Rick’s Flicks Picks » This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates Classic Villains

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates Classic Villains

10 12 2008

With THE DARK KNIGHT arriving on DVD this week, This Weekend’s Film Festival celebrates classics villains. Heath Ledger’s Joker has quickly become an iconic villain to stand with the best of all time. Movie villains capture the dark side of our imaginations. We have three serial killers. One loves his mother. One loves the Lord. One has his victims for dinner. The final villain was once a hero. They pique our curiosity. Act like a cat and take peek for yourself.

New installments in franchises often depend on the quality of the new villain. Director Christopher Nolan followed his reboot of the BATMAN franchise with this even darker, nuanced crime thriller, bettering his previous exemplary work on BATMAN BEGINS. This is due in no small part to the excellent cast. While many love Jack Nicholson’s Joker, Heath Ledger’s psychotic clown is the one most will remember. As I said in my original review, “As much as you might have liked them or even hated them, it quickly rids the memory of images of Jack Nicholson hamming it up in circus make-up, or Joel Schumacher adding nipples to the Batsuit. This is the film Dark Knight fans have grown up to see.” Like many great villains, Ledger’s Joker is the antithesis of the hero, Christian Bale’s Batman. The Joker engages in a psychological game, trying to warp the moral code of the Caped Crusader. In an attempt to create chaos, the Joker sets Gotham City ablaze, pushing Batman to make tough decisions — to become the hero that Gotham City deserves. Within his bloody game, the Joker toys with the lives of all the heroes, including Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent and Gary Oldman’s James Gordon. His ability to break the wills of the white knights makes him one wicked bad guy.

Alfred Hitchcock broke rules with PYSCHO. The midpoint twist and the final reveal were shocking. But what most people remember is the tragic fate of Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, at the hands of Norman Bates and his mother. Anthony Perkins created the chilling momma’s boy with an unnerving cross between innocence and menace. Ironically both victim and murderer are criminals. But as I said in my original review, “[Norman is] no better a criminal than [Marion]. His crimes are as impetuous as hers; only she is an innocent who made wrong choices and Norman is a psychopath.” The Freudian undertones of Norman’s obsession with his mother are clear and creepy. This love/hate relationship keeps Norman trapped in a dead-end life with only his macabre hobby of stuffing birds to bring him joy. Marion’s life is the same; she’s getting older and her future looks dim. Their out-of-control lives crash into each other during one shower sequence. “She is washing away her sins, while Norman is violently confronting his.”

Out of all the villains in this week’s Fest, Rev. Harry Powell is probably the least known to the general public. However, Robert Mitchum’s seminal performance as the murdering minister with love and hate tattooed across his fingers has influenced filmmakers for decades. In Charles Laughton’s only film as a director, Powell prowls the countryside looking for gullible widows to woe and kill. Discovering that one widow might have $10,000 hidden away at her home, Powell rides into town to meet Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) and her two children, John and Pearl. As I said in my original review, “Powell is a clear commentary on blind faith as the townsfolk fall for his fake piousness effortlessly.” Powell, like Norman Bates, has a love/hate relationship with women. He’s intimidated by their sexuality and lashes out at them when tempted by the flesh. When John and Pearl set out on the river to flee his control, he hunts them like a patient predator. In this gothic tale of good versus evil, Powell’s evil comes in conflict with the goodness of Rachel Cooper, an old woman who takes in orphans, played by silent film legend Lillian Gish. Mixing horror with humor, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER is one of the strangest American classics, containing one of the most haunting villains in screen history.

Alongside Norman Bates, the most infamous screen serial killer is Hannibal Lecter. While the character first came to the screen in Michael Mann’s MANHUNTER, most viewers only remember Anthony Hopkins as the cannibal killer in Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning film, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. As it seems to be, a villain is only as good as his adversary. In LAMBS, the imprisoned Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and murderer, engages in a battle of wits with rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling, played with great subtly by Jodie Foster. As I said in my original review, “[Lecter is] a creepy murderer who we always feel nervous about and drawn to at the same time.” As Clarice tries to elicit his help with a current case, we watch as he plays with the young woman’s mind. Like the Joker, he enjoys breaking the wills of his victims, and entertains himself with his cool wit. He’s clearly the smartest man in any room that he is in, which makes him all the more intimidating. Like other great movie monsters such as Frankenstein and King Kong, he sympathizes with the hero, sharing the common bond of a troubled childhood. This classic villain leaves us with one of the great closing lines as well — I’m having an old friend for dinner.

To close this week’s Fest, we have one of the most iconic screen villains — Darth Vader. In THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Vader was elevated from the tall menacing figure of STAR WARS into a grander, richer, more iconic adversary. As I said in my original review, “The surprises of the end between Darth Vader and Luke raise the myth that Lucas is trying to tell into epic dimensions. It’s not just a great twist, it represents what the entire film is about – making the right choices so one does not veer down the dark path.” For Luke Skywalker’s journey into adulthood, Vader represents what the young Jedi could become if he lets fear lead to anger then anger to hate. Vader is at his most manipulative in EPISODE V, using Luke’s friends to lure him into a trap, then springing the biggest secret on him one could reveal. “Luke, I am your father” changed the STAR WARS universe, and changed the scope of the franchise’s battle between good and evil. Vader, once a hero, has been twisted by hate and age. Vader is the strong-armed father than the young Luke is rebelling against. Few films end with the villain the victor, so for Vader, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, is his darkest moment, and the beginning of his redemption.

If your curiosity is still piqued you can join the Fest by heading to your local videostore, updating your Netflix queue, checking out Zap2It.com for TV listings, or support the site by buying the films on DVD at the links below.