Grab your protein shakes and flex those muscles as we count down the most outrageously masculine characters to ever grace the silver screen! From knife-wielding Aussies to throat-ripping bouncers, these cinematic tough guys defined what it means to be a man's man in Hollywood. But which bicep-bulging, one-liner-dropping alpha male will claim the top spot?
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00:00It's over, Johnny. It's over! Nothing is over! Nothing!
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most outstanding examples of cinematic masculinity.
00:16That crock was going to eat me alive.
00:21Oh, I wouldn't hold that against him. I only thought it crossed my mind once or twice.
00:2620. Jack Burton
00:30Big Trouble in Little China
00:32Like I told my last wife, I says, honey, I never drive faster than I can see. Besides that, it's on the reflexes.
00:41Kurt Russell is an actor that can be counted on to deliver reliably masculine performances while also leaving room for emotional and comedic moments.
00:50Big Trouble in Little China is one of those over-the-top 80s movies that throws a lot of things at the wall, with Russell's Jack Burton co-leading the charge.
01:00Now, from here on, it gets pretty normal. Offices, store rooms, a nice false front. I count to three, I open that door, and we move out.
01:08Everybody got that.
01:09Ready? Follow the leader. One, two, three.
01:16We may be trapped.
01:17This character is confident, perhaps to a fault, but never obnoxious. Burton is loyal to his friend Wang, and Big Trouble in Little China hinges upon their relationship.
01:29I don't want to insult you.
01:32No, no, go ahead.
01:34Insult me.
01:36It might have been easy for Jack Burton to take a backseat to the monsters, action, and sorcery goings in the movie, but thankfully, this never occurs.
01:46We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we, Wang?
01:50No horseshit, Jack.
01:52No horseshit.
01:59Number 19. James Dalton. Roadhouse.
02:03I'm telling you straight.
02:05It's my way or the highway.
02:09So anybody who wants to walk, do it now.
02:11The 2024 remake of Roadhouse had some big shoes to fill when it came to the casting of James Dalton.
02:19Jake Gyllenhaal did a fine job, but who are we kidding?
02:23It's Patrick Swayze that will always stand and kick in those aforementioned shoes.
02:29Sorry, we're closed.
02:32Well, then what are all these people doing here?
02:35Drinking and having a good time.
02:38Well, that's why we're here.
02:41You're too stupid to have a good time.
02:45An emotionally centered tough guy that pulls rank on the double deuce.
02:50Roadhouse was somewhat notorious for its violence and sexuality back in 89,
02:55yet Swayze's character never becomes part and parcel to the Sleaze.
03:00Instead, Dalton is one of those dudes who's polite and speaks softly.
03:05To paraphrase his own words, he's nice until it's time not to be nice.
03:11I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice.
03:18And if that includes, well, tearing out a man's throat with his bare hands, then so be it.
03:23Number 18, Mr. Smith, Shoot'em Up.
03:35Eat your vegetables.
03:36He's right here!
03:38Come on!
03:412007's Shoot'em Up admittedly isn't a film that demands a lot of characterization
03:45when it comes to Clive Owen's character of Mr. Smith.
03:49We know that he's formerly been trained as a soldier.
03:52That much is obvious by the way he handles his weaponry.
03:56Nothing like a good hand job.
04:01Beyond this, Shoot'em Up is primarily concerned with keeping the pace quick
04:05and the bullets even quicker.
04:07Mr. Smith certainly possesses a moral code.
04:10He does save a baby, after all.
04:13But the audience can also appreciate that he doesn't pass any sort of judgments
04:17upon Monica Bellucci's sex worker character.
04:20I don't even know your real name.
04:23Who are you, really, Smith?
04:25I'm a British nanny, and I'm dangerous.
04:29They team up in more ways than one,
04:31within a film that never takes itself too seriously.
04:35What I really hate
04:36is a p*** with a gun in his hand.
04:40Number 17
04:44Frank Martin
04:46The Transporter Franchise
04:48Rule 1
04:49Never change the deal.
04:51Deal is transportation for three men with a combined weight of 254 kilos.
04:55Yeah, well this is a new deal.
04:57Jason Statham is a modern action movie icon
05:01who has inhabited a lot of different characters over the years,
05:05such as Chev Chelios from the Crank series.
