Best B-Film Character

[Cloudio]

Movies over the years have left us with many memorable characters...
Like Robert DeNiro's character in Taxi Driver...or Darth Vader...Indiana Jones...and even the likes of Freddy and Jason...
But who do you think is the best B-Film character ever?
Myself, I have to side with the mighty Father McGruder...he has it all, a true showman!
Second to him is the bible salesman from "Beware: Children At Play".

[Guitarwolf]

Ash all the way. "Groovey"

[Steve.]

It just has to be the mighty, vengeful basketball with arms - BELIAL!

[Vermin Boy]

Ash, definitely, as well as Herbert West, Derek from Bad Taste, and Dwight Frye as Renfield. Also, while he's more obscure, I don't think many people who have seen "Manos: The Hands of Fate" will forget Torgo any time soon.

[peter johnson]

Tor Johnson, while not a good actor, certainly is the first thing that pops to MY mind when the phrase "most memorable" comes up --
This thread brings up the question again of just what IS a "B" movie these days -- The Ash pictures, while culty and all that, are, by the old definition, "A" pictures in that they were not made to be shown as the opening film on a double-bill.
If we are to call, say, the output of the Hammer studio as "B" material -- and they were frequently paired up as double-features, though both would be of equal quality -- then how could we not say Christopher Lee's vampire incarnations are in the running for "Best B-Film Character"?
Same for Dwight Frye as Renfield -- Dracula was decidedly an A feature when it came out in '31 -- probably some Monogram oater & a Flash Gordon serial, along with newsreels & several Felix the Cat cartoons ran before Mr. Lugosi or Mr. Frye were revealed to a breathless public.
I know it seems to be sort of splitting hares -- Double Lepis!! -- , but "B-Film" should have more meaning than just "weird films we all like here".  Some of the films we discuss here are B's, but very many are not.
What say we all?

[Stupid Jacob]

Ash, of coarse, and Bud the zombie from Day of the Dead coming in a close second.

[Raffles]

I always liked the Crimson Executioner from "Bloody Pit of Horror".  No one could be more over the top than that, no one else is physically strong enough.

[StatCat]

Here are some of my favorites:

Suicide from return of the living dead

Santo (Samson in the dubbed versions)

Montag the magician- Wizard of gore

Belial - Basket case

the crimson executioner - bloody pit of horror (love those over dramatized lines. Very surprised someone else mentioned this guy besides myself.)

Paul Naschy as the wolfman

Tarman in return of the living dead

Dr Tongue in day of the dead (yeah just a puppet and only on the screen for less then a minute but still very memorable.

Alan from Children shouldn't play with dead things

etc, just to name a few of my choices

[Johnny Stakkato]

Sex Machine in  From Dusk Til Dawn. Man, I wish I had a gun like that.

[Steve.]

What constitutes a "B" movie is a hard one to call.  The double-bills of the 60s and 70s (eg Straw Dogs/Soldier Blue) - which is the "B"? Are Bs just any non-mainstream movie? Are all independently made movies Bs? My definition would be any movie that is not on the regular release schedule, although of course many so called A-list movies turn out to be anything but.

[Flangepart]

Don't forget Attitude. A B-film is as mush the spirit and attitude behind it, as the cost of production. And that is harder to define. some films, like J-Park2, The Lost World, are B's even when they think thier A's. Or A- holes...but i digress.....my point is, a film can be...well, a B, even when it has the right amount of A production values. Indiana Jones 1 and 3 best capture that for me. And thats good. The fun element is what makes a B film good, even if the production values could have been better. Dai Kaiju Eigah, anyone? Ya' gotta admit, Gamera and Godzilla do have Attitude!

[Steve.]

They sho' do - big Godz. especially. Attitude and the spirit behind the flick are also important ingredients. Breadline budgets would also help, in the sense that poverty-row movie makers have nothing to lose.

[AndyC]

Yes, I think the definition of B-movie has been expended somewhat to include any film that, intentionally or otherwise, captures the spirit of a B-movie. Today, the only place in the mainstream movie business I regularly see double features are at the drive-in, and the opening flick there is simply an "A-picture" that's a few weeks old. Perhaps the B-movies of today are the ones that get relegated to the slow season between Christmas and May 2-4 (Memorial Day to Americans), the limited releases, and the direct-to-video releases.

I personally prefer the broader, more inclusive definition, that a movie with the qualities (or lack thereof) of the true B-movies can be, perhaps, an "honourary B-movie."

[Raffles]

I just caught "Hercules vs. the hydra" a.k.a "The Loves of Hercules" (note:He doesn't love the hydra).  It has Mickey hargitey (aka the Crimson Executioner) and Jayne Mansfield who has a dual role (he hehe).  I'd seen in on one of those worst movies ever lists and would agree with whoever it was that said he was a terrible Hercules. He's got all the muscle but no class.  Still, it was fun with a ridiculous hydra and guys turning into trees and stuff.

[Andrew]

I must say that Father McGruder rates high on my scale, along with Ash, but my favorite is Lash LaRue's character "Ranger Girard" in The Dark Power.

"Feel my whip you son of a b***h!"
(Said to an undead Toltec Sorcerer.)

Andrew