| 1 . Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back |
It’s not every day a offers to “rule the galaxy as father and son”, but that’s just kind of generous chap Darth was. OK, just minutes earlier he lasered off Luke’s in a light sabre duel the death, but that only because he loved him. Regrettably, his attempt to force Luke into a career he didn’t really want only made him more resolved against following in dear old dad’s jackbooted, universe conquering footsteps. But that’s often the way, with kids.
Verdict: misunderstood
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| 2. Jim’s Dad in American Pie |
Eugene Levy’s bumbling character spent most of his time honourably trying to instil in his son a healthy attitude towards sex – while colluding with him to keep the embarrassing stuff (the pie-humping incident) quiet. “We’ll just tell your mother that... we ate it all.”
Verdict: righteous
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| 3. Marlin in Finding Nemo |
Marlin’s a shining example of fatherhood. Not only did the clownfish widower provide a comfortable home for his 400-odd offspring, he escorted them to school and, when Nemo was captured by an Australian dentist for his office fish tank, embarked on a dangerous trek to find him. And succeeded.
Verdict: hero
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| 4. Giuseppe Conlon in In The Name Of The Father |
Pete Postlethwaite’s brilliant portrayal of a father falsely implicated in an IRA bombing, was rousing indeed. Though humble, Conlon instilled in his son a belief that they would eventually clear their names and weaned him off a destructive drug addiction.
Verdict: inspiring
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| 5. Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents |
When faced with a man seeking his daughter’s hand in marriage, the ultraprotective Byrnes (Robert de Niro) switched into secret agent mode, monitored the suitor’s behaviour on CCTV, put him through a lie detector test and generally made him jump through hoops before giving him his approval. And he wrote poetry, too.
Verdict: cautious
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| 6. Eliot Ness in The Untouchables |
Treasury Agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) had to protect his young family after he provoked the ire of Al Capone: “I want this guy dead! I want his family dead! I want his house burned to the ground!” He duly farmed them out of town, did his job and took Capone down – and even saved a baby from being killed in the final showdown.
Verdict: honourable
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| 7. Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather |
As the head of a New York Mafia ‘family’, Don Vito (Marlon Brando) was indeed a murderous hood, but he lived for his relatives and even adopted li’l Tom Hagen. He understood the importance of shared family mealtimes, hated drugs and put on a cracking do for his daughter’s wedding.
Verdict: generous
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| 8. Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers trilogy |
“You’re the Diet Coke of evil! Just one calorie – not evil enough!” shrieked Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) at his son Scott, who failed to live up to the nefarious family moniker. He also dismissed his son’s dream of being a vet, showered gifts on his mini clone and even confessed to wanting Scott dead.
Verdict: unhinged
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| 9. Royal in The Royal Tenenbaums |
A few things a good dad doesn’t do to his kids: he doesn’t steal their fortunes; he doesn’t shoot them with an air gun; he doesn’t blame them for the break-up of his marriage; and he doesn’t lie to them about having six weeks to live. Royal (Gene Hackman), however, is guilty of all that and much, much more. Verdict: lunatic
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| 10. Jack Torrance in The Shining |
On the plus side, Jack Nicholson’s character took his family off to a mountain resort, played hide and seek with his young son Danny and recited nursery rhymes. On the minus side, the resort was out of season and he engaged with his family while wielding a razor sharp axe and promising to hack them into bite-sized chunks.
Verdict: psychotic
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