Next "tough" guy to play Dirty Harry or Gladiator?

[Holton181]

Owen, Marky Mark, Norton & Statham (although, like Vin, he's become more of a 'pop sensation' lately) are also who would come to mind.

What's wrong with being a pop icon badass? Weren't Eastwood, Heston, and McQueen "pop" icons in their day? Aren't they still now?

I say a +1 for Vin. Boiler Room was a pretty good movie, and The fast and furious and Pitch Black are guilty pleasures of mine

 

[Kratos]

Stallone wasn't that big. HGH really took off in the 90's, any way. Run-of-the-mill guys now make the old greats look small.

Now as for modern tough guys, I'd cast my vote for Duncan, Wahlberg, Diesel, the Rock, and Statham, too. How's he too big to be Bond? He's only 5'8" or so, and he's not that big, either. He'd have been perfect if you ask me. Don't forget Ving Rhames. He's another one with a "Don't f___ with me" voice. DiCaprio, not so much. I have gained new respect for him since Blood Diamond and The Departed, but he's still not my idea of a badass.

 

[ClubmanRob]

If 98% of the guys named in this thread are considered "tough", then it makes me feel a little better about my own masculinity. Seriously... Jason Statham? Leonardo Dicaprio? I'm not even going to ruminate on frigging Marky Mark...

I'm sorry if this turns out to be a bit of a tirade, but these guys are today's "heavies"? Vin Diesel and The Rock are the new Robert Mitchum and Lee Van Cleef? Big and goofy looking doesn't make you tough. Ed Norton will never be Charles Bronson. Leo Di Caprio, no matter how much lipstick he wears, will never be Lawrence Tierney.

Eastwood's still alive. So is Sean Connery. Those guys are tough. I like seeing guys in movies that would probably kill you in real life if you pissed them off. Homicidal leading men were a dime a dozen back in the fifties and sixties. Now we've gone back to this era of sensitive pansies with nice bodies that Marlon Brando helped usher in.

Hogwash, I say. Mickey Rourke is the only thing coming to mind when I think of tough guys in movies. Michael Madsen maybe. The lavender crowd mentioned in this thread really makes me wonder if this is what is considered the standard of masculinity in the world today.

 

[Austin]

If 98% of the guys named in this thread are considered "tough", then it makes me feel a little better about my own masculinity. Seriously... Jason Statham? Leonardo Dicaprio? I'm not even going to ruminate on frigging Marky Mark...

I'm sorry if this turns out to be a bit of a tirade, but these guys are today's "heavies"? Vin Diesel and The Rock are the new Robert Mitchum and Lee Van Cleef? Big and goofy looking doesn't make you tough. Ed Norton will never be Charles Bronson. Leo Di Caprio, no matter how much lipstick he wears, will never be Lawrence Tierney.

Eastwood's still alive. So is Sean Connery. Those guys are tough. I like seeing guys in movies that would probably kill you in real life if you pissed them off. Homicidal leading men were a dime a dozen back in the fifties and sixties. Now we've gone back to this era of sensitive pansies with nice bodies that Marlon Brando helped usher in.

Hogwash, I say. Mickey Rourke is the only thing coming to mind when I think of tough guys in movies. Michael Madsen maybe. The lavender crowd mentioned in this thread really makes me wonder if this is what is considered the standard of masculinity in the world today.

Having a bad day Rob?

 

[ClubmanRob]

Having a bad day Rob?

Well, I just pistol whipped some punks that were mugging an old lady. Then I came home and grabbed my lady and made love to her in a mean way. Then I splashed Mandom all over.

... MMM. Mandom.

 

[Ceezer]

Who would you rather look like? I'd go with Craig or Statham any day.

Of those 4? Stalone. Arnold's size, even if able to obtain naturally, is too much work to maintain.

What's wrong with being a pop icon badass?

Nothing, but what I called them was 'pop sensation'. That means, in my opionion, they're used these days not so much because they make a good badass, but because women like to look at them.

I love watching Mickey Rourke, and Michael Madsen is a good one that slipped my mind.

Oh, just thought of another good tough guy: Vinnie Jones.

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

Michael Madsen

He was just plain creepy in "Reservoir Dogs"

 

[uberlegit]

Of those 4? Stalone. Arnold's size, even if able to obtain naturally, is too much work to maintain.

Oh, just thought of another good tough guy: Vinnie Jones.

You're saying you can maintain Stallone's physique? Even in the First Blood days, before he was on the juice exclusive, that must have taken a lot of work.

+1 on Jones, totally slipped my mind. He's a bit of a knucklehead, though, but with emphasis on the knuckle.

 

[Bertilak]

Leo Di Caprio, no matter how much lipstick he wears, will never be Lawrence Tierney.

Not Gene Tierney either, although I think that's closer to the style he's going for!

 

[ClubmanRob]

Not Gene Tierney either, although I think that's closer to the style he's going for!

