Earl Talbot Blake

Earl Talbot Blake is the main villain of the 1990 crime thriller Ricochet.

He is played by John Lithgow, who also played Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose, Lord John Whorfin in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, and Eric Qualen in Cliffhanger, and provided the voice of Lord Farquaad in Shrek.

Blake is a gangster who, in the beginning of the film, goes to meet with other gangsters, seeking to get into the big leagues. He proceeds to kill the other gangsters and take their money before fleeing from the scene, only to be cornered by Nick Styles, a rookie police officer. Blake takes a nearby young woman hostage and forces Nick to disarm by stripping down to his underwear. Nick turns the tables by drawing a hidden firearm from his underwear and shooting Blake in the knee, wounding him and allowing him to be apprehended.

Blake is sentenced to prison while Nick goes on to become a full-fledged police officer and later a district attorney. He becomes obsessed with exacting vengeance upon Nick for ruining his chance to become a big-time criminal. Over the next few years, he forges an alliance with members of the Aryan Brotherhood and plots his revenge on Nick. He finally puts his scheme into motion by killing a parole board member and escaping prison, then faking his death.

Blake, with the help of his right-hand man Kim, then kidnaps Nick and holds him captive. During a game of arm-wrestling, Blake injects with Nick with cocaine, incapacitating him. Later, he has Nick tied to a bed and pays a prostitute to rape him while he videotapes the encounter to create footage that makes the encounter look consensual.

Afterward, Blake knocks Nick out and leaves him on the steps of City Hall, where he's found by authorities. As just about everyone refuses to believe Nick's claims that he was held captive by Blake (who is believed to be dead), Blake himself proceeds to play psychological games with him, further proving to others that Nick isn't quite sane.

Later, when Nick and his close friend/partner Larry Doyle (one of the few people who believe Nick's claims) investigate the Aryan Brotherhood, Blake lures them into a trap and fatally shoots Larry before tossing the emptied gun to Nick, causing him to catch it and therefore get his fingerprints on it.

Nick eventually turns the tables on Blake by faking his own death on national TV; this sends Blake into a furious rage. Blake then receives a call from Nick through Odessa, a gang leader and Nick's childhood friend, telling him to come to a construction site. He heads to the site, where he finds his kidnapped assistant Kim, who chastises him for angering Nick; in response, Blake shoots Kim dead.

Nick then appears and engages Blake in a battle that ends with Blake falling and ending up impaled on a spike.