100 GREATEST MOVIE VILLAINS

Pt. 2  06-10

TOMMY DePALMA

Who's he?: Tommy DePalma was a member of Paulie Cicero's crew, a small time mafia team affiliated with the Lucchese crime family. He mostly worked with partners Jimmy "The Gent" Conway and Henry Hill.
How bad was he?: Tommy was a foul-mouthed psychopath with a hair-trigger temper who would shoot someone down on the flimsiest of excuses, and that's not even counting on the fact that he was an organised crime enforcer with his beak in extortion, money-laundering, theft, drug trafficking and a laundry list of other offenses.
What happened?: His unpredictable temper got the better of him when he murdered Billy Batts, a close friend of mafia boss John Gotti. Since Batts' murder was not sanctioned by anyone in authority (having been committed out of anger) Gotti took a dim view of Tommy's temper tantrum and he ordered the pint-sized killer executed.
Appearances: Goodfellas (1990)

DARTH VADER

Who's he?: Born Annakin Skywalker on the distant world of Tattoine, Skywalker was recruited as a Jedi Padawan by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. According to a Jedi prophecy, Annakin was supposed to end the threats of the Sith and restore balance in the Force. That's not exactly what happened.
How bad was he?: Wracked by inner demons, Annakin was corrupted by Senator Palpatine, a powerful Sith Lord looking for a new apprentice. In a very short span, Annakin betrayed the Jedi order, helped Palpatine destroy the Galactic Republic and accidentally killed his own wife. A textbook example of "descent into evil".
What happened?: Vader became the Emperor's right hand man. He eventually reconnected with his family, with dire results. Eventually he was redeemed by his son, Luke, who picked up on the family business thanks to the meddlings of his old  master, Obi-Wan. He died on Endor surrounded by his son, his daughter and some Ewoks.
Appearances: Star Wars Eps. I-VI (1977-2003)

DR. VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN

Who's he?: Once a promising medical student from Ingolstadt, Switzerland, Dr Frankenstein became obsessed with creating human life from the reanimated bits of human cadavers. This did not sit well with the moral guardians of the time and so he was eventually hunted down as a criminal by the authorities.
How bad was he?: Obsession was Frankenstein's undoing. His experiments always seem to end up in disaster with loss of life and limb for anyone involved. He has resorted to murder and blackmail to carry on with his unnatural practices. Frankenstein was quite incapable of admitting to any wrongdoing, making him a shame of the medical profession.
What happened?: Frankenstein did succeed many times in creating life, yet his creatures almost always end up as braind-damaged monsters threatening anyone in sight. Some of them also attempted to kill him and his loved ones and yet Frankenstein soldiered on. He appartently disappeared in the Arctic circle at the turn of the 19th century.
Appearances: Frankenstein (1931), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), to name but a few.

DELBERT GRADY

Who's he?: In 1970, Grady became the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. So he went up there with his wife and his two daughters.
How bad was he?: Initially, Grady was a "completely normal individual" with "good references and good employment record" who nevertheless suffered a bad case of cabin fever and chopped his wife and daughters up into little bit and then blew his brains out with a shotgun.
What happened?: Grady (and his daughters) was absorbed by the malevolent entity living inside the Overlook walls. When Jack Torrance, his wife and his son moved up there as the new winter caretaker, Grady had a long talk with him and tried to have him repeat history with his own family. He was only partially succesful.
Appearances: The Shining (1980), "Stephen King's The Shining" (1997)

CALIGULA

Who's he?: His real name was Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus Augustus. "Caligula" ("little soldier's boot" in Latin) was a nickname given to him by his father's troops. At the age of eighteen, around AD 30, he went to live with his grand-uncle Tiberius, then emperor of Rome, who adopted him and made him heir to the  imperial throne. The rest, as they say, was history (and how!).
How bad was he?: Well, Caligula became the quintessential "mad emperor", the grandfather or all bad rulers down in history. His antics and debaucheries made him an enemy of the Roman aristocracy (while remaining extremely popular with the people). Though it is difficult to say if any of what Roman historians said he did were actually true, or just the fertile imaginings of jealous rich white men. His reputation was only undone by his nephew, Nero, a couple of years later.
What happened?: Caligula realised all too late that no one is indispensible, not even an emperor. He managed to piss off one person too many, and that person was no less than the commander of his Praetorian Guard. Not the wisest of move. He was assassinated by said commander in AD 41.
Appearances: The Robe (1953), Caligula (1979), "I, Claudius" (1976)