# Greatest Cinema Badass of All Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596 "2010-08-18T02:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/61 "2010-08-19T20:03:02Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I am probably going to regret this, but my vote for Greatest Cinema Badass of All Time is this young lady: [River Tam from Serenity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_characters#River_Tam). And here I was thinking that if they had one guy with a name, it would have been a reaver. River Tam kicks ass, but she’s on the side of good, not evil. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/62 "2010-08-19T20:15:50Z")
BrainGlutton: > [@](#): > > Badass fighter . . . dumbass spy. Giving out his right name all the time . . . Does the phrase “Her Majesty’s Secret Service” mean anything to you?! Not a thing…the Bond I know works for “Universal Exports”. Seriously, though, one thing he’s TERRIBLE about is fake names. In “A View To A Kill”, he actually pretends to be called “James Stock” at one point. WTF??? ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/63 "2010-08-19T20:20:59Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > > > **Don Logan** as played by Ben Kingsley in [_Sexy Beast_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203119/). While watching the movie I got to the point where I wanted him to do something violent just to relieve the relentless tension that his character created. Absolutely awesome performance. > > I agree. His character was incredibly real. There are really people out there like that, I believe, and I hope I never piss anyone like that off. > > That possibly was the best performance in a movie I have ever seen. I keep trying to think of a more menacing Bad Ass and none can surpass Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan. Even as diminutive as his stature is, he towered over his prey. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/64 "2010-08-19T20:37:53Z")
For films exclusively I’ve got to go with Angeleyes (Lee Van Cleef) from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. If we were counting TV shows, it would be Brock Sampson from the Venture Bros. He’s intended to be a caricature of badass, but it really just ends up looking awesome. Honorable mention: O-ren Ishii from Kill Bill, for this (bloody) [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/prDCDmchtTg/hqdefault.jpg "Lucy Liu (O-Ren-Ishi) severs a head in Kill Bill vol 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prDCDmchtTg) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/65 "2010-08-19T20:46:46Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Quentin Tarantino’s character in the 1996 **From Dusk Till Dawn**. > > Brutally slashes up the female hostage when his brother stepped out for a meal. Blood all over the walls. This doesn’t make him a badass. It just makes him a psycho. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/66 "2010-08-19T21:02:43Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Seriously, though, one thing he’s TERRIBLE about is fake names. In “A View To A Kill”, he actually pretends to be called “James Stock” at one point. WTF??? What? Since when does James Bond even take a fake name? I don’t remember that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/67 "2010-08-19T21:05:58Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > > [@cmkeller](#): > > > > Seriously, though, one thing he’s TERRIBLE about is fake names. In “A View To A Kill”, he actually pretends to be called “James Stock” at one point. WTF??? > > What? Since when does James Bond even take a fake name? I don’t remember that at all. Aw - you gonna make me re-watch all of the Connery Bonds? There was one where I am _sure_ he deliberately introduces himself with a fake name. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/68 "2010-08-19T21:29:23Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I am probably going to regret this, but my vote for Greatest Cinema Badass of All Time is this young lady: [River Tam from Serenity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_characters#River_Tam). Yep, gotta agree. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/69 "2010-08-19T23:30:35Z")
Arnold: > [@](#): > > What? Since when does James Bond even take a fake name? I don’t remember that at all. Definitely on a few occasions. There was the time he pretended to be some sort of family crest researcher in _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_. In _Diamonds Are Forever_ he pretended to be a criminal named Franks. Twice in _A View to a Kill_ - the aforementioned “James Stock” (pathetic, they paid someone to write that in a script?) and also as Something Sinjin St. James when he was pretending to want to buy one of Zorin’s horses. And at the beginning of _Die Another Day_ he was using an alias when he pretended to be a Dutch (or South African) diamond smuggler. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/70 "2010-08-20T04:54:16Z")
And Rutger Hauer as John Ryder in “The Hitcher.” That presentation was pretty goosebumpy. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/71 "2010-08-20T16:47:49Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > There was the time he pretended to be some sort of family crest researcher in _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_. In _Diamonds Are Forever_ he pretended to be a criminal named Franks. I am getting old! I don’t remember the movies to that level of detail, to be honest. But I checked in the books at home. You’re right! He’s Sir Hilary Bray in _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_, Franks in _Diamonds Are Forever_, and Mark Hazard in _The Man with the Golden Gun_. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/72 "2010-08-20T16:51:52Z")
After grilling my memory… Peter Franks. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/73 "2010-08-20T16:56:05Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > > [@mlees](#): > > > > Quentin Tarantino’s character in the 1996 **From Dusk Till Dawn**. > > > > Brutally slashes up the female hostage when his brother stepped out for a meal. Blood all over the walls. > > This doesn’t make him a badass. It just makes him a psycho. Quite true. Badassery requires combat. Killing a helpeless person doesn’t qualify. Also it’s largely a mental quality–the refusal to back down regardless of odds. The more physical power a person has, the more is required of her or him to qualify as a badass. Sam Gamgee fighting Shelob to defend Frodo is a bigger act of badassery than Aragorn fighting the Uruk to save Boromir; likewise, Eowyn against the Nazgul, or Theoden leading the Riders of Rohan against the hordes of Orcs at Minas Tirith are both badasser than anything Legolas ever did. (Which is not to say that Legolas is not a badass.) And Aragorn’s beheading the Mouth of Sauron isn’t badass at all; it’s just murder. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/74 "2010-08-20T17:49:14Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > After grilling my memory… Peter Franks. That’s right, though you wonder why he bothers. In the book, James Bond meets Tiffany Case to convince her to use him in the diamond smuggling ring. He introduces himself with the name Peter Franks. At some point in the conversation, she asks him “Do you have a passport?” and he replies “Yes, but it’s in my real name, James Bond.” Nice cover there! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/75 "2010-08-20T17:55:33Z")
Danny Trejo’s character from the upcoming “Machete” is probably going to make this thread obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/76 "2010-08-20T18:12:35Z")
Denzel Washington’s **Creasy** from [Man on Fire (2004)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328107/) ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/77 "2010-08-20T18:17:41Z")
delete ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/78 "2010-08-20T20:33:29Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > and also as Something Sinjin St. James when he was pretending to want to buy one of Zorin’s horses. And at the beginning of _Die Another Day_ he was using an alias when he pretended to be a Dutch (or South African) diamond smuggler. James St. John Smythe, pronounced “sinjin.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/79 "2010-08-20T20:34:10Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > And Rutger Hauer as John Ryder in “The Hitcher.” That presentation was pretty goosebumpy. This. Aliens, robots, androids, mutants, monsters and cartoons shouldn’t even _be_ on this list. For pure terror and absolute badassery from a human being, nothing beats The Hitcher. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596/80 "2010-08-20T20:51:51Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > > > This doesn’t make him a badass. It just makes him a psycho. > > Quite true. Badassery requires combat. Killing a helpeless person doesn’t qualify. Also it’s largely a mental quality–the refusal to back down regardless of odds. The more physical power a person has, the more is required of her or him to qualify as a badass. I think Tarantino’s character would not have respected (or feared) anybody except his brother (played by Clooney). They get into a bar fight, IIRC, and I think he takes a wound (to the hand?) that would have a lot of people running away from the fight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-cinema-badass-of-all-time/550596.md?page=5)