# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/141 "2012-03-04T00:08:44Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > …Can it be that nobody has mentioned “Lonesome Dove,” with Gus McRae (Robert Duvall)…I still think Duvall turned in the greatest performance in history in that show. I think you may be right. I can’t think of a _better_ performance. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/142 "2012-03-04T00:12:36Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Geez, everything reminds me of something else. Can it be that nobody has mentioned “Lonesome Dove,”… Well, I did tip my hat to Gus in #111. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/143 "2012-03-04T01:55:47Z")
Manliness as beyond you and yours, beyond right and wrong…there is only The Job. Lee Tracy in _The Best Man_ (1964), as an ex-president telling Henry Fonda how to become the next president: > [@](#): > > Power is not a toy we give to good children. It is a weapon. And the strong man takes it and uses it. If you don’t go down there and beat Joe Cantwell to the floor with this very dirty stick, then you’ve got no business in the big league. Because if you don’t fight, the job is not for you. And it never will be. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/144 "2012-03-04T03:49:29Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Example of unmanly behavior. :dubious: Example of broad getting whooshed.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/145 "2012-03-04T20:05:35Z")
> [@Evin](#): > > Atticus Finch. > “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” My hero. Manly. Any day I feel I can stand in the company of Atticus Finch is a good day. (One of my daughters is named “Scout.”) [Lessons in Manliness from Atticus Finch](http://artofmanliness.com/2011/02/02/lessons-in-manliness-from-atticus-finch/) ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/146 "2012-03-04T23:34:24Z")
> [@txtumbleweed](#): > > 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. In my opinion the manliest movie ever ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/147 "2012-03-05T00:00:19Z")
Bat 21 watching as the pilot sent to rescue him walks into a minefield rather than give him up. ---
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201/148 "2012-03-05T17:47:45Z")
I’d like to be half as macho as Sean Connery in “The Hill.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-manliest-moments-in-movie-history/614201.md?page=7)