The Badass Bonanza

[El Duderino Diablo]

Not a top ten, but...

Those of us classified as maladjusted during our formative years and judged misanthropic as adults owe a great deal to those cinematic greats who have made careers establishiing themselves as moviedom's badasses.
Now, since seeing Kill Bill I've taken some time to think about this and while Uma Thurman is pretty steely in that movie I'm not sure I'm ready to add her to the esteemed ranks of the true cinematic asskickers. If it's any consolation I won't be adding Micheal Madsen either though an alcohol fueled viewing of Reservoir Dogs followed by net access could change that. But I digress.
In no particular order... The tough guys:
Charles Bronson - forget everything else, Hard Times is the clincher.
Clint Eastwood - need I list his turns as a cinematic hardass?
Lee Marvin - Emperor of the North and Point Blank. 'nuff said.
Steve McQueen - With Bullitt, The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven and Papilon there can be no doubt.
James Garner - Hey, Jim Rockford, Maverick, what more could you want?
Bruce Lee - if he weren't dead he could kick my ass and the asses of everyone I know, probably would.
Richard Roundtree - Shaft
William Smith (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810342/bio) - Everybody's second favourite tough guy from Any Which Way You Can and a whole shit load of biker movies.
Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba - that's The Streetfighter to you, pal!
Harvey Keitel - He's the Bad Lieutenant and Mr. White!
Chow Yun Fat - Ko Chun, the God of Gamblers, The Killer, Full Contact, Tequila in Hard Boiled
Toshiro Mifune - Say it with me now and say it loud, Yojimbo!
Pam Grier - Coffey, sugar!
Takeshi Kitano - He doesn't just play a tough guy in his movies but after taking a television audience out to the waterfront on a bus then locking them into and lowering said bus into the bay, well, he just might be a tough guy. Or a total whackjob.
Riki Takeuchi - the man's got a sneer and a pompadour that could give Elvis a run for his money, oh, and he kicks peoples asses in every movie he's in, so there.
And last but not least, the man who gets my nod for number one movie badass of all time...
Tomisaburo Wakayama!!! aka Ogami Itto of the Lone Wolf and Cub/Babycart series. Death on two legs, he slices and dices his enemies by the hundreds and he makes it look so damned easy!

So, did I forget anyone, but most importantly, who's YOUR pick for movie badass toughguy of all time?

[Furious D]

Lee Van Cleef: Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly alone puts him in the pantheon of all-time tough guys, how can leave him out of your list? If he were still alive he'd be giving you a glare that would make you wet your pants.

James Coburn: Not only did he play tough guys like the quiet knife expert in The Magnificent 7, he also played his image for laughs in the Flint movies, and was Bruce Lee's most famous pupil.

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by Furious D
Lee Van Cleef:
If he were still alive he'd be giving you a glare that would make you wet your pants.


I'd take a swallow of the foulest whiskey on hand and glare right back at him for doing The Master television series with Robbie Van Patten and Sho Kosugi.

;)

Actually he and James Coburn were oversights on my part. It was 02:30 in the morning and my brain was getting a wee bit mushy. It's been suggested that Sam Jackson should also be on the tough guy list.

EDIT: Yul Brynner!

[Eric Campos]

I see somebody already beat me to the great Sho Kosugi.

[Furious D]

Let's not forget Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH, a veritable cornucopia of bad-ass behaviour. The whole cast should be included if this was the only picture they did. It made aging pretty boy William Holden an instant tough guy, and it also featured Ernest Borgnine in his best role, Warren Oates, & Ben Johnson.

I'd forgive Van Cleef for doing THE MASTER, hell, the network probably offered him a truckload of money and he wanted to make a decent buck before he died. Sadly, it's rare when playing the classic bad-ass truly pays off.