“Enough with this Rollo Tamasi!”
This choice of baddie is a little different from the rest. Ardent fans of the 1997 film “L.A. Confidential” will probably be the first to note that its villain is hardly a notable of the movie — nor is he the reason this film is so celebrated. And they’re partly right — the dastardly Captain Smith is a minimal character (it’s not even revealed he’s the villain until two-thirds of the way through the movie), and he’s played by James Cromwell in a very straightforward, no-frills way. There are no singular quirks here.
But nonetheless, the character deserves to make this list not because of what we see him do, but because what we don’t see. When this respected LAPD captain reveals his true nature — and the plot that he set into motion — we realize the true depths of his depravity, and it is chilling. Without skipping a beat, he can shower one of his officers with enthusiastic affection and then in the next room plot his death. Enthusiastic may be too strong a word — this police chief has a clear detachment from reality which is made somewhat clear early on. Something is amiss form the very beginning. And once we realize that every moment we see him has been carefully calculated, we understand him better than most of the other characters.
Oh, and we grow to hate him by his final scene. That’s a job well done.
bad guys who need more love 
Always admired actors who could go from playing bad guys to male leads without skipping a beat. Cromwell plays a brilliant heavy.
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