Wretched hives of scum and villainy

John Hughes' movies have several trademarks that attract a loyal audience: Great soundtracks, teen characters who act more like adults, actors who feel like the girl or boy next door, and deliciously evil villains that we love to hate.

Who's your favorite villain from a John Hughes movie? There are several from which choose. Leave a comment and we'll share them on our upcoming podcast on "Some Kind of Wonderful," which has my personal pick for best villain. Tune into the podcast to find out why.

STEFF
Movie: Pretty in Pink (1986)
Actor: James Spader
Also a villain in: Less Than Zero, Mannequin, Baby Boom.
Signature line: "The girl was, is and will always be nada."
Biggest crime: Trying to sabotage Blane's relationship with Andie; spitting blood in the school hallway.

HARDY JENNS
Movie: Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Actor: Craig Sheffer
Also a villain in: I can't think of any.
Signature line: "That's Hardy Jenns ... with TWO 'n's"
Biggest crime: Turning everyone against his ex-girlfriend, Amanda Jones; setting up Eric Stoltz to get beat up; breaking into the girls' locker room.

ED ROONEY
Movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Actor: Jeffrey Jones
Also a villain in: Who's Harry Crumb?
Signature line: "So THAT's how it is in their family."
Biggest crime: Breaking into the Bueller household; feeding Ferris' flowers to the family dog.

RICHARD VERNON
Movie: The Breakfast Club (1985)
Actor: Paul Gleason
Also a villain in: Trading Places, Johnny Be Good.
Signature line: "You think he's funny? You think this is cute? You think he's "bitchin," is that it? Let me tell you something. Look at him - he's a bum. You want to see something funny? You go visit John Bender in five years. You'll see how goddamned funny he is."
Biggest crime: Sentencing Bender to endless detentions.

CHET
Movie: Weird Science (1985)
Actor: Bill Paxton 
Also a villain in: Nothing I can think of.
Signature line: "How 'bout a nice greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?"
Biggest crime: Blackmailing his little brother for his college money.

RON RICHARDSON
Movie: Mr. Mom (1983)
Actor: Martin Mull
Also a villain in: Take This Job and Shove It
Signature line: "Are you gonna make it all 220?"
Biggest crime: Trying to seduce Michael Keaton's wife.

DAVIS McDONALD
Movie: She's Having a Baby (1988)
Actor: Alec Baldwin
Also a villain in: Married to the Mob, Working Girl, Great Balls of Fire
Signature line: "You're the only one I ever loved."
Biggest crime: Trying to break up Kevin Bacon's marriage.

So who's your favorite villain? Leave a comment with your vote.

[Sources: IMDB.com, John Hughes Files]

Comments

[Gersh]

How about a cumulative award for all of the people who are rude to Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy) in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles"? Top picks are the guy at the taxi depot who picks Neal up in a most uncomfortable way, the stewardess on the initial flight, the lawyer he pays 75 bucks to get his cab, and of course Kevin Bacon's cameo role. I can't in good conscience add Edie McClurg's car rental agent as she did nothing wrong, just was the recipient of Neal's anger.

[Léon]

Has to be 'Dick' Vernon, brilliantly played by the late Paul Gleason.

Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns. \m/

[Anton]

anyone who doesn't pick principal vernon is just slavishly avoiding looking populist.

you mess with the bull you get the horns, or something along those lines, is all i'm going to say.

[Randall]

Jeffrey Jones was also the villain in "The Pest" with John Leguizamo... Do not... I repeat, do not watch "The Pest" though. It is the Chernobyl of comedies...

[Steph]

I'm gonna have to go w/Steff. He was a jerk, plus he shares the same pronunication of my name. He was probably just pissed he had a girl's name (and his girlfriend had a boy's name, Benny).

[Adam]

CHET!

He had so many great lines. Classic 80s meat head. I would aslo add Ian and Max (Robert Downey Jr and Robert Rusler) were classic 80s bad guys in this movie too!

[Chris2]

Richard Vernon. He was a great baddie.

