MOVIE CHARACTERS FEATURE Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis
It's strange how all the stories about the BNP that have appeared over the last couple of days have got us thinking about neo-Nazis. But however the process happened, we put together a list of cinema's neo-Nazis, the skinheads and weirdos who can't seem to get past the whole "Hitler lost" thing and just get along with people. Funnily enough, in most of these cases it was these roles that catapulted their players to stardom. Let's have a look at some of the best. Worst. Y'know what we mean...
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Darwin Tremor Smokin' Aces
After playing a prince opposite Anne Hathaway and the male lead in a Lindsay Lohan rom-com (Just My Luck) and winning over little girls everywhere, Chris "James T. Kirk" Pine took the rather radical step of signing on to play a tattooed, straggly-haired, totally batshit neo-Nazi assassin, one of the three Tremor brothers in Joe Carnahan's Lake Tahoe-set thriller. The film was only a minor success, but Darwin's shock slaughter of Ben Affleck and superhuman ability to keep pursuing his target made him the stand-out of a star-packed film - and helped him land his role in JJ Abrams' Star Trek.
Russell Crowe as Hando
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Hando Romper Stomper
Russell Crowe was a complete unknown outside his native Australia when he landed the part of Hando, the charismatic, intimidating and deeply violent leader of a Melbourne skinhead gang. Between planning revenge beatings on a group of Vietnamese men and trying to rob the rich to pay for it, Hando also finds time to reject his girlfriend for being epileptic (hardly master-race stuff, apparently) and get killed by his former best friend. Still, it brought him to Hollywood's attention, landing him The Quick and The Dead and LA Confidential, so all's well that end's well.
Ryan Gosling as Danny Balint
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Danny Balint The Believer
Probably the smartest film of the bunch, this sees student Danny join a typical neo-Nazi gang. The catch is that he's Jewish, still practicising some of his rituals in private while targeting his co-religionists in public - and yet he's not entirely a hypocrite, because his own beliefs have led him to this seemingly contradictory stance. Based on the true story of a Jewish Klansman in the 1960s, it was this film that demonstrated that former Mouseketeer Ryan Gosling would be taking a few more risks from now on.
Will Ferrell as Franz Liebkind
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Franz Liebkind The Producers
The most gleefully insane of the bunch, Will Ferrell's musical-writing pigeon-fancying Hitler-worshipping loon is so crazy he's almost sane again. And really, you've got to give him credit. He may espouse horrifying philosophies and worship die Fuhrer, but he also wrote the wonderful Springtime for Hitler, with its bikini-clad Valkyries and jackbooted high-kicks. Altogether now: "Springtime, for Hitler, and Germany / Winter, for Poland, and France…"
Brad Renfro as Todd Bowden
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Todd Bowden Apt Pupil
It's debatable whether Bowden is actually a neo-Nazi or simply an evil little bastard, but he certainly embraces the trappings of the role. And he gets bonus marks for getting an old-school Nazi, in the shape of Ian McKellen's unctuous Kurt Dussander, to tutor him up, and regale him with stories about all those horrific tortures and executions. This film's notable because it coincided with a downward swing in its star's career rather than an up - but it's actually a very good and creepy performance from Renfro, who died tragically young earlier this year.
Stephen Graham as Combo
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Combo This Is England
Following a stint in prison, Stephen Graham's Combo returns filled with an almost psychopathic xenophobia- drawing his friends from their skinhead Ska roots, towards the racist BNP scene. The twist comes when it becomes apparent that Combo is mixed race- his hatred for the black father that abandoned him fuelling the rage. This complicated character has helped bring Graham (previously seen in Snatch) to the attention of Hollywood, and his upcoming projects now include Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and Season Of The Witch with Nicholas Cage.
Henry Gibson as Head Nazi
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Head Nazi The Blues Brothers
Heading up the American Socialist White People’s Party (or ASWPP) was never going to be an easy gig, and so it proves for Henry Gibson’s Head Nazi. To give him some credit though, he was at least well-organised, mobilising his fellow Illinois Nazis into a passable impression of the Nuremberg Rally - complete with racist ranting and crisply-ironed brown shirts. Unfortunately, he holds it on a bridge. Above a lake. With the Bluesmobile ticking over close by. Cue a drenching for the brownshirts, and another name to Jake and Elwood’s growing list of mortal enemies...
Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard
Cinema's Most Memorable Neo-Nazis Derek Vinyard American History X
The tat's are there, the skinhead's much in evidence, and there's that incident on the kerbside to show that he's not all mouth and no trousers - but it's clear, in Edward Norton's masterful performance, that there's more going on behind Derek Vinyard's eyes than blind hatred or ignorant prejudice even before his Damascene conversion in prison. Now he just has to save his proto-skinhead younger brother from the same fate… The film landed Edward Norton his second Oscar nomination, and made it necessary to tag the phrase "one of the best actors of his generation" into every article anyone ever writes about him.
