Osiris3657

well Groucho seems to be doing better. He was getting destroyed, now he's just getting his ass kicked

Groucho

I guess the old people are finally up and around.

Numanoid

Since I also have a brain and not just adrenal glands, I went with Groucho.

Bobby Shalom

Had to go with Groucho, even though he was all about the franchise film: I mean The Little Tramp made sequel after sequel!

I'm also getting a little sick of all the comic book characters!

Ash Ketchum

Exactly. It was the Groucho and Stanwyck characters that won me over.

And Wong Fei Hung (as played by the one and only Kwan Tak Hing):

(And, yes, that's Shih Kien, Han from ENTER THE DRAGON, whom he's fighting.)

Moopher

I was going to go with Tarantino's list...I mean, it has Beatrix Kiddo...but it has a lot of other things...Spiderman???? Really???

Wong Fei-Hung won my opinion on this one.

Travis McClain

Tarantino for Batman, Leon and The Bride. But I have to say, Groucho's list is easily the strongest in the entire game as far as shaming me about how little I've gotten around to seeing over the years.

mgbfan

That's what I meant by "trying too hard."

Numanoid

As opposed to the easiest and most obvious fanboy picks possible? Damn you Groucho for your good taste and knowledge of a broad range of movies! ::shakes fist::

Travis McClain

If Groucho lacked a history of being steeped in film, I could see characterizing his list as "trying too hard." It came off to me as his honest list, though, and I can't hold against someone that they've been exposed to, and love, a lot more films than me.

mgbfan

If you'll read my post, I said that I abstained from voting, because I felt the two contestants each went too far. One went in that fanboy direction, the other in the "I know a lot of movies that you don't, look at me!" direction.

I felt BOTH lists were poorly rounded. I have no problem whatsoever with some esoteric choices. And ... "good taste" is subjective, as I assume you know. Something being lesser known and older does not inherently make it better.

And, as the rules state, I'm free to vote (or in this case, not vote) for whatever reasons I please. This was my reason. I'll be voting against either of these lists in the second round, because neither list excites me.

Perkinsun Dzees

Was gonna vote for Groucho but then I noticed he had Firefly on his list and I hate Joss Whedon

islandclaws

Diggler FTW!

Travis McClain

Well put. This comes up most often in discussions about music, but it's true for any subject. The point I would again try to make (and I promise, this is the last time!) is that I sincerely believe these are Groucho's actual top ten favorite characters. Surely, he can't have built his roster with winning in mind--not on a forum where every other thread is about The Dark Knight. Whether his roster should be ignored or appreciated is a matter of personal choice, but I still don't buy that his selections were made with the intent of flaunting his film knowledge, but rather reflecting it.

Osiris3657

24 hours left to vote, please do so if you haven't

mgbfan

Oh I don't suspect anything nefarious. It's just hard to believe that not one character that would be considered more popular, or even modern, was of interest to him. That, to me, seems as limited in scope as someone who picks characters only from 21st century blockbusters.

I vote for well-rounded lists.

Travis McClain

Well articulated, and sounds fair enough to me. I suppose this exposes one of the consequences of this little game, though: our own personal tastes are on display for judgment. I could articulate reasons why I picked each character on my list, but then that becomes me defending myself which seems unnecessary. I'm willing to bet most of the other participants feel the same way about their list. I don't mind admitting, I deliberately checked the thread with my challenge last, working up the nerve to see how lamphorn would weigh in on my choices (not nearly as brutal as he was to some others; thanks!).

Ash Ketchum

What's not well rounded about his list?
Groucho
1. Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx, Duck Soup, 1933)
2. Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman, Young Frankenstein, 1974)
3. Wong Fei-hung (various actors, various films, 1949-present)
4. Joan of Arc (various actors, various films, 1928-present)
5. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik, Oldboy, 2003)
6. Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, Fargo, 1996)
7. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity, 1944)
8. Blake (Alec Baldwin, Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992)
9. Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, Annie Hall, 1977)
10. The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin, various films, 1914-1936)

He's got plenty of "popular" and "modern" characters on his list. What do you call Oldboy, Young Frankenstein, Annie Hall, Glengarry Glen Ross and Fargo? (Well, they're modern by my standards.)

WallyOPD

My only issue with Groucho's list is having two that are based on real people, as I don't consider those to be "movie" characters.

Groucho

Despite the disclaimer at the beginning, Marge Gunderson is not based on a real person.

Travis McClain

The rules of the contest permitted characters based upon real people, so while it's entirely your prerogative to count that against a participant's roster, it seems a bit unfair. I would argue that each cinematic portrayal of a real person is more a reflection of their mythology, than a presentation of the person as he or she actually was/is. I suspect T.E. Lawrence would have had a great deal to say about Lawrence of Arabia--especially since it was based upon his own self-serving writings, and he was "the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey."

These are fictionalized versions of people, and in most cases their real lives were no more important to the films in which they appeared than would be the literary source material for stories adapted from literature.

WallyOPD

Well every character on everyone's list is permitted by the contest (I assume), so any system to rank the characters on someone's list will be unfair by that criteria. To be fair I also deducted from Tarantino's list for having so many characters that are heavily defined by other sources. I don't consider Batman, Superman, or Sherlock Holmes to be movie characters either. I realize that their are other characters that originated from other sources (like Jason Bourne), but I identify them more closely with their movie portrayals.

For what it's worth I voted for Groucho.

Travis McClain

Had it been my challenge, I would have restricted it to characters created directly for the screen to alleviate this issue. Your decision making seems a bit arbitrary, concerning which characters are identifiable as a movie character and which are "other medium" characters. I'm not trying to come off as some kind of douchebag telling you or anyone else how to cast your ballot; that's not my place (or anyone else's); just trying to explore some of the potential avenues of discussion offered by this little game.

TNAJason

Tarantino just for the Hit-Girl pick,even tho I love Batman,Spider-Man,and Bourne,no one of interest on Groucho's list for me anyway.

Groucho

Congrats to Tarantino on his well-deserved win. I knew it would be trouble when we were matched up in the first round. And thanks to all for their votes, and for the spirited discussion.

Now I'd like to address a couple of the criticisms of my list which I thought were a bit odd:

"Tried too hard" -- I created a list of some of my favorite characters from my favorite films. Which is, I assume, what all the participants of this draft did. So I'm not exactly sure what this means.

"Not diverse enough" -- this makes no sense to me at all. I provided a list of characters from several decades and across genres. Could it have been more diverse? Sure, but I don't think it's less diverse than any other list of characters drafted in this game.