05:08Some of them possess more depth than others,
05:11but probably no one would argue against Frank Martin from The Transporter
05:15being one of Statham's best.
05:18Rules are meant to be broken.
05:19Not mine.
05:23Let's go.
05:24The character's special ops background creates a fun sandbox in which Statham can play,
05:30while the franchise's penchant for complicated action set pieces has created an impressive legacy.
05:36He tried to kill you!
05:37And as far as he knows, he succeeded.
05:39Look, I'm gonna give you some advice.
05:40I don't know what you're into.
05:41I don't care what you're into.
05:43But whoever wanted you dead thinks you're dead.
05:44You have a free pass to start over.
05:46Here's the advice.
05:47Start over!
05:49Less is usually more when it comes to Jason Statham's performances.
05:53But Frank Martin and The Transporter sell both steak and sizzle in equal measure.
05:59High class, good reputation.
06:04I didn't get your name.
06:05Rule 2, no names.
06:08Of course.
06:10Number 16, Ron Burgundy, Anchorman.
06:13The legend of Ron Burgundy.
06:15We're on in five, four.
06:19When the clock struck six, it meant one thing for Ron Burgundy and his news team.
06:24Go time.
06:26Channel 4 News with five-time Emmy Award winning anchor, Ron Burgundy.
06:31There's a lot to the archetypal male personality than just muscles and one-liners.
06:37Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy from the Anchorman franchise instead exists in that space from
06:43the 1970s where Kitsch met cool.
06:47I'm a beard of Zeus.
06:52Burgundy is a little chauvinistic, sure, but he also has a sensitive side and plays jazz flute.
06:59He's a lounge lizard in a suit, delivering some classy news to his San Diego faithful.
07:05Ferrell's performance is satire, but it's 100% on the nose.
07:10Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means
07:19a whale's vagina.
07:21It's a broad sort of character for a broad decade, one defined by excess and selfishness,
07:28albeit, in the best possible way.
07:32Boy, that escalated quickly.
07:35I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
07:38Number 15.
07:40Tallahassee, the Zombieland franchise.
07:43What's your name?
07:44Stop.
07:45No names.
07:46Keeps us from getting too familiar.
07:50You almost knocked over your alcohol with your knife.
07:52The mentor archetype of moviemaking can often take many forms.
07:59Sometimes, it's a wise old sage that imparts some wisdom, while other times, it's tough
08:04guys like Tallahassee from the Zombieland franchise.
08:07Woody Harrelson's physicality in the role feels legitimate.
08:26We can totally see how this experienced and no-nonsense character could serve as a teacher
08:30for younger protagonists like Columbus.
08:33It's a role that can sometimes be thankless, since it often entails some kind of noble
08:39sacrifice.
08:40We're glad that, instead of this, Tallahassee continues on the journey with the Zombieland
08:45sequel.
08:46I got it.
08:49Okay.
08:53Yeah, it's good you shot your alcohol with your gun.
08:58Number 14.
09:00Lee, enter the dragon.
09:01What was that?
09:04An exhibition?
09:05We need emotional content.
09:11Try again.
09:12It doesn't take a leap of faith to connect Bruce Lee to nonstop masculinity.
09:18His character from 1973's Enter the Dragon helped codify the kung fu explosion of the 1970s.
09:25Essentially, creating a textbook template.
09:27This is a film with a simple action-driven plot that highlights Lee's excellence in his field.
09:38The actor is ripped and dangerously cool, portraying a martial arts instructor tasked
09:44with infiltrating a private compound.
09:47That's all we need to know, since the rest is just gravy.
09:50We watch Lee command the screen with power, annihilating all opposition during his quest for answers.
10:08Oh, and if you look real closely, one can even spot a young Jackie Chan as one of the henchmen
10:14that fall beneath Lee's educated fists of fury.
10:17Number 13.
10:27John Shaft.
10:28The Shaft franchise.
10:30He's a complicated man, but no one understands him but his woman.
10:36John Shaft.
10:37There were few mothers back then, and even fewer now, that could compare with the coolness
10:43of John Shaft.
10:45Richard Roundtree's fashion model good looks belied a believable on-screen toughness with
10:50his performance of Ernest Tidyman's fictional private dick.
10:53Well, John, what'd you get?
10:55The first movie in the Shaft franchise sets the stage for us, as Roundtree crosses a busy
11:10NYC street during heavy traffic.
