From Sam Spade to Harry Callahan: Toughest Movie Characters of All Times

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3655438268627196708.post-3841453885585469242007-07-30T18:41:00.032+03:002009-05-02T16:50:46.952+03:00From Sam Spade to Harry Callahan: Toughest Movie Characters of All Times<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3494166756_7ac9c77fca_o.jpg" alt="From Sam Spade to Harry Callahan: Toughest Movie Characters of All Times " /> From <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0131750/">Walter Cameron</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007625/">A.C. Abadie</a> playing the sheriffs in Porters' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Train_Robbery_%281903_film%29">The Great Train Robbery</a> (1903) to Douglas Quaid in Verhoeven's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_recall">Total Recall</a>: the history of moving pictures is full of tough fellows and quite many tough dames. But who should be the one to be placed above them all? Who is THE toughest movie character of all times? To begin with, allow me to establish my basic presumption that a clear male-female separation needs to be kept in such a contest... I was totally fascinated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Lee_Curtis" title="Jamie Lee Curtis">Jamie Lee Curtis</a>' character of the rookie female cup in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000941/">Kathryn Bigelow</a>'s 1990 <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099160/">Blue Steel</a> but we can't have <a href="http://www.impawards.com/1990/blue_steel.html">this lady</a> competing against Harry Callahan. We are just going to have to make a special tough-woman review. 1: Harry Callahan <ul><li>Actor: Clint Eastwood</li><li>Movie: Dirty Harry (1971) and sequels</li></ul><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjvBjG2iI/AAAAAAAAHj0/F8IvoKRor6Q/s800/image013.jpg" /> Who can argue with the most legendary tough-guy line in the history of motion pictures? the lines of the lines. The one that gave the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Magnum">.44 Magnum</a> its notorious name, making it perhaps the most commonly known handheld weapon model in the history. <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvj6Vb2C5I/AAAAAAAAHks/KW1S0gCJAZc/s800/image031.jpg" /> "Dirty" Harry Francis Callahan is a fictional San Francisco Police Department inspector in the films <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Harry" title="Dirty Harry">Dirty Harry</a> (1971), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_Force" title="Magnum Force">Magnum Force</a> (1973), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enforcer_%281976_film%29" title="The Enforcer (1976 film)">The Enforcer</a> (1976), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_Impact" title="Sudden Impact">Sudden Impact</a> (1983), and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Pool" title="The Dead Pool">The Dead Pool</a> (1988) all played by one of my favorite tough guys <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood" title="Clint Eastwood">Clint Eastwood</a>. I vote for Harry Callahan as the number one tough character in the history of motion pictures. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/maBJzJgYjto&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/maBJzJgYjto&=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> 2. Jeff Costello <ul><li>Actor: Alain Delon</li><li>Movie: Le Samouraï (1967)</li></ul><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjvEXiRFI/AAAAAAAAHkE/20rquJWZ_2s/s800/image017.jpg" /> The nearly mute perfectionist hitman who "religiously adheres to a strict code of duty" in Jean-Pierre Melville's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Samoura%C3%AF">Le Samouraï</a> is my second choice for the subject. Costello is not just tough. He is icy cold tough. He lives in a Spartan apartment whose interior contains a neatly arranged line of mineral water bottles, cigarettes on a bookcase, as well as a little bird in a gray cage in the middle of the room. <img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjvVlFweI/AAAAAAAAHkM/Quf_o_YURl0/s800/image018.jpg" /> The film opens with a long take of Costello lying awake on his bed, smoking, as the following text appears on-screen, attributed to an ancient samurai writing entitled "The Book of Bushido", which Melville later on admitted to be completely fabricated: <blockquote>"There is no solitude greater than the samurai's, unless perhaps it be that of a tiger in the jungle."</blockquote> <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EluXfEaODSw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EluXfEaODSw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> 3. Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle <ul><li>Actor: Humphrey Bogart</li><li>Movie: High Sierra (1941)</li></ul><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjvbV145I/AAAAAAAAHkU/6Ys8Djt41SU/s800/image025.jpg" /> The robber gangster Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Walsh" title="Raoul Walsh">Raoul Walsh</a>'s tragic hero in an early heist film noir film written by John Huston and W.R. Burnett from a novel by Burnett. Starring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Lupino" title="Ida Lupino">Ida Lupino</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Bogart" title="Humphrey Bogart">Humphrey Bogart</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Sierra_%28film%29">High Sierra</a> was shot on location at Whitney Portal, halfway up Mount Whitney. The film has entered the motion picture pantheon for its climatic final scenes, as the cups pursue 'Mad Dog' Earle from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Pine" title="Lone Pine">Lone Pine</a> up to the foot of the mountain before they kill him. My vote goes for Roy as the third toughest movie character of all times. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AoLIBiX42rw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AoLIBiX42rw&=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> 4. Marv <ul><li>Actor: Mickey Rourke</li><li>Movie: Sin City (2005)</li></ul><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjvCY-hGI/AAAAAAAAHj8/EYEmrriw-V0/s800/image015.jpg" /> My favorite character in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_City_%28film%29">Sin City (2005)</a> movie adaptation and one of the leading characters from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_City">graphic novel series Sin City</a>, created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Miller_%28comics%29">Frank Miller</a>. Marv works the streets of Basin City ("Sin City") performing jobs for people he feels deserve help. He can be very mean and extremely cruel when preforming his questioning routines with the assistance of his sawing tools and tourniquet set. Yet he usually does that to protect a lady so that gives him an additional point. The 2005 neo-noir anthology film written, produced and directed by Miller and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rodriguez" title="Robert Rodriguez">Robert Rodriguez</a> was the first time for me to meet Marv. I must admit at the time I though this guy does it and gets my "toughest of the toughest" vote but now it gets a 4. