10 Show-Stealing Movie Sidekicks

While figuring out characters for my current work-in-progress, I've been thinking a lot about the importance of some underrated characters: sidekicks.  They support the main characters or try to show them where they're going wrong.  They're often funny without even trying.  There's also a disarming humility about a lot of sidekicks; they're focused on everyone but themselves. 

After thinking about this for a while, I decided to do a post on it.  (Yes, I'm a college grad and this is the way I choose to spend my free time.  You may judge me.)  Here are ten of my favorite movie sidekicks and supporting characters!  I picked movies because I could show pictures of the characters.  Maybe at some point I'll do a post on sidekicks from books too.

Bartok, Anastasia

Bartok is on the bad side.  He's helping the villain, Rasputin, find the escaped Princess Anastasia.  But Bartok is continually dismayed by Rasputin's evil plans.  He tells him to "forget the girl and get a life!"  Finally he decides it's gone too far: "You're on your own, sir!  This can only end in tears."  Bartok's voice is hilarious (not surprising, since he's voiced by uber-talented Hank Azaria).  This is a sidekick who deserved his own movie...and got it, with Bartok the Magnificent (which is a really fun movie, by the way)!

The Captain of the Guard, Cinderella

The Captain of the Guard in Disney's live-action Cinderella is so great.  He's the best friend Prince Kit seems to have at the palace (besides his father).  When the Grand Duke schemes to bring more power to the kingdom at the expense of Kit's happiness, the Captain is always there to remind everyone that Kit is a person too.  He's also really funny!  I love when Kit is telling him all about the girl he's fallen head over heels for, and the Captain says, "Do you think she has a sister?"  The Captain also gets to put Lady Tremaine in her place at the end.  "Who are you to stop an officer of the king? Are you an empress? A saint? A deity?"

 Kronk, The Emperor's New Groove

 

  Like Bartok, Kronk is the villain's sidekick; Yzma is using him to help her track down the escaped emperor-turned-llama.  (This sounds really weird if you haven't seen the movie.)  Kronk is not the brightest bulb in the box, but when Yzma gets deeply entrenched in ridiculous schemes to kill the emperor, Kronk turns out to be the one who uses common sense!  He's friendly, hilarious, and a great cook.  (In fact, the point where he turns against Yzma is when she tells him she never liked his spinach puffs!)  He also talks to squirrels.

Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

I would be remiss if I didn't include one of the most iconic movie sidekicks ever: Inigo Montoya.  Although I don't hold with revenge or dueling, I appreciate the terrific love Inigo has for his father that makes him chase the six-fingered man for so many years.  I also love his interactions with the other characters.  He's incredibly forthright and will tell you just what he's thinking.  

To Vizzini: "You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means."  

To the Man in Black: "I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting around to kill you!"  

Cogsworth and Lumiere, Beauty and the Beast

I had to mention both of these because they're so hilarious together!  Cogsworth is a mother-hen type and the straight man to Lumiere's funny man.  (Incidentally, my siblings have informed me that he is the Beauty and the Beast character most like me.)  He wants to make sure nobody's breaking rules or making the Beast mad.  Lumiere, on the other hand, thinks that rules are more like guidelines than actual rules.  He wants to show Belle just how hospitable the castle can be!  Their interactions with each other and the Beast are just golden.  

Cogsworth (to the Beast): "Who?  Oh!  The girl. Yes,  the, ah, girl.  Well, actually, she's in the process of, ah, um, circumstances being what they are, ah... she's not coming."

Lumiere (to the Beast): "Master, I could be wrong, but that might not be the best way to win the girl's affections." 

Cosmo, Singin' In the Rain

Cosmo Brown and Don Lockwood started out as good friends who did second-rate vaudeville together.  Then Don Lockwood became a movie star, and Cosmo...well, he played the piano on the set.  All through Singin' In the Rain, while Don's in the spotlight, Cosmo is cheering him up behind the scenes and helping him figure out his problems.  He comes up with terrific ideas, like dubbing Kathy's voice over Lina's in "The Dancing Cavalier."  And he's not looking for fame or recognition, just helping his friends and making people laugh!

Sir Hiss, Disney's Robin Hood

Sir Hiss, evil Prince John's sidekick, always makes me laugh.  On the one hand, he goes around flattering Prince John and even spying for him.  On the other hand, Prince John makes him incredibly crabby...and Sir Hiss is hilarious when he's crabby!  He can see Prince John for what he is: a whiny, cowardly character who's not fit to lead anything, let alone a whole kingdom.  

Prince John: "One more hiss out of you, Hiss, and you are walking to Nottingham"

  Hiss [aside]: "Snakes don't walk, they slither. Hmph. So there."

Hiss: "How nobly King Richard's crown sits on your royal brow."

