1 - In my mind, to be a really memorable character, you have to lose the actor in the part that he is playing. That said, here is my list, in no particular order:

1. Crash Davis (Kevin Costner, Bull Durham)
2. Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert, Highlander)
3. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark)
4. Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects)
5. Max Cady (Robert Deniro, Cape Fear)
6. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean)
7. William Wallace (Mel Gibson, Braveheart)
8. Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive)
9. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson, The Shining)
10. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell, Escape from New York)
11. Blue Genie (Robin Williams, Aladdin)

Looking over my list, I think it's weird that I didn't pick a single female character. I also know that my list is way incomplete, but it's a good stab. Besides, I was trying to come up with some that hadn't already been mentioned. I mean how do I honestly not put Rocky, The Terminator, or a Corleone on the list.

Sean---

2 - OOOH I almost forgot:

Tom Horn (Steve McQueen, Tom Horn)
Pappillon (Steve McQueen, Pappillon)

great movies, great characters-things turned out a little better for Pappillon, though...heheheh.

Both Real people too, now that I think about it.

3 - Wow, cool topic. My list:

1. Alex de Large (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange)
2. Bigby (Robert Carlyle, Trainspotting)
3. Travis Bickle (Robert Deniro, Taxi Driver)
4. Elvis Presely (Bruce Campbell, Bubba Ho-Tep)
5. Rocky (Sylvester Stallone, Rocky series)
6. Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer, Tombstone)
7. Gandalf (Ian McKellen, Lord of the Rings Trilogy)
8. Lt. Colenel Slade (Al Pacino, Scent of A Woman)
9. George Baily (Jimmy Stewart, It's a Wonderful Life)
10. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford, Indian Jones series)

4 - There have been a few posts that were have mentioned portrayals rather than characters… so if you will indulge me further, for me the best portrayal of a character has to have been Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot. Now Rob DeNiro may well have stared out to spaced and dribbled a bit in The Awakenings but DDL simply became Christie Brown.

5 - I'd like to see Gary Coleman in "Sid and Nancy".

6 - Ice from Top Gun
Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction
Tyler Durden from Fight Club
Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding from Shawshank
Luke Skywalker/Han Solo from Star Wars
Mufasa from Lion King
The Terminator
Crash Davis
Jimmy Dugan
Ace Ventura

just a few for you to think about.. not necessarilly a definitive list or anything.

7 - Chris Knight (played by Val Kilmer) - Real Genius. One of my all time favorite characters in any movie.

8 - Maria - Sound of Music
Dorothy - Wizard of Oz
Wicked Witch of the West - Wizard of Oz
Scarlet - Gone with the Wind
Ripley - (Sigourney Weaver) Alien

9 - Ok, I managed to keep it to 50. Barely, I could easily add another 10. Here ya go (no particular order):

You mention Rick, but what about Louis Renault (Claude Rains)?
obiwan kenobe, of course!
Joel Cairo, peter lorre in The Maltese Falcon
Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not (forget the character's name)
The Monster, Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein
Paula Alquist, Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight
Tracy Samantha Lord, Katharine Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story
Elwood P. Dowd, Jimmy Stewart, Harvey
Bennett Marco, Frank Sinatra, The Manchurian Candidate
Professor Marcus, alec guiness, The LadyKillers (I doubt Tom Hanks could do better)
The Tramp, Charlie Chaplin, City Lights or Modern Times
Pseudolus, Zero Mostel, A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the forum
007, Sean Connery, Goldfinger
The White Angel, Lawrence Olivier, Marathon Man
Bill, WC Fields, The Bank Dick
the kid in Rushford
The Assassin, William H Macy in Panic
Lenny, Charles Grodin in The Heartbreak Kid
Roy Neary, Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters
alan arkin and peter falk in The InLaws
Annie, diane keaton in Annie Hall
Ahab, Gregory Peck, Moby Dick
Charly, cliff robertson, Charly
buzz lightyear, toy story
Chance the Gardner, peter sellers, Being There
Mrs. Robinson, anne bancroft, The Graduate
Leo Bloom, Gene Wilder, The Producers
Stanley Motss, Dustin Hoffman, Wag the Dog
The Genie, Robin Williams, Aladin
Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane, Orson Welles
Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audry Hepburn
Inspector Clouseau, A Shot In the Dark, Peter Sellers
Lawrence, Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia
Luke, Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke
Lee Marvin, Kid Shileen, Cat Ballou
Thomas Dunson, John Wayne, Red River
Stanley Kowalsky, Marlon Brando, Streetcar Named Desire
Terry Malloy, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
the Twins, Haley Mills, The Parent Trap
George Taylor, Charlton Heston, Planet of the Apes
Anthony Perkins, Norman Bates, Psycho
Mr Lee, Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon
Dr. Frank N Furter, Tim Curry, Rocky Horror Picture Show
Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones
Marlena Dietrich, Blond Venus
herself, Mae West, My Little Chickadee
Gomez, Raul Julia, Addams Family
Professor, Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future
Buckaroo, Peter Weller, Buckaroo Banzai
Judy Davis (Sybylla Melvyn), My Brilliant Career

