Unsympathetic main character / protagonist in movies.

Walter White was set up for the audience to sympathize because a) he had a family and was dedicated to them; b) he was an underachiever; and c) he had cancer. But the writing went sideways at many points throughout the show and the characters switched positions too many times. At one point, Jesse was more sympathetic because he loved little kids, didn't care about money and was able to stand up and take on more responsibility while WW was busy chasing flies or watching people choke to death on the own vomit as the writers got too fancy for their own good. The show should really be called Breaking Character.

 

John Wayne's character in The Searchers. He's racist, he's violent and he's very self-centered. I loved the way he just seemed to come out of nowhere at the beginning and go back into nowhere at the end (much like Eastwood in High Plains Drifter), but overall I don't buy into most of the movie.

Oh, I suppose High Plains Drifter would be a candidate for this thread, too. Those who've seen it will remember the ending which adds sympathy towards Eastwood, but still he's quite extreme for the most part... (to be fair, though, the town of Lago didn't deserve any better).

 

Charlton Heston's character from "Planet of the Apes" (George Taylor) probably falls into this category... I remember the time I showed the POTA movie to an ex-GF- She was like "Why is he such an a***h***?