There have been a lot of great role models in Hollywood history (okay, perhaps not so many in recent years); characters such as Atticus Finch who defy bad people and teach their children to respect their fellow man under the most difficult of circumstances. We've written a tribute to the best movie dads in our article, Father's Day Films: 9 Movie Fathers Worthy of Something Other Than That Tie.
But there is also the darker side of fatherhood: bad dads who teach their children -- in many cases, by example -- to be misguided, depressed, and untrusting. Here are some of our favorite bad fathers who deserve a bowl of nails on Father's Day. Not even the clean shiny ones, but the bent rusted ones.
American Beauty - Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper)
Long before he was a toothless wonder wandering through the swamp and taking home Oscar gold, Cooper was USMC Col. Frank Fitts; a psychotic gun-totting homophobe living the American dream right next door to Lester and Carolyn Burnham. Not only did Cooper look the part; hard and chiseled, but he played shy and depressed Ricky Fitts' hard-nosed old man with the bit between his teeth. When Cooper blows his top, he makes R. Lee Ermey sound like Captain Kangaroo.
The Empire Strikes Back - Darth Vader (David Prowse, James Earl Jones)
Even though he eventually redeems himself by tossing the Emperor into the abyss (later in the series), the Dark Lord of the Sith does his best to enslave the galaxy by day, and torture his poor conflicted one-handed Jedi son by night. While we can forgive him for vaporizing entire planets (too bad he didn't start with Endor), he doesn't get a pass for slicing off poor Luke's right hand or for encouraging Mark Hamill to overact so badly. When he utters those famous words, "Luke, I am Your Father" you really have to feel for the entire Skywalker meshpucah. Not an ounce of mazel. Not even for the annoying ones living on that desolate planet in the Outer Rim. Oh we forgot... he had them killed too.
Affliction - Glen Whitehouse (James Coburn)
Based on a superb novel by Russell Banks, Affliction lets two very intense actors; Nick Nolte and Coburn (who finally won an Oscar after a lifetime of great roles) tear one another apart. Nolte stars as the lowly sheriff of a backwoods town in rural New Hampshire who finally has a crime to solve. Standing in his way, where he has been for Wade Whitehouse's entire life, is Coburn; the bitter, abusive, alcoholic father without an ounce of remorse for anything that he has ever done. Coburn's version of "tough love" is too much for anyone to really swallow, but he's Oscar-worthy in this one.
The Stepfather - Jerry Blake (Terry O'Quinn)
While most will remember Terry O'Quinn for his role as John Locke/The Smoke Monster on the hit series Lost, he really broke though with this remarkable performance back in 1987. Jerry Blake was a simple man; he loved the concept of the "perfect family." The only problem for Jerry Blake was no such thing really exists. Does he believe in counseling or taking up a hobby when things at home are not to his liking? Of course not. Unless, picking up an axe and power tools to murder your loved ones is considered a hobby. All the proof anyone ever needed that divorce may not be the worst option imaginable.
The Shining - Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson)
Everybody is allowed to have a bad day. Even mild-mannered writer Jack Torrance (Nicholson). Somebody remind him to take a pass then next time he's offered the chance to baby sit an isolated hotel under the control of pure evil. Oh wait, he won't be getting that chance again any time soon. Stephen King's superb novel is brought to life thanks to Nicholson's terrifying portrayal of Jack "REDRUM" Torrance; a performance that still leaves audiences in stunned silence. Torrance's transformation from struggling novelist and father to crazed and psychotic lunatic is one of the finest examples of psychological terror done properly.
There Will Be Blood - Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis)
Paul Thomas Anderson has made some really fine films. Some deserved far better from Oscar. This is justifiably one of those really fine movies. Daniel Plainview is a driven man. He will stop at nothing to become a successful oilman. Not only is he narrow-minded and greedy, but he is stupid enough to let his adopted son work on an unsafe oil rig (wonder if the folks at BP saw this one?) where there is an accident and he loses his hearing. Daniel Plainview makes Donald Trump look like the apprentice. Day-Lewis drives through the role like an exploding gusher of oil. He is relentless and rotten to the bitter end. Gordon Gecko had nothing on this guy.
The Bad Sleep Well - Public Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi (Masayuki Mori)
Akira Kurosawa made a lot of really remarkable films. Lost in the mix that includes Ran, Rashomon, and Ikiru, sits this tiny little post-war film about corruption and murder. Masayuki Mori stars as the corrupt industrialist who not only betrays his children, but also his son in-law (played by Toshiro Mifune), who seeks to learn the truth about his own father's mysterious suicide. As the truth comes out, Mori will stop at nothing to protect his own position; regardless of who he has to throw under the bus, or out the window. Brilliantly put together and shot, Kuroswa adds another quiet little gem to his remarkable collection of films.
The Great Santini - Lt. Col. ‘Bull' Meechum (Robert Duvall)
What is it about career military men and dysfunctional families? Is it the abundance of machismo or the desire to always be in control that drives otherwise brave and heroic men to abuse and torture their undeserving families? Robert Duvall stars as Lt. Col. ‘Bull' Meechum; a peacetime Marine Corps pilot who is the ultimate example of someone who has their helmet screwed on too tight. Not only does Meechum make everyone around him feel about two inches tall, but he enjoys every second of it. One of Duvall's finest roles and a superb first movie role for Michael O'Keefe who would springboard from this one to playing "Danny Noonan" in Caddyshack with Rodney Dangerfield. Speaking of Rodney Dangerfield...
Natural Born Killers - Ed Wilson (Rodney Dangerfield)
Rodney Dangerfield does not have a lot of screen time in this macabre tale from Oliver Stone, but he makes the most of it as Ed Wilson, Mallory Knox's abusive and disgusting father. While one's instinct is to laugh at Dangerfield, it is hard in this one to give him any respect because he is nothing but a perverted and hard-drinking rapist who does more to damage Juliette Lewis in fifteen minutes, than the Japanese did to the U.S. at Pearl Harbor. I'll be here all week folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress or Mickey Knox. He may bludgeon old Rodney to death in the parking lot with a set of golf clubs.
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