# Ass-kicking women in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483 "2005-08-03T22:09:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/81 "2005-08-09T01:10:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think I’d ever refer to Kate Beckinsale as “busty”. Sexy, hot, beautiful, but not busty. [These shots](http://www.zodcaps.com/otherpix1/kate_beckinsale/) of her in a bikini would say she’s not flat-chested. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/82 "2005-08-09T01:22:28Z")
I think that Susan “I am Death Incarnate. God sent me.” Ivanova needs higher billing in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/83 "2005-08-09T04:13:01Z")
My first thread that got to page 3 with me still in the discussion. Neat! 🙂 Can anyone name any movies that outdo Kill Bill in the female department, as I described on the last page? Any other actresses you’d like to see kicking ass in the future? And, what do you think are the best _moments_ of women kicking ass in film- my top ten list OTTOMH in no particular order would be Return of the King: Eowyn kills the witch king. “I am _no_ man.” Aliens: Ripley kills the mother alien. “Get away from her you bitch!” Kill Bill 1: Lucy Lui decapitates the guy and speaks on not bringing that subject up again. Patricia Arquette in True Romance kills James Gandolfini Sarah Conner crushes Terminator. “You’re terminated motherfu\*\*er.” Halloween H20: Jamie Lee Curtis destroys the electric fence, smashes the glass and grabs the ax, shouting ‘Michael!’ The final battle begins, ending in her decapitating him. Before that, she also hits him with the ax, stabs him off the balcony w/ two knives- take your pick. 😃 Scream: Neve Campbell kills Stu w/ a television set, then Billy w/ a gun. “Not in my movie.” Trinity kicks cop ass in The Matrix Storm fries the frog guy from X-Men: “Know what happens to a frog when it gets struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.” And of course, Princess Leia in Star Wars, grabbing the gun and shooting the storm troopers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/84 "2005-08-09T04:33:38Z")
You want a kick ass female? Let’s go old school back to the 1960’s. 1967 to be exact for the all time kick ass female lead. [Mrs. Emma Peel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Peel) (Not to be confused with that suck ass movie version) ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/85 "2005-08-09T05:53:33Z")
That brings up a good question- remember at the beginning of the thread when I said let’s exclude femme fatales, who popped into American film in noir as early as the 1940s, in these discussions? Let’s still do that as I ask: who was the first ass-kicking woman in an action/drama? How about television? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/86 "2005-08-09T16:13:16Z")
Just expanding the realm to cable TV series, with Farscape’s Aeryn Sun. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/87 "2005-08-09T19:43:47Z")
Okay, okay- I was gonna start a new thread on ass-kicking women in television shows since so many have done this. Not mentioned yet: Faith from Buffy Xena, and Gabrielle (spell that right?) her partner- oh, and the witchy Calisto kicked ass as an immortal, though we wouldn’t celebrate it cause she was evil in a bad way… :mad: In fact just forget her The three hotties from Charmed. Oh yeahhhhhhhhh Sydney Brystow from Alias get mentioned yet? Wonder Woman hasn’t been mentioned yet, right? Catwoman, or in the movie. Bad movie The Bionic Woman Some of the Fantastic Four women, although cartoons, and now bad movie La Femme Nikita, and movie Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, a live-action Fox show on for one season, actually included a female turtle who kicked ass. Believe that- it factors into our discussion, showing how times change and franchises change with them. 😉 The female Power Rangers. I’m sorry… The female agent after Jared on The Pretender was pretty strong and kick-ass in my book. Definitely. Star Trek women. Don’t know any of them. 7 of 9 Go ahead and flip through the [action/adventure](http://www.tv.com/action-adventure/genre/1/az.html&era=&l=a&g=1) list of shows at [TV.com](http://TV.com) like I did to find more if you want. Or their sci-fi and drama lists, which I didn’t flip through. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/88 "2005-08-09T20:09:18Z")
I gotta go with Anne Parillaud from **La Femme Nikita**. ---
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/89 "2005-08-09T23:42:24Z")
