Giving a rundown of the most memorable villains found withinFrancis Ford Coppola’simmense body of work is easier said than done, becauseit does require the word “villain” to be defined in a certain way. Coppola’s best films are defined by often being morally complex, and resisting traditional stories of good versus evil.Contemporaries likeSteven Spielberg(to some extent)andGeorge Lucas, during the 1970s and ‘80s, might’ve been more interested in traditional heroes and villains, but Coppola’s characters feel less clear-cut.
Some villains in his movies are main characters, while others emerge as villains simply because their actions are just a little worse than everyone else’s. There are also films likeThe Conversationwhere more abstract things are villains, rather than characters; there, it could well beGene Hackman’scharacter’s feelings of paranoiathat create conflict and drive the story more than any individual. So, with the expectation that some picks (or omissions) could be controversial, here goes nothing: these are some iconic villains (or somewhat villainous characters) found within the filmography of the great Francis Ford Coppola.
10Osvaldo Altobello
‘The Godfather: Part III’ (1990)
Almost a quarter of a century after playing the character dubbed “the ugly”inThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,Eli Wallachgot a shot at effectively being “the bad” inThe Godfather: Part III.Al Pacino’sMichael Corleonespends most of the film trying to redeem himself after falling so low morally in the previous film, and helping this is the fact that he does come across other characters who do worse things than him.
Case in point, Wallach’s Osvaldo Altobello, a long-time ally of the Corleone family who effectively ends his support duringThe Godfather: Part IIIby conspiring to have Michael murdered.He’s one of many enemies Michael’s made at this point in the trilogy, but he stands out because Eli Wallach’s a memorable actor, and this movie is one of the most notable and well-known within his lengthy career.
The Godfather: Part III
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9Biff Wilcox
‘Rumble Fish’ (1983)
Aftera successful run of films during the 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola’s output became a lot more unpredictable – and some might say inconsistent – during the 1980s. Still, flawed as some movies of his in this decade might be, they are all interesting viewing experiences in their own ways. Then, there are also underrated films of his to be found released this decade,including 1983’sRumble Fish.
It’s one of two coming-of-age movies based onS.E. Hintonnovels directed by Coppola that came out in 1983, and follows a young man trying to live up to his older brother, who’s charismatic and even feared in a way the younger of the brothers isn’t. The main character also has a rival named Biff Wilcox he has to deal with. Of course,given his name is Biff, he’s an undeniable and fairly straightforward bully, but an effective character whose violent actions escalate as the story goes along.
Rumble Fish
8Virgil Sollozzo
‘The Godfather’ (1972)
Even thoughthe near-perfectThe Godfathercan be a dark and brutal gangster movie, it is perhaps the most digestible in the series because, at least compared to the next two, the Corleone family members do generally feel like “the good guys.” Patriarch Vito Corleone rules over the family while his sons, Michael, Sonny, and Fredo all show tragic weaknesses that signify none will be able to continue the Corleone empire quite as effectively once Vito’s gone.
Most Corleone family members have their flaws,but their rivals tend to be worse, including the untrustworthy Virgil Sollozzo, who plays a similar role inThe Godfatherto the one Altobello played inThe Godfather: Part III. Sollozzo attempts to have Vito murdered once, and when that fails, tries to organize a hit again. Ultimately, he’s killed by Michael for the ways he wronged the Corleones, an action which, in turn, puts the not-so-passive Michael on a path toward villainy himself.
The Godfather
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7Bob Sheldon
‘The Outsiders’ (1983)
The Outsidersisthe other coming-of-age moviedirected by Francis Ford Coppola released in 1983, and it’s probably a little more approachable and direct thanRumble Fish. Still, its simplicity isn’t a detriment, because the honest way it looks at life as a youngster – in all its ups and downs – adds to its authenticity, in a way; there’s an undeniably scrappy charm to the film as a whole.
The main characters are all young boys in a gang dubbed the Greasers, with a rival gang of theirs being known as the Socs. Leading the Socs is Bob Sheldon, who emerges as the central villain of The Outsiders (unless one wants to count the process of growing up as a more abstract – and arguably more devastating – antagonist).Bob’s a little simplistic as a character, being generally terrible and mean-spirited throughout, but he functions well regardless as an antagonist within this direct story that’s unafraid to wear its heart on its sleeve.
The Outsiders
6Bill Kilgore
‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979)
Being central to some of the most iconic moments inthe critically acclaimed war moviethat isApocalypse Now, Lieutenant Colonel William Kilgore isn’t on-screen for long, but nevertheless has a massive impact. He’s memorably played byRobert Duvall, who proves to be an absolute scene-stealer, with Kilgore being characterized by the callous and unsettling way he seems to enjoy being part of the Vietnam War.
