Top 5: Favorite Movie Characters

     I think I am going to make Tuesday, Top 5 Tuesday.  10 years ago or so, before blogs were all the rave, I set up an e-mail list of friends and sent out top 5 lists dealing with pop culture.  I had a lot of fun with it and now realize that it would work great as a blog.  These Top 5's are mostly just lists of my favorite things, feel free to add your favorites or tell me why mine are obviously wrong.
     Today I'll start with Top 5 Favorite Movie Characters...

5. Jeffrey "Big" Lebowski aka The Dude- The Big Lebowski.   When I first did this list, 8 years ago, this wasn't such a trendy pick.  The Lebowski cult was just building steam, so a lot of people either hadn't seen the movie or just didn't get it.  I remember seeing this in the theater and feeling like I was disturbing the other viewers because I was the only one laughing.  And I wasn't just chuckling, I was busting a gut.  Now it seems like everyone loves this movie.  There are so many great characters that I feel weird picking out The Dude as being better from the rest.  I don't know that John Goodman has ever been better and John Turturro steals the 5 minutes he's on screen.  But at the end of the day I love the Dude.  The way he responds to situations, the way he hears someone say something then repeat it as if its his own argument, the fact that he just wants a new rug.  I mean, the guy paid for a half gallon on milk with a check for 99 cents!  Pure genius.

4. Ash- The Evil Dead movies.  Ash will go down as my favorite quotable character ever written.  I spent most of college reciting his dialogue.  Of course most of the magic behind the character is Bruce Campbell.  He is so pompous ans so sure of himself, yet such a jackass.  Campbell was able to capture a sense of coolness and make it laugh out loud funny at the same time.  Army of Darkness is one of those movies I have seen a hundred times and could watch a hundred more and its all because of Ash.  Hail the king, baby!

3. Brodie- Mallrats.  It is definitely the bitter sarcasm, not to mention the girl problems, that draws me to this character.  I'd like to say he's as quotable as Ash, God knows he has some genius one liners, but there is something in Jason Lee's delivery that makes it unrepeatable.  You could quote Lee, but it wouldn't be nearly as funny.  There is something he brings to his characters that is essentially Jason Lee and no one else.  Binky, his character from Chasing Amy, is right on par with Brodie, but forced to choose between the two, I'll go with Brodie.  For whatever reason, there seems to be something appealing about a loser with huge personality.

2. Indiana Jones- Indiana Jones movies (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull never happened).  Indiana Jones is one of my all time favorite childhood heroes.  I couldn't imagine my youth without the thought of Indy dodging rocks, shooting down sword welding enemies, or swinging over huge crevices with his whip.  To this day hearing the his theme music sends chills down my spine (ask anyone who has ridden the Disneyland ride with me).  Indy is pretty much as cool as it gets, with one exception...

1. Han Solo- Star Wars movies.  Notice that my top two favorite characters are a) both played by Harrison Ford and b) created by George Lucas.  I'm not sure what that means, but there it is.  I sure hope Mr. Lucas has no plans to do another Star Wars movie where he rapes Han Solo like he did Indy!  In my eyes Solo is the greatest movie character to ever walk across the big screen.  The cockiness, the coolness, the sarcasm.  This guy has it all.  A reluctant hero who overcomes his selfish nature to save the day.  Oh yeah, and he gets the girl.  I can't imagine my life without Star Wars and Han represents, to me, all that was great about those movies.

Honorable mentions go to James Bond, Trent from Swingers and Randell from Clerks