A Brief History of Movie Villains' Terrible Hair

If you caught Skyfall this weekend (or if you've seen any previews), then you already know that this list begins with Javier Bardem and his bizarro platinum coif (and eyebrows!) as the latest Bond villain, Raoul Silva. The normally quite attractive Bardem looks strange and unhinged in the way only a movie villain can pull off. Don't believe me? Consider this:

It seems that possession of a terrible haircut is the Hollywood litmus test for evil. The hairstyles of movie villains are the physical embodiment of their criminal and immoral impulses. Whereas the heroes and heroines of Hollywood are blessed, in large part, with beautiful, flowing locks that indicate youth, virility and virtue, the villain is cursed with balding, wild, or dual-color dos that speak to his or her madness, isolation, and immorality. With few exceptions—most notably, Hitler’s toothbrush mustache and Mugabe’s philtrum thing, and, oh, Trump—the hair of the villains who exist outside of movies is, well, normal, at least in our modern times. Generally, in real life, evil approaches by stealth—it doesn't announce its cruel intentions with a bad perm. But in film and TV, bad hair is what signals something wicked (and funny-looking) this way comes. And we can see this in the past 50 years of Bond films, which have shown us all the way different, hideous ways a villain might appear onscreen.

But bad hair certainly isn't limited to those who would do 007 harm; The Awl has rounded up a visual history of fictional evildoers' bad hairdos, from Patrick Bateman to Ursula the Sea Witch. Link

Publicity still via skyfall-movie.com


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Agreed! I loved Bardem in No Country for Old Men. The book itself was scary enough, but his performance really was great. Tommy Lee Jones', too. Great movie.(Now I want to watch it again!)
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