The Psychopath in Film

treesparrow

treesparrow

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
The Psychopath in Film by Wayne Wilson contains a list of 140 movie titles with psychopaths or psychopathic behaviour as the main theme. Some are discussed in great detail particularly when dealing with the common or garden variety type of psychopath, less so with socially adept psychopaths in positions of great power ( this maybe because there are fewer movies of that type?). Anyway amoung the films concerning 'mundane' psychopaths which seem to stand out (which I've either seen or from the text descriptions sound instructive) include :-

All About Eve
Double Indemnity
Anatomy Of A Murder
Witness For The Prosecution
To Die For (Loosely based on real events)
Heavenly Creatures (Based on true events)
The Third Man
Strangers On A Train
Black Widow
Disclosure
Shallow Grave
A Shock To The System
The Bad Seed
Cape Fear (The 1962 version)
Dial M For Murder

I've attempted to be to keep the list as short(ish) as possible and left out obvious, over the top (imho) films such as The Silence of the Lambs or A Clockwork Orange.

The author of the book studied at two Christian universities in the US and I think may explain some of his views and naivety about the american government and the CIA when they are mentioned in connection to a few of the films. Similar as his opinions doubting that a British Government would resort to murder to protect itself.
Specifically these comments concern a TV series made by the BBC in the 1990s called The House of Cards which showed just how ruthless pathocrats are in obtaining and keeping positions of power.The series can be obtained on DVD, as well as the 2 subsequent series titles, To Play The King and The Final Cut. I'm gonna have to say it - this IS a must seen film. Check out reviews on Amazon (co.uk).

Returning to the book I think its probably worth getting solely as a source of reference.

Sorry if I've meandered a bit from book to films -hope this OK.
 
Here's a first, someone replying to their own post!

The following link

www.geocities.com/lycium7/psychopathfilmandlit.html

has a short article and a list of suggested film titles concerning psychopaths.
Missing from the last section (Society as psychopath) and which perhaps might be more appropriate when dealing with socially adept psychopaths wielding great power are these movies;

Patton - starring George C Scott as the WW2 general in which he comes across as a reckless, impulsive glory seeker.( As in the scene where he jumps out into the open street of an arab town and tries with a hand pistol to shoot down a warplane strafing up the area.)

Paths of Glory - where two competing generals show absolutely no limits(or conscience) as to what they'll do to achieve their aims.(Attemping to fire at their own troops and having innocent men shot for cowardice, for instance).

House of Cards - with Ian Richardson as a scheming political animal who uses blackmail and murder to become the Prime Minister of the UK. And once in power
resorts to war to retain it.

Yep - written about movies in book section (again). Ah well - it can be moved.
 
I would add Six Degrees of Separation, House of Games and Glengarry Glen Ross (basically you can include everything by Kubrick and everything by Mamet). Should we move this post to the Movies forum?
 
Not a film, but Cartman from southpark is the epidomy of psychopathy. Esp for the younger generations.

He does absolutely anything to get what he wants, regardless of all other involved, he manipulates cunningly, puts on a mask of sanity, and often convinces his friends that he's really sorry, and then, at the right moment he pulls the switch, screws them over and chants "Ha ha ha ha ha, i fooled you guys!"

Who woulda thought truth from a cartoon.
 
I would further add:

Chinatown (1974) Oscar winner for Jack Nicholson where he stumbles onto a psychopathic plot to steal water from the citizens of LA by a certain Noah Cross (interesting name, eh?) which also throws in some incest to boot. Directed by and (uncredited) writing by Roman Polanski, who of course had his wife Sharon Tate murdered in the Charles Manson case (which is a whole other story). Currently rated #44 on the top 250 films of all time in IMDB.

The Godfather trilogy, which I would think doesn't require much explanation. Currently ranked as the #1 movie of all time on the IMDB database. That pretty much says it all...
 
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