Good guys in films that shouldn't be

[Mattk]

Watching Con Air the other day and they make the child murdering psychopath played by Steve Buscemi out to be the good guy. We are supposed to be pleased that he has escaped.

Also, in The Day of the Jackal remake the IRA bomber played by Richard Gere is also presented as the good guy.

What other films can you think of where Hollywood has chosen to make an evil character out to be 'not so bad'?

[andy-hughes]

The notion of the 'anti-hero' is as old as literature.

Can't think of a film character off the top of my head, but TV's 'Dexter' fits the bill perfectly.

[Prudie]

Only because I watched it last night so it's fresh Ben Affleck in The Town. Also Ray Liotta in a lot of his bad guy roles (but that may not have been intentional just his natural charisma) Turbulence and Goodfellas springs to mind.

[andy-hughes]

To a degree, Clint Eastwood's 'Dirty Harry' is an anti-hero, he 'bends' the rules but the audience sympathise with his fundamental sense of justice which is cluttered by red tape.

[JonnyBoy12]

The character played by Jeremy Irons in Die Hard with a Vengeance. In the end it turned out that he had not really put a bomb in a school as he was not a monster. He just stole 140 billion dollars of gold instead.

[emmie]

i know it's not in a film, but surely it has to be
Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes, great role model, not really, but everyone loved him.

[admarlow_]

Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, Let the Right One In, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Falling Down.

[Joolee1980]

Is the Buscemi character in Con Air made out to be "the" good guy? I didn't get that at all.

[triggerhippy]

Darth Vadar!

[Davethedog]

Joolee yeah he is because he doesn't kill the little girl.

I have seen attack the block which is enjoyable, but I have no empathy with the "heroes" because they are a gang of muggers.

Biggest anti-hero Han Solo he really does shoot first.

[triggerhippy]

Take that back!
omg

[sandyRoe]

Rommel, the desert fox. In that he was a 'good German'.

[Joolee1980]

"Joolee yeah he is because he doesn't kill the little girl."

Spoiler alert there?!

Sure we think he might kill or harm the girl but the fact he doesn't isn't reason to say we are therefore meant to think of him as "the good guy". Just maybe "not quite as bad a guy as we thought, but still pretty bad".

Most obvious one I can think of is probably Lecter. The books are far more explicit about him being something of a monster but Silence of the Lambs especially seems to portray him as an anti-hero.

[Mattk]

My point with regards to Buscemi in Con Air was the ending where he was the only one to get away.
"Does sir feel lucky tonight?"
"Yes he does."

...Cue Sweet Home Alabama.