11:13Isaac Hayes' theme song tells us Shaft is bad, but Roundtree's physicality makes us believe
11:19it, as he helps kick in the door for the 1970s blaxploitation boom.
11:39Samuel L. Jackson and Jesse Usher have both carried on the Shaft legacy in more recent
11:45years, but there will probably never be anybody cooler than Roundtree's OG.
11:51Case just busted wide open.
11:52Close it for me.
11:53What the crap, man?
11:54It's the Shaft.
11:56Looks like you're going to have to close it yourself.
11:58Shitty.
12:02Number 12.
12:04Inspector Harold Francis Callahan.
12:06The Dirty Harry franchise.
12:09You've got to ask yourself one question.
12:11Do I feel lucky?
12:14Well, do you, punk?
12:15Quentin Tarantino's 2022 book Cinema Speculation included an interesting appraisal of Clint
12:22Eastwood's Dirty Harry Callahan.
12:24This was a man out of time, to paraphrase Tarantino.
12:28You've got to be kidding.
12:30I haven't got any time to break any newcomers.
12:32A conservative voice that spoke for a generation that was feeling increasingly lost.
12:38Callahan's search for justice in the form of a kidnapped young girl is blurred by his actions,
12:43most of which would be considered illegal or at least unlawful today.
12:48I have rights.
12:49What am I doing?
12:53The free love, anti-authoritarian, and black power movements of the 1970s were frightening
12:59to generations of the establishment.
13:01Yet, Harry Callahan was here to underline certain truths that were forged in stone.
13:07Justice was going to be served at the barrel of a gun, and there was nothing any punk was
13:13going to do about it.
13:14I know what you're thinking, punk.
13:17You're thinking did he fire six shots or only five.
13:22Now, to tell you the truth, I forgot myself and all this excitement.
13:25Number 11.
13:27Conrad Stonebanks.
13:28The Expendables 3.
13:30I mean, what is it?
13:31Just some paint, brushes, some cheap canvas?
13:33What's the big deal?
13:39It's shit.
13:40What do you want for it?
13:42Three million.
13:42It's done.
13:45The controversies surrounding Mel Gibson's life have made it easier for the actor to play
13:50villains in recent years, including Conrad Stonebanks in The Expendables 3.
13:55This co-founder of the team comes to a head with his former partner, Barney Ross, a role
14:01that allowed Gibson to chew a serious amount of scenery.
14:04See, you tie me up like an animal.
14:07Lead me to the slaughter.
14:08You humiliate me.
14:09Disgrace me.
14:10Now, when the time comes to kill you, and I will, I will not use a weapon.
14:15I will use my hands, because I want you to feel the way that I feel right now.
14:20The Expendables franchise, on the whole, has always played around with ideas of hyper-actualized
14:26masculinity.
14:27This third entry was no exception, knowingly playing up Gibson's reputation to the point
14:33where the audience isn't exactly sure where the lethal weapon actor begins and the character
14:38ends.
14:39The entire complex has been wired with C4.
14:42It'll take a regular Joe, plus 90 seconds to get out of there.
14:47You've got, how about 45?
14:48Number 10.
14:52Michael J. Crocodile Dundee.
14:54Crocodile Dundee.
14:55Uh, you know what?
14:56Why don't you feel for me, will I?
14:59The answer to this, charming young wife.
15:02The measure of a man isn't the balance of his bank account, but the length of his knife.
15:08At least it is when we're talking about rugged men from down under.
15:13Growing up in the Australian Outback has left Mick Dundee unconditioned to the domestic life
15:18of the city, and lets him move through the world, unfazed by most things.
15:24Nick, give him your wallet.
15:26What pull?
15:27He's got a knife.
15:29That's not a knife.
15:36That's a knife.
15:37His uncaring and courageous demeanor inadvertently attracts the eyes of various women, but in
15:43a mixed world, all a man needs is a piece of land to call his own, and a trusty Bowie Knight.
15:50Taking down alligators, or sweeping engaged women off their feet, it's all the same for
15:56the Dundee.
15:57Number 9, Snake Plissken, escape from New York.
16:15I'm at the plane.
16:18Nobody else made it, Hulk.
16:20Wait a minute.
16:22Most men would be destroyed after being betrayed by their own country.
