Official badasses
MTV released its final list of top-ten badasses, which included contributions by me and a lot of other folks.
- Dirty Harry – “Dirty Harry”
- Ellen Ripley – “Alien/Aliens”
- John McClane – “Die Hard”
- Mad Max – “Mad Max”
- Walker – “Point Blank”
- Sarah Connor – “Terminator”
- Pike Bishop – “The Wild Bunch”
- Khan Noonien Singh – “Star Trek”
- Boba Fett – “Star Wars”
- John J. Rambo – “First Blood”
I picked 1.5 of those. I count Dirty Harry as a half, because I chose William Munny in Unforgiven, or “really, any Eastwood character.”
I went out of my way to pick characters others might not, so I’m not surprised I didn’t match up better to the final list. I never really understood the Boba Fett-ishization, and while I like John McClane, “badass” isn’t the primary descriptor I’d assign to him. I’m happy to see Sarah Connor included on the list, however. And it’s strange the degree to which Mad Max has disappeared from my film memory bank.
Articles
February 9th, 2009 at 11:50 am
For me, it’s Elliott Gould from The Long Goodbye, Bogart in Maltese Falcon, Robert Mitchum in The Longest Day, General Frank Savage in 12 O’Clock High, Darth Vader, Ellen Ripley (yes indeed), Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen, Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, Patton, and Conan.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Although Elliott Gould is in danger of losing his seat to Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I just don’t get Boba Fett at all. I can’t believe enough people put him on their list for him top be in the top ten.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Was Boba Fett in Star Wars? I can picture him in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but not Star Wars.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley ARE badass… I just wish there are more badass roles for women. But Boba Fett?!?!?! I beg to differ!!!
February 9th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Boba Fett is a strange case. He obviously has quite the following, but, really, what’s he ever done? He followed Han Solo to the Cloud City. That’s it. Darth Vader captured him. Then met a rather anti-climactic end to that sand thing. He was popular enough, though, that Lucas put him, or some incarnation, into the latest trilogy. And I don’t remember him doing anything in that except clone himself- of course, my memory isn’t all that clear on the last trilogy, having only watched them once, and barely at that.
And John, although I enjoy the Follow Up Week theme, I can’t help but wonder if it’s all done for ratings. I’ll be mightily disappointed if next week there’s a baby delivered or wedding on your blog. I’m hoping your blog hasn’t jumped the shark. It’s been so well written so far.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Boba Fett was not in Star Wars. He first appeared in the Star Wars Christmas Special. For that and Empire, he didn’t have a name, he was just bounty hunter. But then he got a following, so he got a name.
I think his appeal is the whole “Man with no name” thing. He has sweet armor and we never know his story, but we definitely know he’s dangerous, even if his “death” in ROTJ is a bit ridiculous.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Shane? Snake Pliskin in “Escape From New York?” Who-Cares-What-Bruce-Lee’s-Character-Was-Named in “Enter The Dragon?” No John Wayne characters? Oh, well. There can’t be room for everyone…
February 9th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
“Boba Fett was not in Star Wars.”
Are you forgetting the 1997 Special Edition on purpose or by accident?
February 9th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
There’s nothing strange about putting Mel Gibson out of your mind. I’ve been trying since “What Women Want,” but the sugar-tits fiasco got rid of him forever.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
William Wallace in “Braveheart” Clint Eastwood in “A Fistful of Dollars” Oh Daesu in “Oldboy” Bill in “Kill Bill” Bud White (Russell Crowe) in LA Confidential Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) in “The Departed” Tyler Durden in “Fight Club” Rick (Bogart) in “Casablanca” Ripley in “Aliens.”
just for kicks: Aragorn in “Lord of the Rings”
February 9th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I’d put a twist on this with “10 badasses you wouldn’t think of when you’re trying to come up with a list of badasses.”
February 9th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Odd, the commenting system reversed my list. R2-D2 should be #1.
February 9th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
@ JB: Great list. E.V.E. is badass indeed, and Dumbledore should have made everyone’s list.