Prince John [not paying attention]: "Doesn't it?" [realizing, furious] "King Richard?  I told you never to mention my brother's name!" 

Hiss: "A mere slip of the forked tongue, Sire."

 Truman, October Baby

October Baby is a pretty serious movie for the most part.  After all, it deals with a serious theme: the right to life of unborn babies.  But it has some great comedic moments, and a lot of them involve Truman.  

Truman is one of Hannah and Jason's college classmates.  We first see him trying to make a little extra money by "upgrading" people's tickets as they come to a school play.  Next, we see him catching an iron on fire.  No matter what ridiculous thing Truman is doing, he maintains a dignified and gloomy composure that is hilarious in contrast.  And he's nerdy--the kind of socially awkward nerdy that most of us nerds hope we're not.  I love it!

Canoe, That Darn Cat

Canoe is a boy who hangs out at Patti Randall's house, raiding the fridge and taking Patti to surfer movies that make her feel seasick.  But when he suspects that something fishy is going on at the Randall house, he's determined to help Patti out by getting to the bottom of it...and jealous, because he thinks there's a young man involved.  Canoe's bumbling detective attempts are one of the best things about this movie!  

 

Sam Gamgee, Lord of the Rings

Sam Gamgee is an unusual sidekick because he's also the hero of the story!  Sam starts out as Frodo's bumbling, comedic gardener, always needing his master's help and guidance.  But throughout the story, Sam gets wiser and stronger.  As the Ring becomes harder and harder for Frodo to bear, Sam supports him.  He risks his life over and over for Frodo.  Without Sam, the whole quest would have failed.  He's my favorite LOTR character.

These are only a few of my favorite movie sidekicks.  I'd love to see your favorites in the comments!

 

 

 

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel: An Appreciation Post

It's hard for me to describe how much I love this book.  It's one of the few 300+ page books I've read in one sitting.  The characters and the plot are so enthralling I just can't put it down...even after having read it so many times I've lost count!

I told my sister I wanted to do a blog post on The Scarlet Pimpernel, and she said, "Wait...the book or the movie?"  Apparently there are a lot of blog posts out there talking about how great the movie with Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian McKellen is, but very few talking about how great the book is.  So I decided to do a post about the book.  I do like the movie, and maybe sometime I'll do a blog post on that, but the book comes prior.

Where do I start?  I guess I'll start with the characters.

Warning: This post does contain spoilers.  If you haven't read the book, go read it.  Then you can come back and read this. ;)

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a hero shrouded in mystery.  He has one goal: helping French royalists in danger of death to escape to England during the French Revolution.  He carries out his daring rescues in disguise; no one knows who he really is except his nineteen followers.  He's kind of the antithesis of the Phantom of the Opera.  (I can't stand the Phantom, but I'm not going to discuss that at length here.)  The Phantom is a mysterious figure who does awful things; the Scarlet Pimpernel is a mysterious figure who does great things.  The English and the French royalists love him; the French revolutionaries hate him.

As the story goes on, the reader begins to get hints about the Scarlet Pimpernel's identity.  Finally, Lady Marguerite Blakeney discovers the truth.  The mysterious man is the most unlikely man possible--Marguerite's husband, Sir Percy Blakeney, a man known in English society as a brainless dandy, or to put it bluntly, a fool.  Sir Percy's identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel is so important that he puts on the mask of a fool in his everyday life.  And I think that's one of the coolest things about him.

I don't know if Baroness Orczy was thinking of Shakespeare plays when she wrote the character of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but Sir Percy always makes me think of the Shakespearean fool.  Shakespeare's Fool is often the only character in the play who understands what's really going on.  The other characters think he's stupid, but he's actually wiser than they are.  Similarly, Sir Percy poses as someone who only cares about clothes and lame jokes.  This is the safest disguise of all, because who would suspect someone who seems so foolish to be the mastermind behind the escape of hundreds of French royalists?

Sir Percy is also a man deeply in love.  He practically worships the ground Marguerite walks on.  But because at the beginning of the story he can't trust her with his secret, he has to appear to her the way he appears to everyone else.  She thinks he's stupid and doesn't love her.   Wearing the mask of the fool even around Marguerite is breaking Sir Percy's heart.  It's so satisfying when Marguerite learns who Sir Percy really is, and still more satisfying when he learns he no longer has to conceal his identity or his love from her. 

Sir Percy is awesome.  He has enough bravery to walk right up to his worst enemy, clap him on the back, and tell him dumb jokes, all the while coming up with a new plan for outwitting him.  He risks his life again and again for the sake of the people depending on him.  And his schemes are at the same time incredibly clever and outrageously audacious.   He's basically the superhero of the resistance to the French Revolution.  I only wish he was real!

