10 Greatest Movie Hit-Men - Part Two

Number one with a bullet.

Francisco Scaramanga (The Man With The Golden Gun, 1974)
Next to festive killers Wint and Kid, the impotent Largo and the toothsome giant Jaws, Francisco Scaramanga is pretty normal for a Bond villain, his only idiosyncrasies being his 24-carat pistol and superfluous third nipple. His skills neatly summed up by Don Black’s suggestive title song (“He’s got a powerful weapon/charges a million a shot”), expert assassin Scaramanga makes the usual Bond baddie mistake of underestimating 007. Still, you have to like a criminal mastermind whose staff solely consists of a couple of sumo wrestlers and a murderous dwarf.

Myron (The Hit, 1984)
His partner Braddock (John Hurt) may be older and wiser but Tim Roth’s aspiring killer is far more fun. Hired to hunt down Terence Stamp’s Willie Parker a decade after the con ratted out his gangster pals, the youthful Myron’s fractured logic (“I think you’re crazy but I admire your attitude”), confident manner (“No lip, you!”) and striking dye job mark him out as something of a loose cannon, but these qualities also make him excellent on-screen company. And 20 years on, the wonderful Roth is still reaping the rewards of his eye-catching big-screen bow.