> [@malzen](#): > > Cameron often stars powerful female characters (see his muscular wife in T2), something David Foster Wallace pointed out in his essay [F/X Porn](http://www.smallbytes.net/~bobkat/waterstone.html) , available at that link. I was going to mention Cameron as well … to expound on malzen’s statement, I felt inclined to say he doesn’t just “often” feature powerful female characters in his movies, it’s one of his trademarks. Linda Hamilton in T1/T2, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in The Abyss, Sigourney Weaver (and Jeanette Goldstein, of course) in Aliens, Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis in Strange Days, Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies, Kate Winslet in Titanic, Jessica Alba in Dark Angel … even his very first movie, Xenogenesis, featured an actress whose role was very similar to all those mentioned. If you ever see it, you’ll see common elements in it that he retroactively appropriated in all of his later movies, not the least of which being a strong female lead character. All of the women in these stories share a common characteristic in that they all transform from weak, submissive women into very strong survivors that end up racking up more kills, lasting longer, or just simply outliving their male counterparts completely. Cameron’s been called on this aspect of his stories before, and has said he’s always felt women are underutilized in film because they are often weak and dependent on men to protect them. He empowers his female characters well beyond equal status with men in nearly all his stories, and usually ends up with the reverse being true … they usually end up being the heroes who come to the rescue of men. ---
**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/90 "2005-08-10T03:21:37Z")
Qiu Yuen. Please tell me someone here saw “Kung Fu Hustle.” And if you didn’t, rent it first thing. Not only is The Landlady a kick-ass woman, but she’s an OLDER kick-ass woman. I wanna be her when I grow up. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/91 "2005-08-10T03:52:05Z")
I should also mention the types of television shows like VIP, that Cleopatra 2525 😃 one, She Spies, etc., that involve a group of three or more hot women in a cheaply-shot UPN/similar network program w/ campy action, humor, and them kicking ass and looking hot. What are those called? Crap? No, they weren’t so bad. Witchblade was another. Never saw that. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/92 "2005-08-10T03:53:44Z")
Okay, now can you guys come up with what I should call the page in Wikipedia I want to make w/ all these ass-kicking women in film and television? ‘Femme fatales’ is a different subject, already has an article, and ‘Ass-kicking women in film’ doesn’t seem encyclopedia-worthy 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/93 "2005-08-12T06:55:29Z")
From _anime_, Major Motoko Kusanagi in [Kôkaku Kidôtai](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113568/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9MXxmYj11fHBuPTB8cT1naG9zdCBpbiB0aGUgc2hlbGx8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1) (The Ghost in the Shell) is one of the most commanding commanders I’ve seen in films. See the subtitled version so you can hear the original Japanese voice actress’ voice; there’s no question that she’s in charge. She’s a cyborg and is so badass that: she pulls her own body apart during her attempt to rip the top off a tank. Another vote for Anne Parillaud in [Nikita](http://imdb.com/title/tt0100263/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9MXxmYj11fHBuPTB8cT1sYSBmZW1tZSBuaWtpdGF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1). The remake with Bridget Fonda was pathetic in comparison. Most of the women in [Hero](http://imdb.com/title/tt0299977/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9MXxmYj11fHBuPTB8cT1IZXJvfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1) kicked ass. One of the actresses from that movie, Ziyi Zhang, who was mentioned earlier I believe, earlier kicked major ass in [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon](http://imdb.com/title/tt0190332/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9MXxmYj11fHBuPTB8cT1jcm91Y2hpbmcgdGlnZXJ8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=14), though her character also acted like a spoiled brat a lot of the time. Both Faith and Max from TV’s **Buffy** and **Dark Angel** , respectively, deserve to be mentioned. I liked the character of Faith way more than Buffy, and it doesn’t hurt that I find Eliza Dushku to be way hotter than Sarah Michelle Geller. I was out of the US when **Dark Angel** was starting, so I didn’t know who Jessica Alba was until way after everyone else, it seems, but I sure as hell remember her now. Hot, hot, hot, hot, HOT! And, hell, Max is smart and tough too. I love smart women. I’m pretty sure that I’d be a bit disappointed if I met Jessica Alba because I have the hots for her character, who is obviously not the same person as the actress who plays her. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/94 "2005-08-12T16:38:01Z")
