10 of Our Favorite Geniuses in Movies
Jamal – Finding Forrester
Rarely in movies do you see the combination of athlete and genius but that’s what we have in Jamal in Finding Forrester. He’s a star basketball player recruited to a private school in Manhattan. Only it’s not just basketball he excels at. After meeting a famed writer and going under his wing, Jamal discovers a writing talent that hasn’t been seen in years.
Dr Emmet Brown – Back to the Future
Perhaps one of the most memorable lines in movie history: “1.21 gigawatts!” Doc Brown is the eccentric mad scientist that we’ve all come to know and love in movie history. When you think white hair and craziness from movies you’re definitely thinking of the Doc. A time machine from a Delorean? Come on. Of course that’s genius!
Hannibal Lecter – Silence of the Lambs
Sure he likes to eat people but come on. That’s like his only fault right? Lecter is so smart that he can pretty much figure you out from a 30 second meeting. So much so that he’ll have you weeping in minutes like he did Clarice Starling.
Louis Skolnick – Revenge of the Nerds
The laugh alone is one of the best laughs in the history of movies. Skolnick has something that all these other geniuses don’t. He used his genius to win over a sorority girl so he could have sex with her. Now that’s a cause worth fighting for.
Tony Stark – Iron Man
Face it, you kind of have to be a genius to build an Iron Man suit from a cave. He’s cocky. He’s witty. He’s charming. He gets tons of chicks, and the man is friggin’ Iron Man. What’s not to love about Tony Stark? Oh not to mention his computer lair. You can’t mess with that thing.
Real Genius is one of my top 5 “If-it’s-on-I-have-to-watch-the-rest-of-it” movies.
Such an awesome flick.
Gotta love Dr Emmet Brown!!
I’m partial to Charles Wallace in A Winkle in Time. Cute kid, good movie. Also, love Rain Man.
A couple years ago I worked for a sandwich place and I got to make a sandwich for Kim Peek, who was the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man. I had no idea who he was until after he left when a coworker told me. Kim Peek was in my town giving a lecture or something like that. It was pretty cool, I just wish I could have had an opportunity to talk to him a bit.
Nash never actually had any visual hallucinations, only auditory. And the movie played down a lot of the negatives about him as well, including divorcing his wife in like the early 70s, his rampant and viscious anti-Semitism, aand his not being allowed to give a speech while accepting his Nobel Prize because he was so out of control.
Actually he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and that includes delusions. But you’re partially right, its MORE of the auditory type but not exclusive to it.
I like the list, and this site; however, why not include:
Matt Damon – Good Will Hunting (even though I’m not sure I liked the movie thaaaat much)
Dian Bachar as Ben/Choda Boy – Orgazmo
William Sanderson as J.F. Sebastian – Blade Runner
Joe Turkel as Dr. Eldon Tyrell – Blade Runner (yeah…I’ve got a boner for Blade Runner)
Bradley Cooper – Limitless (though, I’ll say that the character wasn’t actually a genius, he got doped up and became one [like Burroughs]. Also, I’m on the fence about whether or not this was a good movie or not…)
Cheers!
What, no Lex Luthor?
I think you should watch the Phenomenon. Starring John Travolta. Its quite good.
While very bright, Chris Knight isn’t the smartest one in “Real Genius” — Lazlo is.