He’s one of numerous characters used to showcase the madness of the conflict, and the way it psychologically impacted seemingly every soldier who took part in the war. For being one reasonApocalypse Nowis a decade-defining film, andfor dropping the immortal line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,”Kilgore emerges as one of the most iconic villainous characters in any Francis Ford Coppola movie, minimal screen time be damned.
Apocalypse Now
5Hyman Roth
‘The Godfather: Part II’ (1974)
Being one of thefew crime movies to win Best Pictureat the Oscars,The Godfather: Part IIcontinues the saga expertlyand, as mentioned before, also begins to take the overall story in a darker direction. After Vito’s passing inThe Godfather, Michael takes over as the head of the Corleone family, and sets about purportedly trying to make their business legitimate, though actually ends up running things far more ruthlessly than his father ever did.
Still, for all the things Michael does wrong, he’s not the only villainous character in the film, with Hyman Roth being the closest thing the film has to a “traditional” antagonist. He’s a rival of the Corleones that Michael nevertheless wants to become associated with, but shows himself to be just as capable of betrayal as both Sollozzo before him and Altobello after him. Just as was the case with those two, things don’t end well for Roth as a result of his actions, once again showing that Michael Corleone is not someone whose bad side you want to get on.
The Godfather: Part II
4Colonel Kurtz
Afterplaying Vito Corleone inThe Godfather,Marlon Brandoworked with Coppola once more onApocalypse Now,this time playing the enigmatic central villain: Colonel Kurtz. Kurtz isn’t a direct presence in the film until its final act, but the mission to find and exterminate him is central to the plot of the entire movie, with Benjamin Willard – and others – being driven mad by their perilous journey into the jungle to find him.
Colonel Kurtz isn’t necessarily a cartoonishly evil villain, once he does appear, but he is sinister and unsettling, having gone rogue and going on to lead a small group of people who treat him as a leader, ultimately making him a threat to the military he once served. Brando’s performance is odd, but it works for the kind of strange and even otherworldly character he plays, with Brando/Kurtz being pivotal to the final scenes ofApocalypse Nowfeeling as haunting as they ultimately are.
3Francesco Ciccio
With a beefy runtime well over three hours,The Godfather: Part IImanages to spend a good deal of time being a prequel as well as a sequel, in a sense. Flashbacks detail Vito as a child and then a young adult, centering on how he lost everything when he was young and living in Italy, built an empire in America after emigrating there, and then traveled back to Italy when he was older to deal with some unfinished business.
Said unfinished business is centered on Francesco Ciccio, a minor character who’s nevertheless a fearsome and thoroughly hateable one despite the limited screen time. Ciccio kills Vito’s father, then his brother when he seeks revenge, and then his mother after she begs for Vito’s life to be spared. When Vito returns to Italy to murder an elderly Ciccio,it’s a moment of genuine catharsis; the ruthless crime lord had it coming.
2Count Dracula
‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ (1992)
Gary Oldmanhad a good deal to live up to when he played the titular count inBram Stoker’s Dracula, given howmemorable bothBela LugosiandChristopher Leehad beenwhen playing the legendary vampire in the past. Oldman’s performance and the dramatic makeup – alongside a high level of violence – make him perhaps one of the more extreme takes onDracula, and he’s also arguably the most bombastic villain found in a Francis Ford Coppola film.
Count Dracula is a tragic villain, but still an undeniably monstrous one, doing whatever he can with little regard for others to achieve his goals, and utilizing various unsettling supernatural powers all the while.There’s nothing subtle here, when it comes to the appearance of the character and Gary Oldman’s scenery-devouring performance, but within an operatic and even over-the-top take on the iconic story, the character works surprisingly well.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
1Michael Corleone
Al Pacino deservedly earned an Oscar nominationfor playing Michael Corleone inThe Godfather, and then even more deservedly was nominated once more for playing him inThe Godfather: Part II(to the point where it’s a little surprising he didn’t win). Pacino’s instrumental in showcasing how this character’s changed since the first movie, and then continues to devolve, becoming potentially the most fearsome – and tragic – villain in any Francis Ford Coppola movie.
ThroughoutThe Godfather: Part II, Michael makes a seemingly never-ending string of decisions that lead to continual tragic events, with his refusal to back out of any conflict or show compassion to just about everyone losing him everything. There were traces of these qualities found during some moments ofThe Godfather, butPart IIsees any good left in Michael being stamped down, suppressed, and, eventually, destroyed.By the end of the film, he’s a cold and heartless man,brutal with both his words and his actions, having an unspeakably high number of things to atone for by the time the events ofThe Godfather: Part IIItake place.
