Pajiba

Happy Father's Day!
And no, I couldn't even watch any of these (again). Too close to my bed time... but thanks anyway.

Dustin,

I will throw in Mystic River, Godfather II and Kill Bill 2, to name a few.

For all you dads enjoy the day, for soon to be dads, enjoy the quiet.

I vote for Robert Carlyle in 28 Weeks Later. Even before (SPOILER) he turns into a zombie.

I would add Jeff Daniels in "The Squid and the Whale." Sure, his abuse is less drastic than those listed, but it's also more plausible and, by extension, more unsettling.

I respectfully submit John Huston's character in "Chinatown." What with the "boffing his own daughter" and all.

Good call Tim. I was thinking the same thing.

Meh. What kind of damn holiday is Father's day anyway? Bloody hell. I'm in the UK, and even here people are getting into the spirit.

Sure, celebrate all you want those heathen holidays that are attached to weird and wacky religions (christmas anyone), but a day invented by hallmark? Ugh, below the belt.

Friggin' holidays/holiday spirit.

Grumbles aside, I love this list, and can't wait to watch the videos when I'm using a connection 21st century enough to actually allow me to see them.

Speaking of amazing tv/movie dads....... I've always had a weird daddy-crush on Victor Garber, in the incarnation of Spy-Daddy, aka Agent Bristow.

Is that wierd?

Hmmm, I'm still never speaking to my own biological father again but damnit if my step-dad isn't getting several pints bought for him.

I really should get around to watching the shining someday.

Wow, I was sure I was going to see the tuna fish sandwich-drugging friend-molesting dad from Happiness.

That was an unfortunate oversight, which has now been corrected. Thanks. -- DR

Great List! Thanks for the perspective.

I second the vote for Jeff Daniels in "TSATW".

I'd also add Robert Duvall in both "The Great Santini" and "Sling Blade".

Happy to see The Stepfather appear. And I really have to say thank you; naked Terry O'Quinn is a wonderful way to start the day.

My first two thoughts were 1)Robert Duvall-- "The Great Santini" and 2) Chris Cooper "American Beauty."

I would lump Kevin Spacey in the "Sceeviest Movie Dads of All Time" but Chris Cooper as the Colonel was worse as a dad.

I would have to add Jon Savage as the father from a really fucked up movie called Little Boy Blue. I caught the movie on TV a few years back and found him really disturbing.

Umm, I just want to make the point that Father's Day was not invented by Hallmark. Maybe it's encouraged by Hallmark, but they didn't invent it. Father's Day in the U.S. was started in 1908 and Hallmark wasn't founded until a few years later. Anyway, I think it is a valid holiday to recognize underappreciated Dads.

Jeff Daniels in The Squid and The Whale. I concur.

Christopher Walken "At Close Range"

Ditto the vote for Jeff Daniels' character in The Squid and the Whale. What an asshole.

I've never seen The Stepfather, but Terry O'Quinn with hair looks an awful lot like Will Forte from Saturday Night Live.

Hahaha! Vader...

I've never seen Natural Born Killers. Kinda wished I hadn't watched that clip. *shudder* What the fuck did I just watch? O.o

I owe my Potato a beer and some Chinese food after all of that. I mean, I know I'm uber lucky to have the dad I do, but sometimes it takes a little bit of shoot-up-the-park and entire-family-murdering and split-the-log-between-your-hands to put everything into sharp focus.

I'm with Robert for John Huston's character in Chinatown. What a slimy jerk. He makes me shudder when he tells Faye Dunnaway, "She's mine, too." Ahhhhhh!! Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dustin,

Thanks for thinking of the parentally-challenged readership on what can be a very hard day; I'm sure that you will make a great dad when the day comes.

What, no Gabriel Byrne from Spider?

Definitely Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale. Eww.
As for Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, I don't know what this says about me, but if his daughter weren't in the room I'd sympathize with his character.

I love this site. Just got in from a 10-hour drive and was greeted by this wondrous list and utterly perfect accompanying photo.

