During the 80’s it seemed really easy to figure out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. The bad guys were anyone trying to stand in the way of the good guy while they were attempting to do something that made sense to the audience back then. It didn’t matter if the good guy was trying to get revenge or make some kind of point as to why the mayhem and carnage that had been allowed throughout the movie was necessary, they weren’t supposed to be questioned for their motives, ever. Even now such individuals might not be seen as completely good but they would at least be seen as reasonable individuals that were doing their job and just ran afoul of the main protagonists in the movie.
After all you can’t really be blamed for just doing your job, even if people don’t like you.
Ghostbusters-EPA Agent Walter Peck
Peck is for the most part kind of a jerk, so it’s easy to not like him. But the fact is that he’s doing his job on behalf of the EPA. Because honestly the Ghostbusters are an unknown entity that have set up shop in the middle of the city in an old, decrepit firehouse that, admittedly, does not have the proper facilities for what they need. While he might be the jerk that had the city turn off the power grid that was containing those high levels of radiation and ghostly energy, he was also concerned about turning his city into another Chernobyl. So hating him might be easy, but blaming him for doing his job is a little more difficult at this point.
Die Hard-Richard Thornburg
William Atherton was one of the only guys that played multiple jerk characters in the 80’s it seems. In this film he’s the intrepid but sleazy reporter that’s trying to get the story that will re-energize his career. By doing this however he puts a family in danger and shows absolutely no respect for others in the effort to get the truth. Yes he is good at his job and we can’t blame him for that, but the reason he was a villain in the 80’s is that he just didn’t seem to have any kind of manners at all. Otherwise he was just a good reporter.
Lethal Weapon-Dr. Stephanie Woods
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Admittedly this clip is from part 4 of the series and well-removed from the 80’s, but the effect is pretty much the same. Stephanie is only a villain in the sense that she’s trying to warn the captain that keeping Riggs on the force is not a good idea. And in the beginning she’s absolutely right. Riggs was suicidal, crazy, and held together by one thing, doing the job. Initially he wasn’t the kind of guy you’d want holding a gun. Thankfully she was seen as the villain back then however since without Riggs the series never would have had a chance.
Bloodsport-Rawlins and Helmer
So technically Frank went AWOL and didn’t bother to tell anyone. They knew where he was going but had to go on an expedition to find him. And then when Rawlins and Helmer did find him Frank continued to evade them and made their jobs even harder. So really Frank was being kind of a jerk despite the fact that he was supposed to be the hero.
Some of these individuals wouldn’t be the villains now, but they’d still be annoyances that most audience members would love to see get treated in the same way.
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