| “ | Listen, jerk! When I tell you to come, you better come! | „ |
| ~ Scut Farkus to Ralphie. |
Scott "Scut" Farkus is the main antagonist of the 1983 classic family film A Christmas Story. He is the neighborhood bully who picks on Ralphie Parker, his friends Flick and Schwartz and Ralphie's brother Randy. Scut also has a right-hand man named Grover Dill.
He was portrayed by Zack Ward in his first villainous role. Then in My Summer Story (It Runs in the Family), he was portrayed by Chris Owen.
Biography
In A Christmas Story
Despite being the main antagonist, his role is small. Scut first appears when Ralphie, Flick, Schwartz, and Randy are walking and he laughs at them. He pushes Randy down and scares Ralphie and his friends by acting like a bear or a monster. They run into Scut's toadie Grover Dill, who brings them back to Scut Farkus. Scut grabs Schwartz and makes him say "uncle" and pushes him away. Grover then scares them away. Grover then gives Scut a friendly punch, with Scut punching him back. Later in the movie he chases after Ralphie and his friends in fast motion. After school, he again chases Ralphie and his friends in fast motion.
Later, before school, he scares Ralphie and his friends, and Grover tells Ralphie to come to them, presumably to beat him up. Ralphie and Schwartz run off, leaving Flick, who Scut makes say "uncle". After school Scut hits Ralphie with a snowball and tells him that when he tells Ralphie to come, he better come. Ralphie starts crying, and Scut calls him a crybaby, mocking his crying and laughing nastily.
Ralphie have had enough of Scut and his bullying (as well as a few bad days in general), so he finally snaps and charges angrily at Scut, tackling him to the ground. Ralphie proceeds to beat up Scut in a blind fury (which present-day Ralphie, who narrates the film, describes as saying that "a fuse blew" and he had gone "out of his skull.") When Grover tries to help Scut, Ralphie punches him, and Grover runs away, saying he was gonna tell his dad. The other kids come and watch, and Randy, Schwartz, and Flick squeeze through the fence to get a better look. Randy takes Ralphie's glasses, which had fallen off, and runs to get their mom. While fighting him, Ralphie starts swearing non-stop, shocking the other kids. Randy comes with their mom, who pulls Ralphie off of Scut. After they leave, Scut is now humiliated and gets up (now with a bloody nose and a loss of pride and dignity), still crying softly, and Schwartz and Flick snear at him and walk away. From then on, Scut Farkus never bullied anyone again. It is unknown what happened to him after that, but it's possible that his reputation as a fearsome bully was ruined after all the kids witnessed his beating. It is also possible that he got punished by his parents.
In My Summer Story (theatrically known as It Runs in the Family)
In the sequel, a new bully named Lug Ditka takes Scut Farkus' place as the top bully. Then he along with Grover Dill have become Lug's toadies.
Reception
Scut Farkus has been regarded as one of the most iconic movie bullies and villains in film history and Zack Ward’s portrayal has been critically acclaimed.
Gallery
Add a photo to this galleryTrivia
- Whenever Scut appears in the movie, the Wolf's theme song from Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf plays in the background. The reason for this could be a reference to the fact that “Farkas” is the Hungarian word for “Wolf”.
- This would make him Hungarian, but due to "Scut" being slang for cow manure, this would make him Half-Irish
- His name is sometimes misspelled as Skut Farkus and Scut Farcus or Scott.
- It is theorized since Ralphie defeated him, Scut no longer poses as a threat to other children, thus his bullying days having come to an end. However, he did appear in My Summer Story (It Runs in The Family) as a toadie to Lug.
- He is one of the most popular characters in the film and one of the most popular bully characters in the media, probably due to his over-the-top attitude and his popular line, "What? Are you going to cry now?!"
- Grover Dill was originally going to be the lead bully, with Scut Farkus as his right-hand man. This means that Scut Farkus would have been the secondary antagonist of the film.
- During an interview, Zack Ward revealed that “Scut” is an Irish slang for “Cow Diarrhea”.
- Scott Tenorman was based on Scut Farkus.
- According to Zack Ward, his favorite scene to film was his character's beating by the hands of Ralphie.
