# What are the manliest moments in movie history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201 "2012-02-28T00:08:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/101 "2012-03-01T01:59:25Z")
Fictional, phooey. The manliest quote in a movie ever is from real life: “Let’s roll.” Sorry, OP, just had to post that. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/102 "2012-03-01T02:36:03Z")
I can’t believe nobody’s brought up the quote from 300: “Then we shall fight in the shade.” Stelios, in response to the Persians’ threat to blot out the sun with arrows. What makes it even more manly is that it’s an actual quote from a guy named Dienekes who was one of the 300 Spartans at the actual battle of Thermopylae. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/103 "2012-03-01T02:40:06Z")
Sam Elliott as Sergeant Major Plumley gets all the good one-liners in _We Were Soldiers_ and a couple of manliest scenes. SMJ Plumley: You can’t take pictures from down there, sonny. (hands Galloway a rifle) Galloway: I’m a non-combatant. SMJ Plumley: There ain’t no such thing, today. Moments later, as the Vietcong charge towards the hospital area – SMJ Plumley: Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves! Also: LTC Moore: I wonder what was going through Custer’s mind when he realized he’d led his men into a slaughter? SMJ Plumley: Sir, Custer was a pussy. You ain’t. Not sure if the real life CSM Plumley was that much a hardass, but I think the guy who made all 4 combat jumps in WWII with the 82nd, another jump in Korea, and went on to fight in Vietnam, deserves the good lines. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/104 "2012-03-01T02:51:20Z")
Sam Elliot ups the Manliness Quotient of anything he’s in by a factor of 2 just for being on screen. By a factor of four if he actually says anything. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/105 "2012-03-01T02:53:09Z")
yeah but if you remove his beard he’ll look like Ross. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/106 "2012-03-01T04:12:14Z")
Another group effort: [20th Maine.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYDhAmjmxYk) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/107 "2012-03-01T05:03:10Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So “manly” equates across the board with fighting? Okay, The Right Stuff: John Glenn’s wife stutters and is uncomfortable speaking with VP Johnson on camera because of it. Glenn supports her in her decision, locking the freaking Vice President out of his house. Manly, or did his wife take the stand and he just supported her? Women don’t normally understand our fights, so we default to it. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/108 "2012-03-01T08:25:45Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > _The Big Country_, with Gregory Peck and Charleton Heston dukin’ it out mano-a-mano Not Chuck Connors trying to hide after missing his shot in the duel? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/109 "2012-03-01T08:29:05Z")
And something just made me think of Steve McQueen in “Nevada Smith,” deliberately getting thrown into a hellhole of a prison in the deep South, so he can kill one of the guys who killed his parents. And Tom Selleck in “Quigley Down Under,” after being beaten to a pulp by a gang of guys and then dragged about ten miles over rough country by a galloping horse, brushing himself off and killing three guys in half a second in a shootout. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/110 "2012-03-01T09:58:05Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So “manly” equates across the board with fighting? No, it’s about maintaining poise in the face of adversary. In movies, that often takes the form of fighting; but it also applies to acting calm and doing the right thing during a state of emotional turmoil, as in **Ranchoth’s** example. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/111 "2012-03-01T10:59:05Z")
I think this is a manly exit - have a drink with your best friend & write to your girlfriends. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deV68rbsNyQ) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/112 "2012-03-01T18:35:23Z")
**Band of Brothers**. Major Winters is accepting the surrender of a German colonel after the majority of the Germans have already surrendered in Talem. German Colonel: ::pulls out his pistol and hands it to Winters butt-first:: “Please accept this as my personal surrender, Major. It is better than to lay it on the desk of a clerk.” Major Winters: ::stands up:: “You may keep your sidearm, Colonel.” The colonel then snaps to attention and they salute each other. See? No fighting. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/113 "2012-03-01T18:45:58Z")
This isn’t worth it’s own thread, but my nomination for most-manly-moment \*fail \*is the two men naked wrestling in _Women in Love_. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/114 "2012-03-01T19:06:52Z")
Another from Band of Brothers, Carwood Lipton (Donny Wahlberg) narrating the scene of CPT Speirs taking over the company. “At first the Germans didn’t shoot at him. I think they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. But that wasn’t the really astounding thing. The astounding thing was that, after he hooked up with I Company, he came back.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HS1qfIsINh8/hqdefault.jpg "Ronald Speirs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS1qfIsINh8) Bonus points for it portraying a real event. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/115 "2012-03-01T21:47:13Z")
_The African Queen_. Charlie Alnott has a terrific phobia of leeches, and gets a few of them on him while towing the boat through the swamp. He almost loses it. But the boat must be towed, otherwise he and Rosie will die marooned in the swamp. So he takes a deep breath, and lowers himself back down into the filthy, leech-infested water. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/116 "2012-03-01T22:49:52Z")
_Cool Hand Luke_. All of it, although the defining moment has to be the [boxing match](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0mgkaEGQc). ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/117 "2012-03-02T00:11:28Z")
I don’t know if this counts as manly in this thread, because the only person he saves is himself, but David Bowman in 2001 had to summon up every ounce of ballness. Millions of miles from home and all alone after his crewmates have been murdered, his only option is to expose his helmetless head to the vaccuum of space to get back in through the emergency airlock. And after succeeding, he surrenders himself to unknown aliens to lose his corporeal self and be reborn as pure energy. Beat that, John Wayne/Bruce Willis/et al.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/118 "2012-03-02T00:14:11Z")
Unforgiven: The Schofield Kid: [after killing a man for the first time] It don’t seem real… how he ain’t gonna never breathe again, ever… how he’s dead. And the other one too. All on account of pulling a trigger. Will Munny: It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have. The Schofield Kid: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming. Will Munny: We all got it coming, kid. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/119 "2012-03-02T02:09:43Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Excuse me while I wipe away this tear. > > That is, indeed, a very manly moment. I’m a teacher and I am definitely finding a way to use that clip in class in the future. Thank you for that. > > This thread is proving to be pretty in depth at this point. Color me impressed. Thanks. Mahaloth. It is one of my favourite films and I really like Jack Hawkins’ performance as Capt Ericson - he was a most underestimated actor. The book is even better, btw. The author, Commander Nicholas Monsarrat RNVR, fought in the Battle of the Atlantic on a small corvette much like HMS Compass Rose and most of the incidents depicted actually happened to him or his shipmates. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/120 "2012-03-02T02:23:11Z")
_The Man who shot Liberty Valance_ Jimmy Stewart walks out to confront Lee Marvin knowing he’s outclassed in pretty much everyway. _Aliens_ Hudson goes out fighting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201.md?page=7)