100 Greatest Movie Characters: 86

"One in every three black males is in some phase of the correctional system. Is that a coincidence or do these people have, you know, like a racial commitment to crime?"

86. Derek Vinyard
American History X

It's really hard to find Edward Norton scary or threatening. It might just be because I like him as an actor and he seems like a cool guy, but it's probably because he usually looks like this:

you looking into the face of fear itself

In "American History X," though, he is fucking frightening. After his father is murdered by a black drug dealer, Derek transfers his anger and desire for vengance into acts of white supremacy. Derek is eventually sentenced to prison for voluntary manslaughter and is distanced from the prison's Aryan gang when he is kicked out (and beaten and raped) for voicing his opinions on the gang's dealings with a Mexican gang.

Derek is not only a portrait of the horrors of racism and hatred, but one of redemption as well. While in prison, he slowly befriends a black man named Lamont and a prison psychologist shows him how racism is useless. When he gets out of prison, he is a changed man and the only friend he made while there was Lamont. He even tries to steer his younger brother Danny away from emulating his old ways.

Defining moment: An unfortunate black man meets his end by way of his mouth on a curb and Derek's boot to his head. The curb-stomping scene of this movie is one of the most unnerving things in a movie.