Alright guys, the question has been posed to you all, who is THE tough guy in tough guy films? I am a personally huge fan of Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen. But I’m wondering what some of you guys on the boards think. Post it up....and please ....no Michael Dudikoff. No really anybody with an idea of what they consider the good ole’ tough guys of film. Toshiro Mifune is a big one for me as well....and if you have any guilty pleasure tough guy films let us all know about them.......looking forward to your posts.....two more for the road...Sho Kosugi, king of the ninja films and the great Sonny Chiba…
1) Tomisaburo Wakayama who played Ogami Itto in Lone Wolf and Cub from Japan AKA Shogun Assassin.
2)Lawrence Tierney who played John Dillinger in 1945’s DILLINGER, better know for his role as Joe Cabot was one bad-ass mofo.
There are many, but I wanted to say people that I didn’t think people would toss out there.
Bonus 1: Jack Palance
Bonus 2: Chazz Palminteri
Good solid picks....I sometimes forget about Chazz Palminteri....loved him in A Bronx Tale....Tierney was awesome in the Dillinger film.....if you think of anymore LJB throw them in....
Yeah Vinnie Jones is one of the new guys on the block but he has that old school tough guy appeal....I like his films....he’s always entertaining in them anyway....
Yeah....his turn as the Juggernaut in that film is terrible...I forgot about that one because I am not a fan of the third X-Men film.....he made a film that was a remake of The Longest Yard....cant remember the title of the top of my head....
I had breakfast with Jack Palance when he came to the book store I worked at for a signing of his book of poetry. Nice guy. He really liked chocolate. He kept eating the Ghiradelli we had to give away.
Clint Eastwood, Pat Morita, Mako, and Grace Jones all get my vote.
Grace Jones was awesome in Conan The Destroyer and Vamp....I personally like Vamp quite a bit....also the only saving “grace” of that James Bond film she was in....although I think Walken was in there as well....
I don’t bring anything new to the table, but I second Samurai’s choices of Bronson being numero uno and Toshiro Mifune being near the top. As well, Sonny Chiba, Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin, Gordon Liu, Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen, Gene Hackman, Franco Nero, and Tomisaburo Wakayama are favorites. As much as they are over saturated, you can’t really exclude Arnie and Sly.. I think Lee Van Cleef doesn’t get as much love as he should for how bad ass he is.. Kurt’s stuff with Carpenter is all pretty bad ass(as well as his turn as Stuntman Mike), but we tend to over look Kurt due to all the lighter fare he’s done. I think that if movies were made the way they were in the 70’s Ed Harris could’ve been a great bad ass.. I love Isaac Hayes, Jim Brown, and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson a fair bit. As far as the ladies go, it’s Pamela Grier and Meiko Kaji. I think Julius Curry as the Shogun of Harlem is hopelessly bad ass.. I think Clive Owen is a throw back and handles shit pretty well.. I’ll come back to this one as I have plenty more to say on this…
Yeah we do sometimes forget Kurt Russell but man, he was a bad ass at one time. As is obvious by Death Proof, he still could be if used correctly. It’s the same with Mel Gibson back in the Mad Max days, I love that trilogy and Mel has never been that bad ass since in my opinion. It’s hard to find guys that exude that type of charisma now, I thought maybe Jean Reno could do it at one time, he has had moments. Bruce Willis has had a few notable bad ass moments. I will agree that if Ed Harris had been around during the heyday of 70’s bad ass films I think he would have been very cool.
Here’s another I thought might have a chance one day, he made one film that is a guilty pleasure of mine, the film I believe was called Stone Cold and that dude was Brian Bosworth. It may have just been timing but I thought the guy had charisma. Everything he did after was really bad but in my mind he has that one little gem.
Those actors of the blaxploitation era are all bad asses in my opinion. I love The Hammer and Jim Brown. Let me add that I think Pam Grier is a goddess among women…
How about Joe Don Baker in Walking Tall? Bo Svenson in the sequels I believe, Bo was pretty bad ass....William Holden, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates in The Wild Bunch? Warren Oates period I love that guy....
Thats the main reason I posted this on the forums, I just dont feel like they make these kinds of films anymore or at least the actors dont have that factor that those guys from the past had....but every generation has their favs, no doubt.
Willy, I have been quoting Julius Curry my whole life it seems, that is one of the great overlooked cinematic delights watching that performance.
Yeah we do sometimes forget Kurt Russell but man, he was a bad ass at one time. As is obvious by Death Proof, he still could be if used correctly. It’s the same with Mel Gibson back in the Mad Max days, I love that trilogy and Mel has never been that bad ass since in my opinion. It’s hard to find guys that exude that type of charisma now, I thought maybe Jean Reno could do it at one time, he has had moments. Bruce Willis has had a few notable bad ass moments. I will agree that if Ed Harris had been around during the heyday of 70’s bad ass films I think he would have been very cool.
Here’s another I thought might have a chance one day, he made one film that is a guilty pleasure of mine, the film I believe was called Stone Cold and that dude was Brian Bosworth. It may have just been timing but I thought the guy had charisma. Everything he did after was really bad but in my mind he has that one little gem.
Those actors of the blaxploitation era are all bad asses in my opinion. I love The Hammer and Jim Brown. Let me add that I think Pam Grier is a goddess among women…
How about Joe Don Baker in Walking Tall? Bo Svenson in the sequels I believe, Bo was pretty bad ass....William Holden, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates in The Wild Bunch? Warren Oates period I love that guy....
y’know, it’s funny you mentioned Mel, as I was thinking about him when I was typing my response, he was a major bad ass in the Max trilogy as well as Braveheart/Lethal Weapon.. Joe Don Baker is a good, more minor choice, as well as Svenson.. Holden and Johnson were as well, Oates is in a sense, but he strikes me more as a more common man’s bad ass, who had it in him and would claw and scratch his way through, without panache, but he certainly would get to where he needed to go when he needed to. I think Kris Kristofferson had it in him to be a decent one.. What about Chuck Norris, Mr. Internet himself.. I think as far as modern day guys go, Ving Rhames and Samuel L. are pretty bad ass.. Keitel has it in him most definitely.. Mickey Rourke could’ve been if he didn’t forgo his acting career to get into boxing and plastic surgery..
