Magnificent Bastard/Film: Difference between revisions

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* Graham Marshall (Michael Caine) in ''A Shock to the System''. {{spoiler|He methodically murders his bitchy wife and sleazy boss, beds his beautiful coworker, gets her to help him cover up the crimes ''after'' she finds out he did it (and drugged her to create an alibi), rubs the homicide cop's nose in it, and in the last scene takes out the chairman of the board and takes his place.}} And does it all with a [[Deadpan Snarker]] narration that is 200-proof Michael Caine gold.

* One word: [[Memetic Mutation|KKHHAAANNNN!!!!]], ''[[Star Trek]]'''s best example of the [[Magnificent Bastard]], though not the last.

** Chang, played with brilliant bastardliness by Christopher Plummer, in ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]''. He banters with Kirk at dinner, claiming Shakespeare is best recited in the "original Klingon", and even as he's pounding the Enterprise to death while cloaked, he still has time to quote Henry V, Julius Caesar and ~~finally~~ Hamlet~~. Classy bastard~~.

** Chang, played with brilliant bastardliness by Christopher Plummer, in ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]''. He banters with Kirk at dinner, claiming Shakespeare is best recited in the "original Klingon", and even as he's pounding the Enterprise to death while cloaked, he still has time to quote ''Henry V'', ''Julius Caesar'' and ''Hamlet''.

** In ''Into Darkness'', John Harrison plays just about everyone with ease and style. And then it's revealed that {{spoiler|he's Khan.}} It was perfectly obvious that he would inevitably fit this trope with ease even before the movie was released.

* Senator / Chancellor / Emperor Palpatine from ''[[Star Wars]]''. Sith-ness notwithstanding, he managed to shape the entire galaxy in his image, had manipulated every major event for the past two decades or so, and had kept everyone assured of his respectability and trustworthiness while doing so. As he declared himself ruler-for-life (and was ''applauded'' by the Senate for doing so) he could justifiably claim to have earned it. And his start to political prominence was over a seemingly minor trade dispute. Which he started. Manages to be both this and a [[Complete Monster]], since it helps [[Ambition Is Evil|he's motivated by pure ambition.]]

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* ''[[Jackie Brown]]'', who manipulates almost every character in the film against one another, while she steals millions of dollars and is granted freedom from prosecution, with only her lover the wiser.

* ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'' has Rotti Largo who {{spoiler|planted poison in Nathan Wallace's home lab, thus killing the woman they both loved. Then he convinced Nathan that Marni's death was all his (Nathan's) fault and made him work as a Repo Man for [[Gene Co]]}}. And that's not much considering some of the other stuff he gets away with (and tries to get away with) in the movie. {{spoiler|In a deleted scene he managed to get Shilo to extract zydrate from her mother's corpse.}}

** Amber Sweet, Rotti's daughter, has shades of this as well, mainly by the end of the film.

** Amber Sweet, Rotti's daughter, has shades of this as well, mainly by the end of the film. Being played by [[Paris Hilton]] makes this all the more magnificent.

* Evil, as portrayed by David Warner in ''[[Time Bandits]]'', particularly during the final fight scene.

** Jack the Ripper, also as portrayed by David Warner in ''Time After Time''

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** The scene at the end, where his coworkers discover that {{spoiler|he was never married, and he's been lying to all of them for years just for the hell of it}}, cements it.

** The best intelligence agencies in the world don't even know his ''birthday''

* ~~ady~~ Kaede is the true villain of the film ''[[Ran]]''. Desiring revenge against Hidetora and the Ichimonji clan for slaughtering her family years ago, Kaede convinces her husband, Hidetora's eldest son Taro, to usurp his father and war against his brother Jiro. Upon Taro's death, she effortlessly seduces Jiro, convinces him to kill his wife and then manipulates him into disastrous strategies that bring the Ichimonji to ruin. When Jiro's general Kurogane confronts her when the battle is lost, Kaede calmly admits to everything, showing absolutely no fear of dying with her ultimate goals achieved.

* Lady Kaede is the true villain of the film ''[[Ran]]''. Desiring revenge against Hidetora and the Ichimonji clan for slaughtering her family years ago, Kaede convinces her husband, Hidetora's eldest son Taro, to usurp his father and war against his brother Jiro. Upon Taro's death, she effortlessly seduces Jiro, convinces him to kill his wife and then manipulates him into disastrous strategies that bring the Ichimonji to ruin. When Jiro's general Kurogane confronts her when the battle is lost, Kaede calmly admits to everything, showing absolutely no fear of dying with her ultimate goals achieved.

* One of the most dynamic villains of 80s action cinema, Damon Killian of ''[[The Running Man]]'' is a smiling, charming game show host who runs and created the "Running Man" where criminals are hunted down by the state sanctioned "Stalkers". With enough power to blackmail even the dystopian government itself, Killian forces them to give him The Hero Ben Richards for the game and tricks him into participating willingly, also throwing Richards' friends into the game as Killian plays the crowd against Richards and the rest even while upping the ante to finish them off. Having any supposed winners of the show secretly murdered, Killian in effect controls the population through his shows, and when Richards threatens he will be back before being launched in the game, Killian's only response? "Only in a rerun".

* Crop-duster turned bank robber, the titular ''Charley Varrick'' disguises himself as an injured old man to discreetly complete his theft. Discovering the money he stole belonged to The Mafia, Varrick suggests to his friend, Harman, that they lay low, avoiding spending it for four years, to avoid suspicion. When Harman's avarice leads to him spending, Varrick double-crosses him by swapping their dental records and forging a passport to confuse the hitman sent after them. Acting friendly to the corrupt bank president, Varrick leads the hitman to believe they are associates, resulting in the president being killed. Tricking the hitman into trying to retrieve the money from a car he rigged to explode, Varrick kills him, getting away clean.