BAD GUYS WE LOVE: Isaac Hayes as "The Duke of New York"

John Carpenter's 1981 dystopian film, Escape From New York, features the wonderfully cold-blooded villain, "The Duke of New York," played by soul singer Isaac Hayes. If you haven't seen this film, or if it's been a long time, Hayes gives a beautifully understated performance as the chief inmate of a futuristic penal colony on the island of Manhattan. And the costuming is genius. The Duke walks around in a faux-calvary-officer's uniform, topped with a black Australian bush-hat and giant pirate earings. He even has one of the all-time-great sidekicks, too: "Romero," a pale. macabre, freak-of-a-guy with enormously spiked hair, played by Frank Doubleday. GS