Originally Posted by RichC2

The Devil's Rejects -- the protagonists were some of the worst people comitted to film, until they were out bad guy'd by the sheriff.

Originally Posted by rw2516

With anti-heroes does it matter if the conflict is with other bad buys or with good guys.

Originally Posted by Merriam-Webster, motherfucker

Antihero: a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities

Originally Posted by Wikipedia, not as official

Modern-day heroes have enjoyed an increased moral complexity. In 1930, originally introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets, and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was fully developed and transformed into a pop culture antihero icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson. Mid-20th century playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard showcased anti-heroic protagonists recognizable by their lack of identity and determination. Pulp fiction and noir detective stories of the mid-20th century saw characters such as Sam Spade, who lacked the glorious appeal of previous heroic figures, become popular. Influenced by the pulps, early comic books featured anti-heroic characters such as Namor the Sub-Mariner (who would just as soon conquer humanity as try to save it). Marvel Comics most prolific anti-hero is perhaps The Punisher, who is more than willing to kill those who he views as deserving of death. Sergio Leone's "spaghetti westerns" showcased a wandering vigilante (the "Man with No Name" played by Clint Eastwood) whose gruff demeanor clashed with other heroic characteristics. Frank Miller said that Sin City character Marv is said to be the story's equivalent of an antihero. One of the more famous female antiheroes is Catwoman, who was historically a supervillainess foe of Batman. Her usual crime was burglary, but she is not evil as she has her own moral code, and abhors killing. Catwoman has even, on occasion, helped Batman fight crime and villains in East End.

Many modern antiheroes possess, or even encapsulate, the postmodern rejection of traditional values symptomatic of Modernist literature in general, as well as the disillusion felt after World War II and the Nuclear Age. The continuing popularity of the antihero in modern literature and popular culture may be based on the recognition that a person is fraught with human frailties, unlike the archetypes of the white-hatted cowboy and the noble warrior, and is therefore more accessible to readers and viewers. This popularity may also be symptomatic of the rejection by the avant-garde of traditional values after the counter-culture revolution of the 1960s. In the postmodern era, traditionally defined heroic qualities, akin to the classic "knight in shining armor" type, have given way to the "gritty truth" of life, and authority in general is being questioned. The brooding vigilante or "noble criminal" archetype, seen in characters like Detectives Vic Mackey and Dirty Harry, is slowly becoming part of the popular conception of heroic valor rather than being characteristics that are deemed un-heroic.

Originally Posted by scott1598

Originally Posted by UAIOE

30 posts and not a single mention of Alan Rickman's Sheriff?

I still haven't decided if Alan Rickman or Roger Rees was the funnier Sheriff.

Originally Posted by TheMovieman

(Heat)

Originally Posted by Cusm

Gerrard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen. I think Jamie Foxx was suppose to be the protaganist that you are rooting for, but I have watched the movie 2-3 times and Butler always has my vote and the ending irritates me.

And of course the king of them all Darth Vader.