Cinematic Villains Trivia Quiz

Answer: Travis Bickle

Robert De Niro played Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's 1976 movie "Taxi Driver". Bickle served in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War. While he was honorably discharged, the war had a disastrous effect on his mental condition. He has insomnia, and spends his nights driving a cab in NYC and dreaming of cleaning up the "filth" in the city.

His famous catchphrase is "You talkin' to me?".

Answer: Annie Wilkes

Kathy Bates brings Stephen King's Annie Wilkes character to life in the 1990 film "Misery". Former nurse Wilkes is writer Paul Sheldon's "number one fan". When Sheldon's car is in an accident caused by a blizzard, Annie brings him to her isolated Colorado home to nurse him back to health.

She had previously been accused of killing patients in her hospital job but was acquitted for lack of evidence. In the meantime, she continues to punish Paul for killing off Misery, his main character.

Answer: Max Cady

Before the 1991 remake of "Cape Fear", Robert Mitchum was one of the most frightening film villains as Max Cady in the original 1962 movie. Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) was a small town lawyer whose testimony put Cady in prison for eight years for attacking a woman.

As soon as Cady is released, he is intent on wreaking vengeance on Bowden and his entire family. Robert De Niro was also daunting as Cady in the later movie directed by Martin Scorsese.

Answer: Mrs. Danvers

Judith Anderson showed us that women can be duplicitous villains too. Anderson played Mrs. Danvers, the head housekeeper at Manderley, in Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film "Rebecca", based on Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel. Manderley was the home of wealthy Maxim de Winter and his first wife, Rebecca. Rebecca grew up under Mrs. Danvers tutelage and called her "Danny". Danvers sees the second Mrs. de Winter as usurping Rebecca's position, and attempts to get rid of her memory.

Answer: Dr. Christian Szell

If you have a fear of dentists, "Marathon Man" (1976) may give you nightmares. We are introduced to graduate history student and marathon runner Thomas "Babe" Levy, played by Dustin Hoffman. When he and his girlfriend are mugged in Central Park by men in suits, the plot thickens. Babe winds up in an international conspiracy, led by former Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell, brilliantly played by Laurence Olivier, who 'drills' Babe to find out "Is it safe?"

Answer: Mrs. Eleanor Iselin

The brilliant and charming Angela Lansbury as a villain? The answer is a definite 'yes' in her portrayal of Mrs. Eleanor Iselin in the original 1962 film "The Manchurian Candidate, directed by John Frankenheimer. Mrs. Iselin is the mother of Medal of Honor winner Raymond Shaw for his actions during the Korean War.

However, some of the soldiers under Shaw's command are having nightmares about what really happened in Korea, while Mrs. Iselin is intent on getting her ineffectual current husband and senator into the highest office in the land.

Answer: Mr. Potter

Frank Capra's 1946 film, "It's a Wonderful Life", is set on Christmas Eve where George Bailey contemplates suicide because "he's worth more dead than alive". Poor George; he always wanted to travel but feels an obligation to Bailey's Savings and Loan and the people of Bedford Falls. Enter Mr. Potter, the rich skinflint, who finds Uncle Billy's $8,000 deposit and hides the money so the bank will discover the shortage and close the S&L down. Mr.

Henry F. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, makes the perfect antagonist.

Answer: Nurse Ratched

Proving once again that women can be as nasty, unfeeling and tyrannical as men, we have Nurse Ratched, a person who seems to delight in the pain of others. Louise Fletcher plays the evil nurse, in the 1975 award winning film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel. Ratched is the head administrative nurse at Salem State Hospital, a mental institution.

She exercises absolute power over the helpless patients, while her superiors turn a blind eye.

Answer: Alex DeLarge

Alex DeLarge is more than just a villain; he is a psychotic sociopath without any shred of a conscience. He is part of the "droogs" of the dystopian future depicted in Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel "A Clockwork Orange", and Stanley Kubrick's violent 1971 film. Malcolm McDowell plays Alex, the leader of the ultra-violent droogs who have no compunctions about committing rape and murder. Alex is caught and forced to undergo a psychological program to make him detest violence, and things change.

Answer: Phyllis Dietrichson

For some reason, Phyllis Dietrichson is one of my favorite villains; perhaps because she was so good at it? An example of a woman "using her wiles" (do men have wiles?), Phyllis reels in poor, gullible Walter Neff, played by Fred MacMurray. She convinces a basically good person to commit murder for her. The wonderful actress Barbara Stanwyck plays Dietrichson in Billy Wilder's 1944 movie "Double Indemnity".

Answer: Roger "Verbal" Kint

Roger "Verbal" Kint said "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist". Verbal was one of "The Usual Suspects", a 1995 crime drama directed by Bryan Singer. This convoluted tale of five criminals, their arrest and aftermath can have you guessing. Kevin Spacey is fine as the creepy Verbal Kint. And then there's Keyser Soze?!

Answer: Alex Forrest

Glenn Close played Cruella de Vil in "101 Dalmatians" in 1996 but, before that, her rap sheet gives her previous alias as Alex Forrest, boiler of bunnies. Alex appeared in the 1987 Adrian Lyne thriller "Fatal Attraction". Glenn is mesmerizing as the insanely obsessive woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and the object of her affection is Dan Gallagher, well played by Michael Douglas.

Answer: Cody Jarrett

Time for a film noir villain, and I choose Cody Jarrett from the 1949 movie "White Heat". Cody is a ruthless, psychotic gangster, killer and a "mamma's boy". He is jailed but escapes; when he is surrounded by the police he decides to fight it out, even killing one of his accomplices who was trying to surrender. Jarrett winds up fleeing to the top of a gas tank.

When he fires into the tank, the results are explosive. "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" James Cagney is superb, if a bit overwrought, as Jarrett.

Answer: Eve Harrington

The antagonist who smiles to your face and then stabs you in the back may be worse than the one who is honest about his or her intentions. Under the guise of a devoted apprentice, ambitious, duplicitous ingenue Eve Harrington is undermining actress Margo Channing at every step.

The film is Joseph Mankiewicz' 1950 Oscar winning movie "All About Eve", with Anne Baxter as the obsequious backstabber and with Betty Davis as the aging star who may be fading.

Answer: Jack Torrance

Our last villain is Jack Torrance, the caretaker at the remote Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror film, "The Shining". It's based on the 1977 Stephen King novel of the same name. The hotel has a bad reputation and a violent past, and the Torrance family begins to experience strange occurrences. Jack Nicholson is perfect as the writer and former teacher who is slowly going insane, while his son Danny is trying to use "the shining" as a way to escape the terror.