ENDORA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (13)
By:
August 16, 2025
One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite sympathetic villains. Series edited by Heather Quinlan.
BARRY LYNDON
Barry Lyndon (1975), one of Stanley Kubrick’s lesser revered films, has had somewhat of a reappraising in the last few years. It has become a staple of niche physical-media hobbyists around the internet; even causing one such enthusiast to promise to get a tattoo of Ryan O’Neal if a much sought after 4k Blu-ray edition was announced by Criterion. Why is it hitting its stride now, after almost fifty years? Many would point to the beautiful visuals, which tracks with the better home-theatre experience available today. The first tidbit you’ll often see about the movie is that many of the scenes were lit naturally, and some even by candlelight. However, Redmond Barry’s complexities as a character endear him to modern audiences. He is a con man, ruthlessly in search of material wealth and shallow wants. But he can also be extremely loyal, even heroic, when he deems the situation worthy. He starts as a spirited, idealistic man, and through the trials of the Seven Years’ War and aristocratic society, turns into Barry Lyndon, a tortured, melancholic soul, disenchanted with the world.
The movie begins with Barry vying for his cousin’s love. In his eyes, he heroically duels his cousin’s suitor, because there is no other way he can live. In reality, this serves only himself, and he almost ruins his family in the process. After running away to join the British army, he later learns from Captain Grogan that the duel and its outcome was all a setup to remove Barry from the picture. Still, when Grogan is mortally wounded in battle, Barry carries him to safety in an attempt to save him. Demystified by the military life, and interested in getting back home, he deserts. Yet he is once again pulled into the military when a Prussian officer comes across him and discovers his desertion. And once again, he performs a heroic act to save this officer, though this time he is successful. Later, he double-crosses this officer for his own advancement, and out of loyalty to one of his countrymen. He marries the Lady Lyndon, blows through her fortune, and is a horrible stepfather to her son, Bullingdon. But when Bullingdon challenges him to a duel, he refuses to shoot and loses a leg for it.
The entire movie is like this, where Barry is thrown into these grandiose situations and sometimes he performs heroically, but often acts selfishly. We would all like to think that if we were thrown into these fantastical situations, we would act morally and selflessly, but reality is often much more of a mixed bag. Barry is constantly out to further his own interests, but who isn’t?
ENDORA YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Heather Quinlan | Kathy Biehl on DR. FRANK-N-FURTER | Catherine Christman on ALEXIS CARRINGTON | Crockett Doob on M3GAN | Nick Rumaczyk on AURIC GOLDFINGER | Mariane Cara on MIRANDA PRIESTLY | Trav SD on PROFESSOR HINKLE | Alex Brook Lynn on TOM POWERS | Lynn Peril on ENDORA | Adam McGovern on EDDIE HASKELL | Mimi Lipson on SUE ANN NIVENS | Heather Quinlan on HAROLD SHAND | Tom Nealon on SKELETOR | Matthew Hodge on BARRY LYNDON | Josh Glenn on JOEL CAIRO | Dan Reines on WALTER PECK | Mark Kingwell on HARRY LIME | James Scott Maloy on CLARENCE BODDICKER | Nikhil Singh on LOCUTUS | Carolyn Campbell on CARSON DYLE | Tony Pacitti on DENNIS NEDRY | Gordon Dahlquist on WALKER | Colin Campbell on RUTH LYTTON | Marc Weidenbaum on THE XENOMORPHS | Susannah Breslin on ANTON CHIGURH | Micah Nathan on PATRICK BATEMAN.
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