Has Morgan Freeman ever played a "bad guy"?

[ronzo]

My kid asked me this one and I honestly can't remember a flick where he played a dubious character. Anyone?

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. yup

Some movie with Keanu Reeves. I forgot the name of it, but Freeman was the bad guy in that movie.

[felonious thunk]

2. Nurse Betty

He wasn't exactly a good guy in that.

[ajacobson]

18. Oy

I knew nothing about that movie when I saw it. I was under the misconception that it was a comedy, probably because of Chris Rock. I wasn't ready for all that shoot-em-up.

[EarlG]

3. Chain Reaction

Unfortunately it was the worst movie of all time, and despite the fact that I only saw it a couple of weeks ago, I can't remember what happened. But I seem to recall his character having dubious qualities. Unless he redeemed himself at the end. Which he might have done.

Damn, that movie was bad.

[quispquake]

4. Does playing "God" count?

I myself wonder...

[bbmykel]

5. Yes

See his first Oscar-nominated performance in 'Streetsmart'.

Mike

[VermontDem2004]

6. Nurse Betty

[BurtWorm]

7. He played Dracula on The Electric Company

Actually, he was great as a villain in Street Smart.

[Robb]

8. He was pretty bad in "Hard Rain"....

...although, so was everyone else in that stinker.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

9. In "Outbreak", absolutely

Maybe hsi was not a 'bad' character per se, just a weak one who aids and abets evil.

[Shrek]

10. The Shawshank Redemption

He played a murderer.

[Darth_Ole]

11. I thought he was an innocent man in Shawshank.

n/t

[THUNDER HANDS]

12. no that was Tim Robbins' character

[Shrek]

15. No, that was Andy, played by Tim Robbins

Red, played by Freeman, was guilty, and even admitted it to Andy at one point.

"I'm the only guilty man at Shawshank."

[DrWeird]

20. He was still a good guy in Shawshank.

The murder occured in the heat of some teenage passion some forty years before we meet the character. We find him completely reformed and repentent for his crime. And he is now the victim, forever being denied parole despite his being a harmless old man.

[ronzo]

21. Yeah. If you haven't seen "Shawshank Redemption" in a while...

Check it out. Excellent Flick.

[vi5]

13. In "Dreamcatcher" and "Hard Rain"

He plays a bad guy in both of those. Also in Nurse Betty although I have not seen that.

He usually plays guys who seem nice at first but then are revealed to be bad.

[Roark]

14. Dreamcatcher

In the horrible film on the horrible Steven King novel, Freeman played the maniacal military boss in charge of the "cleanup". He was, most definitely, bad in every sense of the word. That included his fake, bushy eyebrows.

[ohiosmith]

16. His best role ever. He played a pimp in Street Smart.

[JackSwift]

17. Oh yes, a whole load of films he's the villian

But you may have to re-watch to see it. He plays them at two levels:



Unforgiven, plays an assassin
Electric Company (Easy Reader was a subversive)
Bruce Almighty, plays the devil
Seven, mastermind for idiot Kevin Spacy (watch again!)
Shawshank Redemption, plays a murderer
Nurse Betty, plays a hit man
Driving Miss Daisy, plays the pimp-master, driving his bitch to tricks

[Shrek]

22. Wait a minute!

He was the mastermind in Seven?!?!?

Please elucidate!

[ronzo]

19. Thanks!

I'll be sure to check out Street Smart also.
I appreciate it.