10 Flicks: Bad Ass Movies
It’s time for another feature to launch on The Athletic Nerd. Just about every blog about movies has lists. It’s inevitable. I’m about to join the team but I’ll be taking a different approach. By now, many of you are aware I earn a living editing professional sports. Sports is another area where lists are a must. On my network we countdown 5 highlights just about every day in categories like plays, misplays, fights, hits etc…
Now, I’m a sports fan in general so I do watch shows on ‘the other guys’ network. They create a top 10 list everyday that isn’t necessarily based on plays from that week. They base their list on current events using big news as a spring board to list similar stories.
This is the approach I plan to take with my lists and so in honour of yesterday’s ’44 Inch Chest’ post, here’s are 10 Bad Ass Movies.
300
I’m not afraid to go to the movies by myself and those Spartans got me twice for a total of 4 trips to the theater. From a visual stand point, this movie brought something new to the table that blew my mind. The fights are incredible and be honest, you’ve yelled it…
‘This is Sparta!’
Terminator 2
One of the best action movies of all time. Thinking about T2 has me even more excited for Cameron’s Avatar this month. Terminator 2 is one of the best sequels ever with better action, better effects and better gigantic explosions. It’s as bad ass as it gets.
“Come with me if you want to live.”
In Bruges
This movie made my list purely because of story. A simple concept told well and it all started with an original and hilarious script by Writer/Director Martin McDonagh. (I’m a big fan of original scripts. There’s only so many remakes and sequels I can take.) I bought this movie without seeing it thinking it could be good but I never thought it would become one of my all time favorites.
Predator
Oh Arnold, so many awesome movies. Predator is one of those movies that every bad ass movie fan has seen at least 457 times. Give or take. Don’t believe me? Stand in front of a group of people and yell:
“Get to the choppah!”
You’ll find out who the fans are. They’ll be the ones laughing. However, make sure you set it up. Don’t just randomly yell it because there is a chance you could look like an idiot. Attempt at your own risk.
“Soon the hunt will begin…” That old school voice over guy really doesn’t read with much enthusiasm does he?
Boondock Saints
I saw this movie years after it was released. The story of how it was produced is absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend you watch the documentary Overnight as well. Regardless of the trouble surrounding the production, Troy Duffy’s movie has so many memorable moments, it’s hard to ignore.
Not sure if I’m ready to see the new movie though…
Resevoir Dogs
Admit it, when you saw the title of this post, you knew Tarantino would show up eventually. What more needs to be said?
Snatch
I really didn’t know what to expect when I first saw this movie. A friend of mine showed it to me one day and I went out and bought it a few days later. It’s one of those movies that makes you ask a question I consider to be one of the highest compliments you can give a filmmaker.
“How did you come up with that?”
Such a good flick.
Goodfellas
Admit it, when you saw the title of this post, you knew Scorsese would show up eventually. What more needs to be said?
Seven
Story. I’m all about story. In my opinion, Seven has one of the best endings in the history of film. If you haven’t seen this movie and it hasn’t been ruined for you go out and buy it. I’m literally jealous of everyone who hasn’t experienced Seven yet. I would love to experience it for the first time again.
“What’s in the box!”
Pulp Fiction
Tarantino again. Is anybody else shocked two of his films made this list? Pulp Fiction is a true classic bad ass movie. It changed the way people looked at films and inspired young filmmakers everywhere. There have been countless emulators out there and while none have truly duplicated Tarantino, we still have him to thank some pretty great movies. It’s the bad ass flick that started it all, for me at least.
There it is. My top 10 Bad Ass flicks. I’m sure there are people out there who disagree. I recommend commenting below. I probably overlooked about a million movies. That’s the beauty of runnin my own site. I’ll just make another list.
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There are some deficiencies in this list, I’m afraid.
First: no movies at all from before 1987? Seriously?
Second: you are missing a long list of badasses who belong on ANY list of badasses. Bogart. John Wayne. Lee Marvin. Lee van Cleef. Burt Lancaster. Chow Yun Fat. Toshiro Mifune. Charles Bronson. It’s rather appalling that NONE of these make your list.
Third: I’m curious about your definition of “bad ass”. Seven is a very well-made movie, and stylish, and certainly takes sadistic joy in messing with the viewer’s expectations. But there is no thrill, no uplift, to it, no masculine ideal to which it aspires. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Walker intended John Doe to be the hero of the piece — and John Doe is many things, but bad ass he is not. Diabolical, yes, and brilliant, and fiendish, but not bad ass.