I immediately thought Randy Quaid's character from Bob Balaban's awesome little flick, "Parents", but the list is so great I wasn't too disheartened about the omission.

LOL--Vader.

Dustin,
WOW. I can't believe you put Lester Burnham on the list. He wasn't a bad father for standing up for himself... if anything,in that family, the mother was the fucked up one.

Additionally, I can't believe you didn't put the stepdad from "Radio Flyer" on the list. I mean, he is pretty much the epitome of bad stepfathers! And how did my peer Pajiba commenters not suggest that one as well?

"I've never seen The Stepfather, but Terry O'Quinn with hair looks an awful lot like Will Forte from Saturday Night Live."

Really? I thought he looked a lot like Julian McMahon.

Kind of funny that an ad for mormon.org was right next to "The Stepfather" clip. *snigger*

No Harry Powell/Robert Mitchum from The Night of the Hunter? For Shame!

sweet fancy moses! i'll never be able to watch Ladybugs the same way again. gaaaah, images of rodney dangerfield going in for an ass squeeze are dancing about in my mind.

why rodney, why?

Err... thanks for the 28 Weeks Later spoiler up there.

David Strathairn in Dolores Claiborne is definitely one of the most frightening dads in movie history. The character is completely vile!

Like some other people here, I wouldn't have put Kevin Spacey on. He could be so much worse...

And I saw Natural Born Killers for the first time over...Thanksgiving? Something like that. Rodney Dangerfield made me die inside, and even to think about him in that makes me nauseous. So, good call...

the (step)father/fascist commandant from Pan's Labyrinth. That guy is truly disturbing on a very plausible level.

Eric Stoltz in The Butterfly Effect.

Fucking creepy.

Ok, I get the point that Lester Burnham is FAR from the worst dad up there, but I have to tell you as a girl? Still pretty terrible. If, at 16, I watched my father visibly lust over someone my own age, quit his job to live out an adolescent fantasy of what life should be, and become my drug dealer boyfriend's best customer? Yeah, I'd probably think he was a pretty awful dad. Had he (spoiler) lived I think he would've turned it around and become a responsible adult and a good dad again, but in the movie, not so much.

Yes his wife was a hard ass and his job sucked. Boo freaking hoo. His solution of smoking pot. working at a burger shack and his pursuit of a 16 year old are nothing to be admired.

What about the Captain in Pan's Labyrinth? He was just a stepdad, but he was a pretty horrible guy, and a fuckhead of a father figure.

Was about to complain about no one mentioning The Butterfly Effect, can't think of a worse father in history, so good thinking agent bedhead

I'm also going to chime in with the sympathy for Lester in American Beauty, I don't blame him for acting the way he did and although I'll admit he is kind of skeevy he could have acted far worse.

Also: bear in mind that I've never seen This Boy's Life but is it really weird that I was gritting my teeth throughout the entire scene and pretty much would have done exactly what DeNiro did? Short temper I guess.

I am also sympathetic to Lester Burnham, though I can see how that behavior would be embarrassing to his daughter.

I think the worst movie dad that comes to mind at the moment is Alec Baldwin as Augusten Burroughs father in "Running With Scissors"--nothing like hanging up on your kid's emergency collect call. The therapist character in that is a pretty appalling father as well.

Lannie, I was thinking the same thing. twice in this one comment section I read the spoiler before I could process what that meant and that I should stop reading lest I want a movie ruined for me.

and yes, Vidal in Pan's Labyrinth was a horrendous person. I've still not decided on Lester Burnham - he has my sympathy, but if he were my father I would definitely think he was causing irreparable damage.

I' with you Genny. Lester's behavior goes beyond embarrassing and into damaging when it comes to his daughter. She is already having self esteem issues. To watch her father lust after her "friend" and know that he only wants her around because there is a chance that SHE will be there too is extremely damaging to a child.