Does any one remember the short-lived TV series “Get Christie Love”? It only lasted one season (1974-1975); it starred the lovely Teresa Graves as a sexy black police detective. I was in junior high at the time, and I was totally infatuated with this sultry karate-expert beauty who beat up several thugs every single episode! Tragically, Teresa Graves exited show business after this series – she died in a house fire a few years back. Also – Bobbie Phillips played “The Chameleon” in three different TV movies in the late 1990s. She was a very tough, sexy chick! One series I have never seen (but would very much like to!) is the 1950s syndicated TV show “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” starring the statuesque beauty Irish McCalla – another very tough woman! I can probably think of more tough “ass-kicking” women later, since this is one of my very favorite topics… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/95 "2005-08-12T19:23:57Z")
Angie Dickinson as Sgt. Pepper Anderson from [Police Woman](http://timstvshowcase.com/policew.html). Not to mention - Leela (Louise Jameson) from **Doctor Who**. Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) from the original **the Avengers** (Emma Peel replaced her character). Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) from **Star Trek:TNG** (I would have preferred that they had killed off the useless Counselor Troi rather than her). Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) from **Batman**. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/96 "2005-08-12T21:40:15Z")
A few other examples: Heather Thomas in the series “Fall Guy” (1980s adventure show starring Lee Majors) Lana Clarkson in the two “Barbarian Queen” movies (1985 and 1989) – silly, cheesy “Swords and Sorcery” flicks, but good mindless fun! Joan Severance as “Black Scorpion” – two Roger Corman movies, 1995 and 1997. Michelle Lintel then starred as “Black Scorpion” in the 2001 TV show which aired on the SCI-FI channel. ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/97 "2005-08-31T07:45:15Z")
I’d like to 3rd the nomination for the “Power Rangers” females. In particular, “Power Rangers: Time Force” comes to mind. I remember quite some time ago that there was thread about the differences between male and female superpowers: males tended to have more overt powers (super strength, super-speed), while women had more covert authority (psychic powers, invisibility, etc.). “Power Rangers” has, more or less consistently been mixing this up. In “Time Force”, for example, the Yellow Ranger, a female, had super strength, while the Green Ranger was a psychic. And of course, the females can always hold their own with their male counterparts. And now I feel great embarrassment for having admitted I watch that crap. :o I’d also like to nominate: Major Sam Carter from Stargate SG-1 Cagney and Lacey The women of 24, almost all of whom have had opportunities to kick ass physically or mentally. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/98 "2005-08-31T09:39:54Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > And, what do you think are the best _moments_ of women kicking ass in film I vote for Angela Bassett in **Strange Days** , who gets two _very_ convincing fight scenes. No faux-martial arts or flying kicks - just straight economical brutality. I don’t have a top ten, but the second of those fights (where she takes down the two cops) would be a contender for No. 1 if I did. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/99 "2005-08-31T14:25:23Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > Another vote for Anne Parillaud in [Nikita](http://imdb.com/title/tt0100263/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9MXxmYj11fHBuPTB8cT1sYSBmZW1tZSBuaWtpdGF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1). The remake with Bridget Fonda was pathetic in comparison. Peta Wilson kicked ass in the TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483/100 "2005-08-31T17:23:40Z")
The “wife” and girlfriend of Swartzenegger’s character from _Total Recall_, which I saw so long ago I can’t remember the names . :smack: From the TV cartoon _Batman Beyond_ the superhuman mercenary Inque, and the assassin Curare; both of them smack Bats around, especially Inque. He spends a _lot_ of time running away from her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-kicking-women-in-film/315483.md?page=6)