So, permit me to answer your list with an alternative:
10. Where Eagles Dare. Clint Eastwood. Machine gun in each hand. Mowing down a hall full of Nazis. Case closed.
9. Terminator It’s just a stronger story than 2. Toss-up between this and Aliens.
8. OK, if you’ve GOT to have Tarantino in here, let’s make it Kill Bill.
7. The Killer. Bad ass cop. Bad ass killer. Ten thousand bullets. Case closed.
6. Sahara. Bogart commands a tank in WWII that’s lost, alone, low on gas, and practically out of ammo and water. Finds out they’re behind enemy lines, and ends up having to outwit an entire German regiment. And does. (Lots of Bogie films to choose from, I went relatively obscure.)
5. The Dirty Dozen. I mean, come on.
4. The Searchers. It’s flawed and uneven, granted. But John Wayne’s character shoots the eyes out of a dead Indian because the Indian would believe it would condemn his soul to wander lost forever.
3. The Train. “You should be paid. How much for the damage?” “One hundred francs.” “How much for saving my life?”
2. Once Upon a Time in the West. “I saw dusters like this recently. Inside the dusters were three men.” “So?” “Inside the men were three bullets.”
1. Yojimbo. “Fool! I can’t die yet, there are still quite a few men I have to kill!”
Call it a companion list, as mine only has one movie made after ’87 on it.
But seriously, they made movies before 1987. And no few of them were bad ass. I swear.
(And I am well aware that I left Lee van Cleef out of my list, too. Perhaps substitute The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for Where Eagles Dare, to keep Clint on.)
You’ve definitely got me when it comes to dates. It’s a good point.
I’m not stating those films AREN’T deserving to be on my list, these are just my personal favorites. It certainly isn’t THE list by any means.
The whole list started because of the trailer for 44 Inch Chest, which I thought was fantastic. I sat down to think about movies I consider good company for a film like that. I’m the first to admit movies like 300 and Seven aren’t really the same types of movies, I’m just a huge fan.
Why aren’t there any movies before 87? The obvious answer is the fact that I’m 26 but I’m not going to hide behind my age because all of those movies are readily available to watch at any time.
Instead, I’ve made my own list, started a discussion and now I can take a closer look at the films you put on yours. I’d watch them all if I had the time to do so. So they may not be on my list yet but they are definitely on my list of films I like to see. (I’ve seen a few of them but not all.) Which one do you think has the best chance of knocking a movie off my list?
Oh and in this case I’d define the term Bad Ass Movie simply as an awesome movie I adore. I should probably make an Old School Bad Ass movie list as well and dig deeper into the classics. Next time.
Yours is a good companion list though. Although I disagree about Terminator and selecting Kill Bill over Tarantino’s earlier films. That’s just personal preference. You are correct about Tarantino though, he needs to be on the list somewhere.
I see, so you were saying “bad ass” simply in the sense of “I strongly approve”. I took it to mean macho, or aiming for some kind of masculine ideal. ‘Cause I’m wid like that.
Correction to one comment I made, I had two movies post-’87, as The Killer hails from ’89.
A few more titles to add to your “to watch” list of bad-assery: The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers from the ’70s (best swordfights EVER); Grand Duel (Lee van Cleef spaghetti western); The Road Warrior (how did we both leave that one off???); and another samurai classic, Sword of Doom.
Nice. I’m on it.
When I think “bad ass” the hero suffers through tons of crap and wins in the end…you know…a kick ass action movie. I think you threw down some good movies, but here are 10 I would choose.
1. Lethal Weapon
2. Die Hard
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Leon: The Professional
5. Snatch
6. Commando
7. Shooter
8. Iron Man
9. Remo Williams the Adventure Begins
10. Enter the Dragon
Cliche actor or not, Vin Diesel in Pitch Black practically epitomizes “badass.”
Other notables that haven’t been mentioned:
Clive Owen in Inside Man
Russell Crowe in Gladiator
Wesley Snipes in the Blade trilogy
Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (different sort of badass)
These lists could go on and on…lol
I do have to mention some of my own though:
-Any…ok most James Bond movies.
-The Bourne series. I’d say one of the best hand to hand combat scenes ever. Two guys fight TO THE DEATH! broken libs bones and all with books, pens, and common items found in a study/office.(I need to watch these again)
-The Great Escape/Heart’s War. Similar type movies, a classic and a modern PoW escape story.
-Saving Private Ryan. Ok there a lot of war movies I’ll leave that there.
and what about girl bad asses?
-Resident Evil
-Underworld
-Ultraviolet
That list goes on too… Any ways, I guess movies are just awsome! lol
I do understand where you were comming from with your list though, but we watched a few of those together.
Oh ya how could have almost forgotten any…almost anything with Jedi in it…