Best Movie Characters of All-Time

By Mark Pukalo


If you don't have compelling characters that the audience either cares about or dominate the screen, you probably won't produce a good movie.

A script can be technically brilliant, but if you don't have strong acting performance bringing interesting or humorous characters to life you won't be winning any awards.

Some you love, some you love to hate. But memorable characters are what turn good movies into great ones. The wrong casting can ruin a strong story. When an actor fits a role perfectly it is beautiful to watch.

In more than five decades viewing thousands of films, many characters stand out. In a three-month study I came up with 52 in 52 years that I liked more than any others for various reasons. No list is perfect, but all of these characters moved me or made me laugh in some way over time.

Here's a look at what I came up with, starting with honorable mention:

Honorable Mention: Shane Falco (Keanu Reaves) - The Replacements; Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) - Armageddon; Monty Brogan (Ed Norton) - 25th Hour; Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald) - Sixteen Candles; Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) - American Pie; Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee) - Mallrats; Natural Rivera (Rosario Dawson) - 25th Hour; Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) - Titanic; Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) - Dodgeball; Star Carter (Amandla Stenberg) - The Hate U Give; Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) - Silver Linings Playbook; Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) - Bridget Jones Diary; JoJo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) - JoJo Rabbitt; Emily (Zoe Kazan) - The Big Sick; Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) - Deadpool; Willie Beamon (Jamie Foxx) - Any Given Sunday; Sgt. Elias (Willem DeFoe) - Platoon; Mikey (Jon Favreau) - Swingers; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood; Lt. John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) - Dances With Wolves; Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) - Black Panther..


TOP 52

52. Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) - Garden State - Large goes from a prescribed drug stupor to finding himself and a girlfriend in this great film.

51. Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) - Fast Times at Ridgemont High - Penn steals every scene, including when he orders a pizza for Mr. Hand's class.


50. Marty (Natalie Portman) - Beautiful Girls - Natalie was 15 when she played Timothy Hutton's 13-year-old next door neighbor, who was intelligent beyond her years.

49. Taylor (Charlton Heston) - Planet of the Apes - He escapes the damn dirty apes and gets a kiss from Dr. Zira before finding his destiny on the beach.

48. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) - Contact - Jodie has taken on much bigger roles, but the look in her eyes throughout made this character so appealing.

47. Rob Gordon (John Cusack) - High Fidelity - The brooding record store owner takes almost the whole movie to figure out how to show Iben Hjejle how he feels about her.

46. Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) - Double Jeopardy - Libby is relentless after her husband fakes his murder and steals their son.


45. Jo Galloway (Demi Moore) - A Few Good Men - Jo is all passion and no street smarts, but she gets it done.

44. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) - Lost in Translation - Bill's best dramatic effort brings out his versatile talent without losing his humor.

43. Irwin Fletcher (Chevy Chase) - Fletch - Thank you very little. Just put it on the Underhill's tab.

42. Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) - Planet of the Apes series - The lovable chimp kisses Charlton Heston goodbye, even though he was so damned ugly.

41. Frank J. Mackey (Tom Cruise) - Magnolia - Cruise kills it with this very crude male supremacist character.


40. Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) - Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Bueller can do no wrong on his trip to the city.

39. Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) - Jerry Maguire - Show him the money. Cuba plays the diva wide receiver role to the hilt.

38. Dr. Evil (Michael Myers) - Austin Powers series - He is worth one milllllllion dollars.

37. Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst) - Elizabethtown - Smart, friendly, very perky and attractive. She's the perfect date.

36. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) - Inglourious Basterds - That's a bingo! Waltz has never been and will never be better than in this role.


35. Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) - Caddyshack - The groundskeeper's groundskeeper was determined to get rid of all the gophers, not golfers.

34. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) - Forrest Gump - Life's a box of chocolates and Forrest endured while enjoying every bit of it.

33. Senator Jay Bulworth (Warren Beatty) - Bulworth - The depressed California senator turned rapper revived his career and zest for life by telling the truth.

32. Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) - 10 Things I Hate About You - The Shrew is tamed by Heath Ledger, but she had plenty of fun terrifying people along the way.

31. Colonel Jessop (Jack Nicholson) - A Few Good Men - The evil military man cannot handle the truth when it is presented.


30. Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) - Almost Famous - The late great Hoffman gave plenty of life to the real-life music journalist.

29. Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) - Slapshot - Player coach of the Syracuse Chiefs turned his team in a feared bunch of hockey players and placed a bounty on the head of Tim McCracken.

28. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) - Diehard - The coolest voice and personality of all evil criminals, but John McClane bests him in the end.

