I always noticed alot of heroes in movies have pretty bland names, usually John. It's the villians with the memorable names. I mean, where would "Silence of the lambs" be if hopkins character was Bob lawrence?I thought it might be interesting to list some cool character names After all - dosent' that add a little spice to the character? If you can also think of any cool movie names in general, whether or not it's a good or bad guy , list it!
Hannibal (the Cannibal) Lecter
Cruella DeVille
Thurman Murman
from Bad Santa...I thought the movie would suck, but a friend made me watch it, I thought it was hilarious
Clint Eastwoods name in Every Which Way but Loose and the other Orangutan movie was Philo Beddo.
The most interesting name of a character to me was Jan-Michael Vincent's character in the series Airwolf "Stringfellow Hawke" , his brother's name was St. John (pronounced sinjin).
And that adverturer arceologist fellow named after that state.
You mean Henry Jones Jr. They named the dog Indiana.
Indiana Jones
Luke Skywalker
Darth Vader
D'oh!
Sorry....memory going.....where am i?...
Marty McFly
Emil Minty's role in "The Road Warrior" aka "Mad Max 2" The Feral Kid. Nicknames don't come any cooler then that. (IMHO)
Although i have to give props for Long duk Dong..lol
I always loved Lex Luther even tho you can't attribute it to the movie. Boogie nights has a few - does it get better than Dirk Diggler?
Well on that note a few james bond women come to mind....
I NOTICED THE SAME THING! EVERY OTHER GOOD GUY THAT HAS THE LEAD ROLE IS NAMED JOHN OR JACK!
How about "Ford Lincoln Mercury" in "The Postman"?
Kinda off the topic, but you ever notice that Schwaezenneger's characters in general have rather non-Austrian names?--Harry Tasker, John Kimble, Douglas Quaid, John Matrix, Jack Slater, Jerico Cane, to name a few
Onion - yeah, not to mention future america builds a robot with an austrian accent?
Onion - yeah, not to mention future america builds a robot with an austrian accent? They made the t1000 to blend in with humans, human skin..etc. Why blow it with a foriegn accent?
<<<>>>
It's because that's what the computers WANTED us to think! They make us think that the t1000 is human because we think that they'd be smarter than to make a terminator that is obviously a fake, because of the accent, so we believe that it is real!!
Wait, I'm confused now [take a breath] maybe he learnt how to talk in Austria?
Anyway, other cool names in movies are:
Ulysses Everitt [Oh Brother where art thou] it just sticks in my mind for some reason.
Jesus [The Big Lebowski] After seeing that movie, I certainly know who not to f**k with.
Also Motoro Kusanagi has stuck with me [Ghost in the Shell]
There's plenty more but I can't think at the moment.
Oh, and I wonder how many leading characters are called Jack Johnson or John Jackson?
Just curious!
Obvious heroes in movies named John or Jack
John Rambo - Rambo
John Connor - Terminator
Jack Slater - Last Action hero
jack Burton - Big Trouble/Little China
John Anderton - Minority Report
John McClane - die Hard
John Matrix - Commando
John Kimble - Kindergarten Cop
Jack Traven - Speed
Jack Ryan - various
Col. Johnathan "jack" o'neil - Stargate..hehe
I was kind of amazed when I saw Collateral Damage, and people actually acknowledged his accent. Then again, he was also pretty quickly pegged as an American by others.
I suppose in Total Recall, his alter ego was Hauser, and he did use the alias Brubacher. Yet Doug Quaid was the name someone deemed most suitable to give him with his new identity. I know it's the name from the story (well, Quail was anyway), but it's not as if three quarters of that movie wasn't made up anyway.
Post Edited (07-18-04 08:53)
Just watched Catalina Caper on MST3K last night, where the comic relief (you know, to lighten up the somber tone of a Beach Party knockoff) is a spy named "Fingers O'Toole."
Then, of course, there are the aliens in Buckaroo Banzai: John Bigboote, John Ya-Ya, John Many Jars, John Parrot, John Small Berries...
>yeah, not to mention future america builds a robot with an austrian accent? They
>made the t1000 to blend in with humans, human skin..etc. Why blow it with a
>foriegn accent?
The T1000 didn't have an Austrian accent. Now the T800...
What about Captain Jack Sparrow?
Here are some names off top of my head:
Daryl VanHorn~Witches of Eastwick
Vincent Vega, The Wolfman,"Bad Mutha f**ka:"~Pulp Fiction
Mr. Pink~ Resivoir Dogs
Dr. Strangelove
Bigguus Dickus~Life of Brian
Roger, Victor, Clarence~pilots from Airplane!
