A great actor once said that it is always more fun to play the bad guy. After all, what better character than the villain to let loose and, if not chew the scenery, at least destroy it?
Disney's stable of villains have always had something of a cult following, a special fondness in the hearts of many, even though they were trying to skin puppies, devour our heroes, or even destroy whole cities. Villain merchandise is everywhere in the parks, where they are the unofficial stars of the popular Fantasmic show. There was even a whole book devoted to them, written by famed animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
Why are we so fascinated with this dark side of Disney? Maybe it's because we can't really care for the protagonist without a suitably hissable antagonist, a carryover from all forms of entertainment, whether they be literature or drama or mainstream motion pictures. After all, what would David be without his Goliath? Or Sherlock Holmes without his Prof. Moriarty? Or Bugs Bunny without his Elmer Fudd? Or Luke Skywalker without his Darth Vader? Or maybe we see in these villains sides of ourselves we have kept hidden, allowing these outrageous characters do things we would never dream of; a vicarious trip into the shadows of our own souls. Or maybe it's just what that great actor had felt: they're more fun.
From Lady Macbeth to Hannibal Lecter, from the Wicked Witch of the West to Goldfinger, from Bill the Butcher to Lex Luthor, bad guys have always been big - bigger than life, in fact - and Disney's heavies are no exception.
So in celebration of All Hallow's Eve, Pixie Dust Pastiche will devote this post and the following posts to come to those no-goodniks and ne'er-do-wells, and match them with the Seven Deadly Sins of old that they so readily embrace - and we so eagerly relish. It will go in order, starting with the least deadly sin and work up to the most deadly sin of all.
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#1: LUST
Lust? In a Disney film? Absolutely, when the bad guy (or girl) wants what (s)he can't have (i.e., the good girl (or guy)).
- FILM: "Mickey's Rival" (1936)
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Mickey Mouse In Living Color; Best Pals: Mickey and Minnie
- In their long years of courtship, Mickey has had only one true competitor for the affections of Minnie, and his name is Mortimer. Smug, egotistical, and downright obnoxious, he is everything that Mickey is not, and his cowardice is exposed when Minnie is endangered. Needless to say, Mickey steps in to save the day.
- QUOTE: "Well! If it ain't my old sweetie, Minnie Mouse!"
- FINAL VERDICT: He leaves Minnie to fend for herself against an enraged bull he has so taunted, but he would return in Mickey comics and, some 60 years later, on shows like MouseWorks, House of Mouse and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
DONALD'S DOUBLE
- FILM: "Donald's Double Trouble" (1946)
- VOICE ACTOR: Leslie Denison
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: The Chronological Donald, Part Two; Best Pals: Donald and Daisy
- Like with Mickey and Minnie, Donald has had at least one true competitor for Daisy, and he looks a lot like Donald himself, albeit with a posh voice, similar to Ronald Colman. It seemed simple enough: Donald would like his duplicate to win her back for him after she doesn't want anything to do with him anymore. But the double actually falls for her himself and takes her on a date to an amusement park. Donald, needless to say, is not happy.
- QUOTE: (to Daisy) "Darling, we'll paint the town vermilion."
- FINAL VERDICT: Both Donalds have no choice but to beat a retreat from the park to avoid a humiliated Daisy's wrath.
VICKY ROBINSON
- FILM: "The Parent Trap" (1961)
- ACTOR: Joanna Barnes
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- What can a glamorous socialite-cum-gold digger do? She's hooked a handsome and, more importantly, rich landowner, but no sooner does she start to reel him in to the altar than not one but two of the fiancee's bratty daughters arrive on the scene to scuttle this loathsome deal. Then, to make matters worse, the landowner's ex-wife also muscles in, and she is not exactly the spinster that the would-be hubby made her out to be. And now what - camping??
- OCCUPATION(S): Socialite
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: Her mother, a very different Mrs. Robinson
- QUOTE: "First change I make in that household, off she goes to a boarding school in Switzerland."
- FINAL VERDICT: Doused with honey, licked by bear cubs, a humiliated Vicky angrily calls off the engagement and leaves in a huff.
BARNABY
- FILM: "Babes In Toyland" (1961)
- ACTOR: Ray Bolger
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- This leering, would-be Lothario wants Mary Contrary all to himself. The problem is, she is to marry Tom Piper. This problem seems easy enough to resolve: he just dispatches his dimwitted lackeys to dispose of the boy. Naturally, the plan fails, and Barnaby ultimately must battle a shrunken Tom and an army of toy soldiers in Toyland.
- OCCUPATION(S): Lothario
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: Gonzorgo and Roderigo
- GOTTA SING-SING: "Castle In Spain"
- QUOTE: (trying to woo Mary through aforementioned song) "You'll eat nothing but cake,/You'll drink naught but champagne,/You'll be in on the take,/In our castle in Spain."
- FINAL VERDICT: Having shrunken Tom, Barnaby is inadvertently shrunk himself and is quickly defeated by Tom in a sword duel.
GASTON
- FILM: "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
- VOICE ACTOR: Richard White
- SUPERVISING ANIMATOR: Andreas Deja
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Walt Disney Signature Collection release now available
- He's the golden boy of his provincial town, the guy that girls go gaga for, and, oh yes, every last inch of him is covered with hair. So why can't Gaston nab the beautiful Belle for his wife? Must be all that reading that she does. No matter; with an ego to match his physique, he is confident he will win her over - if it's the last thing he does.
