NOTE: The clip below and the moments described contain SPOILERS for "Chinatown." So if you haven't seen it, go watch it. For reals.
(This moment was suggested by Conrad Buchheister.)Who: Noah Cross (as played by John Huston)
What: Being a cold son-of-a-bitch when private eye Jake Gittes confronts him over the murder of his business partner and daughter's husband.
When: January 1974
Where: Chinatown (the movie, not the place)
Why it's a great moment: When "Chinatown" reaches it climax and you discover that Evelyn Mulwray's sister/daughter is really both her sister and her daughter, you come to the realization it would take a cold motherfucker (or in this case, daughterfucker) to do something like that.
And then a few scenes later, the cold bastard that is Noah Cross strides in, is confronted with everything he's done (including killing Evelyn's husband, who just happened to be his business partner) and he just takes it all in stride. Then, he tells the hero all about his master plan to have control over all the water in L.A. And to top it off, he keeps mispronouncing the dude's name.
That's some supervillain shit right there. And for that, we salute him.
Got a suggestion for one of villainy's greatest moments -- in comics, movies, books, TV, video games, whatever? Drop us a line at submissions@the-iss.com.