Marguerite Blakeney

 I didn't like Marguerite Blakeney at the beginning of the book.  I think that was the writer's intent.   Marguerite is portrayed as a woman who is blasé, sarcastic, and disappointed in life.  She has married Sir Percy Blakeney, a man violently in love with her, only to find his affection grow cold when he learned she was the cause of a French royalist family being sent to the guillotine.  She's too proud to tell Sir Percy that she made a horrible mistake and tried to save the family from death.  Although she's married to the richest man in England and has everything money can buy, Marguerite is miserable.  There's only one thing in her life that she really cares about: her brother Armand.  

So when she learns that Armand is in deadly danger and the only way she can save him is by betraying the Scarlet Pimpernel to the French revolutionaries, she is torn.  Although she has no idea who the Scarlet Pimpernel is, she has always admired him with something akin to hero-worship.  How can she send him to the guillotine?  On the other hand, how can she let Armand die without trying to save him?  Her love for her brother overcomes her sense of right and wrong.  She finds a clue that puts Chauvelin, the Scarlet Pimpernel's arch-nemesis, on his track.  

But then she finds a gold ring with the insignia of the Scarlet Pimpernel in her husband's study.  All kinds of clues come together in her mind and she realizes that her husband, the "brainless" Sir Percy, is actually the Scarlet Pimpernel!  Never before has Marguerite regretted anything so much as she regrets having put Chauvelin on the Scarlet Pimpernel's track.  So she races across country with a friend of her husband's, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, to try to get to Sir Percy and warn him before Chauvelin finds him.  She must save her husband, even if it means losing her own life.  

Although Sir Percy is the hero of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Marguerite is its protagonist.  Sir Percy doesn't change throughout the story.  Marguerite does.  She has to learn truths about love and sacrifice.  She has to completely change her perception of the husband she thought she knew. 

Marguerite learns that love does not excuse betrayal.  The love for her brother Armand that led her to denounce a family of French royalists and betray the Scarlet Pimpernel was warped and selfish.  It has caused terrible harm to others.  Marguerite doesn't see this, though, until she learns that her own husband is in danger because of her love for her brother.  Then she sees that love doesn't make the end justify the means.  Betraying the Scarlet Pimpernel to save her brother was a crime that Marguerite spends the rest of the book trying to mend.  And she does this through offering her very life for Sir Percy's safety.  Marguerite may be a character that starts out with a lot of selfishness, but she ends up as a woman of love and courage. 

Chauvelin

Chauvelin is the perfect arch-nemesis for this story.  Clever, daring, and apparently heartless, he's the man the French revolutionaries have picked to hunt down the Scarlet Pimpernel.  All Chauvelin cares about is the success of the Revolution.  And he has an undying hatred for the man who has so boldly outwitted the Committee of Public Safety again and again.  He comes to England determined to find out who the Scarlet Pimpernel really is so he can follow him to France and capture him.

Chauvelin decides to recruit one woman to help him in his task: Marguerite Blakeney.  He knew her in France when she and her brothers were both supporters of the French Revolution.  He thinks he can get her to help him, with the proper persuasion.  Quickly Chauvelin finds a way to persuade Marguerite: he gets possession of a letter that proves Marguerite's brother Armand is really in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel.  He tells Marguerite that unless she helps him find out who the Scarlet Pimpernel is, her brother is going to die.  Heartless, clever man!  He treats life like a chess game.  He'll give Marguerite a pawn, her brother, if it means he'll be able to take the king, the Scarlet Pimpernel.  

I think Chauvelin is a well-done villain because he keeps the stakes of the story high.  Nothing will deter him from following his goal of capturing, torturing, and killing the man who has evaded him for so long.  He's also a well-done villain because he has a good understanding of human nature.  He uses Marguerite's emotions as tools in his despicable scheme.  But the Scarlet Pimpernel understands human nature better yet, as he eventually tricks Chauvelin through his understanding of Chauvelin's anti-Semitism.  Chauvelin never saw that one coming!

There are many other terrific characters in The Scarlet Pimpernel.  There are characters that almost feel like Dickens characters: Mr. Jellyband, Mr. Hempseed, and Mr. Jellyband's daughter Sally.  There's sweet little Suzanne, friend of Marguerite.  There's Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, the member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel who takes Marguerite to France to try to save her husband.  Baroness Orczy did a great job developing the other characters in a way that doesn't distract the reader from the main story.  

Apart from the characters of The Scarlet Pimpernel, the plot is just so good!  I love the way the reader doesn't learn who the Scarlet Pimpernel is until Marguerite figures it out.  The reader also doesn't learn how the Scarlet Pimpernel is going to defeat Chauvelin until after he's defeated him.  This makes the book wonderfully suspenseful.  The ending, with Sir Percy and Marguerite finally together again, is wonderful too.  I just love this book!

