10 Most Unnecessarily Hated Characters In Film History

10. The Mayor- Jaws

The 1975 feature film from Steven Spielberg is undeniably one of the great films of all time. Exploring the small coastal town of Amity Island, the film introduces us to arguably the most menacing villain in cinematic history- and no, I am not talking about the Town Mayor, Larry Vaughn.

Poor old Larry has copped a bad wrap over years from the film's legion of fans, his unwillingness to close down the beach in spite of numerous deaths due to shark attack coming back to bite him. In fairness to the mayor, he is really just trying to do his job and keep the town financially viable.

Larry is also forced to deal with impulsive new police chief Martin Brody, whose decisive actions without consultation causes much consternation in the community. Had Brody discussed his ideas with Larry beforehand, then the actions may have been deemed acceptable. At the very least there would have been a greater likelihood of some sort of compromise, with extra patrolling of the beaches as occurred later in the film.

Critics of the Mayor will point out that had the beach been closed then two deaths would not have needlessly occurred, which is fair enough. Poor old Larry though was clearly just trying to do the right thing by the residents and shop owners of the town. And as he tells Brody, 'my kids were out there too', so it wasn't like he put anyone's life in danger deliberately.