There was also the tiny little fact of him not ever actually listening to her or treating her as though she had anything worthwhile to say because he was too busy living his midlife crisis to be concerned with his own child.

not condoning what Lester did and all, but I think the point in the movie was that we all suffer from identity crises, regardless of age.
The fact that Lester was still trying to find himself at such a point in his life made him the sadder character. Lester rebelled against his life (including his domineering wife) by regressing into a teenage boy, as if trying to relive those formative years.
Still, ewww, of course. What's horrible is that my dad looks a lot like Lester, and my sister was a dead ringer for his daughter (it's early, can't remember names). So that movie freaked me out in a number of ways, but yet I still sympathized with Lester. do I need therapy?

Only if she had a best friend that looked like Meena.

Although both parents were damaging to Thora Birch's character I'd definitely say that it was the mother who I'd consider more damaging to her in the long run. Although Lester was acting like a teenager (as Stella said above, excellent point by the way) he was at least being honest about his actions and motivations. The seething repressed rage and supreme levels of denial expressed by the mother would probably ingrain far more self-destructive tendancies into a child which would be more of an issue in later life than having a screw-up father.

Just the personal opinion of a child of dysfunction ;)

Damn, that's one REALLY disturbing image for a new mom of a little girl to see first thing in the morning! "Come and play with us, Danny!" *shudder* I couldn't even watch the clips, esp. the NBK thing. What a disgusting movie. Jesus. I read somewhere that Oliver Stone was on Juliette Lewis' tip the entire time, getting off on the rape scene. *barf* Kind of makes Lester Burnham look okay. On that front, I don't think the guy was in any kind of league as the stepdad in "Radio Flyer" (great call, Kim! He was played by the bodyguard kid from "My Bodyguard," a character actor who was also in "Full Metal Jacket", "The Patriot," countless other things, usually playing a bad guy.) I mean, I'm sure plenty of men have crushes on their daughter's little friends, as pathetic as that is. At least he didn't "do anything about it," but just made her a much-needed sandwich. And I've known plenty of washed-up boomer guys with boring, well-paying jobs who lived for the nightly doobie down in the basement. Whatever. Not so bad. Skeezy and sad, but not really one of the worst dad's ever, IMO. I've never seen this "Stepfather" movie but I LOVE Terry O'Quinn. It's not on Netflix, either!

yourmother -

The Stepfather isn't on Netflix because it still isn't on DVD (at least in region one) last time I checked.

Yes, it's criminal.

Great list. I was going to suggest Dwight Yoakam in Sling Blade, but I guess he was a boyfriend of mom, not technically a dad. But still, what a tool.

I wholeheartedly agree that Vidal should be added to the list... especially given his actions at the end of the movie, proving once and for all he had absolutely no redeeming qualities as a man, much less a father.

I'm concurring all over the place with the Vidal supporters--if only because since seeing the movie, I've considered him one of the greatest screen villains of all time, never mind villainous screen (step)fathers.

Don't forget about the father from Dead Poets Society. He was a consummate prick.

I think you'd have made a better case for Lester if the scene wasn't so freakin hilarious. This may be an issue of availability, but his inclusion would have made more sense with a scene where he stares at the hot friend with naked lust right in front of the daughter, rather than the one where he tells off the shrieking harpy of a wife. I think we were all saying, "Go, Lester, go!" during that one.

Adding my vote to nod at Dolores Claiborne's David Strathairn. Joe was horrible as a husband and father, no two ways about it.

My first thought when I read the title of the piece was of Robert Duvall in The Great Santini. Yikes...frightening.

Oh, and Tom Hulce's character in Parenthood. He was Cool's dad and basically left him with his grandparents...

I didn't see Sling Blade, but another Billy Bob movie comes to mind with two very bad dads: Monster's Ball. In a film full of disturbing images, I will never forget what the prostitute says to Heath Ledger's character at the end of their scene. I could only stand to sit through that movie once, but I think of it every time I bitch about "turning into" one or the other of my parents. Compared to Billy Bob (and his dad,) they really aren't that bad.

