The Coen Brothers have made loads of movies throughout quite a few a long time now, a lot of them outlined by their crime/thriller components, unpredictable storylines, and trademark humorousness that may be equal elements darkish and absurd. They’ve made some films with out typical villains, films the place nobody actually stands out as a villain as a result of everybody’s morally questionable, and flicks the place a personality’s unhealthy luck or hostile atmosphere stands in for a extra human villain (like in A Severe Man and Inside Llewyn Davis).

Nonetheless, there are sufficient real villains discovered all through the filmography of the Coen Brothers – plus one instance from a movie that Joel directed with out Ethan – to make rating among the very best. That’s what the next intends to do, with the most effective of the most effective Coen Brothers villains ranked beneath, beginning with the pretty memorable and ending with essentially the most memorable.

10 Tom Chaney

‘True Grit’ (2010)

Standing as one of many finest Westerns of the twenty first century thus far, True Grit is an up to date model of the identical story advised in 1969, which was notable for containing John Wayne’s sole Oscar win. True Grit tells a narrative that facilities on revenge, with a younger woman enlisting the assistance of two males to trace down and kill the person accountable for murdering her father.

It’s principally a movie that focuses on the “heroes,” or anti-heroes, which might be a extra acceptable time period, although Josh Brolin does nonetheless make an impression as Tom Chaney, the person who’s to be delivered to justice for his previous misdeeds. Brolin would go on to play a extra iconic villain within the MCU some years later, however Chaney remains to be an efficient villain, and one a part of the brutal depiction of the Outdated West discovered on this Western.

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9 Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr

‘The Ladykillers’ (2004)

Simply as True Grit was a remake, so too was 2004’s The Ladykillers, although when judged as a movie, this one wasn’t fairly as nice because the aforementioned 2010 Western from the Coen Brothers. The superior tackle The Ladykillersgot here out in 1955, although this 2004 model is kind of comparable, with each films being about very incompetent criminals being thwarted by their clueless aged landlord.

Nonetheless, the lead prison within the movie’s completely ineffective gang, Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr, is price mentioning as a result of he’s performed by Tom Hanks in a really entertaining efficiency. It stands as one of many few occasions Hanks has performed a villain (properly, this and Elvis), however Alec Guinness was in all probability extra memorable in that authentic movie… a movie that additionally boasted a younger Peter Sellers in a really entertaining supporting position.

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8 Sheriff Cooley

‘O Brother, The place Artwork Thou?’ (2000)

O Brother, The place Artwork Thou?may properly rank as one of many extra underrated Coen Brothers films, as if it was well-received upon launch, it doesn’t appear to encourage fairly as a lot ardour amongst viewers as among the Coens’ best-known Nineties/2000s titles. It’s about three escaped convicts who go on the lookout for some buried treasure, all of the whereas being pursued by the legislation, together with a very decided sheriff.

His identify is Sheriff Cooley, to be particular, and he’s essentially the most recognizable determine who pursues the primary characters, owing to the truth that he at all times wears sun shades. Although the heroes are, successfully, prisoners, they nonetheless really feel far much less villainous than Cooley, who goes above and past in how relentlessly he pursues the three principal characters, demonstrating cruelty and ruthlessness nearly any time he reveals up on display.

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7 Buster Scruggs

‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ (2018)

Given The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an anthology film, the titular character is barely in it for one among a number of segments, however he’s essentially the most memorable single character from the complete movie. His part of the film is kind of fast-paced and humorous, however when you concentrate on it, Buster Scruggs himself is a little bit of a sociopath, and could be terrifying have been he not cracking jokes and singing on a regular basis.

He can’t be as threatening as another Coen Brothers’ films due to the tone for many of his section, however Buster Scruggs antagonizes numerous individuals after which reveals himself to be greater than prepared to kill them with ruthless effectivity. It’s roughly performed for laughs, however he’s a fairly horrible man on the finish of the day; even perhaps one among essentially the most underappreciated “villains” in latest reminiscence.

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6 Leonard Smalls

‘Elevating Arizona’ (1987)

Though Elevating Arizona is among the most incessantly comedic films directed by the Coen Brothers, it nonetheless finds room inside the insanity of its plot to have a surprisingly good villain. The unlikely “heroes” of the film are lovable, however they’re additionally thieves, the pair being in a wholesome relationship however unable to have youngsters of their very own, prompting them to steal one among 5 quintuplets.

