Give me a little charm in my action, please

Cafe Society
1

I just finished watching the Mask of Zorro for the first time, and although I enjoyed it fairly well, it didn’t fulfill something I’ve been craving. I’d like to find a movie with a debonair leading man, with charm - but also that sense of humor and deviltry gleaming in his eye. It’s a hard balance I believe - too many times it comes across as smarmy, or they go too goofy.

So the challenge is there - what is your favorite movie with a male character who is sexy as all get out physically/intellectually and has that extra spark of character that comes with a wry sense of humor?

Susan

2

The Princess Bride? (assuming you don’t start a land war in Asia first)

3

The Princess Bride (Cary Elwes)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Johnny Depp)
The Indiana Jones trilogy (Harrison Ford)
Army of Darkness (Bruce Campbell)
The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)

4

Definitely Pirates of the Caribbean. Great escapist fun.

5

If we wind the clock a little, Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood

6

If we’re talking Errol Flynn movies, Captain Blood is loads of fun.

7

Thanks for the suggestions so far - Pirates is definitely a favorite. And as for winding the clock back, that might be a good idea - I love old movies, just have never seen an Errol Flynn movie.

Susan

8

Pretty much any Cary Grant movie.

Several (although not all) James Bond movies. Oddly enough, Connory, Moore and Brosnan all played it that way at one time or another.

And Zoor, the Gay Blade, although camp, definitely had both charm and humor.

9

Get thee to a video store right now, woman! “The Adventures of Robin Hood” is one of my favorite movies. Swash is buckled, witticisms exchanged, and you get to see Errol Flynn in tights. Mmm-mmm! It’s great fun.

Pochacco, I’ve been trying to watch “Captain Blood” for awhile. Unfortunately, none of the video stores in town have it, and I don’t do NetFlix.

10

If you’re not averse to older movies, I’d also add:

The Black Pirate,
Thief of Baghdad (1924 version)

Both with Douglas Fairbanks, and are silent films. The great granddaddy of Hollywood swashbucklers.

If you want talkies, I’d second (or third, or fourth) the Errol Flynn movies. They’re a blast.

11

I could suggest The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) with Ronald Colman and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., but I don’t know if it will ever be out on DVD. Frown.

(I love both those men, but Fairbanks would be the “wry” one. I think.)

12

The question doesn’t specifiy an action film, so I’ll name La Dolce Vita, with the incomparable Marcello Mastroianni.

13

The following are merely suggestions, not recommendations, since I’m the wrong gender:

  1. Beat the Devil

  2. The Crimson Pirate

  3. maybe Prisoner of Zenda (1937?)

  4. maybe Mark of Zorro (1930s)

–

and, possibly, just possibly, the following:

The Assassination Bureau (might be too goofy)
Our Man Flint (might be too goofy)

The Three/Four Musketeers (1970s) (D’Artagnan is NOT debonair or wry, but everyone else is)

–

and I don’t think it fits, but for some reason, Yojimbo comes to mind.

Enjoy.

14

I suspect you’re thinking of Toshiro Mifune, who seems to be very straight-faced or even grouchy in many roles, but will then break into this great devilish grin that I think completely fits the OP’s request.

It’s more SF than adventure, but Harrison Ford also had that grinning rogue type of character as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy. Him trying to woo Princess Leia is completely in character with the swashbuckler role, and she even calls him a “scoundrel” at one point. “Scoundrel? Scoundrel? I like the sound of that.”

15

Magnum, pi!

Okay, I know it’s not a movie, and I know that I am rightly reviled for my deep love of this show, but gosh darn it, I just love Thomas Magnum. :smiley:

16

Especially Gunga Din (1939, I think). The ethnic bad guys and the colonial good guys are extremely non-PC for the modern era, and there’s an oddball scene with a supporting guy and his pining girlfriend; but as long as you can buy into what might best be described as “cultural naivete,” you can enjoy the film’s great loopy charm and hellbent-for-leather energy.

17

Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings.

Actor, poet, horseman.

The respect he got from both his fellow actors and the crew was incredible.
At the end the stunt team performed a haka for him.

18

Track it down by any means necessary: best swordfight ever, with Flynn vs. Rathbone duelling it out over Olivia de Havilland on a Caribbean beach. Of course, Flynn vs. Rathbone in Robin Hood is also great, and both have cracker scripts:

“You speak treason!”
“Fluently.”