LIST

CUT TO [greed]

CHARISMATIC COVETERS​

7 OF THE SCREEN'S MOST INSATIABLE INDIVIDUALS
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BY
Robbie Staff

PUBLISHED
​JULY 2018

FRANK ABAGNALE JR
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN / STEVEN SPIELBERG / 2002

Dear Dad, you always told me that an honest man has nothing to fear, so I'm trying my best not to be afraid

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN provides a youthful perspective on the unique life of a teenage runaway in this slick tale of witty lawlessness. Leonardo DiCaprio embodies the real-life criminal Frank Abagnale Jr in this biographical crime film in which the thrill of delinquency and deception soon overcomes his life. He cons his way to vast wealth, posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot in order to travel for free, practicing as a Georgia doctor and a Louisiana parish prosecutor all before reaching his 19th birthday. Eventually his felonious escapades are halted by the long arm of the law but not before he racks up a seven-digit bank balance. In the wise words of Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), “Sometimes, it’s easier living the lie”.

STEVEN RUSSELL
I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS / GLENN FICARRA AND JOHN REQUA / 2009

Love sure is a funny thing. Makes you happy, makes you sad, makes you do all sorts of things you never thought you'd do before. In fact, love's the reason I'm lying here dying.

Jim Carrey gives an authentic performance as real-life elaborate escape artist and charismatic conman, Steven Russell, who is driven to a life of crime to fund his lavish lifestyle. He soon finds that no amount of cash, cars and camp love will satisfy his hollow shell. Russell is a wildly different character than the typical Hollywood conman; Carrey retires his goofy, slapstick style of acting in exchange for a layered, deeply emotional performance. By the opening five minutes we are torn between loving, hating, sympathising with and feeling apathy towards Russell, which is a credit to writer John Requa who portrays Russell as completely greedy with undertones of relentless drive fuelled by love and lust. Despite his despicable actions we cannot help but forgive his behaviour as he renounces his life of sin and greed to Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor): “I’m not a lawyer, I'm not a CFO, I'm not a cop, I'm not some kind of escape artist. Those Steven Russells are dead. Now all that's left is the man that loves you”.

JORDAN BELFORT
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET / MARTIN SCORSESE / 2013

Let me tell you something. There's no nobility in poverty. I've been a poor man, and I've been a rich man. And I choose rich every fucking time.

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a drug-addicted, wife-beating egomaniac with a superiority complex and a serious thirst for not-so-legal tender. His illicit behaviour includes smuggling stolen money, attempted bribery of a federal officer, manipulating stocks and driving under the influence of sedative-hypnotic Quaaludes. Belfort has a greed resume longer than his multimillion dollar yacht. In the wild true to life film, Belfort literally sails his fancy ship into the eye of the storm in the pursuit of money.In the end his pride and greed are ultimately his own downfall after he loses his business, family and fortune overnight.

EDDIE MORRA
LIMITLESS / NEIL BURGER / 2011

I don't have delusions of grandeur, I have an actual recipe for grandeur.

Washed-out novelist with a formidable case of writer’s block, Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) escapes his inner turmoil through a highly experimental nootropic “smart” drug, which allows him to unlock the full potential of his brain along with some potent hallucinogenic side effects. The protagonist uses his new-found vast knowledge to make millions on the stock market, learn languages in a matter of hours to impress women and write literature that supersedes his previous work to further his own place in a hierarchy at which he not so long ago found himself at the bottom. Eventually Morra’s moral compass finds its way closer to north than south but for a vast majority of the film he is consumed with a sense of greed and is motivated by personal gain. 

CRUELLA DEVIL
101 DALMATIONS / STEPHEN HEREK / 1996

I live for fur, I worship fur. After all, is there a woman in all this wretched world who doesn’t?

In a world of fashion and style it is of the utmost importance to innovate and create. The iconic and malevolent Cruella DeVil (Glenn Close) takes this a little too far when she lusts after the taboo talisman of the fashion industry: fur. The canine huntress is unique to this list in that she, to our knowledge, does not steal, purloin or otherwise obtain money. Conversely her greed comes in a more cynical form that involves animal slaughter and her all-consuming cruel greed for fashion. Once her offers to buy a litter of puppies are declined by the Radcliffe family she unleashes the full potential of her greed, which includes hiring incompetent thugs, robbery and manipulation routed in indescribable madness. Contrary to popular Disney villainesses, DeVil is reckless and impulsive in regards to her murderous plans and often her actions are psychotic rather than meticulously thought out schemes. Her name does mean cruel and evil after all. Her legacy is immortalised by Roger Radcliffe (Ben Wright) in the 1961 animation as he enthusiastically sings “Cruella DeVil, Cruella DeVil, if she doesn't scare you no evil thing will!"

TONY MONTANA
SCARFACE / BRIAN DE PALMA / 1983

In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women/

It is difficult to mourn the death of a protagonist when the last two arduous hours have been spent watching him bury his surprising durable nostrils in what can only be described as “enough cocaine to immobilise a small army”. Mobster Tony Montana’s outrageous lifestyle and wild spending are rivalled by few. His rags the riches story is bittersweet from the get go, we root for the poor and hope-driven Montana to find success but find outselves doing a complete about turn when his true colours show. Unequivocally the personification of greed, for Scarface enough is never enough.

FREDDY BENSON
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS / FRANK OZ / 1988

I didn't steal any money! She just saw me with another woman! You're French, you understand that!

In this slick comedy of deceit and fraud, Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) and Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine) play two sides of the same coin. Lawrence sits atop the throne of high class hustlers while Freddy satisfies his greed with low risk shakedowns and flimflams. The scale of his avarice perhaps does not quite match up with the millions acquired by Jordan Belfort or Frank Abagnale Jr but his wonderfully wacky slapstick humour certainly earns him a place on the list. Freddy’s comedic characteristics make it all the more hilarious and ridiculous that he is able to scam even the most foolish of people. His finest moment comes as he memorably attempts to convince a well-meaning victim that he is wheelchair bound as his onscreen counterpart, Lawrence, viciously whips his legs in an attempt to make him break character. His willpower surpasses common sense on this particular con. 

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