16:26But it's fairly evident that this ex-Special Forces operator is cut from a different cloth.
16:32In a war-torn era, Snake has adopted a survival instinct, which involves not trusting the
16:38government or any and all law enforcement.
16:42You want to see him sprayed all over that map, baby?
16:44Where's the president?
16:45Swear to God, Snake, I don't know.
16:47F*** with me.
16:49Why do you want to know?
16:51I want him.
16:53After being incarcerated, he is sought after for his particular set of skills and offered
16:58a chance to clear his name by rescuing the president.
17:02Although still wary of the government he used to serve, Snake accepts the offer, and in the
17:08process, he proves you don't need both eyes to shoot a gun.
17:13We'd make one hell of a team, Snake.
17:20The name's Plissken.
17:27Number 8.
17:28Black Dynamite.
17:29Black Dynamite.
17:30Honey B, what's happening, baby?
17:32Black Dynamite.
17:33What you do to Nipsey?
17:35Now, word on the street is that he's gonna be in traction.
17:38You know me?
17:39I just talked to him.
17:42Michael Jai White is a formidable action star in his own right, but fans could argue
17:48that it was the character of Black Dynamite that remains his best and most well-known character.
17:54This pastiche of blaxploitation movie cliches is executed with reverence for the source material,
18:01enabling White's character to jump off the screen with exaggerated examples of toughness.
18:21If some of the characters around Black Dynamite feel as if they're too parodic, White playing
18:26it relatively straight allows for the audience to dive into the film's world.
18:31It's a balance that could have easily swayed one way or the other under less experienced
18:36hands, but Black Dynamite thankfully brings it home.
18:40Because wherever there's injustice, wrongs to be righted, innocence to be defended, Black
18:47Dynamite will be there delivering ass-whoopings.
18:50And I would not hesitate to lay the hammer down on any clown that comes around.
18:55Because if they wanna fight, they best come see me.
18:59Number 7.
19:00Luke Hobbs.
19:01The Fast and the Furious franchise.
19:03It's a hell of a mess.
19:05Yeah, it is.
19:07You know I can't let you two go.
19:11I ain't made that way.
19:13If you see this Diplomatic Security Service agent flashing his sirens behind you, it would
19:18be in your best interest to pull over.
19:21In the world of the Fast and the Furious, Luke Hobbs is the law, and he isn't afraid
19:26to bend the rules once in a while if it means getting his man.
19:29Who the hell are you?
19:31Oh, I'm what you call an ice-cold can of whoop-ass.
19:36Hobbs' unfailing loyalty and sense of justice has gotten him far in his career, gaining him
19:43respect in the federal world as well as on the streets.
19:47On any given day, the agent can be found sporting his signature Smith & Wesson.
19:52But we'd advise you to be more scared of the two guns attached to his shoulders.
19:576.
20:07Frank Dukes – Blood Sports
20:18The age-old saying of, never let the truth get in the way of a good story definitely applies
20:24to the case of Frank Dukes.
20:26The tall tales and alleged lies from this Canadian fight choreographer served as the
20:30basis for the 1988 action classic, Bloodsport, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
20:37I can be strong, alone, on my own.
20:47I can be strong.
20:51Time has seen Dukes' story become disputed by multiple reputable sources, but there's
20:56no denying the righteous machismo of Van Damme's oiled-up Kumite fighting champion.
21:03Bloodsport was one of the movies that helped make Van Damme a household name in the 80s and
21:0790s, and it's a performance that's still impressive today, unlike the real Dukes' military
21:14and combat history.
21:265.
21:27Judge Dredd – Dredd
21:29Your crimes include multiple homicide and the attempted murder of a judge.
21:34If you do not comply, the sentence is death.
21:38This 2012 adaptation of the Judge Dredd comic franchise is… depending on who you ask…
21:45either a formidable character retcon or a disappointing CGI fest fest fested by its Stallone counterpart.
21:52Praise in the former camp leaned heavily into the performance of Carl Urban in the lead role.
21:58How do you want it, kids?
22:00Body bags or juve cubes?
22:02Makes no difference to me.
22:04One that largely avoids the camp of Judge Dredd 1995.
22:10Drop your weapon!
22:13We honestly see both sides, since Urban's Dredd is far more serious and poses much more
22:19of a threat in this world.