February 9th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Grumpy: Both? And neither? I was going chronologically; therefore, Boba Fett was not in the orignal Star Wars. Also, I like to pretend the Special Editions don’t exist.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’m surprised- no Alex de Large from A Clockwork Orange… I mean a nefarious, pure evil teenager who rapes, steals, and choreographically beats people to technicolor musicals… why isn’t that number 1!?
As for Boba Fett – I swear his appeal is cooler then he is… Family Guy “I will give you all my star wars collectible cups, except Boba Fett, no matter how sure I am I never bet the fett man”
and of course the twisted scene in Robot Chicken’s Star Wars special where heahem seduces teh frozen Han Solo “you dirty little smuggler”
I think its a pop-culture snow ball, like some people were fascinated with him and it just became out of control and out of proportion.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Agreed with the above commentors.
Boba Fett hung out in galatic garbage, snitched to the Empire that Han was heading to Cloud City (Lando set him up, Darth Vader captured him) and got Han handed to him on a carbonite platter. Then Boba gets his ass handed to him in at the Sarlacc pit. Bad ass, my ass.
Where’s Rudy Ray Moore’s Dolemite?
If that’s out because it predates MTV, give me Blade Brown from Class Act.
February 9th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Glad to see Walker on there. Walker is fucking badass. Although Parker from the director’s cut of Payback is pretty badass as well.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I’ll take the Wolf over any of those. Toluca Lake was 30 minutes away, and he made it in 9 minutes and 37 seconds! Bad ass…
February 9th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Boba Fett? Seriously? There are about ten characters more of a bad-ass in Star Wars alone.
Man I’m arguing about the bad-assness of Star Wars characters on-line. This is why I read this blog so crap like this doesn’t happen.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Boba Fett is totally badass! Yes, his role in the movies were limited, however, the aura of mystery surrounding him, his countless expanded universe exploits, and even his voice are second to none. C’mon, he survived the Sarlacc pit!!!
I would have liked to see HAL, the cold-circuited killer from 2001, on that list.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I’m another on the Boba Fett bandwagon, ever since Empire. I wish he would’ve stayed there, instead of seeing him as a wimpy, snarky child in Clones, but I’ll chalk that up to a bad dream.
But every line of dialogue was cool – “He’s no good to me dead.” Even lines directed at him were meaningful, adding allure to his character – “No disintegrations.” And if not the dialogue, the body language: the quick draw on the Bounty Hunter Boushh. The head nod of respect to her afterwards. His fearlessness facing Luke Skywalker in both Empire and Jedi.
Boba Fett was the only bounty hunter who figured out Han Solo’s trickery, leading to his capture. And then of course, you have his outfit. Jet pack. Rocket darts. And wookiee hair he scalped from some of his victims.
SCALPED WOOKIEE HAIR!!! That alone should make you bad ass.
My other votes would be:
Patrick Bateman – American Psycho Darth Maul – The Phantom Menace Maximillian – The Black Hole Clive Owen – Shoot Em Up Doc Holliday – Tombstone Jules Winnfield – Pulp Fiction The Joker – The Dark Knight
February 9th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
i don’t get that boba-thing either. do they just like his name? common, he hurts han solo!
February 9th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
The problem I have with Boba Fett’s inclusion is that you can only go on the movies. I never read any of the `expanded universe’, so I’ve seen him do absolutely nothing of note. Besides, it’s called the “Greatest Movie Badasses of All Time”, not the “Greatest Movie and their Expanded Universe and Erotic Fan Fiction Badasses of All Time”. Talk about badass, notice who was standing in front of Boba Fett when Han Solo walked into the room?
February 10th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Absolutely nothing of note?
Boba Fett is the ONLY person to give sass to Darth Vader, have no fear doing it and walk away trachea intact. And thats in a movie.
