Favourite movie characters

Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler
Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump
Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett
Ralph Fiennes as Count Laszlo de Almásy

 

I forgot to mention the now infamous Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver." He was arguably the coolest sociopath in film history, although if you really watch De Niro master the role, he is driven by his opportunity to save humanity (or at least a young Jodie Foster). A full-fledged character at its finest and maybe De Niro's best work in his illustrious career.

 

The Dude, Rick Blaine, Jules Whitfield...all gimmes.

Lester Burnham, "American Beauty" (Kevin Spacey)

Frank Booth, "Blue Velvet" (Dennis Hopper)

Donald "Boon" Schoenstein, "Animal House" (Peter Reigert)

Winston Wolf, "Pulp Fiction" (Harvey Keitel)

Machete, "Machete" (Danny Trejo)

Det. Reggie Murtaugh, "Lethal Weapon" (Danny Glover)

Fredo Corleone. "The Godfather" (John Cazale)

T.S. Garp, "The World According to Garp" (Robin Williams)

Bobby Dupea, "Five Easy Pieces" (Jack Nicholson)

Walt Kowalski, "Gran Torino" (Clint Eastwood)

 

Can't believe I forgot Crash Davis given my love for that movie.

This may be my love for the character in all his various forms spilling over, but I think Peter Parker in Spider-Man belongs. Flawed, nerdy, funny and heroic -- I always thought it was a nice touch in the movies that you would sometimes hear him say "Wa-hoo!" as he was webslinging through the city.

 

You've got to be kidding. In a movie with Bluto, D-Day and Otter, not to mention Kent Dorfman and NEE-DER-MEYER, your favorite character was Boon?

 

Col. Nathan Jessup from A Few Good Men. He ate breakfast 300 yards away from 4,000 Cubans trained to kill him.

 

In no particular order...

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones AND Han Solo. The guy is my favorite actor. Period.
John Cusack as Martin Blank in "Grosse Pointe Blank".
Harold Ramis in "Stripes" -- the perfect sidekick
Sean Connery as Gen. Roy Urquhart in "A Bridge Too Far".
Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler in "Schindler's List".

 

Still Sean's greatest work. Ace Ventura, Jim's. Some people just spit out their best stuff on their first try.

 

A Sui Generis picture, and a must-see, if anyone hasn't.

 

I considered Spider Man and, even moreso, the Joker (Jack or Heath, take your pick, both were extremely memorable), but I stayed away because I consider them primarily comic book characters, not movie characters.

Col. Nathan Jessup is a great pick, BB.

Sarah Conner is another personal favorite. Linda Hamilton did an amazing job transforming that character during the course of the first two Terminators.

 

Miles Raymond in Sideways is my favorite of all time.

 

All good points. You may be right, but I figured I'd toss him out, anyway.

Still, movie versions of characters such as Spider-Man and the Joker tend to be from a different "universe" than their comic-book counterparts, to borrow terminology from the world of comics.

I don't ever remember comic book Spider-Man, for example, letting out a joyful whoop when he when is swinging on a web. The organic web shooters were a creation for the movies (though the comics latched on to the idea for a while). And Peter Parker was not around for Doc Ock's fateful experiment.