22:21The law is black and white to Dredd, and he's out to enforce it at any cost.
22:26It's a character that almost feels like an updated Harry Callahan for the cyberpunk set.
22:32And this is high praise.
22:34Your crimes are multiple homicide and the manufacture and distribution of narcotics.
22:39How do you plead?
22:40How do you plead?
22:48Defense noted.
22:53Number 4.
22:54Major Alan Dutch Schaefer.
22:57Predator.
22:58A lot of movies that become memes never quite recover that initial oomph that made them
23:19great in the first place.
23:21Predator is a notable exception.
23:23An ultra-manly affair that also just happens to contain the hardest-going handshake in the
23:28history of cinema.
23:30You son of a b----.
23:36What's the matter?
23:38The CIA got you pushing too many pencils?
23:40It also helps, of course, that the film is anchored around Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan Dutch Schaefer.
23:46Schwarzenegger's charisma and physical presence sets Schaefer apart from other lean and wiry action protagonists.
23:56The muscles and veins are bulging from the moment we meet Dutch.
24:00Yet, all the same, this paramilitary leader still feels like he's up against it when the Predator appears on screen.
24:08That said, the movie is definitely in good hands with Dutch.
24:13You're one ugly mother f----.
24:17Number 3.
24:18Ashley Joanna Ash Williams.
24:21The Evil Dead franchise.
24:23Who are you?
24:24Who wants to know?
24:26I am Henry the Red, Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northlands and leader of its peoples.
24:35Well, hello, Mr. Fancy Pants.
24:38It's true that Ashley Ash Williams' middle initial does tend to change depending upon which
24:45form of evil dead media you happen to be reading.
24:48Playing devil's advocate, however, it's interesting that Williams has retained so many supposed feminine
24:55characteristics with regards to his name.
24:58This is a character whose masculinity and resourcefulness are never really called into question.
25:05Did I mention I hate sellers?
25:07Ash has conquered deadites again and again, and there's nobody crazy enough to say otherwise.
25:12Lest they wind up at the business end of a boomstick.
25:16So when his girlfriend Cheryl refers to him as Ashley, or as the Ash vs. Evil Dead series
25:22drops, the Joanna reveal, nothing really changes.
25:27Ash is Ash.
25:28He's a badass.
25:29And that will never change.
25:31Sure, I could have stayed in the past.
25:35I could have even been king.
25:39But in my own way, I am king.
25:45Hail to the king, baby.
25:472.
25:48John Rambo
25:50The Rambo Franchise
25:52I could have killed them all.
25:58I could have killed you.
26:00In time of the law, out here it's me.
26:04Don't push it.
26:06Movie franchises tend to play fast and loose when it comes to lore and mythology, often
26:12inventing or doling certain types of characters over multiple movies.
26:16The John Rambo character portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in 1982's First Blood couldn't feel
26:22further apart from the one in 2019's Last Blood.
26:26You are not in the war anymore.
26:29Only in your head.
26:33This Vietnam veteran arrives on screen with a lot of psychological baggage from his wartime
26:38service.
26:39A scrapped alternate ending for First Blood even saw the character committing an act of
26:44self-destruction at its climax.
26:48This mission is over, Rambo.
26:49Do you understand me?
26:51This mission is over!
26:53Contrast this with the bad guy annihilating John Rambo from the film's sequels, and the
26:58parodic send-up from Hot Shots Part 2 just sort of makes sense, really.
27:031.
27:04Conan the Barbarian
27:32Conan the Barbarian
27:45If you're going to survive a vicious world full of mystical beings and evil magic, you
27:51better be as hardcore as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
27:53Much like Schwarzenegger's role as Dutch in Predator, Conan survived a hellish reality thanks to his
28:00sheer physicality and expertise in combat.
28:03Conan the Barbarian
28:16Having been enslaved for the better half of his life and trained as a gladiator, Conan uses his
28:22freedom to seek vengeance against Thulsa Doom and his band of warriors.
28:27Fearless in his conquest, the Barbarian earns his revenge by the end of the film and goes on to live out the rest of his life as a legend.
28:35Is the idea of toxic masculinity overblown when it comes to the fantastical world of cinema?
28:50Or do you prefer more grounded representations of masculine behavior in movies?
28:56Let us know in the comments.
28:57Did you enjoy this video?
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