The Bad and The Beautiful‘s Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) is routinely described as a world-class manipulator and abuser — a Hollywood shit. But every one of his bad traits is counter-balanced by positive or inspirational traits, and that’s why he’s such a great “bad guy”. Because he’s a maze of contradictions. Shields is tough, charming, imaginative, determined, and a Movie catholic who talks to the Godz. Okay, he sexually betrayed Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner) but he also saved her from being a lush and molded her into a star. He abandoned — okay, jilted — his partner Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan) but at the same time forced him to stand on his own and make his own career. He saved James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) from the endless distractions of his ditzy-brained, Southern belle wife (played by Gloria Grahame) by arranging for a Latin movie idol to take her to Acapulco. Okay, so she and the movie idol died in a plane crash. Okay, so Douglas lied to Powell about what really happened. Question is, when’s the last time you saw a bad guy in a film who also had a lot of good qualities? And about whom you couldn’t quite make up your mind?