- OCCUPATION(S): Pub proprietor, hunter
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: LeFou, Monsieur D'Arque, all the local yokels in town
- GOTTA SING-SING: "Gaston"
- QUOTE: "Were you in love with her, Beast? Did you honestly think she would love you, when she could have someone like me?"
- FINAL VERDICT: In duking it out with the Beast over Belle atop the Beast's castle, Gaston loses his footing and falls to his doom.
CLAUDE FROLLO
- FILM: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996)
- VOICE ACTOR: Tony Jay
- SUPERVISING ANIMATOR: Kathy Zielinski
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- The poster boy for Disney lust, Frollo has set his beady eyes on the voluptuous Esmeralda, a "burning desire" that haunts his very soul. He finally finds a use for his abused foster son Quasimodo, manipulating him into finding the gypsy for him so he can burn her at the stake. What better way to show a girl that you love her?
- OCCUPATION(S): Judge
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: Phoebus (at first), an army of soldiers
- GOTTA SING-SING: "Hellfire"
- QUOTE: "The gypsies live outside the normal order. Their heathen ways inflame the people's lowest instincts. And they must be stopped."
- FINAL VERDICT: Notre Dame itself seemingly comes to life to squelch his evil for good, sending him to fall to his doom.
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#2: GLUTTONY
Whether it's for supremacy or just what the protagonist tastes like, these antagonists are all starving to death. Bloodthirsty? You have no idea.
THE BIG BAD WOLF
- FILM: "Three Little Pigs" (1933)
- VOICE ACTOR: Billy Bletcher
- ANIMATOR: Norm Ferguson
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- Given the hit song about him, you'd think ol' Big Bad would get a little more respect, or at least a few pork rinds. All that huffin' and puffin' and blowin' down of houses must take a lot out of a wolf, not to mention all those "clever" disguises (like an innocent sheep or a Fuller Brush man) that take some talent to pull off as well. And what dedication: he comes back for more in not one, not two, but three follow-up shorts.
- OCCUPATION(S): Predator
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: His three cubs (in subsequent shorts)
- QUOTE: "By the hair on your chinny-chin-chin, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!"
- FINAL VERDICT: Unable to blow down the Practical Pig's brick house, the wolf tries to gain access to the house by sliding down the chimney - right into a pot of boiling water in the fireplace, sending him howling for his life. But he would keep coming back again and again to try and get a taste of the pigs...
THE WOLF
- FILM: "Make Mine Music" ("Peter and the Wolf" scene) (1946)
- ANIMATOR: John Lounsbery
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- Certainly one of the most ferocious creatures in Disney lore, this wolf is also the only villain ever to share title billing with the hero of their story. He's a hungry one, too; he wants to gobble up all of Peter's friends. But hey, that's only natural for a carnivorous predator.
- OCCUPATION(S): Predator
- FINAL VERDICT: Young Peter is the local hero when he successfully captures the beast by lashing him to a tree.
BR'ER FOX AND BR'ER BEAR
- FILM: "Song of the South" (1946)
- VOICE ACTORS: James Baskett and Nicodemus Stewart
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Still not available (and may never be)
- The Abbott and Costello of Uncle Remus, these fumbling fools are actually their own worst enemies. In their constant pursuit of the scrawny Br'er Rabbit (who would hardly make much of a meal for either of them, much less both), they constantly trip each other up, putting their collective foot in the tar, so to speak.
- OCCUPATION(S): Predators
- QUOTE: Br'er Fox: "I got 'im! I sure's got 'im! I got the little rabbit this time for sure!" Br'er Bear: "I'm gonna knock his head clean off!"
- FINAL VERDICT: Bamboozled by Br'er Rabbit's "laughing place" scam, both fox and bear wind up on the wrong side of a hive full of bees.
MASTER CONTROL PROGRAM
- FILM: "TRON" (1982)
- VOICE ACTOR: David Warner
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- Having rebelled against ENCOM's mainframe computer, the corrupt Master Control Program is planning on ruling the computer world itself, one program at a time (talk about your computer viruses). Meanwhile, its user, Ed Dillinger, has stolen Kevin Flynn's video game creations and rewrote them as his own. Now Flynn is out to put a stop to this... even if it means getting sucked into the computer realm to play games for dear life to do so. But the MCP and its partner Sark aren't about to let some user sabotage their plans...
- OCCUPATION(S): Computer program
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: Ed Dillinger, Sark, red programs
- QUOTE: "End of line."
- FINAL VERDICT: During the final showdown between Tron and Sark (who now has the MCP's powers after being mortally wounded), Flynn leaps into the core of Master Control and distracts it long enough for Tron to hurl his identity disc into the one break in the tower's barrier and derezz it (and Sark with it).
BIG BOY CAPRICE
- FILM: "Dick Tracy" (1990)
- ACTOR: Al Pacino
- HOME VIDEO RELEASE: Available
- The Godfather of Four Color crime, "Big Boy" attained his nickname, not from his big pronouncements, but by metaphorically devouring his opponents, as in a mobster massacre to rival St. Valentine's. Now he's back in business and on top of the world, ma, "leetle friend" a-blazin'. But, oh, mother of mercy, could Dick Tracy spell the end of Big Boy Caprice?
- OCCUPATION(S): Crimelord
- PARTNER(S) IN CRIME: Itchy, Flattop, Mumbles and the rest of the mob
- QUOTE: (to his fellow gangsters) "You get behind me, we all profit; you challenge me, we all go down! There was one Napoleon, one Washington, one me!"
- FINAL VERDICT: In his final showdown with the pesky goody-two-shoes Tracy, Big Boy falls to his doom.
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