Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Phillip Vandamm

James Mason does a good job making Vandamm as hateful as can be. He's a sophisticated spy and a smarmy charmer to boot. He's in charge of the whole band of baddies who keep making Thornhill's trip out west a nightmare. Even though Vandamm's only captured in the end, whereas Leonard and his other henchman fall to their deaths, we sense that justice is being done: since Vandamm's still alive, he can provide the CIA with the secrets it needs to advance its Cold War objectives.