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syxxpac
10-02-2002, 08:40 PM
You know these guys/gals. The ones who don't really want to be heroes but sometimes just get dragged into the worst situations. Some of mine are:

Evil Dead - Ash

Pulp Fiction - Jules Winnfield

A Clockwork Orange - Alex

Escape From L.A. - Snake Plissken

Aliens - Hudson

There's but a wee few.
Buck Turgidson
10-02-2002, 10:16 PM
John Yossarian in Catch 22 (The brilliant Allan Arkin, who [like Frank Zappa and Kirk Douglas], should have worn a prophalactic.)

The all time best anti-hero is Jim Rockford. I know that's TV, but whenever I hear that term, I think of him lying in the driveway after getting his ass beaten. His client is like "Well, shouldn't we go after them?" and he says "Uh, no...I think I'll lay here for a little while. The ground feels pretty good." :D
PapaJupe2k
10-02-2002, 10:27 PM
How about Cool Hand Luke? That was one of my all time favorite movies. Produced some of the best quotes to. When asked why he destroyed those parking meters... "Small town, not much to do in the evenings." He is probably the definition of an anti-hero.
notchreturns
10-02-2002, 11:45 PM
Travis Bickle
Cyclonus
10-02-2002, 11:54 PM
Alex -- A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
Jules -- PULP FICTION
Travis -- TAXI DRIVER
Jasonite
10-03-2002, 01:13 AM
Originally posted by PapaJupe2k
How about Cool Hand Luke? That was one of my all time favorite movies. Produced some of the best quotes to. When asked why he destroyed those parking meters... "Small town, not much to do in the evenings." He is probably the definition of an anti-hero.

Absolutely LOVE that movie, I think it's incredible. But I would say the prototypical anti-hero was Clint Eastwood, especially in the Man with No Name trilogy.


J
RogueSpear
10-03-2002, 02:20 PM
I would have to say Snake Plissken is my favorite anti-hero...

"Your rules are beginning to annoy me."
BadCoverVersion
10-03-2002, 02:28 PM
Johnny - Naked

Renton - Trainspotting

All good choices thus far mind you!
bankholdup
10-03-2002, 05:21 PM
Am I the only person who thinks Travis Bickle was a hero? Oh well, just my perspective on things.

Alex De Large; A Clockwork Orange
The Joker; Batman
Big Boy Caprice; Dick Tracy
Jasonite
10-03-2002, 06:36 PM
Originally posted by bankholdup
Am I the only person who thinks Travis Bickle was a hero? Oh well, just my perspective on things.

Alex De Large; A Clockwork Orange
The Joker; Batman
Big Boy Caprice; Dick Tracy

You'd have a tough time convincing me that Travis Bickle was any kind of hero, but I'd be more interested in how you think the Joker was an anti-hero??


J
bankholdup
10-03-2002, 06:47 PM
I believe Travis Bickle is a hero because he freed Iris.

I consider The Joker an anti-hero because he is on the opposite side of good.
BadCoverVersion
10-03-2002, 07:00 PM
Travis is the archetypal Anti-Hero...

He is the central protagonist...He lacks all the idealistic qualities associated with a heroic character...

That is the very definition of Anti-Hero
BadCoverVersion
10-03-2002, 07:02 PM
And I'm going to be a big fucking gloater now...

The definition of Anti-Hero...

an·ti·he·ro also an·ti-he·ro (nt-hîr, nt-) n. pl. an·ti·he·roes

A main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities.
the movie guy
10-03-2002, 07:23 PM
Bravo, BCV, for defining the word for anyone who's too "silly" to look it up in a dictionary themselves. (I'm not one of those people, but I'm sure they appreciate it.)

I would say that my most recent favorite anti-heroes are...

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
matthewvignola
10-03-2002, 07:47 PM
These are the coolest anti-hero's

1) Alex de larg- Clockwork Orange
2) Lestat-Interview with the vampire/Queen of the damned
3) Kiezer soze- usual suspects
There are lots of others but I can't think of them right now.
Buck Turgidson
10-03-2002, 08:02 PM
The fact that Travis Bickle, in spite of being a demented doofus, reached a certain status of Folk Hero for that blood soaked spree is the whole point of that film.

