This Oscar-Nominated Role Features Noir Genre’s Most Frightening Villain

The big picture

• Richard Widmark's debut as Tommy Udo in
  kiss of death
  it is a terrifying and unforgettable performance in the history of film noir.
• Tommy Udo's sadistic acts of violence distinguished him as one of the most chilling villains in the genre.
• Widmark's Udo, compared to other noir villains, stands out for his cold-bloodedness and barbarism.

The entire canon of American film noir history is filled with iconic images of the baddest, scariest, and most horrifying villains the mind can conjure up. Jimmy CagneyThe crooked hat and the rye smile The public enemy, Robert Mitchumthe tattooed knuckles the night of the hunter the white-brimmed hat and dress of Jane Greer in Out of the past, i John Hustonbraces inside Chinatown they are some of the most instantly recognizable faces of cinematic evil and would strike terror into the heart of any viewer. But there's one Oscar-nominated film noir performance that's possibly more bone-warming than any other: Richard Widmark's spins as the terrifying Tommy Udo Kiss of Death from 1947. Widmark's place in the hall of fame is as well deserved as anyone's, and it's a shame that his performance isn't talked about as often as the others mentioned above or other famous villains in film history, like now Heath Ledger's Joker o by Jack Nicholson come in Brightness.

Surprisingly, the appearance of Widmark a Henry Hathaway's The stylized crime film was his film debut, continuing a tradition of actors playing iconic villain roles in surprising acting debuts. Hathaway's film tells the story of Nick Bianco, played by Victor Madura, whose arrest for a jewelry theft lands him in jail. He initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but later changes his mind once he learns of his wife's death, after three months of not knowing. from there, Nick finds himself in all kinds of trouble, especially with Widmark's diabolical Tommy Udo. Widmark's character is by no means the star of the film, but there's no doubt that he steals the show with every scene in which he appears. As horror movie stars go, this performance is up there with the best of them.

What makes “Kiss of Death” so terrifying?

The film, aside from Widmark's Oscar-nominated performance, is terrifying in its own right. The situation Nick finds himself in, arrested on Christmas Eve, his wife committing suicide and his daughters sent to an orphanage, is a Kafkaesque nightmare. The constant anguish on his own face scares any viewer watching from the comfort of their own home. He arrives to visit his children at the orphanage, and the eerily out-of-tune piano playing of Beethoven's “Für Elise” only serves to frighten the audience further, referencing the horror film genre with its striking soundtrack and reworking of classical music. As soon as he accepts his parole deal and testifies against Tommy Udo, as hopeful as he may seem at first, the writing is already on the wall for Nick.

And that's when Widmark reappears, with his Cheshire Cat-like grin, wide-brimmed hat, and gaunt, hollow eyes. Once the hat is removed, the furrowed brows and Gordon Gecko-like hair only enhance how scary he is for viewers. Everything about Tommy Udo makes your skin crawl. His screen time may be short, but his performance is so terrifying, so beguiling, and so chilling that it's the most memorable aspect of this film by some distance. Nick's cooperation with law enforcement lands Tommy in jail and gives him a court date, where Nick testifies against him on the assumption that he will be found guilty. However, Tommy's case is strangely neglected, and so it becomes determined to get revenge on Nick for proverbially throwing him under the bus once they release him.

The most horrifying scene in the film, included in the final cut for seemingly no greater reason than to reveal it to the audience. how sadistic Tommy is, is when he shows up at the apartment of Mrs. Rizzo, the wheelchair-using mother of one of Nick's accomplices. After inquiring about “that squeaky son of yours,” he proceeds to strap her to her chair and push her down the stairs, glaring wildly and laughing maniacally as he does so. Such a reckless act of violence can shock any viewer and leave them wondering what kind of man they have in front of them on the big screen. He does not do kiss of death one of the most disturbing films of all time by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an act of horrific violence that stands out among film noirs for its brutality. Compared to other well-known noir villains, Widmark's character displays a cold-bloodedness and barbarism rarely seen in films made under the Hays Code guidelines. This allows Tommy Udo to remain one of the most terrifying and vicious villains ever seen in film noir.

