 44 Jefferson Smith (Mr Smith goes to Washington)
- 45 Sheriff John T Chance (Rio Bravo)
- 46 John Shaft
- 47 Sarah Connor (The Terminator)
- 48 David Dunn (Unbreakable)
- 49 Rick Blaine (Casablanca)
- 50 Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)
The top fifty movie villains of all time are:
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- 1 The Joker (Batman: The Movie)
- 2 Darth Vader (Star Wars)
- 3 Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
- 4 Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
- 5 Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
- 6 Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
- 7 Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
- 8 Michael Myers (The Halloween series)
- 9 Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)
- 10 Norman Bates (Psycho)
- 11 Bridget Gregory/Wendy Kroy (The Last Seduction)
- 12 Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th series)
- 13 Saruman the White (The Lord of the Rings)
- 14 John Doe (Se7en)
- 15 Baby Jane Hudson (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)
- 16 Peyton Flanders (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle)
- 17 Gordon Gekko (Wall Street)
- 18 Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
- 19 The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe)
- 20 Captain Videl (Pan’s Labyrinth)
- 21 Annie Wilkes (Misery)
- 22 Tony Montana (Scarface)
- 23 Catherine Tramell (Basic Instinct)
- 24 Michael Corleone (The Godfather)
- 25 Dr Christian Sezell (Marathon Man)
- 26 Reverend Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)
- 27 Ray (Nil by Mouth)
- 28 The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
- 29 John Ryder (The Hitcher)
- 30 Suzanna Stone Maretto (To Die For)
- 31 Combo (This is England)
- 32 General Zod (Superman)
- 33 Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
- 34 Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
- 35 Ivan Drago (Rocky IV)
- 36 Daniel Cleaver (Bridget Jones Diary)
- 37 Verbal Klint/Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)
- 38 Lex Luthor (Superman)
- 39 Don (Sexy Beast)
- 40 Begbie (Trainspotting)
- 41 Phyllis Dietrichsonn (Double Indemnity)
- 42 Mr Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)
- 43 Dr Elsa Schneider (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
- 44 Frank (Once Upon a Time in the West)
- 45 Max Cady (Cape Fear)
- 46 The Child Catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
- 47 The Truck (Duel)
- 48 Hans Beckert (M)
- 49 Mrs John Iselin (The Manchurian Candidate)
- 50 Mr Potter (It’s a Wonderful Life)
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In 2005 editors of Total Film Magazine compiled a list of what they thought were the 100 greatest movies of all-time. Given this came down to the editors picks there are some strange choices. Crash 21st greatest film of all time? Presumably their referring to Paul Haggis’s occasionally powerful but rather shallow racial drama (no doubt helped by being released not long before the poll) and not David Cronenberg’s controversial psychological thriller (released in mid 90s) about people who take sexual pleasure from car crashes! Buy – 100 Greatest Movies of All Time (as of 2005) Total Film Magazine
A list published in TotalFilm in 2009. Note that the list is limited to one performance per actor. Difficult to complain about the top 4 here and am pleased to see Emily Watson’s sublime performance in Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves so highly recognised. Another pleasant surprise was Sean Penn as the sleazy lawyer in Carlito’s Way but there are plenty of slightly odd ones as well. Tom Cruise for Magnolia and not Born on the Fouth of July doesn’t seem right or that it would be as high as 13th! Buy – Total Film – December 2008 – Keanu Reeves, Alien Invasions, Jessica Biel, 150 Greatest Performances, Leonardo DiCaprio (Issue 148)