Who kicks ass without giving a damn? Who looks good while raining down body blows? Who pops off that killer catchphrase before laying on some serious hurt? Those are the heated questions we’ve been asking around the MTV News office and on our blog for the last month. Last night at New York Comic-Con, we settled on an answer, revealing to the assembled crowd our definitive Top 10 list of Greatest Movie Badasses.
On Monday morning we’ll bring you the full report, but for now here are some quick hits from the evening as our panel—Method Man, “30 Rock”’s Judah Friedlander, “Best Week Ever” contributor Chuck Nice, and James Toback, who directed the forthcoming Mike Tyson documentary—argued and joked over whether or not we got the butt-busting list right.
No one doubted that at #10 John Rambo deserved a spot on the list for his machine gun-happy work in the first few films, but Nice asked for special consideration for the latest installment in the franchise. “If you can go through an entire movie looking like a stroke victim,” he said, “you a badass!”
Next up was “Star Wars” intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett, whom Nice affectionately labeled a “futuristic ninja wearing a trash can on his head.” Friedlander was not convinced. “One-on-one,” he maintained, “Chewbacca could take this dude.”
As soon as MTV Movies Editor and panel moderator Josh Horowitz announced the #8 selection, a roar went up from the crowd in response: “Khan!!” That enthusiastic yes vote for the “Star Trek” baddie found its polar opposite in the next choice, Pike Bishop from classic Spaghetti Western “The Wild Bunch.” “Who?” everyone wondered. Thankfully, Toback kicked some knowledge. “All the really realistic, powerful, vicious violence in movies started with ‘The Wild Bunch,’” he said.
The first woman to make the list received perhaps the biggest ovation of the night. “What made [“Terminator”’s] Sarah Connor really badass were the pull-ups,” Method said. “Her back looked tremendous—tremendous!” Nice echoed the sentiment: “Anytime you can beat my ass and get me sexually aroused, that’s cool.”
The 1967 crime caper “Point Blank” gave us our #5 badass in Walker, a brutal robber on a single-minded mission for vengeance and cash. Toback was adamant that Walker deserved the top spot, declaring his admiration that Walker never raises his voice once. “He doesn’t have to,” said Toback.
Thirty years after his eponymous movie came out, Mad Max nabbed the fourth spot. Method Man agreed with the choice based on one criterion of true badass-dom: the villains you fight against—and Max took on some fearsome dudes flying their freak flags high with crazy Mohawks and frightening hockey masks.
John McClane’s “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf---er!” catchphrase was probably enough to qualify the “Die Hard” cop for the bone-crunching list, but a few on the panel didn’t take kindly to his sense of humor. “Did you want Darth Vader cracking jokes?” asked Friedlander.
Ellen Ripley from the “Alien” movies emerged as the top female badass, which had everyone wondering if other actresses got the shaft. “Geena Davis, ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight,” offered Nice. “Pamela Anderson in ‘Barb Wire’!” screamed Method.
Finally we came to the #1 ultimate badass: Dirty Harry, who hated the system as much as he hated the punks. The question among our panel wasn’t so much, Did the .44 magnum-toting cop deserve the top spot? as it was, Which rump-bashing Eastwood character do we choose? “This guy would get twisted into a pretzel by Clint Eastwood in ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’” said Toback. Countered Nice, “He was a rogue cop for the right reasons.”
At one point, though, Method suggested we were missing the biggest movie badass of all: Christian Bale, whose ballyhooed on-set meltdown more than qualified him for the list. Said Method, “You don’t walk in front of the f---ing shot!”
What would you say about the selections? Who’d we miss? What are your criteria for greatest movie badass?
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