Top Tough Guys

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Empire Magazine here in Australia just published it's top twenty-five toughest characters in films. The list had all-sorts, some which I felt didn't deserve the honor [Sarah Connor;
The Terminator -- pshaw!] and some that I didn't feel were high enough on the list ['Popeye' Doyle; The French Connection -- #12].

Here however, is the top ten.
How would you go about rearranging them, adding some more. In other words, who are your top tough guys? I've only got a top three, and I'll get to them soon enough. But first, let's open the floodgates.


* * * * *

The Top Ten [according to Empire]

10.
Max Cady Robert De Niro -- Cape Fear

9.
Tommy DeVito Joe Pesci -- GoodFellas

8.
Tony Montana Al Pacino -- Scarface

7.
John Rambo Sylvester Stallone -- Rambo series

6.
'Mad' Max Rockatansky Mel Gibson -- Mad Max series

5.
Ellen Ripley Sigourney Weaver -- Alien series

4.
Walker Lee Marvin -- Point Blank

3.
Jack Carter Michael Caine -- Get Carter

2.
John McClane Bruce Willis -- Die Hard

1.
Harry Callahan Clint Eastwood -- Dirty Harry
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The Future Ed Wood
um its rather hard to think of hard cases off the top of my hard. how about mel gibsons character in payback? tony montana should have been higher, i mean the ending of scarface shows how hard he is. what about De Niros character in Deer Hunter?
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Now With Moveable Parts
I forgot his name in the movie, but that guy in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, you know the one...he hit golf balls of people's mouths...
He scared me.

What about John Travolta in Grease?
So, what did you do this summer?"
"Oh, you know...rockin' and rollin' and whatnot."

Man, does it get anymore "tough guy" than that?



Originally posted by sadesdrk
I forgot his name in the movie, but that guy in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, you know the one...he hit golf balls of people's mouths...
He scared me.


Was this Vinnie Jones? Haven't seen Lock, Stock yet, but it sounds like that could be his character. His Bullet Tooth in Snatch is most definitely a tough guy.

What about John Travolta in Grease?
So, what did you do this summer?"
"Oh, you know...rockin' and rollin' and whatnot."

Man, does it get anymore "tough guy" than that?
Yes!

Danny Zuko, baby.
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Now With Moveable Parts
Was this Vinnie Jones? Haven't seen Lock, Stock yet, but it sounds like that could be his character. His Bullet Tooth in Snatch is most definitely a tough guy.
Gosh, I dunno...?? Time for some research!



Yes!

Danny Zuko, baby.
Remember when he's trying all those different sports and when he's playing basketball, he's wearing those gym shorts that look like total girl shorts?! My dad would always get pissed at that part. Here's dad:

Dad- *snort*

me- *stifling a giggle* What's up Pops?

Dad- You've seen this move about a thousand times.

me- Is that why you snorted like that?

Dad- No. Why the hell is acting so tough wearing shorts that make his nads show?

me- NADS?!



Your dad said, "Nads."

About Vinnie Jones... was the guy you're talking about in Lock, Stock really big and with a f*cked-up looking face, and yet strangely attractive? If so, that's our guy.

Does it get any more pathetic than the "stranded at the drive-in" song? I love that movie, but every time Travolta starts to sing that song, I cringe.

The toughest "guy" in Grease is Rizzo.

You know, Maximus from Gladiator should be on this list. I mean, he's pretty damn tough.
"At my signal, unleash hell."



Now With Moveable Parts
About Vinnie Jones... was the guy you're talking about in Lock, Stock really big and with a f*cked-up looking face, and yet strangely attractive? If so, that's our guy.
Hmmm...well, that could be two people. The hired hit man, he's been in a few more movies since Lock Stock; and the guy that lived next door. He was like a kingpin of sorts; a head guy. He's the one I'm talking about...??

Does it get any more pathetic than the "stranded at the drive-in" song? I love that movie, but every time Travolta starts to sing that song, I cringe.
Uh huh...especially the " Why-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y--y-" part of that song.====shivering====

The toughest "guy" in Grease is Rizzo.
" Eat your heart out."
but then Danny's return...
" Sloppy seconds aren't my style."
Oooooooooh....burn!

You know, Maximus from Gladiator should be on this list. I mean, he's pretty damn tough.
"At my signal, unleash hell."
Oh! Good call. He was a toughie.



Now With Moveable Parts
Subpost: Okay. Looked up your Vinnie guy, now he's tough...no doubt about it. Also, strangely attractive, but not our guy.



Originally posted by sadesdrk
[b] Hmmm...well, that could be two people. The hired hit man, he's been in a few more movies since Lock Stock; and the guy that lived next door. He was like a kingpin of sorts; a head guy. He's the one I'm talking about...??
Ah. Not sure. Where's Matt when you need him?

" Eat your heart out."
but then Danny's return...
" Sloppy seconds aren't my style."
Oooooooooh....burn!
That's a damn good comeback for Danny, but remember this one?

