Nurse Ratched

AFI makes these wonderful lists: top 100 movies, best heroes, best villains, etc. I agree that the best hero is Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

But I disagree with the top villains. Here is how AFI lists the top five:

1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
2. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho (1960)
3. Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) in The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
4. The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
5. Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

In my mind, Nurse Ratched beats the crap out of those other guys (and the witch). Dr. Lecter actually has ethics: he mainly goes after people who offend him. He is a villain that I adore - so smart and seductive in a reptilian way. I could probably beat the shit out of Norman if he didn't surprise me in the shower. Darth Vader is bad, but mainly he's a really bad dad. I'm not scared of Darth Vader. The Wicked Witch? She can't get wet! She's bad news, but not so bad ass.

And then there's Nurse Ratched. She picks the weakest of the weak - the patients in her mental ward - and uses her knowledge of their illnesses to pulverize them emotionally and drive them closer and closer to absolute insanity. I get a stomach ache for the entire play or movie or book - Ratched scares the shit out of me. She is pure evil.

If Hannibal met her, he would kill her and eat her. She is the baddest thing out there. Watch all five and tell me which one you would avoid at all costs.