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Best western villains “with no Bruce Dern ?”


Buckshot Bob

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One of my favorite bad guys was Morgan Woodward. I remember him in a movie I saw as a kid, I looked it up and think it was The Wild Country. He could be one mean rotten son of a biscuit. He was also a Texan and a Texas Longhorn like me, and he is buried in Arlington Tx some 180 miles east of here. Played the bad guy on many other show and movies as well (Like the original Star Trek). He just looked like a police sketch of a bad guy, and he sure had that mad dog face down pat.

JHC

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kt5UyEAL4qo/UfK8-6tTfmI/AAAAAAAAdno/CX1r_EX7CqU/s1600/woodward+(1).jpg

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I like the list. Lee Van Cleef takes it in many ways because his role was essentially always the villain.

 

They list Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance; good enough, but he was a bit over the top there. He was even smoother as the wicked guy in Seven Men From Now with Randolph Scott, a classic performance. Likewise, Richard Boone was a great bad guy as Cicero Grimes in Hombre, but almost as good in The Tall T; that one also with Randolph Scott.

 

But though both Marvin and Boone made great villains, they had too many other non-villainous roles to be pigeonholed as great villains.

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Jack Nicholson, Missouri Breaks.

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William Holden as Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch

 

Henry Fonda as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West

 

Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

 

Jack Palance as Jack Wilson in Shane

 

Jeff Daniels as Frank Griffin in Godless

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Eli Wallach  - Magnificent Seven

 

First place though to Karl Malden in Nevada Smith - after all he had Steve McQueen's mother SKINNED in that one.

 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Buckshot Bob said:

I just keep thinking, how can Bruce Dern not at least make the list ? Who’s the worst, meaning the best, could probably start allot of saloon fights. 

I thought you specified that in the OP. Mebbe I mistook it. I saw an interview with him about the making of The Cowboys, and The Duke told him "You know, some people will hate you forever!"

JHC

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24 minutes ago, Buckshot Bob said:

I just keep thinking, how can Bruce Dern not at least make the list ? Who’s the worst, meaning the best, could probably start allot of saloon fights. 

You should have been here 20 years ago. We used to have some damn good fights, some friendly virtual ones, some not so much.

JHC:P

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And tried to kill Wild Bill Hickock (Jeff Bridges) from a wheelchair.  He was just plain mean and despicable.  And I will never forgive him for his cowardice and base immorality in The Cowboys.  Mark of a great actor, I guess, that he has so deeply affected people by his performances.

 

LL

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Not as well known as the others mentioned but Ted Di Corsia played a great bad guy in many movies! This is him the The Quick Gun with Audie Murphy

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0208125/bio

 

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A list of the top ten most despicable villains that doesn’t include Bruce Dern is no list at all!!

 

Fabulous actor and capable of playing either side of the fence with equal brilliance!

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To name a few:

 

Ian McShane:    Al Swearengen - Deadwood 

Mark Harmon:   Bruce Barkow - Crossfire Trail

Gene Hackman:   Little Bill Daggett - Unforgiven,  Harod - The Quick and the Dead

Lee Marvin -  most characters played by him

Richard Boone:  Cisero Grimes - Hombre,   John Fain -  Big Jake,  Mike Sweeney - The Shootist

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John Russell, DeForest Kelly, Jack Elam, Warren Oates, and even Victor French played totally despicable villains at one time or another.

 

Don’t forget Ed Asner in Eldorado, or Glen Ford in The Man From Colorado!!

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When I read the title to the thread, I thought it meant, "OK, we know Bruce Dern is going to be at or near the top of most everyone's lists, so lets just set him aside and list the other greats without mentioning him." Then I watched the video, and saw he wasn't listed, and realized that you were posting the video out of disbelief and/or to be mocked.

 

I will admit right now I have never been a fan of Who Shot Liberty Valance, despite being a fan of all the stars. The character was simply so over the top as to push my willing suspension of disbelief. Some enterprising soul would have shot him in the back and nobody would have seen a thing.

 

9 hours ago, LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L said:

Richard Boone in The Shootist and Big Jake.

Bill McKenney and John Vernon in The Outlaw Josey Wales.

 

 

I have to disagree with you on John Vernon. His character, Fletcher, was held at gunpoint while his men were slaughtered, and afterward he felt obligated to join the pursuit. When he finally meets Josey face to face at the end, he says he owes him the first move. Bill McKenney, on the other hand, pretty much pegs the Villain-o-Meter.

 

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1 hour ago, Sawhorse Kid said:

 

Richard Boone:  Cisero Grimes - Hombre,   John Fain -  Big Jake,  Mike Sweeney - The Shootist

 

And as Frank Usher in The Tall T; killing a young kid and throwing him down the well qualifies as villainy.

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Alan Rickman in Quigley Down Under [and most ANY of his roles]

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When I think of best Western movie villains I consider them like this: If I met them in real life would the job they did as a movie or TV show villain make me want to steer clear of them even though I know they were just acting? 
 

Only a few make that list:

Bruce Dern

Gene Hackman

Eli Wallach

Lee Van Cleef


 

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1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

When I think of best Western movie villains I consider them like this: If I met them in real life would the job they did as a movie or TV show villain make me want to steer clear of them even though I know they were just acting? 
 

Only a few make that list:

Bruce Dern

Gene Hackman

Eli Wallach

Lee Van Cleef


 

I ain't skeered of no Hollyweird actors:P 

Well, maybe Lee Van Cleef:o

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1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I ain't skeered of no Hollyweird actors:P 

Well, maybe Lee Van Cleef:o

Oh, I wouldn’t be scared, just very very leery. :lol:

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23 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Oh, I wouldn’t be scared, just very very leery. :lol:

 

I'd be scared, real scared, if he was coming after me...he's been dead for 34 years.

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I'm not sure I'd label Gene Hackman's Bill Dagget a villian when he was beating the hell out of the lying, slimey, English Bob. English Bob had it coming. :o

 

Will Munny was probably the badest man in the movie but he was the reformed "hero". All said and done Will Munny was plain mean and certainly had the highest body count and had murdered plenty of men and other living beings along the way.

 

 

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