 

[Kratos]

Wahlberg's come a looong way from his Marky Mark days. At least Vin Diesel has some real-life cred. He actually was a bouncer. Most of them aren't nancy boys. All we are going off of is the characters they play. We don't have a great pool to choose from these days. I forgot about "Marv." He's definitely on the list. And the Rock was a damn pro wrestler. It may be a silly man-opera, but it is dangerous. Those guys ain't no sissies. They perform with broken ribs, strained joints, and various other injuries.

 

[Phog Allen]

I realise each generation has their set of hollywood stars that appeal to them. It is whatever you grow up with. I agree with Rob about Marky Mark. Egads. And I am sorry but Ed Norton?!!! Sorry guys, go find 1986's Manhunter and watch William Peterson in the lead. Then watch Red Dragon and...well you get the idea. Don't send a boy to do a man's job. I just never could buy Norton as a tough guy. Again, just prejudices but I am just old enough to remember Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, and Mitchum still starring in movies in their FIFTIES and they looked like they could still kick the crap out of any two of these youngsters. Tell you who I do like and they are getting real long in the tooth as well. Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot. Yeah, I can just see it now. Marky Mark and Norton as Tell and Orrin Sacket. Tim Roth is good as well and don't overlook Gary Oldman and of course Bruce Willis. I just don't know of these youngsters who it will be. Maybe Christian Bale?

Regards, Todd

 

[KarthVader]

Okay, Leo DiCaprio was probably not a good choice; I just went off his performance in The Departed. Speaking of The Departed....Matt Damon? He did all three Bourne movies and looked and acted the part.

I do agree with some of you though, there is something about watching Steve McQueen in Bullitt or Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry that you don't really get in today's films. Maybe it's the bravado and the pure masculinity of handling a 1968 Mustang GT or brandishing a .44 Magnum. The action stars of today seem too....clean?

 

[Ceezer]

I think the Rock has made a decent transition from the squared circle to the silver screen, as far as acting and persona are concerned, and he's not foolishly big, either.

I'd like to see more from Triple H as I really enjoyed him in Blade 3 and he sure gives off the tough guy vibe. Even when he's playing a face he still feels almost like a heel. And, like The Rock, he's got some size but isn't freakishly large.

The original poster specifically asked us to pick from the pool of "today's" actors and as much as I admire Clint, Kris, Sam and all the old salty dogs, and while they still show up in a film from time to time, I'd consider them actors of 'yesterday'. Even Madsen, Rourke, and others are 'past their prime', as much as I hate to say it. As we've been able to determine, there's not a whole lot left to pick from...

 

[TorzJohnson]

Well, I just pistol whipped some punks that were mugging an old lady. Then I came home and grabbed my lady and made love to her in a mean way. Then I splashed Mandom all over.

... MMM. Mandom.

You are my new hero!!!

I wish Haystack Calhoun was still alive. He'd twist all these Hollywood pretty boys up like so many pretzels and then polish off 5 baked hams by himself.

 

[ouch]

At least Vin Diesel has some real-life cred. He actually was a bouncer.

Street cred?
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD2Mb8pM6E8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Kratos]

I was gonna mention the breakdancing as well, but he was just a kid. It's hard, but not really a tough-guy thing.

Matt Damon? Come on. At least Wahlberg put some real time in at the gym. Damon looks like he'd have trouble changing his own tire. Same for Norton.

 

[Luc]

Kiefer Sutherland... After the New York 'incident' I'm not sure I would hang out too closely...

 

[ClubmanRob]

You are my new hero!!!

I wish Haystack Calhoun was still alive. He'd twist all these Hollywood pretty boys up like so many pretzels and then polish off 5 baked hams by himself.

Haystack!!!!!!!!!

Hell, the fella in your avatar was one of the most brutal wrestlers I ever saw do their thing.

The names I keep hearing... fellas, it's not that these guys aren't big. I'm not even saying that they're not manly in certain ways. I'm just saying that there is no air of menace to them like the men of yesteryear. I'm 27, so it's not that these were the guys that were "hot" when I was coming up, it's just that the ones that were big when I was coming up, paled in comparison to what I grew up thinking a man was supposed to carry himself like.

Kratos brought up Vin Diesel being a bouncer when he was younger... pssht. Guys like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson actually killed people. Robert Mitchum escaped from a South Carolina chain gang when he was 16 and hobo'd around the country in a box car. Lawrence Tierney beat a man into a coma while working construction, then stabbed the officer that arrested him with a broken bottle of Cutty Sark. Jack Palance started working in coal mines when he was five years old, was a heavyweight boxer during his teens, then had a B24 fuselage blow up and melt half his face off during WWII. These were real life tough guys, fellas that just didn't give a damn about anything but being a man.

Gentlemen, these are the "men" of our generation:

That last one was Colin Farrel, if you couldn't "make out" the star.

 

[Brodirt]

I posted that Vin Diesel vid in another thread months ago, it eliminates him from the conversation completely in my eyes...despite Pitch Black.

How about Paul Walker? Pretty boy, yes... he is real life good looking and real life ripped/fit. I think he could probably pull off anything Statham or Craig could.