100 Most Memorable Film Characters Of All Time: The Top Ten
10) Charles Foster Kane in CITIZEN KANE (Orson Welles) There's good reason that this 1941 classic still remains the choice of many as the greatest film ever made. It's due to so many things, but it's clearly due to the enigmatic yet mysterious character at its core, Charles Foster Kane. The film begins with the death of Kane, uttering one final word, Rosebud, which becomes the mystery for us to try to discover its meaning. As the events of his life are slowly put back together, we begin to see a fully realized man of great complexity and sadness. It was a film that showed us a man who on the outside seemed to have everything ... money, power, and success, but revealed the inner sadness of a man who drove loved ones away, to ultimately die alone. The character is a fascinating portrait as we realize the truth of the one event has most affected his life, which is also the last memory of when he remembers being truly happy until the security and the life he knew was taken away. It was clearly an amazing achievement of cinema, and an incredible performance by Welles himself.
9) Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER (Robert De Niro) Martin Scorsese's films have produced an infinite number of memorable characters, many of which you've seen in my top 100. But for me, there is none more fascinating than Travis Bickle, the man at the center of the classic 1970's film TAXI DRIVER. De Niro, always good at playing these fascinating men, portrays a complicated man in this film. He's a man who must resort to violence to feel he's doing something good for the city and society as a whole. He's an extremely lonely man who is looking for love through his bizarre relationship with Cybill Shepherd, looking to help redeem others in his relationship with a young prostitute, played brilliantly by Jodie Foster, and is looking to find the good in a city that has degenerated into everything dirty and sinful. It's fascinating to watch as Bickle remains completely in control even as he cycles towards the still-shocking violence that occurs by film's end. He remains quiet and subdued which makes his character even more complicated to analyze.
8) Lester Burnham in AMERICAN BEAUTY (Kevin Spacey) Certainly the most "ordinary" character to make my top ten, Lester is the biggest standout from a film simply overflowing
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