The Film: Wall Street (1987)
The Film Thief: Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko)
Heist Moment: Plenty of '80s movies had memorable villains, but few straddled the line between seeming good and evil better than Douglas' storming, Oscar-grabbing role as Gordon.
Embodying and espousing the greed-is-good mantra of the decade, Geeko's a swaggering, opinionated shark, and chews up Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox, and we'd pick his greed... for lack of a better word... is good" speech as the highlight.
He might be a wrong 'un, but we know who we'd trust our stock picks to...
Memorable Line: “Lunch is for wimps.”
Tea-Leaf Trivia: Stone nearly didn't cast Douglas because of an apparent bad rep: "I was warned by everyone in Hollywood that Michael couldn't act, that he was a producer more than an actor and would spend all his time in his trailer on the phone".
He soon discovered that the opposite was true when Douglas blew everyone else off the screen.
Next: Annie Wilkes
Comments
gambit21
Aug 11th 2009, 10:57
How could Nicholson's Joker be left out and indeed Ledger's.
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JoWareham
Aug 11th 2009, 12:34
Where is Marcia Gay Harden's terrifying Mrs Carmody from The Mist? She blows everyone else off the screen and manages to be much scarier than anything in the parking lot.
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rosco2903
Aug 11th 2009, 13:03
How could you miss Gary Oldmans scenery chewing performances in Leon or State of Grace. James Woods in The Specialist. No Clarence Boddicker, Kurgan or Hans Gruber. Hang your heads in shame TF
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pimpernel
Aug 11th 2009, 22:31
I concur with gambit21 - where's Ledger's Joker?! And Kenneth Brannagh's Iago? Toby Stephens in 'Die Another Day'? And, well I know this isn't a film, but John Simm as The Master in Doctor Who - he definitely nicked the limelight from Tennant! Totally agree about Alan Rickman in Prince of Thieves! "I'm going to cut your heart out with a spoon!" "Why a spoon cousin?" "BECAUSE IT HURTS MORE YOU IDIOT!!" Legendary...
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allykatharvey
Aug 16th 2009, 12:50
Great list! Could have been a bit longer to include Tim Roth's magnetic baddie in Rob Roy and Jeremy Northam's contribution as the almost-baddie but Wickedly-Sharper-Than-The-Hero scene stealer in Enigma! I bought the DVDs for both of these for the stunning bad guys!
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