Ranking the Top 10 Characters in Celebrating Characters in Cinema Series: Volume 11

As promised, here's that follow-up post on ranking all the characters that I've had so far in my Celebrating Characters in Cinema Series. 

So far there's been ten of them.  One is based on are career retrospective that just impressed me.  For the remaining nine: six are from feature films, three are from TV series.  As far as type; five exhibit what I deem a "positive character arc", two exhibit a flat character arc, and two have a negative character arc.  Of the 10 only two women are featured.  :(  Of the 10, five score a 9.0 or better which from my schooling days was good enough for a "A" rating, so those entries will be celebrated with a little extra fanfare.  :)

10-1 Ranking of the Celebrating Characters in Cinema Series:

11. Steve from Begin Again (2014); Overall Effectiveness: 5.00

Positive Character Arc: This is a whoops entry, this character moved me at one time, but in all honesty some 8 years later I don't remember anything from this movie.  I have ALWAYS liked Mike Ruffalo, however.  In all honesty I FORGOT I even had this character on in this series, until I was combing back over my entries.  Not sure if he ends up having a romantic foray with Keira Knightly OR if he's just a mentor figure, but if memory serves me right, this character has a positive character arc; most romantic oriented movies do.

10. Leslie Mann; Overall Effectiveness: 8.00

Positive Character Arc: Overall career award placement, as Leslie Mann tends to play supporting characters who are adding advice or help to the main character.  Best character Leslie Mann ever played was the drunk woman that Andy (Steve Carell) picks up in The 4o-Year-Old Virgin.  In that movie the dunk lady starts out as a wild woman set on a night of fun, ends as hungover woman who's just thrown-up on the guy she's slated to have sex with.  So in this story the dunk woman learns a lesson, not to drink so much and get out hand, which is a positive message unto itself. 

9. Mike Shiner from Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) 2014; Overall Effectiveness: 8.25

Negative Character Arc: In this story Mike starts as a hot shot actor brought on to Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton's character) play to help create some buzz.  But while there Mike decides to try to upstart Riggan, even going so far as to get in a romantic escapade with Riggan's daughter while pissing off his current beau (played by Naomi Watts).  Mike is ego driven and thinks he knows better than anyone else.  Mike ends with him not being someone that Riggan thinks he can trust, and part of the reason that drives him to suicide.

8. Bodhi from Point Break (1991); Overall Effectiveness: 8.50

Flat Character Arc: Starts as a caviler robbers of banks.  Ends being chased down by Keanu Reeves character, and chooses one last ride on his his surf board as opposed to getting thrown in prison.  Patrick Swayse's "Bodhi" never really deviates off the character he starts with choosing to "ride to the death" with the style of life he's chosen.

7. "The Fonz" from Happy Days TV series; Overall Effectiveness: 8.75 Flat Character Arc: Starts as a tough-guy greaser who does well with ladies.  Ends as an older version of himself playing the same comedic function in character interplay despite and the girlfreined and escapades his had over the duration of the series.

6. Michael Scott from NBC's The Office TV series; Overall Effectiveness: 8.75

Positive Character Arc: Starts out as the schmuck boss who wants to be considered a "friend" to his employees.  Ends a little more self aware, and able to dial back his personality when it gets out of control.

5. Boss Hogg from Dukes of Hazard TV series; Overall Effectiveness: 9.0

Negative Character Arc: Starts out as a deviate man in power who manipulates local law enforcement to do his will.  Ends never making peace with the Duke family, still chasing after money above all else.   

Extra Remarks: This villain really carried the load of the entire Duke of Hazard run, imo.  Forget the Daisy Duke's.  Forget Bo and Luke Duke and the General Lee.  It was the humor that usually came from Boss Hogg scolding his corrupt sheriff, Rosco P. Coltrane that kept me coming back for more.

4. Bianca Piper from The Duff (2015); Overall Effectiveness: 9.0

Positive Character Arc: Starts off as the ugly but unaware of that friend to two pretty girls at her high school.  Then a male jock friend of hers slaps the dubious label of being a "duff" on her which sets off an odyssey quest to discover the truth.  Ends with her getting the jock friend of hers to be her boyfriend and resolving the issue of "duffs" in high school to a much greater extent. 