[Chelsea]

I vote for Richard Vernon because there were some parts of The Breakfast Club that he was just scary because he was so evil. I would also like to point out that Martin Mull was the villan in How the West was Fun also.

[Cara]

Chet all the way!! I love Bill Paxton! He's been a villain a few times... my other favorite being Near Dark!!

[Chris]

Sorry to sound childish, but Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) from "Home Alone," which Hughes wrote.

[Greg Williams]

Thanks PD. I try for literary genius in my message board disquisition.

[Hamptune]

I think Richard Vernon's sig line is "You play with bull you get the horns" with the hand gesture is classic.

As a side note: Martin Mull - most unfunny man EVER!!!

[Producer Dave, aka Maestro]

I don't know why Greg, but I loved your line "...a template for truancy." Nicely written.

[Spiky Sandy]

Vernon/Gleason in Breakfast Club was the funniest & the butt of all the jokes, but Steff/Spader in Pretty in Pink was the one you had to hate the most & the biggest butthead!

[Greg Williams]

Josh G:

I watched Ferris Bueller with my HS Sweetheart back in the day, and her mom was LIVID with me for showing that movie because "it taught bad things" to kids and set a bad example for impressionable youth. My rationale was that it was not a realistic movie, that there's no way in hell any kid could pull off this kind of stunt and not get caught, and that it was a comedy, not a template for truancy. Needless to say her mom wasn't buying it, and it was another notch in time bomb before we broke up.

BTW: Bill Paxton also had a bit part in Terminator as the punk who's clothes Arnold Schwarzenegger took in the beginning of the film. His line was "F*** you, ***hole"...a line which Arnold used later in the film.

My vote would be Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller, and Richard Vernon in Breakfast club a close second.

[Richard Phelps]

Joe Pesci from Home Alone. I know, I know its 1990 - but one could argue that it was written in the late 80s and filmed in '89.

He's the most adorable villan out there. Just the best!

[Josh G.]

I know I'm not the only one who thinks the real villain in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was the title character.

[DC]

Top 2 for me were ROONEY and VERNON straightaway. STEFF was bad, but you kinda admired him for being such an unapologetic jerk.

[Spears]

Here's my rationale for leaning toward Hardy Jenns in Some Kind of Wonderful:
-- His smug expression makes you want to punch him.
-- Not only does he cheat on his girlfriend (in front of her -- twice), but he basically turns all her friends against HER and not him. That's a master villain.
-- Then he incredibly manages to get them both to show up at his party.
-- And finally, he turns into the weasel that he truly is at the end to avoid getting thumped.

Classic. Truly classic.

[Johnny B. Goode]

Maybe I'm influenced because it was my favorite movie on the list, but I'm going with Rooney from FBDO, if for no other reason than sheer relentlessness. A principal who sneaks into a kid's house to try to catch him skipping school? Rooney was like a Terminator, single-minded in his attempts to destroy his enemy.

[Greg]

I don't know if any of the others can top Jeffrey Jones. The guy was a real-life child pornographer.

Give Jones the lifetime achievement award and then disqualify him from the competition.

[Spears]

I tried to stick to the really BIG villains for this particular list. Surely every Hughes movies has a few antagonists. Jake Ryan's girlfriend in Sixteen Candles for example. Or the stuck-up girls in class in Pretty in Pink. Or even Robert Downey Jr. in Weird Science.

[Bgirl]

CHET, all the way! But I also love the asst. principal in "Uncle Buck," she should at least get an honorable mention--just for the simple fact that in that scene are some of the best lines ever: "Buck Melanoma, Moley Russel's wart." and: "Here's a quarter, why don't you go downtown and have a rat knaw that thing off your face."
And how about Tia from that movie? She does turn around, but she is UB's nemesis for 3/4 of the film...and a damn good one!

Thanks, Walter. I've added "Chet." How could I forget?

[Bassnote]

I vote for James Spader in PIP. He was the ultimate slime ball.

[Walter Cox]

What? No Chet from "Weird Science"?