The American Film Institute (AFI) has published its list of the top 100 Villains and Heroes from the movies.

The top ten villains (always more interesting):

1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter (in The Silence of the Lambs)
2. Norman Bates (in Psycho)
3. Darth Vader (in The Empire Strikes Back)
4. The Wicked Witch of the West (in The Wizard of Oz)
5. Nurse Ratched (in One Flew over the Cockoo's Nest)
6. Mr. Potter (in It's a Wonderful Life)
7. Alex Forrest (in Fatal Attraction)
8. Phyllis Dietrichson (in Double Indemnity)
9. Regan MacNeil (in The Exorcist)
10. The Queen (in Snow White)

The top 10 heroes:

1. Atticus Finch (in To Kill a Mockingbird)
2. Indiana Jones (in Raiders of the Lost Ark)
3. James Bond (in Dr. No)
4. Rick Blaine (in Casablanca)
5. Will Kane (in High Noon)
6. Clarice Starling (in The Silence of the Lambs)
7. Rocky Balboa (in Rocky)
8. Ellen Ripley (in Aliens)
9. George Bailey (in It's a Wonderful Life)
10. T. E. Lawrence (in Lawrence of Arabia)

It's interesting to analyse the results. For example the top three film heroes and villains are men, but then in the villains category women make up the majority of the remaining slots. 6/10 of the villains are women, and one of them one is an animated character. It seems that there's nothing scarier than a woman out of control...

Of the top ten heroes, only two of them are women - though thankfully Ripley made it in. In both categories, Silence of the Lambs appears, and it's also the most recent entry. Which says a lot for films being made today. (In fact, one of the scariest villains I've seen in a movie, is the character of Paul (Arno Frisch) in the Germany film, Funny Games.)

If you look further along the lists it's interesting to see that genre films, such as horror/sf/fantasy are well represented; especially in the villains category.
I was pleased to see that both Hal 9000 and the Alien, from the Alien movies, were high on the list.

Out of interest, here's the AFI's definition of heroes and villains for the purpose of this poll:

*Hero: For voting purposes, a "hero" was defined as a character(s) who prevails in extreme circumstances and dramatizes a sense of morality, courage and purpose. Though they may be ambiguous or flawed, they often sacrifice themselves to show humanity at its best.

*Villain: For voting purposes, a "villain" was defined as a character(s) whose wickedness of mind, selfishness of character and will to power are sometimes masked by beauty and nobility, while others may rage unmasked. They can be horribly evil or grandiosely funny, but are ultimately tragic.

More on this story here and here.