10 - 1. Kevin McCallister- My hero, nothing compares to him
2. John McClane-so cool
the rest in no particular order
-Atticus Finch
-Lester Burnham
-Van Wilder
-Bluto
-Aaron Stampler
-Dr. Evil
-Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
-Billy Madison

11 - While those are all great -- and I wouldn't take away from any of them -- let me through some others at you:

Mad Max - From The Road Warriar
The Terminator (the Original)
Buckaroo Banzai (duh?)
HAL9000
Dirty Harry Callaghan (Do you feel lucky?)
Cigarette Smoking Man (pefect use of that character)
God (as played by George Burns)

-- I could go on for hours

12 - Great topic!!!
Here is my list.

1. Howard Beale (Peter Finch, Network)
2. The Jackal (Edward Fox, Day of the Jackal)
3. Dr. Henry L. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Fredric March, Dr.Henry L. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde )
4. Tom Joad (Henry Fonda, Grapes of Wrath)
5. Abe Lincoln (Raymond Massey, Abe Lincoln in Illinois)
6. Group Captain (G/C) Lionel Mandrake/President Merkin Muffley/Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers,
Dr. Strangelove)
7. Sgt. J.J. Sefton (William Holden, Stalag 17)
8. Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guninness, The Bridge on the River Kwai)
9. Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith, A face in the Crowd)
10. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird)

13 - Kaiser Soze (Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects)

14 - Great movie characters, kindof hard to just define 10 but here goes:

1. Gandalf - The Lord of the Rings (Ian McKellen)
2. Ron Weasley - The Harry Potter series (Rupert Grint)
3. Jake and Elwood Blues - The Blues Brothers (Dan Akroyd and John Belushi)
4. Alvin York - Seargent York (Gary Cooper)
5. Ben Rumson - Paint your wagon (Lee Marvin)
6. Cole Sear - The 6th Sense (Haley Joel Osment - the kid - "I see dead people")
7. Jack Torrance - The Shining (Jack Nicholson - "Heerre's Johnny")
8. T-REX - Jurassic Park 1
9. Dr. Richard Kimble - The Fugitive (Harrison Ford)
10. Carl Lee Hailey - A Time to Kill (Samuel L. Jackson - "Hell yeah they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!")
11. Gollum/Smeagol - The Lord of the Rings (Andy Serkis)

Whew, I know only 10, but so many great characters and quotes, so little space

Keith

15 - I remember being astounded at the credits for "Enemy Mine", after wondering who played Jeriba 'Jerry' Shigan, and seeing it was Louis Gossett, Jr. To remove all vestige of self in the portrayal, to be only the character, is amazing.

16 - Ok, here is the definitive list (not necessarily in order of preference):

William Munny (Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven)
Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke)
Vern Tessio (Casey Siemaszko, Stand By Me)
Cpt. Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen, Apolcalypse Now)
Col. William "Bill" Kilgore (Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now)
Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thorton, Slingblade)

Need I say more?

17 - When my oldest son was three, he'd walk around the house yelling "I'm Charles Foster Kane!". (Not that it got him any more than it did Kane. <G>)

I can't believe none of you has mentioned Tom Hanks' character in Saving Private Ryan.

Or just for cheese' sake, Jimmy Stewart in "It's A Wonderful Life" - even if you've seen it 300 times.

What about Bogey's part in Casablanca?

And last, who is Keyser Soze?

And probably not as well known, Gary Oldman as Sid in "Sid and Nancy".

18 - The Monster, by Boris Karloff, in "Frankenstein". That set the tone & defined the space for The Thing all the way through The Terminator, Jason, et al.

19 - Wow that's a question that I could spends days on. Saw a lot of great characters so far. Will repeat a few. I'm gonna do characters and not roles that are based on real people. Of course the greatness of a character depends a lot on the performance I want to try to pick names of good characters, leaving out the actor. Here are a few off the top of my head...

