Top 10 Western Movie Villains
Over the years, cinema has brought us some truly evil characters, and Western movies are no exception. One of the most important parts of a good Western movie is an evil villain for the hero to defeat. Let's dive right in and rank the greatest Western movie villains.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is considered by many to be the greatest Spaghetti Western of all time. One of the three main characters, Angel Eyes, portrayed by Lee Van Cleef, is a relentless, dangerous, and greedy bounty-hunting outlaw. This traitorous and cruel assassin crosses paths with the other two titular characters, all looking for a stash of stolen Confederate gold worth $200,000.
Angel Eyes is more evil than all the other characters on this list combined.
Smart, evil, deadly. What else makes a villain great?
The main antagonist in the widely acclaimed Western Unforgiven, starring Clint Eastwood, Little Bill Daggett is portrayed by Gene Hackman and is a ruthless sheriff who uses any means necessary to keep crime away from his town. He is shown to be abusive with many citizens and brutal with his enemies.
Frank is the main antagonist of Sergio Leone's 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film Once Upon a Time in the West. He is a ruthless, selfish, and sadistic mercenary. In the film, he was hired by a rich railroad owner to manipulate a farmer named McBain into moving off his land, but he kills him and his family instead.
The protagonist also has a very good reason to be after him, as Frank killed his brother years before the events of the film.
Henry Fonda is the villain, and he pulls it off? He was one of the greats!
Portrayed by Eli Wallach, Tuco is a criminal who used to associate with Blondie (Clint Eastwood). After a falling out, he seeks revenge, until the two are forced to work together to find the lost $200,000 of Confederate gold.
Eli Wallach played this character perfectly. "When you shoot, just shoot, don't talk." Love it.
Calvera, portrayed by Eli Wallach, is the leader of a band of bandits who regularly pillage a poor village of farmers. He is mean, arrogant, but also smart. One of his best lines in the movie is when he talks about his pillaging of the village to the seven hired mercenaries: "If God did not want them sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep."
The character of Curly Bill Brocius is based on the real-life outlaw William "Curly Bill" Brocius. Just like his real-life counterpart, the character is the leader of his own gang of criminals known as "The Cowboys." He and his gang are rampant in the town of Tombstone.
Soon, the Earp brothers decide to get rid of their gang, making Curly Bill the antagonist of the movie's hero, Wyatt Earp.
Johnny Ringo is the second in command of Curly Bill Brocius, the leader of the gang of cowboys terrorizing Tombstone. He and Doc Holliday start an intense rivalry as soon as they meet in the film. He is characterized as a violent sociopath who aspires to humiliate and destroy Doc Holliday.
He is also characterized as highly educated, at one point trading Latin taunts with Holliday.
Total sociopath. Hates himself, so he hates the world.
Frank Miller is the main antagonist of the 1952 Western film High Noon. He was arrested and sent to jail by the hero of the film, Will Kane, the town sheriff. News breaks in town that he was released and is coming back for revenge. He only appears towards the end of High Noon but remains on the minds of the viewers throughout the film.
Calvin Candie was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. He is a Mississippi slave owner who owns a large plantation known as Candieland. Django Freeman, the movie's main protagonist, wants to find his wife Broomhilda, who was taken to Candieland after being sold to Candie by her and Django's former slave master. This master tried to distance them from one another as punishment for being married.
Candie holds a high opinion of himself, considering himself a worldly and sophisticated person and an expert on French culture and phrenology, which has since been proven to be pseudoscience. Despite being externally charming, Candie has a ferocious temper.
I scrolled down looking for Liberty Valance and I can't believe how far I had to scroll.
Cobb is an old friend of Paden, one of the heroes, and the corrupt sheriff of the town of Silverado. He works for ruthless land baron Ethan McKendrick. He is a greedy and arrogant jerk who only cares about himself.
