| abstract | - Cornelius Bernard Hatcher is the main villain of the 2003 action/comedy film The Rundown. He is played by Christopher Walken, who also played Max Shreck in Batman Returns, Gabriel in The Prophecy films, the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow, Max Zorin in A View to a Kill, and Frank White in King of New York. In the film, Hatcher has taken over an area of the Amazon jungle in the middle of Brazil to dig for gold and, more importantly, the hiding place of a priceless artifact, the Gato del Diablo, that a "fortune hunter" named Travis Walker has supposedly found. All the while, he claims to be the salvation of the people of El Dorado, bringing them into the civilized world by building their "city" in the middle of the jungle. If charging people for the shovels they dig with is fair, and a dozen shacks equals a city, perhaps he's okay after all. When self-termed "retrieval expert" Beck comes to bring Travis back home to America, Hatcher forces him to pay a kickback to allow him to let Travis leave, but as soon as he decides that the time is right, he double-crosses Beck, telling him Travis will never leave, at least not until the Gato del Diablo is in his own hands. Beck fights Hatcher's men and runs off with Travis into the jungle, and the chase is on. Hatcher's greatest (or worst) quality has to be his arrogance. While working the people of El Dorado to early graves, he casually wears shimmering gold chains around his neck. While the rebels, hoping to drive Hatcher out of town, hide in the jungle, he sends his gang in clean house, finding Beck and Travis in the process. While his boys do the dirty work, Hatcher still finds time to get his trigger finger dirty too. Eventually, he does end up with the Gato, but has to fight off Beck not only to regain control of it, but to survive as well. In the end, the townspeople get exactly what they want, and Beck delivers on all of his promises. That's certainly something Hatcher never did. Hatcher confronts Beck and is shot when he attempts to attack Mariana. Agreeing to leave the town, Hatcher attempts to walk away but collapses dead.
|