27. Jules Winnfield (Samuel Jackson) - Pulp Fiction - Philosophical hit man had style, humor and intellect.

26. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) - Star Wars series - Movie villain for the ages still had some good left in him at the end to help son Luke.


25. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) - The Godfather - He took care of business when needed.

24. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) - Rocky series - The Italian Stallion goes from bar room brawler to champion.

23. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) - Star Wars series - His slow process from anxious child to master of the force is exhilarating.

22. Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) - Anchorman - Popular newsman's world changes when Veronica Corningstone shows up. Stayed classy in San Diego.

21. Johnny Utah (Keanu Reaves) - Point Break - Former Ohio State quarterback becomes a courageous detective. Vaya Con Dios.


20. Tris (Shailene Woodley) - Divergent series - Tris leaves her family to join Dauntless and does not stop until her unique Divergence saves everyone.

19. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) - Good Will Hunting - Williams' greatest performance as a therapist who helps a street-wise, troubled genius find himself.

18. Lane Meyer (John Cusack) - Better off Dead - Downtrodden after Beth broke up with him, but the man knew how to ski.

17. Sofia (Penelope Cruz) - Vanilla Sky - The angel that tries to save Tom Cruise and says things like, "I'll see you in another life, when we're both cats," with a wonderful accent.

16. William Wallace (Mel Gibson) - Braveheart - Lost his girl, fell for a queen, fought for his country, died for his native Scotland's freedom.

15. Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) - Major League - The "Wild Thing" was at his best in the biggest spots for the Tribe.

14. Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) - Office Space - Hypnotized into the perfect employee, sort of. Impressed the Bobs and Jennifer, who did not wear enough flair.

13. Lucy (Sandra Bullock) - While You Were Sleeping - Sandra won an Oscar for "The Blind Side," but this is her best career performance in my opinion.

12. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) - Wall Street - The top "evil" character on the list. While he is fun to watch and quite compelling in this film, people like Gekko have made this country worse.

11. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) - The Hunger Games - J-Law fit this role perfectly and was on target from the first and best movie of the series to the finale.


10. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) - Raiders of the Lost Ark - While the sequels were not close to being as good as the original, Indy was an iconic figure throughout.

9. Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson) - Some Kind of Wonderful - The pretty girl from the "other side of the tracks" who is welcomed to the popular group in high school, but is repulsed by attitudes when she gets there and leaves with her dignity.

8. Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) - Bull Durham - The "player to be named later" becomes the conscience of the Durham Bulls, grooms the bonus baby and falls in love with the local girl.

7. James Bond (Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Daniel Craig) - Bond series - OO7 always got the job done and got the girl, no matter who was in the role. My personal preference was Moore, probably because his movies (1973-85) were out when I was growing up.

6. Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) - Inglourious Basterds - Aldo the Apache from the Smoky Mountains is the charismatic leader of the Jewish-American guerrilla force which aims to accumulate Natzi scalps.

5. Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) - Hoosiers - A successful but aging basketball coach with a checkered past, including a suspension for punching his player, gets one more chance in tiny Hickory, Indiana.

NOTE: The top four could go in any order. Too close to call.

4. John Blutarsky (John Belushi) - Animal House - Bluto's grade-point average was 0.0, but he loved beer, partying, breaking guitars, climbing ladders at sororities and it led to him to the U.S. Senate.

3. John McClane (Bruce Willis) - Diehard - He was awfully hard to kill. A New York cop that did his best work away from the Big Apple, beating master criminals by any means possible and with some personality.

2. Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) - Almost Famous - The leader of the Bandaids - whose real name is Lady Goodman - goes through a roller coaster of emotions with love and friendship on the road to Morocco. She's no good at goodbyes.

1. John Winger (Bill Murray) - Stripes - Loses his job as a cab driver, his car and his girl within a hour, but the acorn becomes the oak with a little Arrrrrrmy training, sir. Cried his eyes out when Old Yeller died, and that's the facts Jack.

Top Bit Movie Characters of All Time

8. Rachel (Chloe Grace Moretz) - 500 Days of Summer - Uses the word bizzaro well.
7. Lacey Underalls (Cindy Morgan) - Caddyshack - Likes ties
6. Pepper Brooks (Jason Bateman) - Dodgeball - Bold strategy
5. Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker) - Major League - A bit outside
4. Dewey Oxburger (John Candy) - Stripes - Lean, mean fightin' machine
3. Walter Stratford (Larry Miller) - 10 Things I Hate About You - Down with the 411
2. Chazz (Will Ferrell) - Wedding Crashers - Meatloaf!!
1. The Wolf (Harvey Keitel) - Pulp Fiction - Solves problems