| “ | Oh, ain't that a pretty sight? I'll bet they don't even lock their doors. | „ |
| ~ Switchblade Sam's first line. |
Switchblade Sam is the town-robbing criminal and the main antagonist of the 1993 John Hughes family film Dennis the Menace, which is based on the American comic strip of the same name. Unlike the other characters, Switchblade Sam was never referred to by his name, neither when spoken to nor when spoken about.
He is a traveling vagrant and robber (though that criminal "profession" goes by another term "thief") who is not against violence - in fact, he is aptly named as he carries around a switchblade knife (hence the name) with him and has no problems with threatening children in order to get what he wants. Despite the comedic nature of the film, Switchblade Sam was actually a rather dark, dangerous, and intimidating villain, at least until Dennis (unintentionally) found ways to outsmart the criminal, after which he lost his threat status, as he became the focus of numerous slapstick mishaps in a manner similar to Harry and Marv from the first two Home Alone movies.
Where Switchblade Sam is from remains unknown, but he's most likely not from Chicago. That assumption can be supported by the fact that, after he had jumped out of a train, Switchblade Sam described the city as a "pretty sight" where people "don't even lock their doors", as well as the fact that, when he was first confronted by the police who didn't recall ever seeing him before, Switchblade Sam claimed, "Maybe that's because I ain't never been around here."
He was portrayed by Christopher Lloyd, who also played other villains, such as Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Merlock in Disney's DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, Rasputin in Don Bluth's Anastasia, The Hacker in Cyberchase, Lord Imaru in The Secret Treasure of Machu Picchu by Golden Films, and Stan Cruge in Santa Buddies.
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