Although both parents were damaging to Thora Birch's character I'd definitely say that it was the mother who I'd consider more damaging to her in the long run... The seething repressed rage and supreme levels of denial expressed by the mother would probably ingrain far more self-destructive tendancies into a child which would be more of an issue in later life than having a screw-up father.

Slight shift in topic, but I wanted to say that this idea that children (even teenagers) are some kind of jelly mould that can be influenced and scared for life by every little thing their parents do is a bit exagerated to say the least, kids are influenced and scared for life by their peers too! (Not that this is really the place to make this comment, obviously being attacked with an axe, or locked in the cellar will leave a few scars).

And I completely agree that Lester Burnham wasn't that bad, particularly not in the scene chosen. I mean, sure the lusting after the daughter's friend was a bad phase, but he really redeemed himself there. He not only didn't sleep with her, but he behaved really well (in the end).

That Natural Born Killers clip just made my sphincter clench so hard. UGH! AAAAAGH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! Damn.

Lester should have at least told his daughter: "Hey!! Quit flashing your pajibas at the weird kid next door!!! Keep that curtain closed!!"

Got another one: Alan Arkin in "The Slums of Beverly Hills." On the one hand, he was doing his best to keep his family together, but he REALLY needed to get his shit together.

did anyone besides me see Tideland? Jeff Bridges is pretty....er...Ghastly.

What about Royal Tennenbaum?

Definitely agree that Lester Burnham was really not that bad of a father. Considering most of the assholes up here, he was a saint.

Robert, Alan Arkin's SoBH character was a moron, but you could tell he loved his kids. Remember the scene where he broke down crying b/c he knew he couldn't support them? Very sad.

Oh, Tom Hulce in Parenthood...what a loser. LOL.

catherine, i was SO going to mention Jeff Bridges in Tideland if no one else did, so good on you! god, that poor little girl. also, Jennifer Tilly is definitely no PTA mom in that movie. luckily

(SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

she doesn't last too long.

I can't believe that I'm going to be the first one to mention this...
Humbert fucking Humbert.

Lola, when you're right, you're right.

great list, as always but damn dude i'd forgotten about happinness, that cold, deeply shocking yet simple scene when the kid comes to his mum and says 'theres blood in my underwear'

and...i know this is a list for MOVIES and its all about fictional bad dads but uh....since i personally am still reeling i'd want to nominate, CURRENTLY for worst dad EVER in film or real life...Chris Benoit. may he burn slowly in hell.

but i've just made myself sad so im going to very blatantly change the subject and think of some other bad dads in film....hey can you count ones you technically never see?Cos uh...The Omen...the Devil...pretty much the worst dad you can get.
but then again i'd have some major issues if i was like...jesus.
'Hey son, im gonna impregnate an unwed thirteen(probably) year old virgin with you, have your birth be pretty stressful, set into motion a king killing a bunch of kids just to try and hurt you, have you born carrying my innate wisdom and the seemingly irresistable compulsion to share it, have you wander the known world collecting 'disciples' who swear loyalty to you then kinda puss out on you when shit gets hot, then have you horribly tortured and killed, all for the sake of the very people who dont actually like you. Then you're gonna lay in a cold ass stone cave for three days befoe ascending to heaven with me, which will be nice...except that people are gonna use your name to do some pretty awful shit to one another, be they extremists or just mentally ill. Plus some douche bag actor is gonna make a film detailing just how awful your death was, then verbally attack your very people...oh and also people are gonna totally, inexlicably think you're whiter than freaking chalk for like the rest of eternity'

i'd be kinda pissed, but thats me,what can i say.
damn i cant think of any bad movie dads.
My mum hates the parents in cheaper by the dozen(the steve martin one), she was deeply shocked by how much of a 'selfish bitch' the mum was for leaving her husban alone witht the kids and at how lazy the older kids(especially hilary duff) where, like why didnt they help out AT ALL???

bad dads though....its a tough one...