Genuinely decent characters in fiction

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes 

 

Joshua in Lamb by Christopher Moore

 

Well, duh, he's Jesus, but a totally relatable Jesus. He loves everyone, but especially his friends Biff and Maggie and has nothing but good intentions, facing his fate with grace. He has the same fears and temptations as we all do, but handles them with humor and humility. Joshua is just a great dude.

 

And he learns that we're all God's creatures (and therefore all in this together) from a yeti. That's seriously such a great book.

Richard Farnsworth in "The Straight Story". Just a regular guy, who keeps promises to his daughter and is trying to right the wrongs of his past. A whole lifetime written in the lines on his face. All while having just enough grumpy old man in him to keep him from being too saintly.

And Atticus Finch goes without saying.

To the absolute surprise of no one here:  Samwise Gamgee.

Is Cap way too obvious?

Danny Aiello as Louis the chiropractor, JACOB'S LADDER.  He's what always comes to mind whenever I think of genuinely GOOD characters.

Little House on the Praire (choose your iteration). Pa is just good people. You know, realisitically, most people of that time frame would not have been so kind hearted or gentle, but the book and the tv show always gave us a great man to imitate.

The best. Novel or film.

Post 3, Greg.

Since we have Atticus Finch covered, how about his football coaching equivalent?

Joshua Deets in Lonesome Dove

Bernard in Death of a Salesman

Ma Joad

Juror #8 in 12 Angry Men.  Sure he might have been a bit disingenious with his switchblade routine and intelectual superiority, but he really does fight for a fair examination of a child's "crime.' He doesn't know for sure the kid is innocent at the beginning but he keeps an open mind and asks the righ questions without being mean or condescending.  He gets my vote for genuine good.

John Cusack in Say Anything...

Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules

Peter Falk in Wings Of Desire

Hal Holbrook in Into The Wild

Well, George Bailey, of course. He's the bestest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engineer 

 

 

Gonna disagree with that first one. Rewatching that film recently, he strikes me as one of the most annoying, creepily obsessive heroes in all of film. He takes it upon himself to do what he does out of pure obsession. I'm not saying this makes him a bad guy, but I think it disqualifies him on the grounds of pure decency. He also puts his family, friends and colleagues through the ringer on behalf of his Quixotic obsession. Plus the real life guy was totally full of it and smeared an innocent man (not to mention outing him).

Anyway, I'll go with both Clive Owen and Micheal Cain's characters in Children of Men. Cain is clearly a loving, fun and decent man who is willing to martyr himself to save others. Owen's character pretends to not care about anything right up until the moment the woman reveals her pregnancy. After that he never once faulters in his mission, nor does he despair or complain.

Charlie Utter, Sol Starr and Doc Cochran in Deadwood.

It's a bit obvious but Forrest Gump - I don't think there is a single bad thing he does in that movie.

Doesn't Forrest Gump kneecap that one Viet Cong kid?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freeman 

Is Cap way too obvious?

Hell no!

Steve Rogers: Word is you can find the cube.

Bruce Banner: Is that the only word on me?

Steve Rogers: Only word I care about.

Probably my favourite exchange in the film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engineer 

 

What Z. Vasquez said. By the end of that film, he's a hardcore, gray area, capital C Cop. Which is kinda the point.

Because everyone keeps missing the god damn point of her in both the sequels she's in, Im going with:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spook 

Since we have Atticus Finch covered, how about his football coaching equivalent?

 

Hell yes.  An honest and genuine man.  If I really thought hard I could find many characters that are just good because of incident.  Look at any person down on their luck, disabled or struggling...or gosh I could give several from Harry Potter alone.

Anyway, I will go with Ned Stark.  Granted, this is based on the show and half the book (in the middle of reading), but he seems to be the real deal thus far.

About as decent as you're gonna get.

Billy Peltzer (Gremlins)

Buddy the Elf (Elf)

Bill & Ted (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure)

Mick Dundee (Crocodile Dundee)

Wall-E (Wall-E)

Edward Scissorhands and Peg Boggs (Edward Scissorhands)

Bill and Ted - Hell yes!

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

Re: Eliot Ness in The Untouchables.  

What Z. Vasquez said. By the end of that film, he's a hardcore, gray area, capital C Cop. Which is kinda the point.

Oh, I don't know.  He was a faithful husband and doting father, he was initially suitably aghast at Malone's heavy duty methods... and look how efficiently and gentlemanly he helped that Mr. Nitti down from that roof.  But yeah he was more on the edge in that second half, no doubt.  Still, he's surely one of the nicest murder cops in contemporary film history.  

How about these?

Bruno Ganz as Damiel, an angel who wishes to experience mortal life and love in Wim Wenders' WINGS OF DESIRE.

Roberto Benigni as Bob, an Italian tourist who's imprisonment for an accidental manslaughter doesn't deter his wonder and zest for life in Jim Jarmusch's DOWN BY LAW. 

Isabelle Huppert as a former nun who tries to help an amnesiac get his life back together despite the obvious danger to both their lives in Hal Hartley's AMATEUR.

These fuckers:

Heather Graham as Annie Blackburn, the Double R Diner waitress who catches Cooper's eye in TWIN PEAKS.

I'd love to be able to say either Jeffrey Beaumont (BLUE VELVET) or Special Agent Dale Cooper (TWIN PEAKS).  But Beaumont did kinda/sorta psychosexually cheat on Laura Dern with Isabella Rossellini, and Cooper did kinda/sorta sleep with his investigative partner's wife, pushing said partner further over the edge and causing his partner to kill said wife and exact further revenge upon the innocent residents of a small northwestern logging town.  Disqualifiers?

Kurt Russel in Vanilla Sky.

I was struck by Lenin in Anna Karenina.

Also, Bunny Colvin. Straight up good guy.

Truthfully, the leads in the trilogy as a whole fit the bill here. But one sums it all up...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FilmNerdJamie 

Truthfully, the leads in the trilogy as a whole fit the bill here. But one sums it all up...

 

I would say Gordon in most any other adaptation but Nolan's Gordon does fuck over his wife and kids a wee bit in the middle there.

Dr Frank Reeves, from A Matter of Life and Death. Doctor, philosopher, heavenly advocate.

 "...nothing is stronger than the law in the universe, but on Earth, nothing is stronger than love."

Aww...