If you’re alluding to Darth Vader as a badass, may I remind you that he’s merely the emperor’s patsy who takes orders on bended-knee.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I noticed that the first commenter, Tennyson, included “Conan” in his list. yeah, I saw his rumble with John Stewart and Stephen Colbert, that was pretty badass… Oh wait, the Barbarian, not the O’Brien
February 10th, 2009 at 10:21 am
If giving sass to Darth Vader makes one a badass, I’m assuming Princess Leia is on your list, too.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Maybe if she was also a bounty hunter with sick gear.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I’m not touching that one. Far too many jokes there.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I never really understood the Boba Fett-ishization
Me either. Dude’s on screen for a total of 15 minutes across 2 films and all he does is whine about his profit margin and then have his ass handed to him by a blind and sickly Han Solo.
The prequels only make it worse, when it turns out he’s a clone and a cry baby.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
My bad ass list would be:
Ponzu/The Devil – The Exorcist
Kaiser Souza – Usual Suspects
Dolemite – Rudy Ray Moore
Cody Jarrett – White Heat
The Bride – Kill Bill
O-Ren-Ishi – Kill Bill
Nino Brown – New Jack City
Atty. Tom Hagen – Godfather 1 & 2
Sosa – Scarface
Paul Newman as Cool Hand Luke
February 10th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Shouldn’t the Sarah Connor entry technically be credited to “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”? Because in the original, she endured a lot, but I wouldn’t call her running and screaming bad-ass.
February 10th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
The Dolemite mention made me think of Shaft, Trouble Man and various Pam Grier vehicles. Lots of badasses in blaxploitation.
Liam Neeson is a surprisingly convincing badass in Taken.
Hey, and what about Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail. His character’s NAME is “Bad Ass!”
February 11th, 2009 at 12:03 am
It’s been before: Boba Fett was not in Star Wars. Also said before: it’s the outfit, the mystery, and the fact that his simple act of following Solo led to the ultimate Strike by the Empire in, well, Empire Strikes Back.
Oddly, I did not find him whiny at all in the prequel. Okay, his disappearance after the death of his father (and what a lame death that was) is sorta pointless, and his defeat at the Sarlacc pit is ridiculous. I’ll give you that.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Damn proof-reading…
February 11th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Boba Fett’s allure is simple:
Sweet costume.
Talks back to Vader.
Most of all: mysterious. We know nothing about him.
Thus, his tiny role is what makes him such a badass.
If you extend this to the prequels and the extended universe, it comes out to a wash: we see him as a kid in Episode II, so that’s points off, but he escapes the Sarlacc Pit post-Return of the Jedi, so that makes up for it.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Ash. Evil Dead 2.
February 11th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Hm. There are many more but how ’bout these two:
1) Uma Thurmond’s Beatrice Kiddo in Kill Bill 1 and 2. 2) Light-saber wielding, battling Yoda from the Star Wars series.
Both possess huge bad-ass quotients. Ya gotta give it up.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Had the people who put this list together actually seen movies before?
Star wars? Star Trek? Point Blank?! Really? I mean even something as crappy as Wolverine from X-Men is more badass than that crap. I can see some sort of pandering factor with the Star wars/trek movies, but how did Point Blank make the list? They’re all just awful.
I concur with Ash from ED2. “Chainsaw.” Bruce Lee too. Further agreement that Mel Gibson sucks.
Where’s Dix Handley from The Asphalt Jungle? Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter? Or is this only for movies that were made in the last 30 years?
How about the entire cast of 300?
Anton Chigur from No Country?
Jack Burton from Big Trouble In Little China?
Neil McCauley from Heat? or Sam from Ronin? (both De Niro)
Dae-su Oh from Old Boy!?!? (1000x more BADASS than all 10 of yours/theirs put together!)
Don Logan from Sexy Beast?
The obvious Sam Jackson in Pulp Fiction (“The one that says ‘Badass Motherfucker’ on it!”)
Leon from Leon: The Professional.
Daniel Day Lewis in almost anything he’s ever done. Toshiro Mifune likewise.
Humlae (Tony Jaa) in Ong Bak!!!
I’d say my list easily has exponentially more baddassitude than yours/theirs. Unforgiven is overrated garbage.