30 Movie Baddies Who Turned Good

Gerd Weisler (The Lives Of Others)

The Bad: An incredibly effective and loyal communist spy, Weisler (Ulrich Muhe) suspects that the successful playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) is disloyal to the party and is appointed to watch over every movement he makes.

The Good: Weisler soon realises that his new superior and former classmate Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) is abusing his power in order to claim Dreyman’s girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martin Gedeck) as his own, and begins to help the couple escape their voyeuristic torment.

The Lovely: Posing as a fan, Wiesler purposefully meets Christa in a bar and reminds her of her acting prowess, in the process convincing the thespian to return to Dreyman’s arms.

May Day (A View To A Kill)

The Bad: Roger Moore’s last escapade as 007 sees the spy on the trail of the psychotic Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and his chief ally/lover May Day, an obscenely strong assassin who kills Bond’s detective chum at the Eiffel Tower right in front of him.

The Good: Upon discovering Zorin’s fiendish plot to destroy Silicon Valley, Bond is attacked by May.

But after being abandoned by her partner she decides to help out the English spy instead.

The Lovely: When a faulty handcar means that the largest bomb can only be disposed of manually, May Day sacrifices herself to ensure that it is detonated.

What a stand-up broad.

Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam (The Departed)

The Bad: The brazenly foul-mouthed understudy to Martin Sheen’s Captain Queenan launches on-screen amidst a tirade of profanity and insults - each of which are hurtled towards Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The Good: But he’s only doing it to help him out you see.

Dignam hardens the undercover agents via the medium of swears.

He's essentially a human police dog - all bark, teeth and fierce loyalty.

In fact, his devotion to Queenan results in his dismissal from the force.

The Lovely: Dignam’s quest for vengeance see him unleash a swift silenced bullet to the head of Matt Damon’s Sullivan, finally giving the rat the comeuppance he deserved.

Tex Richman (The Muppets)

The Bad: Richman (Chris Cooper) decides to buy the abandoned Muppet studio in order to destroy it and drill for oil underneath.

He even cuts the power at a telethon as the furry gods come within touching distance of raising the cash they need to buy back their old home. Maniacal laugh!

The Good: After taking Gonzo’s bowling ball to the skull, Richman suddenly has a change of heart and decides to give the studio back to The Muppets after all.

The Lovely: Singing Mahna Mahna of course.

J.J. Sefton (Stalag 17)

The Bad: Innately cynical, and let’s face it after spending several years in a concentration camp he’s entitled to be, William Holden’s Sefton continually alienates himself from his fellow POW’s by openly trading with the German soldiers who hold them captive.

The Good: Certain he’s a German informer his fellow inmates beat Sefton. But he soon works out that the real spy is Price (Peter Graves) and unveils the traitor’s true identity to the rest of the barracks, thus convincing them of his innocence at the same time.

The Lovely: With a war hero meticulously hidden from the Germans in the camp, Sefton uses Price as a decoy and escapes with the decorated soldier in tow.

Major Calloway (The Third Man)

The Bad: At the funeral of the supposedly dead Harry Lime (Orson Welles), Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) provokes the ire of Lime’s visiting pal Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) by having him assaulted.

The Good: Constantly asking Martins to leave Vienna, Calloway has no choice but to reveal the depravity of Lime’s crimes to the writer.

And when they figure out that his old friend is still alive they soon work together in order to capture the drug racketeer.

The Lovely: Calloway looks to drive Martins to the airport after Lime’s second funeral; only for his passenger to vacate the car as he attempts to talk to Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli).

Satan (South Park)

The Bad: After Kenny’s customary death, the infant is transported to the depths of hell where he meets Beelzebub himself and his new boyfriend, the recently deceased Saddam Hussein.

And as we all know Satan’s always the bad guy, right?

The Good: It turns out, the lord prince of darkness is a much softer individual than his reputation would suggest.

And Saddam’s constant belittling of Satan leads to him preserving the world and deciding to kill his lover instead.

The Lovely: Despite easily being the worst song of the film, Satan’s rendition of Up There still packs a pretty hefty emotional punch.

Severus Snape (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2)

The Bad: Erm, hello? Working alongside the evil Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes), killing Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and then taking his position as the new headmaster of Hogwarts.

Surely even Snape wouldn’t sink this low?

The Good: He wouldn’t, actually. It turns out Snape and Dumbledore were working in cahoots the entire time as they looked to protect Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

The Lovely: Snape was madly in love with Harry’s mother and vowed to protect her child after she’d passed such was his infatuation with her.

Potter’s dad was apparently a bit of bully to him though. You can’t win them all.

Arthur Boo Radley (To Kill A Mockingbird)

The Bad: A recluse, Boo (Robert Duvall) is the source of much rumour and hearsay in the town of Maycomb due to his reportedly bizarre and untoward behaviour in the past.

The Good: When Bob Ewell looks to punish Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) by attacking his children Scout and Gem, Boo appears and saves the pair, killing the assailant in the process.

The Lovely: Atticus and Sheriff Tate decide to cover up Boo’s murder, leaving him to return to his life of solitude but he continues to watch over Scout and Jem, as they have always treated him kindly.

Bird Lady (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)

The Bad: Covered from head to toe by dozens of pigeons, Brenda Fricker’s Bird Lady was never going to make the greatest first impression.

She doesn’t help herself by only staring and walking menacingly towards the 12 year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) every time she sees him too.

The Good: After helping to free Kevin’s trapped foot in Central Park, the two of them strike up a wonderful friendship over classical music and hot chocolate.

The latter being the drink, not the band.

The Lovely: Having been caught by the Sticky Bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) again, Kevin is only saved when his female companion sets her birded army on the criminal couple.

On Christmas Day he gives her a turtle dove to confirm their everlasting friendship. What a great kid. He'll never see her again, mind.