Ha ha ha! I'm the boss of you!
Ever since I reviewed the movie Horrible Bosses this last Monday, I’ve been thinking about bad bosses as portrayed in the movies. You’d think by now I’d be an expert on this but I kind of struggled. I couldn’t think of very many.
Of course, the first one to come to mind was Bill Lumbergh from Office Space. I’ve seen that movie so many damn times. Lumbergh is a classic boss, always moaning about “TPS reports” (whatever the hell they are) and trying to get employees to work on the weekend. He’s not a very good listener, either, and becomes nasty when the consultants he hired turn on him. LOL!
Other than that, the only other bad boss I could think of was the Meryl Streep character in The Devil Wears Prada. Yes, I’ve actually seen that movie, but I barely remember it. Sure, she seemed like a biz-natch to have as a boss, but, deep down inside, didn’t she really care about her worker? After all, she told that other company they’d be idiots not to hire her and then there was that smile at the end of the movie that told us she was nice. You know, deep down inside. Not that it may have matter by then.
That was about it. That was all that came to mind. So I turned to the internet. Ah, I found something called “The Top 10 Worst Movie Boss” on Spike.com. Now we’re talking. Let’s see what they thought of that I didn’t.
10. Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada
Uh huh. Yeah, I thought of that one.
9. John Milton from The Devil’s Advocate
Eh? I don’t think of the Al Pacino character as the “boss.” He’s Satan. This one doesn’t really count, does it? Hooah!
8. Gordon Gecko from Wall Street
Greed is good. Greed works. And yeah, what kind of asshole wants to buy Blue Star and rip it to shreds just for the hell of it? But I never really thought of the Michael Douglas character as a “boss.” He was a big time trader who was using Bud Fox to gather intel to support his insider trading habit. Somehow I doubt that Bud punched a time clock. I had a supervisor that worshiped this movie and always wore braces. (Not suspenders.) He was, as you’d expect, a total dill hole and eventually got fired. (Sometimes, rarely, it works out like that.)
7. Katharine Parker from Working Girl
I know little of this movie, but looking at a photo from the film, I’ve never seen Harrison Ford look more wimpy. Someone get him a whip. Whippy > Wimpy.
6. Ronny Cox from Robocop
Oh yeah! Hella! Now we’re talking!! Ronny Cox plays one bad ass boss. The problem? He’s so bad ass that he actually becomes cool, even though we love to see him get it in the end. The original Robocop was an awesome movie. Chock full of so many feel good moments. Any movie that starts out with eleven X ratings due to violence has gots to be good. It had to be edited down just to get an R rating. Quick. Someone get me the director’s cut!
5. Bruce Wayne
Erm? What the hell? Spike is on acid here. I don’t get it.
4. Blake from Glengarry Glen Ross
OK, yeah, I’m feeling it. Mmmm, yeah. Bad boss. That glow I’m feeling can only mean one thing. I agree with this pick! It should have been higher, though. Again, I don’t think of the Alec Baldwin character as “The Boss” since he’s from “downtown” but he sure rips the employees a new one. This might be the only pick on the list that captures the essence of employee reality. This worthy mention gets two video clips. First a scene so amazing that Alec Baldwin almost won an Oscar for only seven minutes of screen time. Wow!! Then, a parody of the movie. I give these clips two thumbs way the fuck up. They will make you lose your shit.
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross
3. Michael Corleone
Again, I didn’t really see him as a “boss.” Now that you mention it, though, yeah, I can see it. Just not in a traditional sense.
2. Bill Lumbergh from Office Space
That sound you hear is a choir of angels. Ahhh! Yesss!!!! I hope this is as good for you as it is for me.
1. Darth Vader
What? Again? Seriously, I’m getting tired of this. Vader wasn’t the “boss.” Well, maybe if he had a suggestion box…
Shouts from the Abyss 
Darth sounds like Cliff Clavin playing a not-from-Boston Darth Vader. Eerie.
As for bosses, I’ve had my share of dweebs but by far the worst was a woman boss I had back in the eighties. She was the original bitch boss from hell and every woman boss or department supervisor I worked with after that was just more of the same. Total nightmare.
My experience has been that I don’t work well with female supervisors. The ones I’ve worked with are territorial, jealous, and too focused on themselves and their careers. Many of the men I’ve worked for, or with, have, for the most part, been incredible and supportive.
The other thing I’ve noticed…men analyze and move forward. Women over analyze and talk about moving forward. An over generalization sure but that’s been MY experience. I hope I’m the exception and that not all women out there are living my nightmare.
I’m not bitter. Just once bitten, twice shy.
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What’s wrong with being bitter? I’ve made it a way of life and I turned out well, right? 🙂
Maybe gender has something to do with. I’ve never had a female boss I didn’t like and didn’t get along with.
I agree with your assessment of the Vader-esque character in Troopers. Obviously they were worried about copyrights and stuff, but I don’t think they changed things enough. I can still see the similarities. 🙂
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I was going to mention Sigourney Weaver but you got her!
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Well, if she’s that bad, I may just have to watch.
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I could kinda see it with Bruce Wayne. He’s not unkindly, but he does have a hell of a lot of unique, incessant demands for his butler. Then again, that is kinda the life of a butler, from my ill informed, built-from-movies idea of butlers. :p
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Maybe. But no way he ranks #5. The dude is a little off-kilter, though, and seems a little intense. Perhaps it wouldn’t be fun to work for a guy like that. But he probably pays well. He seems like the type to really take care of his people.
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Satan? Bruce Wayne? Darth Vader? Wha???
Working Girl – yes! Sigourney was awesome as a bitchy mean boss.
And I LOVE Robocop! As you said, sooo many moments in that movie. But, yeah, Cox was bad, but he does get points for being bad ass. Every time I see that dude get doused in radioactive waste and then splattered by the truck I giggle like a crazy person.
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Robocop rocks. Rocks. Rocks!!! I heard in the original version Cox gets pummeled with bullets for something like 20 minutes straight. X-rating be damned!
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