But what about a heroine??? Most cool names listed in replies are male. Hell I can't even think of one right now
> But what about a heroine??? Most cool names listed in replies
> are male. Hell I can't even think of one right now
Well i don't know about heroines. I didn't name them but we all know the james bond girls.
Barbarella
Alabama Whirley (true romance)
I think there are actually alot of good names to be had with some offbeat comedies (like spaceballs) or sci-fi films.
for a heroine name Ellen Ripley i aways thought was a kick ass name.
"I know I know ive been exposed permeant psychoses..
at least the colors are nice"- Aeon Flux
Not heroines, but Kill Bill's Sophie Fatale and Gogo Yubari have pretty cool handles (and so does the main character, but I won't spoil that if you haven't seen it).
p***y Galore ?
Not only is the name cool, but she is one of the best bond girls of all time in one of the best Bond films of all time! Good call...
Pike Bishop - "The Wild Bunch"
Alan Bourdillion Traherne (just call him "Mississippi") - El Dorado
Dr. Bruno Mabuse - many films
Harry Flashman - "Royal Flash"
Lemmy Caution - "Alphaville"
Duran Duran - "Barbarella"
Pretty much character Groucho Marx played in his heyday (Otis B. Driftwood, Rufus T. Firefly, Jeffrey T. Spaulding, Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, J. Cheever Loophole, etc)
I'll also add a few W.C. Fields characters (Larson E. Whipsnade, Egbert Souse') T. Frothingill Bellows, etc)
I think that many of the 'Jack Ryan, John Connor, Jack Burton"-type names are picked because they sound all-American and regular to most viewers. The filmmakers want the hero to seem like a regular guy triumphing over evil. Just look how many Jims, Johns, and Jacks John Wayne played in his career, often with an Irish or Scottish last name, he sounds all-American. Of course he played his share of guys named Taw, Lon, Cord, Cole, Chance, etc. as well, but the regular names dominate especially if you add in the various Dans, Jakes, Sams, and such he played. And how could we forget Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn?
The names in many Stanley Kubrick films are apparently puns, anagrams, and inside jokes, from what I've read. The names of most of the main characters in "Dr. Strangelove" are weird, cool and fun to say (Maj. Lionel Mandrake, Major TJ Kong, Col. "Bat" Guano, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, etc.) but the best example from a book I read was the president, Merkin Muffley. The name was apparently chosen because the president was meant to be ineffectual and weak. A "merkin" is a fake set of public hair, or a toupee for your naughty bits (still trying to figure out when you would NEED such a thing). And a "muff" is coarse slang for a woman's naughty bits. So the name was meant as a double insult to the character.
Mr. Pink - Reservoir Dogs
Buckaroo Banzai - right on vermin boy
Chunk - the goonies
Sauron - LOTR
Jar Jar - YAY!
TadpoleBuckshot - The Wacky Misadventures of Tadpole Buckshot in the 69th Quadrant of Uranus
From Road Warrior (Mad Max II)- "Greetings from the Humungus. The Lord Humungus. The warrior of the wasteland...the Ayotolah of rock and rolla!"
Rupert Pupkin from THE KING OF COMEDY
Liberty Valance from THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
Marion Cobretti from COBRA
Long Duk Dong from SIXTEEN CANDLES
How about these cool names of characters in "Night of the Creeps".
Jason Lively - Chris Romero
Steve Marshall - J.C. Hooper
Jill Whitlow - Cynthia Cronenberg
Tom Atkins - Ray Cameron
Wally Taylor - Detective Landis
Bruce Solomon - Sgt. Raimi
Ken Heron - Johnny
Alice Cadogan - Pam
June Harris - Karen
Duran Duran! good call Yaddo
Empress Nympho - "History of the World"
ZOD and NON - Superman 2
oh i forgot - Stroker Ace
Also:
* Doc McCoy (THE GETAWAY)
* Miles Bennell (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS)
* John Shaft (SHAFT)
* "Coffin" Ed Johnson and "Gravedigger"Jones (COTTON COMES TO HARLEM and COME BACK CHARLESTON BLUE)
* Alabama Whirley (TRUE ROMANCE)
* "Nice Guy" Eddie (RESERVOIR DOGS)
* Lyle and Tector Gorch (THE WILD BUNCH)
* Vince Majestyk (MR. MAJESTYK)
* Dude (RIO BRAVO)
* Nicky Eyes and Johnny Roast Beef (GOODFELLAS)
"Coffin" Ed and "Gravedigger" how could I have forgotten them? Good call on those, Burgomaster.
As much as I like 'Night of the Creeps", I thought naming so many of the characters after famous directors was a little distracting. But that's just me.
And I'll the obvious "Nobody" from "My Name is Nobody".
Well this will probably sound weirdbut,
colt
rocky
&
tumtum
from the 3 ninjas are always on my mind.........
SCUBA STEVE