Even the Cybill Sheppard character, who had no use for him, and was (correctly) wary of him, suddenly wanted to crawl in his zipper after he'd been anointed on TV.

It's the same theme, (that for some people "famous" automatically equals "good"), that Scorsese criticized in The King of Comedy
aixela
10-04-2002, 08:58 PM
The good (Clint Eastwood) in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

pretty much just about all of the cowboys that Clint Eatwood plays in his speghetti western days
Jasonite
10-04-2002, 11:28 PM
Originally posted by bankholdup

I consider The Joker an anti-hero because he is on the opposite side of good.

Well dude that doesn't make the Joker an anti-hero, that makes him a villain!

And I'm sorry guys, but Travis Bickle is not an anti-hero...he's just insane. He happened to do the right thing, but there's a difference between an anti-hero and a psycho. The only worse than people putting Bickle on a pedestal are the ones that do so for Hannibal Lector. This also happens to explain why people like John Hinckley DO admire Bickle. An anti-hero is someone you admire, even though he may do things for selfish reasons, or because he doesn't really have a choice. How screwed up do you have to be to admire this man?


J
BadCoverVersion
10-04-2002, 11:45 PM
Originally posted by Jasonite
Well dude that doesn't make the Joker an anti-hero, that makes him a villain!

And I'm sorry guys, but Travis Bickle is not an anti-hero...he's just insane. He happened to do the right thing, but there's a difference between an anti-hero and a psycho. The only worse than people putting Bickle on a pedestal are the ones that do so for Hannibal Lector. This also happens to explain why people like John Hinckley DO admire Bickle. An anti-hero is someone you admire, even though he may do things for selfish reasons, or because he doesn't really have a choice. How screwed up do you have to be to admire this man?


J

The definition of Anti-Hero...

an·ti·he·ro also an·ti-he·ro (nt-hîr, nt-) n. pl. an·ti·he·roes

A main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities.

I aint being arsey here....but please, allow opinions!

You do not have to "admire" or "respect" an Anti-Hero....You just have that gut feeling, you empathise with the bastards! You realise their ambition, their plight, their persona!
Buck Turgidson
10-05-2002, 02:34 AM
In his own mind, Hannibal Lecter is a Nietzchean Superman. He's beyond good and evil, He can choose either, as he pleases.

He's neither evil, a villain nor an anti-hero: he's an occasionally deadly force of nature. (This Naturalistic theme runs throughout Harris's novel Red Dragon, in Will Graham's musing to himself on the role of Evil in the universe)

I think a better parallel to Travis than Hinkley is "Subway Vigilante" Bernard Goetz, who everybody gave a pass to after his shooting spree.
KornKidJedi
10-05-2002, 10:23 AM
Travis Bickle-Taxi Driver
The Gecko Brothers-From Dusk Till Dawn
Ashley J.Williams-The Evil Dead Trilogy
Jules Winnfield-Pulp Fiction
Mr.White-Reservoir Dogs
Jackie Brown
Butch-Pulp Fiction
Sex Machine-From Dusk Till Dawn
Blades-Dawn of the Dead
The McManus Brothers-The Boondock Saints
bankholdup
10-05-2002, 10:45 AM
I got anti-hero and villian mixed up with the whole Joker thing...my bad.

But I still consider Travis Bickle a hero.
bigred760
10-05-2002, 10:57 AM
William Munny, Unforgiven

The Wild Bunch

Sanjuro, Yojimbo (or Eastwood in Fistful of Dollars)
syxxpac
10-05-2002, 01:07 PM
I would like to add Riddick from Pitch Black . Vin Diesel may have been in the horrible Fast And The Furious (haven't seen xXx yet), but I thought he was exceptionally kick ass in this, I must say.
JackRabbitSlim
10-05-2002, 01:20 PM
Jules, Pulp Fiction
Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver
The man with no name,The Dollars Trilogy