Top 10 Favorite Movie Characters

Grabbing a note from Self-Styled Siren, today the Java will explore her 10 favorite movie characters (a list that is really just the favs which immediately come to mind because there are too many greats to have only 10). Contains spoilers.

10. Vinzzini (Wallace Shawn) in The Princess Bride (1987) - This guy is the worst supervisor you've ever had times 10. He's crazy and arrogant, which makes him funny. When he abruptly stops laughing and falls over dead, you know that someone has just unplugged this micro-manager from his Frankensteinian electricity source.

9. Lt. Kingsley (Peter Lawford) in On An Island With You (1948) - Petey-boy looks so puppy dog cute when he crushes for Miss Reynolds (Esther Williams).

8. Paul Spericki (Jeremy Pevin) in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) - He's a 30-something who is emotionally stuck in high school. I find this funny.

7. Sir Percival Blakeney (Leslie Howard) in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - Did ever a man love his wife so intensely? I'm sure many have, but this aspect of the character is what endears Percy to me. Also he's active in a fight for justice, which helps.

6. Lisa Fellini (Gina Lollobrigida) in Come September (1961) - Yes, one could argue that Lisa is one step up from a Jayne Mansfield/1960s male fantasy character. But the script and Gina Lollobrigida actually make her a human being, a no nonsense business woman who makes very important geopolitical and gender observations with a comic flair. And they wrap all of that in the sophisticated, attractive package that is Gina Lollobrigida.

5. Charles "Hopsy" Pike (Henry Fonda) in The Lady Eve (1941) - His reactions to Jean's incessant seductive maneuvers are pure comic gold.

4. Adam Cook (Oscar Levant) in An American in Paris (1951) - Levant generally just plays himself in films, so Adam could be any of Levant's wise-cracking characters. Gotta love this guy.

From Paris intro: "It's not a pretty face, I grant you. But underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character."

3. Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie) in Kevin Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables Trilogy - He's the ultimate boy-next-door: ever-patient as Anne continually rejects him (you begin to wonder if the guy loves emotional angst), slightly mischievous, interested, interesting, selfless, witty, and cute to boot. "I've loved you as long as I can remember," Gil tells Anne.

2. Gideon (Russ Tamblyn) in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) - Gideon is the only brother of the 7 who has a distinct personality written in the script (other than Adam, of course). The scene where he tries to punch some sense into his stubborn older brother is endearing.

"Adam, you're my eldest brother. I've always looked up to you, tried to ape you. But today I'm ashamed for you."

1. Hortense (Eileen Heckart) in The Bad Seed (1956)- Hortense steals this film with only 2 scenes. Both times she's inebriated and self-pitying, yet she has pockets of lucidity and insight which further the plot surrounding the mysterious death of her young son. "You can't sleep at night. You can't sleep in the daylight," moans the bereft Hortense.

What are your top 10?