Scheming. Remorseless. Greedy. Selfish. Manipulative. Evil. Contemptuous. Despicable. Coward. These are but some of the traits that great movie villains exhibit.
Cinema is filled with amazing villains. They terrorize heroes. They maim indiscriminately. They cheat to win. Every cinephile could compile their own list of movie villains. We would certainly see mention of Darth Vader, Anton Chigurth, Annie Wilks, Thanos, Scar, Norman Bates, Hans Landa, Hannibal Lecter, and so many more. But only one character exhibits ALL of those traits. This character rises above your standard villain-fare and deserves a category of their own. This vile creature set up a young champion to lose a hand. They used children simply to gain sexual access to their mothers. They taunt our hero during the final confrontation, playing on his insecurities and physical limitations. They mock the disabled. They steal. They lie. They threaten the hero’s significant other into abandonment.
The greatest movie villain is Big Ern McCracken from Kingpin.
Many will take umbrage, but 1996’s Kingpin is the Farrelly brother’s magnum opus. It is all of the genres. It’s a sports movie, a romance, a road trip movie, a buddy comedy, a movie about found-family, and even has elements of horror. It even has an amazing soundtrack!
You legitimately feel for the main character as he fights from one Munsoning to another. We meet Roy, a former state champion bowler, now forced to pleasure his landlord just to make rent. He mistakes a bull for a cow, forcing the most urgent toothbrushing in cinema. He coaches and brings talented Amish bowler Ishmael to a tournament only for Ishmael to break his hand defending the honor of Roy and their resourceful traveling companion Claudia. Performing with a prosthetic hand, Roy once again rises to the glory of a dominant bowler only for the dastardly McCracken to foil him, defeating Roy in the final frame.
Yes, the diabolical villain wins. The villain gets away with it. The villain wins millions. The villain gets no comeuppance. No punishment. No expression of guilt. No justice.
Big Ern McCracken is cinema’s greatest villain. Come at me, bruh.
Check our our Kingpin review here!
Do you disagree? Who do you think is worse than the Big Ern? Let us know in the comments which movie baddie deserves the top spot.
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I have a rebuttal that will surely turn some heads. Just hear me out Curtis and take from this what you will. I completely agree with you that Big Ern is a very inconspicuous villain. My question to you is how did Julian from Big Daddy slip through the cracks? He hits every rational marker needed to be classified as a villain. Let’s start with the easy ones. He urinates in public, has very grotesque hygiene habits and is often regarded as “the smelly kid in class” yet seemingly doesn’t care, he causes physical harm against innocent rollerbladers, vandalism in the form of pouring glue on the floor and just covering it up with news paper as well as purposefully smashing cans of food just to get a lower price point, he kills several pigeons with a sling shot, he is a habitual cheater that will do anything just so he can say “I win”, and let’s not mistake that his alter ego is….Frankenstein. He lulled everyone to sleep with his innocence and charm much like the fictional characters Hannibal Lecter, Loki, Hans Landa, and Tom Ripley. There are some real life examples of villains who attract their victims with charm as well but let’s not draw attention to them. I stand on my accusation of Julian AKA Frankenstein as being one of the best villains in Hollywood.
Aaron, I validate your attempt to Come at Me, Bruh. Your logic is sound. Your comparisons flawless. Your references are somehow both witty AND plucky.
However, my rebouxtaux (French Canadian for “re-rebuttal”) is psychological. Julian’s behavior is learned. He is the victim of nature vs. nurture, with his behavior being explained by the latter.
Big Ern McCracken’s behavior, on the other hand, is clearly nature. In their wisdom and benevolence, the Farrelly Brothers spared the audience of Big Ern’s backstory. One can only assume Big Ern’s (formerly “Lil” Ern) childhood lacked the trauma and pathos often associated with cinema’s other celebrated villains. Known to few, the story of Big Ern’s childhood has already been told in the 1956 documentary “The Bad Seed.” To protect the identity of his innocent victims, Lil Ern’s name and sex were changed in that film. Patty McCormick’s performance as Rhoda accurately and frighteningly captured Lil Ern’s formative years.
Respectfully stated,
Come at Me, Bruh.