# Top Western Bad-asses (movie & TV)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 1, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945 "2015-05-01T01:08:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945/41 "2015-05-02T12:04:59Z")

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Wow- tough ask.

Despite the misgivings about John Wayne, in The Searchers was very difficult to top.

Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach in anything.

Richard Widmark was sinister in everything.

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945/42 "2015-05-02T14:20:39Z")

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> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> James Arness in the early seasons of Gunsmoke. Really tough guy in those early seasons. They watered it down after the anti-violence campaigns in tv took hold.

> [@White SIFL](#):
>
> I saw a really funny thing on TV once that showed the before and after Gunsmoke. He used to shoot first.

that show came from radio where the Matt character was a real hard ass. sometimes even brutal and not always a clean shot easy death, lots of beat-downs.

the standards of tv and the desire to appeal to a multi aged audience really cleaned up the show.

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945/43 "2015-05-02T14:27:25Z")

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Lee Van Cleef was rugged looking and so good and playing a bad ass as a character part that i would think of him first in that regard.

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**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945/44 "2015-05-02T14:28:05Z")

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> [@johnpost](#):
>
> that show came from radio where the Matt character was a real hard ass. sometimes even brutal and not always a clean shot easy death, lots of beat-downs.
> 
> the standards of tv and the desire to appeal to a multi aged audience really cleaned up the show.

I was already very familiar with the radio version when _Gunsmoke_ made it to TV. I was disappointed with the actors on TV. They grew on me over time, and I believe Dennis Weaver made all the difference.

Anybody remember the parodies (may have been Stan Freberg) where Chester says something like, “Muster Dillon, it’s Doc. He’s layin’ in the street with a arrah in his heart. That’s whut he’s doin’.”

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**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-western-bad-asses-movie-tv/718945/45 "2015-05-02T23:01:43Z")

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I gotta vote for both Richard Boone and Paul Newman in Hombre.

And how about Steve McQueen as Josh Randall in Wanted: Dead or Alive?

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