Extra Remarks: Wow what a home-run, female character in coming-of-age story.  Was really impressed by Mae Whitman's chops as pertains to comedic acting.  Her character makes this story work.  And this story reminds me a lot of an earlier teen comedy I wrote entitled Revenge of the Fat Chicks. 

3. Hudson from Aliens (1986); Overall Effectiveness: 9.25

Positive Character Arc: Starts off as this cock-sure warrior who thinks the aliens they're slated to face will be no match for them.  Then Hudson gets humbled when the aliens descimate his fellow warrior friends.  Ends fighting heroically against the aliens shoot and trying to kill as many of them as he can before he gets swarmed under.  

Extra Remarks: Some of the best dialog I can ever remember given to a minor, supporting character in a plot driven, sci-fi horror movie.  Bill Paxton did a great job acting the role that James Cameron wrote for him.  

2. The Humungus from The Road Warrior (1981); Overall Effectiveness: 9.5

Negative Character Arc: Starts off as the ruler of a scavenger bikers gang.  Proves his ruthlessness over the course of the movie: ordering the torture of people trying to escape, shooting at his adversaries with one of the last functioning revolvers.  Ends trying to ram the tanker that Mad Max is driving, which kills him.  Never learns his lesson in making peace with others, which is the Humungus's character arc, but rather continues in unabated savagery until its those very actions which cost him his own life.

Extra remarks: Jason set to a post-apocalyptic movie as a lead scavenger is a masterful choice.  True, this is support character and not even the prime rival that Mad Max has to face in this movie, yet the voice inflection and the mystery of how horribly looking the Humungus is beneath his hokey masked worked on me.  For a minor villain, the Humungus is homerun.  The best you can expect to craft and create in a screenwriting/directing/acting pyramid as pertains to secondary, villainous characters.  

1. Rick Dalton from Once upon a Time in Hollywood (2019);  Overall Effectiveness: 10.00

Positive Character Arc: Starts off as actor unsure of his place in the changing landscape of the Hollywood Entertainment Industry at the end of the 1960s.  Faces his biggest career failure when he realizes his excessive drinking caused him to forget line in a TV series shoot.  Ends with him proving that he can be a hero in real life when he takes to arms and burns to death a member of the Manson cult that had broken into his house.

Extra remarks: Rick Dalton is my favorite character in the history of cinema.  A true beautiful meshing of great writing and character design by the one and only, Quentin Tarantino; which then gets back by an equally outstanding job of acting by Leonardo Dicaprio.  For my money Rick Dalton is the apex of excellence in movie characters.  The benchmark that is at the top of the excellence scale.  Rick Dalton is a masterfully built character who you just don't wanna see go when at last the end credits start to roll.

 

 

Comments

[Nicole]

OK, so from what I gather you're either for real, or deeply committed to the bit. What's for certain is that your feelings are hurt. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings.

[E.C. Henry]

Well, not the response I was expecting, I'll give you that.

I am mad at you. You're a person I don't even know, and without me knowing anything about you, you decided to insult me twice on my blog. As far as "fixing it", I think there is huge disconnect between us.

Why are you even on my blog to begin with?

What are you trying to accomplish?

[Nicole]

Why are you so mad? I genuinely don’t know what I did. Is there something I can say to rectify things? I’m sorry.

[E.C. Henry]

You don't get to talk to like that on my own blog.

Crawl back to whatever hole you came from -- and don't come back!

[Nicole]

Trust me, I’m on my own. I found your blog via Scriptshadow. This my own blog for proof: https://thoughtcatalog.com/nicole-mullen/

Now what about you? Is your whole persona an elaborate troll job?

[E.C. Henry]

I don't buy it, Nicole. First order of business is I need to know what group you're affiliated with. You need to tell me.

[Nicole]

I'm using "us" in the majestic plural. And what's your answer to the original question?

[E.C. Henry]

Hey, Nicole, what do you mean by saying "us"? What group are you affiliated with?

[Nicole]

Are you actually a Brooklyn hipster comedian trolling us all?