My Favorite Fictional Detectives

 

I've always loved detective stories.  As a child, I read every "Happy Hollisters," "Hardy Boys," and "Nancy Drew" book I could get my hands on.  I always tried to figure out the mystery before the end of the book.  Sometimes I was successful, but most of the time I was completely mystified until the detective revealed the truth.  Then (finally) I was old enough to read classic mystery stories written for adults.  I devoured stacks of mystery books and discovered three detectives that became favorites (and remain favorites to this day): Father Brown, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Miss Marple.

Note: In the selection of those three detectives as my favorites, I have no ill-will towards Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.  I have also read and enjoyed books featuring those detectives (and spent considerable time researching to figure out how to say Poirot's name...it's pronounced "air-KYOOL pwa-ROH").  

Father Brown

“But, as a matter of fact, another part of my trade, too, made me sure you weren’t a priest.” “What?” asked the thief, almost gaping. “You attacked reason,” said Father Brown. “It’s bad theology.” 

(G.K. Chesterton, The Blue Cross)

 Father Brown is, first and foremost, a Catholic priest with a firm grasp of theology and a great zeal for the conversion of sinners.  But he's also an expert at solving mysterious crimes.  From his dealings with vast numbers of people in various states of sin and repentance, Father Brown has learned a lot about human nature.  His secret to solving crimes is that he can put himself in the criminal's shoes; he knows just what he would do if he were the man stealing the diamonds.  And he's not as interested in bringing criminals to justice as he is in getting them to see where they've done wrong. 

 

Father Brown also has a sense of humor.  For instance, in The Blue Cross, he leaves a trail of ridiculous things behind him for the French detective Valentin to follow...mixing up apples and oranges, putting salt in a sugar bowl, and paying for a windowpane first and breaking it afterwards!

Father Brown is incredibly humble and innocent.  He will capture a criminal and then slip away before anyone gets a chance to thank him.  The criminals that he confronts don't know what to make of him; he's nothing like any detective they've ever seen.  One of them, Flambeau, repents after he's caught and becomes fast friends with Father Brown, helping him solve more crimes.

G.K. Chesterton did a marvelous job with Father Brown's character!  The only thing I'm sad about is that I've read all the Father Brown stories...I wish there were more!

Lord Peter Wimsey

“But to Lord Peter the world presented itself as an entertaining labyrinth of side-issues.”

(Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness)

British aristocrat.  Bibliophile.  Master of Arts from Oxford.  John Donne enthusiast.  Champion cricket player.  Expert pianist.  Crime solver.  Lord Peter Wimsey is the Renaissance man of detectives.  Everything interests him, and no detail is too small for him to notice.  With his butler, Bunter (a man much like P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves), he continually finds himself getting involved in detective cases.  Those around him say indulgently that it's a hobby he has.  Lord Peter knows better...he doesn't solve crimes because he likes to.  He solves crimes because he knows how to do it and people ask him to help them.  

Lord Peter is a human character, despite his nearly superhuman powers of observation.  He has difficulties with his brother and sister-in-law, who don't like his detective work.  He has nervous breakdowns caused by PTSD from World War I.  He is madly in love with Harriet Vane, whom he saved from the gallows and who continually maintains she will never marry him. (He proposes to her at intervals...on April Fool's Day, on her birthday, or in the middle of a group of police...sometimes very seriously, sometimes jocosely.) 

Lord Peter is also full of quotations.  In Have His Carcase, he says, "I always have a quotation for everything--it saves original thinking."  I always love it when book characters quote other books I've read!  He talked so much about Kai Lung and about John Donne's poetry that I went and checked out both books from the library.  (I was not disappointed.)  

Some say that Dorothy Sayers must have been in love with the character of Lord Peter Wimsey while she was writing those books.  I believe it!  His character is incredibly well-done.

Miss Marple

“Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle appealing manner- Miss Wetherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is the more dangerous.”  

(Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage)

No one who didn't know Miss Marple would ever think she had anything to do with solving crimes.  She's an elderly lady with a meek, kindly attitude and a propensity for listening to village gossip.  And she's lived in the same village for almost all of her long life.  But she has an uncanny knack for spotting a criminal.

Miss Marple's secret lies in her knowledge of the people in her own village.  According to her, “Everybody is very much alike, really. But fortunately, perhaps, they don't realise it." When a crime is committed, Miss Marple can remember a similar situation from when she was young.  By remembering the sort of person who committed the similar crime long ago, she can figure out who must have committed this crime.  

She doesn't stay at home trying to solve crimes, either.  She travels around, poking her nose into all kinds of situations to find out what's going on.  People tell her things because they don't have any idea she's doing detective work.  Sometimes her work is dangerous and she has to flee, but she remains determined to figure out the truth.  She has more bravery and perseverance than someone a quarter of her age.  And through it all, she stays sweet and kind.  Agatha Christie invented a fantastic character in Miss Marple!