It’s a really foolish spin on an virtually Bonnie and Clyde type of story, and one character the 2 leads come throughout is a sinister and mysterious bounty hunter often known as Leonard Smalls. Smalls seems like he’s entered Elevating Arizona proper off the set of a Mad Max film, however he works surprisingly properly, managing to be a menacing and threatening character with out ever overpowering or darkening to too nice an extent the movie’s humor.

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5 Macbeth

‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ (2021)

Under no circumstances did the Coen Brothers create the character of Macbeth, and even when the story had been authentic, it might’ve solely been Joel Coen “accountable” for the character, given he directed The Tragedy of Macbeth with out his brother, Ethan. The titular character of Macbeth is, in fact, a greater than well-established character, with the play being greater than 400 years outdated and one among Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies (to not point out the truth that Macbeth was loosely primarily based on an actual individual).

Macbeth right here, as is generally the case, isn’t a sympathetic form of tragic hero, as a substitute being somebody outlined by his greed and blind lust for energy; issues that result in an inevitable downfall. Denzel Washington is greater than up for the duty of taking part in this character and reciting his iconic traces of dialogue, giving a posh efficiency of a well-recognized character and digging deep into the rotten core of the play’s titular determine.

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4 Gaear Grimsrud

‘Fargo’ (1996)

A cinematic spotlight of the complete Nineties, Fargo is finest remembered for its protagonist: pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson, who’s one of many few clever characters discovered within the movie. In any other case, Fargo finds rigidity and darkish comedy from having a solid crammed with morally corrupt and oftentimes silly characters all concerned with a scheme that entails kidnapping, extortion, and, finally, loads of homicide.

Of those villainous characters, nonetheless, none show fairly as intimidating or vulnerable to uncaring violence as Gaear Grimsrud, performed to extremely memorable impact by Peter Stormare. He kills lots of people, contemplating he’s only a supporting character who’s a part of a comparatively brief film, and he does so with out regret or something approaching empathy. Regardless of Fargo being fairly humorous all through (in a darkish means), Grimsrud stays quietly terrifying.

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3 Charlie Meadows

‘Barton Fink’ (1991)

Anybody who’s seen their justifiable share of Coen Brothers’ films will know that John Goodman is an actor who reveals up pretty usually all through their filmography. He’s at all times nice, whether or not taking part in a small position or a extra distinguished one, and will get to shine as a really villainous character in Barton Fink, an early movie by the Coens that additionally occurred to win them a Palme d’Or on the Cannes Movie Pageant.

The titular character is the movie’s hapless protagonist, and he travels from New York Metropolis to Los Angeles, hoping to transition from being a playwright to changing into a screenwriter. He meets Charlie Meadows, who initially appears useful however steadily turns into somebody who’s an ideal deal extra unsettling than initially appeared. Goodman is surprisingly terrifying, particularly within the movie’s again half, and he pulled off taking part in an incredibly good antagonist right here in Barton Fink.

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2 Loren Visser

‘Blood Easy’ (1984)

The Coen Brothers positively exploded onto the movie scene in 1984 with the discharge of their implausible and brutal neo-noir movie, Blood Easy. So far as characteristic movie debuts go, this can be a quite legendary one, as even when it won’t signify the filmmaking duo at their absolute peak, it’s expertly carried out contemplating the way it was their first, and it stays an intense, atmospheric, and unnerving watch to at the present time.

Blood Easy is a few regularly escalating battle that begins when one man begins to suspect his spouse is dishonest on him with one other, and hires a personal detective named Loren Visser to research. The late M. Emmet Walsh was incessantly relegated to small however memorable roles all through his prolific profession, however Visser was a personality that gave Walsh a ton to work with, and he’s amazingly sinister, creepy, and seemingly unstoppable, notably in the course of the movie’s oftentimes nightmarish last act.

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1 Anton Chigurh

‘No Nation for Outdated Males’ (2007)

It’s no contest, actually. Anton Chigurh is one among the most effective villains in film historical past, so him getting positioned on the very prime in relation to villains from the Coen Brothers’ filmography was an inevitability. Showing in No Nation for Outdated Males, he is a hitman who’ll cease at nothing to recuperate a big sum of money that’s been taken from the positioning of a drug deal turned lethal, and certainly, Chigurh leaves behind an enormous physique rely in his pursuit of this cash.

Javier Bardem gave an unbelievable efficiency in No Nation for Outdated Males, greater than incomes his Oscar win for the position. It’s an excellent film even outdoors the villain and the efficiency given by Bardem, with loads that makes it a spotlight inside the Coens’ physique of labor… however nonetheless, that character and that performing from Bardem is what takes it from being “simply” excellent to exceptionally nice.

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