10. Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (played by Julian Glover)
Mr. Glover is often left out of those geeky Web forum discussions about who can play the best villain, and yet he’s been featured as a baddie in Bond, The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and of course, the greatest episode of Doctor Who ever produced, City of Death. Here he’s playing a smuggler who has the genius idea of setting up his main rival to be Bond’s next target. One of the few villains who never underestimates 007.
09. Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big in Live and Let Die (played by Yaphet Kotto)
Mr. Kotto is notable for being the first actor to play two different fiends in a Bond film. His Dr. Kananga, a dictator of a small Carribean island nation, also happens to moonlight as Mr. Big, a drug lord based out of New York City. I think Kotto played the roles brilliantly, because for a change the villain actually has little charm; we genuinely want to see this madman get his comeuppance.
08. Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger (played by Gert Frobe)
Perhaps the most greedy and gluttonous of all the Bond villains, Mr. Goldfinger really didn’t seem to care much about taking over the world or inciting another World War… all he cared about was wealth and winning. Despite the fact that he was already a very rich man, he would frequently cheat at high-stakes games of golf or cards just to give himself the ego boost. Yet behind his rather sizable character flaws, there lies a genius intellect. He proved to be quite the challenge for Mr. Bond to survive.
07. Francisco Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun (played by Christopher Lee)
Christopher Lee, for my money, plays the greatest bad guys ever. I even like his version of Dracula better than Bela Lugosi, which is probably an outrageous slander to some of you, and for that I apologize (I can’t help it, I’m a Hammer freak). Originally considered by his cousin Ian Fleming to play the role of Dr. No in the first Bond film, Mr. Lee was finally approached for a villainous role in the early 70’s. Lee didn’t consider the novel’s version of Scaramanga to be a very good nemesis for the film series, noting that the Scaramanga of the book is “just a thug”. The ante was thus upped considerably, turning Scaramanga into a dark side of Bond; twisted, maniacal, yet still maintaining an air of wit and dignity about him – “To us! We are the best!“
06. Dr. Julius No in Dr. No (played by Joseph Wiseman)
Dr. No set the template for every cad to follow in the series, so excluding him from this list would be an error. He is the very definition of ‘mad scientist’, and while part of his character has been aped to death by Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers series, the utter seriousness of Wiseman’s performance shoots this well past parody and into something altogether transcendent. Gotta love those indestructible hands too.
05. Emilio Largo in Thunderball (played by Adolfo Celi)
This guy is so badass, if you work for him and you mess up in the slightest, you get fed to his pet sharks. He also tortures his girlfriend while stealing nuclear warheads and holding the world for ransom on the side. And if a guy this horrible is only the number two for SPECTRE, just who could be number one in the organization? There are echoes of Largo and Celi’s performance in the current Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace in the character of Mr. White.
04. Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies (played by Jonathan Pryce)
From a slightly underrated Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, our main character tangles with media mogul Elliot Carver, who attempts to manipulate China and the United Kingdom into war through his news outlets around the globe. I think this character was ever so slightly ahead of his time. If they would’ve held out and used Carver a few years ago as the wave of anti-Fox News or anti-MSNBC or anti-insert media outlet here feelings started to manifest in the United States, the part would probably resonate more. He encapsulates everything we despise about media barons such as Rupert Murdoch, the late Robert Maxwell, or Ted Turner.
03. Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (played by Telly Savalas)
You couldn’t do a list like this without Blofeld. He is Bond’s version of Lex Luthor or The Joker, if you’ll pardon the comic book comparison. Unfortunately, there was a lack of consistency in the Bond films, because they could never coax the same actor back twice to play the part. While there have been some very good actors to play the role, including Donald Pleasence, Charles Gray, and Max von Sydow in the rogue Bond Never Say Never Again, it’s always been a bit disconcerting to see the character change appearance so much over the years. Then again, some might argue that this fits in better with Fleming’s notion that the supervillain would go great lengths to change his appearance, as seen in Diamonds Are Forever. At any rate, my favorite of all the men to play Blofeld is Kojak himself, Mr. Telly Savalas. Although he doesn’t do a very good job hiding his New York accent, it doesn’t matter one iota. What matters is, for the first time in the series, we have a geniune physical threat to Bond. This version of Blofeld is not afraid to mix it up with 007, as opposed to just sending out henchman to do his dirty work. Witness the rough and tumble brawl between Bond and Blofeld during the climatic bobsled chase. Whether it was the intention of the filmmakers or the actor himself, Telly divorced himself from the other interpretations of Blofeld. This is no meek intellectual hiding behind a white pussycat. Indeed, one brief scene sees Blofeld rather brusquely chucking the cat down on his desk and running off to chase after an escaping Bond on a set of skis.
02. Franz Sanchez in License to Kill (played by Robert Davi)
Robert Davi and Timothy Dalton actually studied their Fleming before slipping into their roles, and while Sanchez is not based on an original Fleming character, the tone of the character is exceptionally Flemingesque. Sanchez, the only Bond villain cool enough to pull off wearing a pink dress shirt, is a dark reflection of Bond in many ways, a brute and a gentleman, and another true physical match for his rival who needs no Oddjob-type to do the fighting for him. He’s so smart and powerful that the only way Bond can defeat him is by taking the route of the ninja and trying to destroy his organization from within.
01. Alec Trevelyan (006) in GoldenEye (played by Sean Bean)
There’s no better villain than the man who was almost Bond himself, Sean Bean’s Alec Trevelyan. There’s a bit of irony in there somewhere: he auditions and is seriously considered for the part some eight years before GoldenEye, yet ends up playing Bond gone bad instead. This truly is the ultimate match for 007, because 006 has every skill Bond has from running and gunning to womanizing. Hell, he even has the same tricked out wristwatch that Q supposedly issues to all the “00″ agents. Trevelyan is so metal he’s even got his own pithy catchphrase – that smug, sardonic delivery of the repeated line, “For England, James?” will get to you every time.
3 Comments
November 18, 2008 at 23:36
I totally agree with Trevelyan. Nice list.
November 30, 2008 at 10:52
[...] Top Ten Vilões do James Bond! Se inspire para fazer o seu BBEG! [...]
January 11, 2009 at 19:17
Yes nice choice. Though I think Goldfinger and Dr.No should have a better ranking. Though I think Le Chiffre should have made the list also.