10 Movies Where The Villain Deserved To Win
4. The Wicked Witch Of The West - The Wizard Of Oz
The musical Wicked does sell the Wicked Witch Of The West’s perspective well, but it’s still worth noting that she gets a horrendously rough deal here.
Some random woman drops a house on the WWOTW’s sister and steals her shoes, yet it’s the house dropping shoe stealer who’s the hero? How does that work?!
Yes, she looks like a typical witch, has the classic cackle down and has some rather sinister flying monkeys. But those shoes are hers by right; all she wants is what she’s owed.
She’d basically Oz’s answer to Stannis Baratheon, apart from the fact Stannis never laughed.
There’s definitely an evil vibe to her, but the idea of peering behind the curtain is central to The Wizard Of Oz’s plot. Look a little closer, and you might find yourself rooting for her... if she hadn’t threatened Toto, that is.
In a nice piece of meta trivia, Margaret Hamilton, who played the WWOTW, was apparently the only nice one on set. The rest of the cast shunned teen star Judy Garland, irritated at playing second fiddle to a young woman. Hamilton though acted as a mentor to Garland, and is credited with helping Garland go on to a fruitful career.