Mary Poppins
Ratso Rizzo
Donald Kauffman (Adpatation)
Dirk Digler (Boogie Nights)
Dr. Strangelove
Charles Foster Kane
Jim Stark (the teenage rebel)
Henry Limpet
Alice Hyatt (she's moved)
Zaitoichi (the blind masseur/samurai)
Godzilla (ok, not many lines but he was the product of American nuclear testing - that's gotta count for something)

20 - Great characters. Hmmm

1) Maude (Ruth Gordon, Harold & Maude)
2) Harold (Bud Cort, Harold & Maude)
3) Scarecrow (Ray Bolger, Wizard of Oz)
4) Dorie (Ellen Degeneres, Finding Nemo)
5) John McClane (Bruce Willis, Die Hard)
6) Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Akroyd, Trading Places)
7) Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers, Being There)
8) Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets)
9) Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates, King of Hearts)
10) Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry, Rocky Horror Picture Show)

There are lots more, but I don't watch as many movies as I used to, so these are what come to mind.

21 - 1. Don Vito Corleone in GF1
2. Don Michael Corleone in GF2
3. Inspector Cluseau (Peter Sellers) in all of the Pink Panther films
4. Forest Gump
5. T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in Lawrence of Arabia
6. Raymond Babbit (Dustin Hoffman) in Rainman
7. Fred Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) in Treasure of Sierra Madre
8. Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in North by Northwest
9. Sheriff Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) in In The Heat Of The Night
10. Rusty Dennis (Cher) in Mask

-rich

22 - Funny -- my Depp would be Sam (from Benny and Joon) and my Bogie would be Lt. Commander Phillip Francis Queeg (The Caine Mutiny). Since we're after characters, here, I can't believe that Tevye (Chaim Topol in Fiddler on the Roof) hasn't made it onto anyone's list yet. Nor has Charly Gordon (Cliff Robertson in Charly). It's a pity that there haven't been more truly memorable female characters, but I'd go for Anne Sullivan (Patty Duke in preference to Anne Bancroft, but both were good in different versions of The Miracle Worker).

23 - Some of those aren't really the defining instances of a class of actor, they're just good instances of that particular class. I don't think Val Kilmer did anything new with a Western, for instance.

24 - I have the article, though not with me. I remember quite a bit, though.

Hannibal Lecter - on their list, somewhere in the 20s.
Scarlett O'hara - #2 on their list.
Rick Blaine - on their list, back in the 40s, I think. The character from Treasure of the Sierra Madre was Bogart's highest rank.

George S. Patton - Don't remember. I think they shied away from historical characters.

Don Corleone - #1. And it's Vito Corleone, by the way. :)

Mohandas K. Ghandi - Not on the list. Again, I think 'cause it's a historical character.

Mary Poppins - Don't remember.

Forrest Gump - Definitely on it, but pretty far down. Not in the top 50, IIRC.

Travis Bickle - on the list, and pretty high up. DeNiro's highest ranked character.

Eliza Doolittle - On the list, among the top 20, IIRC.

Norman Bates - Number 4, I think

Charles Foster Kane - In the top 10.

"Blondie (the man with no name)" - on the list, in the 60s, IIRC.

The Monster, by Boris Karloff - They put monster characters in a separate category, but he was, of course, on that list.

And everybody... c'mon... Sean Connery's James Bond. You gotta have *that* on a list!

Some of the most credible selections on the list weren't dramas, though. They have Carl Spackler pretty high up, for instance. The Terminator is also on the list, as is Darth Vader.

I'll try to remember to get it out when I get home to follow up.

25 - Office Space! That is a great movie. Peter Gibbons is awesome :)

And yeah, I thought it would be kewl to think about characters in a movie, not actors - the Premiere article was mentioned on a local radio station here, and that got me to thinking of what my favorite characters are. Those are my top 10, but I have some others (some I mentioned earlier), and I really enjoy many other characters such as coach Herman Boone (Danzel Washington in Remember the Titans), Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones in MIB I and II), Garp (Robin Williams in The World According to Garp) and a bunch more.

I love movies!

Rock

26 - But you asked for great characters, not actors. Hmm.

Judas, in Jesus Christ Superstar
John Wayne's character in any movie, essentially him
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), in Office Space, for being my hero
Joe Young (Trey Parker), in Orgazmo

I'm sure more will come to me.

27 - OK.. I wasn't going to post in here (because my film taste is really dated) but the testosterone level of the responses is melting my monitor so (off the top of my head and probably not nearly complete).

Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve)
Humphrey Bogart (Philip Marlow in The Big Sleep)
The Dude (Jeff Bridges from The Big Lebowski)
Gino (Don Ameche from Things Change)
Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant in North by Northwest)
Juror #8 (Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men)
Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire)
Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey)
Nick Charles (William Powell in The Thin Man - any of them)
Edward D. Wood Jr (Johnny Deep in Ed Wood)

Of course these would be completely different given another 10 mins for my mood to change completely.