This is one of those niggling ideas I kept have bounce around my head until I finally made a list:
What
are the best *original* movie characters?
Not based on a play, novel, comic, short story, TV show, action figure, video game, or historical figure: Written entirely for the big screen. What you end up with is a fascinating, peculiar, list. Many of the best characters in cinema, of course, come from adaptations (Tracy Lord, portrayed by Hepburn, in The Philadelphia Story). Some greatest performers are left out entirely (not a *single* Meryl Streep performance applies!). It’s a bit of a mishmash, really, hampered even further by the fact that many iconic original characters I’ve never personally seen – so I didn’t feel comfortable adding them. This is why, for so long, I shied away from making this list. But the idea wouldn’t let me go, so here it is.
That
said, based on my findings and personal film journey, here’s who I came up
with. Note: No film features more than once (otherwise we’d have, like, 10 Star
Wars characters), and, unless I’m mistaken, I avoided repeats by performers, as
well, for greater diversity.
Alma
– Persona
Alma
– The Phantom Thread
Amelie
– Amelie
Annie
– Bridesmaids
Annie
Hall – Annie Hall
Antoine
– The 400 Blows
Apu
– Pather Panchali
Beatrix
Kiddo – Kill Bill
Blondie
– The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Charles
Foster Kane – Citizen Kane
Chris
Washington – Get Out
Clementine
– Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Darth
Vader – Star Wars
Deloris
– Sister Act
Django
– Django Unchained
Doc
Brown – Back to the Future
Don
Lockwood – Singin’ in the Rain
Edna
Mote – The Incredibles
Elle
– Hiroshima mon Amour
Evelyn
Quan Wang – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Ferris
Bueller – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Florence
– Cleo from 5 to 7
Furiosa
– Mad Max: Fury Road
Gelsomina
– La Strada
Giselle
– Enchanted
Guido
– 8 ½
Hans
Beckert – M
Harry
Lime – The Third Man
Howard
Beale – Network
Indiana
Jones – Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jay
and Silent Bob – Clerks
Jeanne
Dielman – Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Jim
– Rebel Without a Cause
John
Keating – Dead Poets Society
Jules
Winnfield – Pulp Fiction
King
Kong – King Kong
Lady
Bird – Lady Bird
Lilo
– Lilo and Stitch
Linnea
– Nashville
Marge
Gunderson – Fargo
Maria
– Metropolis
Marianne
– Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Mathilde
– Leon: The Professional
Max
Bialystok – The Producers
Miguel
– Coco
Mrs.
Robinson – The Graduate
Neo
– The Matrix
Noah
Cross – Chinatown
Norma
Desmond – Sunset Boulevard
Otto
West – A Fish Called Wanda
Penny
Lane – Almost Famous
Phil
Connors – Groundhog Day
Phillip
Vandamm – North by Northwest
Prince
Akeem – Coming to America
Princess
Ann – Roman Holiday
Regina
George – Mean Girls
Rick
– Casablanca
Ripley
– Alien
Rocky
Balboa – Rocky
Rufus
T. Firefly – Duck Soup
Sanjuro
– Yojimbo
Sen
– Spirited Away
Shaun
– Shaun of the Dead
Sherrif
Bart – Blazing Saddles
Terry
Malloy – On the Waterfront
The
Dude – The Big Lebowski
The
Girl – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
The
Terminator – The Terminator
The
Tramp – City Lights
Travis
Bickle – Taxi Driver
Truman
Burbank – The Truman Show
Watanabe
– Ikiru
Willaim
Somerset – Seven
Winifred
– Hocus Pocus
Woody
– Toy Story
