Character played by Kevin Spacey in the 1995 movie, "The Usual Suspects." The character is most remembered for a story about him, told to a police officer in the movie:
"He's supposed to be Turkish. Some say his
father was German. Nobody ever believed he was real. Nobody ever knew him or saw anybody that ever worked directly for him. But to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew; that was his power. The greatest
trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. One story the guys told me, the story I believe, was from his days in
Turkey. There was a gang of Hungarians that wanted their own mob. They realized that to be in power, you didn't need guns or money or even numbers. You just needed the
will to do what the other guy wouldn't. After a while, they come into power and then they come after Soze. He was small-
time then, just running dope, they say. They come to his home in the afternoon, looking for his business. They find his wife and kids in the house and decide to wait for Soze. He comes home to find his wife raped and children screaming. The Hungarians knew Soze was tough, not to be trifled with, so they let him know they meant business. They tell him they want his territory, all his business. Soze looks over the faces of his family. Then he showed these
men of
will what
will really was. He tells him he would rather see his family dead than live another day after this. He lets the last Hungarian go, waits until his wife and kids are in the ground, and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids. He kills their wives. He kills their
parents and their
parents'
friends. He burns down the houses they live in, the stores they work in. He kills
people that owe them money. And like that, he's gone. Underground. Nobody's ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. 'Rat on your
pop and Keyser Soze
will get you.' But no one ever really believes."
Soze's character was based on real-life murderer John List, who murdered his mother, wife, and three children, then disappeared for 18 years. When he was found and captured, he had started a completely new life as Robert
Peter Clark.
The term "Keyser Soze" has become synonymous with someone who is elusive and legendary - someone who everyone hears about, but noone ever meets in person.