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FDdhn1jluAc"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FDdhn1jluAc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> 5. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle <ul><li>Actor: Gene Hackman</li><li>Movie: The French Connection (1971)</li></ul><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvj5BeOwPI/AAAAAAAAHkc/iZvIvNF-qbk/s800/image027.jpg" /> The Obsessive-Compulsive New York City police detective portrayed by Gene Hackman in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_French_Connection_%28film%29">The French Connection</a> is a model for persistence and not letting anything taking you off your course. <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvlcPNbyjI/AAAAAAAAHlA/7LoG0GXCIuA/s800/image002.jpg" /> Other than being really tough and preforming exceptional "running after the bad guys until they die" skills, The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_%22Popeye%22_Doyle">Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle</a> character is actually based on a real life New York City detective named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Egan">Eddie Egan</a>. I bet Egan was tough as well. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3cFqnheBPsY"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3cFqnheBPsY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> 6. Max Cady <ul><li>Actor: Robert Mitchum, Robert De Niro</li><li>Movie: Cape Fear (1962), Cape Fear (1991)</li></ul><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvj6sFyHuI/AAAAAAAAHk0/A2235-Ij2xc/s800/image032.jpg" /> Here is a guy you wouldn't like to get into an argument with. The villain of the John D. MacDonald's novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Executioners">The Executioners</a>, the 1962 film adaption Cape Fear and Scorsese's 1991 remake is definitely one of the meanest toughest hoods any of us had ever seen. If you haven't met this guy yet, believe me when I tell you he is tough. First played by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mitchum" title="Robert Mitchum">Robert Mitchum</a> and then again by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_De_Niro" title="Robert De Niro">Robert De Niro</a> (in an Academy Award-nominated performance) in the remake, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Cady">Max Cady</a> ranked his way to the 28th place on the American Film Institute's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years..._100_Heroes_and_Villains" title="AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains">list of the top 50 movie villains of all time.</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fear_%281962_film%29">According to Wikipedia</a>, the scene where Mitchum attacks Polly Bergen's character on the houseboat was almost completely improvised. Mitchum rubbing the eggs on Bergen was not scripted and Bergan's reactions were real. Bergen suffered back injuries from being knocked around many times during this scene and "felt the impact of the 'attack' for days". Both Mitchum's and De Niro's characters are tough. Yet i vote for the Mitchum one. Being more realistic I find it more effective in my opinion. 7. Sam Spade <ul><li>Actor: Humphrey Bogart</li><li>Movie: The Maltese Falcon (1930)</li></ul><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjg3AggzI/AAAAAAAAHjc/RCaWzSb8p9g/s800/image007.jpg" /> Created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiell_Hammett" title="Dashiell Hammett">Dashiell Hammett</a> Sam Spade is the tough private eye of the 1930 novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon" title="The Maltese Falcon">The Maltese Falcon</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_%281941_film%29">first film-noir movie ever made</a> written and directed by John Huston. In those days there were not many tougher than Spade as played by Bogart. "Spade has no original. He is a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been and in their cockier moments thought they approached." (Dashiell Hammett on Sam Spade) <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zSd_MCIIKNk&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zSd_MCIIKNk&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> 8. Paul Kersey <ul><li>Actor: Charles Bronson</li><li>Movie: Death Wish (1974) and sequels</li></ul><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjhNqX3iI/AAAAAAAAHjk/Bmm6I9S9wZs/s800/image010.jpg" /> Based on a 1972 novel by Brian Garfield Paul Kersey is the main character in the series of motion pictures all titled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Wish_%28film%29">Death Wish</a>; Death Wish (1974); Death Wish II (1982); Death Wish 3 (1985); Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) and; Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994). <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SBgiGvlH0JI/AAAAAAAAE_k/IHcV77B8KeI/s1600-h/image012.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SBgiGvlH0JI/AAAAAAAAE_k/IHcV77B8KeI/s400/image012.jpg" border="0" /></a> Kersey was kind of a nice guy before he metamorphosed into a serial killer. It was quite a breakthrough in terms of the type of things a popular movie "hero" character can do and still have its sequels. Besides, Bronson was always tough and we can't have this list without at least one of the amazing characters he played. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4EyRpEiT7Vo&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4EyRpEiT7Vo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> Harmonica <ul><li>Actor: Charles Bronson</li><li>Movie: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)</li></ul><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjg2fXTcI/AAAAAAAAHjM/_T2wqXB43rY/s800/image004.jpg" /> An anonymous user which later on signed as Benjamin posted <a href="http://www.cultcase.com/2007/07/from-sam-spade-to-harry-callahan.html#comment-4076494543688288517">this comment</a> to CultCase's <a href="http://www.cultcase.com/2007/07/from-sam-spade-to-harry-callahan.html#links">From Sam Spade to Harry Callahan: toughest movie characters of all times</a> article claiming Charles Bronson in Once upon a time in the west should have been be considered, too, as a "really tough" being an "(anti-)hero". <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvjg5Lc8DI/AAAAAAAAHjU/iKj_IeK6KXM/s800/image005.jpg" /> I love this film SO much that after watching this scene again I just had to do this gesture for both Benjamin and Charley. Even though Bronson's character name remains (to the best of my knowledge) unrevealed, it does have this supercool nickname "Harmonica", given to him by Frank (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fonda">Henry Fonda</a>). <img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RzbVbx_mJ-0/SUvj57SpKLI/AAAAAAAAHkk/Hoe7yBxrS4w/s800/image030.jpg" /> If you find this article interesting you can check on my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=566C89E98566D6C0">toughest movie characters playlist</a> on YouTube as more videos are being added there every once in a while.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3655438268627196708-384145388558546924?l=www.cultcase.com'/></div>CultCasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14754513431553464537noreply@blogger.com19