How does Tommy Udo compare to other notable noir villains?

Tommy Udo stands out kiss of death, But how he compares to some of the other more notorious villains in the history of the noir genre? Well, the other four big-name villains mentioned earlier in this article are good points of comparison. Jimmy Cagney's Tom Powers The public enemy it's a raw and visceral portrayal of a ruthless gangster and is truly one of his best performances. His acts of cold-blooded violence and moral ambiguity make him a constant threat throughout the film. The character's brutal rise in the criminal underworld gives him a menacing and formidable aura that still shocks audiences. Similar to Widmark, Cagney's performance features a scene of violence against an innocent woman. While shoving a grapefruit in someone's face isn't as terrifying or horrifying as pushing a woman in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, they are dehumanizing and humiliating actions, demonstrating a ruthless similarity between the two characters. Despite this, the frenzied way in which he reacts to his sadistic acts of violence lets Tommy Udo from Widmark bring the bacon here.

On the other hand, Jane Greer's Kathie Moffat of Out of the past, a standout in film noir for subverting the genre's traditional tropes, is the archetypal femme fatale, manipulating men through her cunning and looks. Her deceptive nature and ability to play both victim and villain make her unpredictably dangerous and give her that moral ambiguity that is a hallmark of all successful black villains. She scares viewers by shape-shifting between vulnerability and ruthless manipulation in the most captivating way. Moffat is very different from Udo in that he represents a more insidious threat, while he displays an overt violence that is out of character for him. It has an impact on the protagonist of out of the past Jeff Bailey, in a in a more complex and indirect way than Udo in Nick Bianco, dragging its protagonist into a web of deceit and betrayal that leads to her own downfall. Although he is the archetypal manipulative villain, Tommy Udo scares more with his smile, his look and his walk. The speed at which he goes from threatening to laughing to threatening again is frightening and puts him at the top of the list of noir villains.

But is Tommy Udo in charge? That spot is usually reserved for Robert Mitchum's turn as Reverend Harry Powell Charles Laughton's mesmeric The Night of the Hunter', a game changer in the genre that influenced how film noirs and cinema as a whole were to be made. Reverend Powell is a fake preacher who uses his charm and religious facade to manipulate and deceive vulnerable women and children. He is methodical, ruthless and calm in his pursuit of the children and the cash that is central to the film's plot. The range that Tommy Udo exhibits is also seen in Reverend Powell, who he seamlessly switches between charming preacher and cold-blooded killer with ease. Mitchum is exceptional and is one of the reasons the film has found an afterlife in recent years. His character and Widmark's are alarmingly close in terms of the breadth with which they act out their violence. Their ranks and the moral and criminal depths to which they are willing to travel astonish viewers even today. Udo's playfulness, most often seen in the moments leading up to his acts of violence, is like the righteousness Powell shows in the face of his more heinous and insidious acts. Traces of these villains can be seen throughout the history of cinemashowing the power of the characters and their performances.

Richard Widmark made his mark on the Noir genre with limited screen time

So Richard Widmark's performance as Tommy Udo will go down one of the great film debuts and one of the largest and the scariest villains in film noir history. The way it terrorizes the protagonist, keeping him awake at night and making him look over his shoulder, is bound to shock any viewer. He interweaves his ability to “banter” with Nick Bianco with his moral depravity in throwing women in wheelchairs down stairs to their deaths. His versatile performance has such a profound impact on the audience, even if his screen time is relatively limited. Some of the greatest villains in the history of cinema have been the protagonists of their stories, but Tommy Udo is not, nor does he need to be. He does enough with the time he has to scare the living daylights out of viewers. To definitively designate him as the genre's greatest and most terrifying villain would be an act of gross subjectivity, but there's still a lot to be said. Just like the protagonist, Tommy Udo will keep viewers awake at night, startled by doors closing or cars passing by their window.

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