Who's a badass?

[Derf]

I actually like Broderick quite a lot (but not like that, Menard  ). He just has a gentleness about him that precludes the common perception of badassery.  To me, the true badass always has a cold, calculatingly tough demeanor. In actors, that (again, for me) should come across in more than one role; he or she should leave people wondering if that is the real him or her. Broderick almost always looks innocently mischievous, not tough. I could see myself being a bit nervous saying something less than nice about and then meeting someone like Bogart or Eastwood. Broderick? Not so much.

[the Rev. J. Darkside]

I agree. Broderick is likable and I enjoy seeing him in films, but he doesn't inspire me to wet myself like Lee Van Cleef might.

I nominate Morris Day.

[Doctor Menard]

I haven't seen Ladyhawke, but from your desciption it seems he ran from a fight and perfomed actions only a mental deficit would allow. I'd call that survivability from a hippie. Did he dispose of his pursuers after promising them "a war [they] won't believe?"

Do keep in mind that the wolf and hawk in the film are the day and night alter egos of two of the main characters so cursed as to keep them apart. Saving the wolf was saving Rutger Hauer's character, though as a wolf he has no consciousness of Mouse as a comrade, or of what he did to him as a wolf when he is in human form.

He evaded a detachment of soldiers, mostly, who were all bigger than him. He also faced down the trapper/bounty hunter, who was also much bigger than him.

They call him...Mouse...the badass.

[the Rev. J. Darkside]

Nothing weirder than layered allegory from a film I've never seen.

What about Judd Nelson?

[Rev. Powell]

What about Judd Nelson?

Definitely wanted to be thought of as a badass...  but never made it.  Starting his career as the vulnerable, non-threatening "bad" kid in THE BREAKFAST CLUB killed any chance at badassery he might have had.  A true badass would rather be caught and tortured by the Viet Cong than discuss his feelings with Molly Ringwald.

[the Rev. J. Darkside]

I'd probably show my feelings with her... then kick ass outta the car!

Maybe Nelson's an honorable mention...

[Eyesore]

For a lot of us growing up in the '60s and '70s, the definition of badass is: Steve McQueen.

"Bullitt"
"The Getaway"
"On Any Sunday"

[the Rev. J. Darkside]

Barry Newman, anyone?

[Doctor Menard]

For a lot of us growing up in the '60s and '70s, the definition of badass is: Steve McQueen.

"Bullitt"
"The Getaway"
"On Any Sunday"

The 60s and especially 70s were filled with badasses.

Bronson, Lee Marvin, Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, David Carradine, Cheri Caffaro, William Smith, Richard Lynch...

...and, of course, Pam Grier and Jeanne Bell...yum (now that's some baaad ass  ).

[Eyesore]

For a lot of us growing up in the '60s and '70s, the definition of badass is: Steve McQueen.

"Bullitt"
"The Getaway"
"On Any Sunday"

The 60s and especially 70s were filled with badasses.

Bronson, Lee Marvin, Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, David Carradine, Cheri Caffaro, William Smith, Richard Lynch...

...and, of course, Pam Grier and Jeanne Bell...yum (now that's some baaad ass  ).

Absolutely! How could I forget Smith and Lynch?

Robert Shaw, Bruce Lee, De Niro, Yul Brynner, Robert Tessier....

[Doctor Menard]

Going a slightly different direction here.

TV badasses

James Arness
Patrick Macnee
Fred Dryer
Patrick McGoohan
Gareth Hunt
Joanna Lumley
Diana Rigg
Honor Blackman
Claude Akins (well, TV and movie badass)

(interesting that I've listed most of the cast from the different incarnations of The Avengers)





How about Peter Cushing as a badass? How many times did he kick Dracula's ass or have a village up in arms over his latest creation?

[the Rev. J. Darkside]

I can't believe I haven't mention Lee Marvin. How could I forget him? And Humphrey Bogart? The later had his name turned into an action expressing overbearing badassery.

[Trevor]

Michael Parks (The Hitman, 1991) ~ the most unrepentant, unlovable badass in any movie.

Richard Widmark (Murder On The Orient Express)

[JJ80]

A few more TV badasses might be:

- John Thaw in "The Sweeney";
- Sean Bean as "Sharpe"
- Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins in "The Professionals";
- Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt in "Life On Mars"
- Mark McManus as "Taggart".

[the Rev. J. Darkside]

Has anyone mentioned Marlon Brando yet? He was pretty badass in The Wild One. What about Paul Newman?