5. Professor Marcus (The Ladykillers)
Rank OrganisationThe 2004 Coen Brothers version of the film has been unfairly dismissed and is actually an extremely comical movie in its own right but it still failed to surpass the 1955 original black comedy. It may seem unfair to dismiss the self-styled Professor Marcus (played superbly by Alec Guinness) as the most inept of the gang of criminals ridiculed in the film but it must be remembered that he is the one who assembles the horrendously inadequate group of thugs to rob a security van at Kings Cross Station. The thugs are boarding in the home of the sweet yet eccentric Mrs. W inside which the group double and triple cross each other with the hope of getting a bigger slice of the loot. However, the robbers are such incompetent criminals that in trying to murder their partners in crime they become involved in a series of hilarious yet fatal accidents. Before too long Marcus is the only one left standing but the man responsible for all this comically-charged chaos is struck on the head by a railway signal and is killed himself. Mrs. W awakes to find all the loot and tries to turn it in to the local police station but the incredulous officers dont believe her story. It seems the cops are just as lousy as the robbers in this tale.