"Bite the weinie, Riz."
"With relish."



Beware the Moon
Nads........cool Someone sounds like they're from England

Also worth a mention as "hard men" would have to be;

Riddick from Pitch Black he did kind of burst onto the screens with a very cool hand to hand combat scene with an alien life form

Not forgetting some excellent Asian characters who could undoubtibly kick some serious arse.......
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Yup, Riddick. Vin Diesel is yummy good fun.

A couple more tough guys:

R. Lee Ermey as Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. Any man who would stand there while a mentally unstable kid aims an automatic weapon at him and proceed to try to intimidate the kid into putting down the gun is tougher than John Wayne toilet paper.
"What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?"

Paul Newman as Cool Hand Luke. The poster boy for never giving in, even when everything's working against you.
"Is that your answer, old man? Well, I guess you're a hard case, too."



Now With Moveable Parts
Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.

and how freakin' cool was Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive?



Originally posted by sadesdrk
Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.
Totally. Cool + Tough = One Seriously Bad Motherf*cker.



The Future Ed Wood
john mason - sean connery - the rock



I'll go with actors instead of characters, for longevity and overall persona more than a single role, but also list some of the films where they're at their iconic coolest and toughest...




1. Lee fu*kin' Marvin
Point Blank, Prime Cut, The Killers, Hell in the Pacific, The Professionals

2. Clint Eastwood
A Fistful of Dollars, Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, High Plains Drifter, The Gauntlet

3. Steve McQueen
The Getaway, Bullitt, The Great Escape, The Cincinnati Kid, The Sand Pebbles

4. Burt Reynolds
The Longest Yard, Deliverance, White Lightning, Gator, Sharky's Machine

5. Charles Bronson
Hard Times, Death Wish, Once Upon A Time in the West, The Valachi Papers, The Mechanic
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The character that Vinnie Jones plays in Lock, Stock in Big Chris -- he smashes some guy's face in while this guy is lying in one of those sun-bed-thingoes. In Snatch of course he plays Bullet Tooth Tony. Now, if it was a battle between these two, Bullet Tooth would win. Firstly, you've got Big Chris who at the end of the film says, and I quote; "I was emotional." Not Tony. Tony got shot six times; "In one sitting." Sure, the a bullet in Avi's gun has his name on it, but theoretically, okay? "Seven times" taking on "It's been emotional." Puh-lease!


I would put my number one toughest of the tough down as the man who appears at number three on that Empire list:


JACK CARTER
Michael Caine
Get Carter

We're talking a man who takes on half of Newcastle's underbelly with nothing but a shotgun and a bad attitude. A man who has no qualms about throwing man off a high-rise parking building, filling a man full of whisky before smashing him in the face and sending him out to see to die, slapping women, stabbing innocent men. He just picks off people one by one; and he doesn't even attempt to make it look cool, or stylish. He just does it like the bastard he is.

"I'm the villain in the family."



I'm not old, you're just 12.
Me, I'd have to go with William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in Braveheart. Not only is he Scottish (like myself), he was a real guy, and he was frickin' insane! I love the battle scenes in that movie, and the ending? That is one tough motherf*cker right there.
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Originally posted by Monkeypunch
Me, I'd have to go with William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in Braveheart. Not only is he Scottish (like myself), he was a real guy, and he was frickin' insane! I love the battle scenes in that movie, and the ending? That is one tough motherf*cker right there.
As I'm sure will come as no surprise to anyone here, I totally, utterly, completely, 100%, unequivocally, without-a-doubt agree. Other tough guys:
  • David Dunn (Bruce Willis) in Unbreakable
  • Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson) in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • Porter (Mel Gibson) in Payback
  • Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction
  • John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree) in Shaft (1971) and Shaft (2000)
  • Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) in The Matrix
  • Trinity (Carrie Anne-Moss) in The Matrix, even though she isn't a tough guy.
  • Maximus Decimus Meridus (Russell Crowe) in Gladiator
There are many more...but these are some of the ones that come to mind just now.



Trinity was on Empire's list at #18.


Meanwhile, moving on to my #2 spot.

JULES WINNFIELD
Samuel L. Jackson
Pulp Fiction



I like to watch...
I agree with Mary Lo on the Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke thing. His character has to make us ponder what being a "tough guy" really constitutes. Not necessarily shooting people and wreaking havoc in my book. Luke was completely hammered both physically and emotionall yet he did not let them beat him. Excellent tough guy choice.

Also as for the Empire Top 10...what do we all think of the DeNiro/Max Cady inclusion? For me he was just a plain psycho. The appeal of the tough guy is that they are inherently good (even if they are crims like Jules & Vincent in Pulp Fiction) and we LIKE them. Max Cady was abhorrent...obliterating women does not make one a tough guy. More like a ****ing coward. Bad tough guy choice.

I would like to throw another tough guy in there...Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Resolute, dignified with the admirable quality of turning the other cheek and rising above. Now he was tough.