Mens Journal releases their list of Fifty Best Guy Movies Of All Time. The Top Ten:
1. Dirty Harry – Never seen it, oddly enough. I’ve long thought I should, though.
2. The Godfather – Ditto, ditto.
3. Scarface – Um … ditto, maybe ditto.
4. Die Hard Yippee-ki-yay! The sequels trended pretty much downwards, but the original flick has everything except killer robots.
5. The Terminator Hey, look! Killer robots! It’s Frankenstein for the modern era — hey, wasn’t that written by a chick?
6. The Road Warrior Wow. Years since I saw this one, but it’s a pretty cool one.
7. The Dirty Dozen Never actually seen the whole thing, but it inspired a genre.
8. The Matrix – Lots of guns, lots of cool fx. Not quite sure I’d call it a guy movie, though.
9. Caddyshack Have watched only parts. Not impressed. I find Rodney Dangerfield to be a terrible disadvantage to any movie, Bill Murray notwithstanding.
10. Rocky Eh. Not a boxing guy, so not into boxing movies.
Part of my problem with the list is that I rarely watch movies without Margie. It’s just not as fun. So my movie-watching tends to trend away from Guy Movies per se. Margie, of course, labors under the same disadvantage.
Movies I’d put on the list (and they may be elsewhere in the Top Fifty, but the online article only gives the Top Ten): The Magnificent Seven*; The Great Escape; For a Fist Full of Dollars** (or Last Man Standing*); The Sting; The Fighting Seabees**; Stalag 17; Pulp Fiction; pretty much anything from the James Bond series.
* Most flicks taken from Kurasawa samurai films, if not the samurai films themselves.
** Most Clint Eastwood flicks. Or John Wayne flicks. Or Bruce Willis flicks.
YMMV, of course.
(via Sake of Argument)
I confess to an odd liking for Armageddon. Or really anything with Bruce Willis. Where things explode, that is.
Shutup.
Color me shocked. I cannot believe that Paint Your Wagon and Tombstone didn’t make it into the top ten. I don’t think you can get much more manly than Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood singing (scene from Paint Your Wagon).
“Got a dream, boy, got a song,
Paint your wagon, and come along!”
Wow, Guy Films:
The article only has the first ten as a teaser.
Dirty Harry: One of my Father’s and Step-Father’s Favorites. Got to see all of them, and liked tem all except for one.
The Godfather: Over rated, long, and with the exception of a couple of scenes, boring. A chick flick disguised as a guy flick. Bonus, you get to see a bloated-Can’t-act-to-save-my-life Marlon Brando looking around for all of his cue cards.
Scarface: Other then the Cut-up-the-body-donated-to-science-with-a-chainsaw scene…Over the top acting. Bad.
Die Hard: The only one in the three that was any good.
Terminator: The only one in the three that was any good.
Road Warrior: One of my Fave’s!
The Dirty Dozen: Yep…A good one.
Matrix: I do not know if it is the times or the movie, but this one seems to work for both genders.
Caddyshack: Fast forward to the Bill Murray or the Chevy Chase scenes…Baby Ruth any one?
Rocky: The only good Stallone film…ever!
My Top Eleven (In no particular order):
Pulp Fiction:
Animal House:
Better off Dead: “Two Dollars!”
Road Warrior:
The Great Escape:
Unforgiven:
True Grit: One of a handful of watchable John Wayne movies.
Blazing Saddles!: “No ma’am, 9 is my limit on Schnitzengruben”
The Bond Series:
The Dirty Harry Series:
Any Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western:
Kill Bill has the potential to make the list after I get to see Vol. 2.
Also, as aside: Paint your Wagon is the only Musical my Father likes. The only thing that could have made it better is if Johnny Cash was in it.
“Hand me down that can ‘o beans, can ‘o beans, can ‘o beans.
Good times are here to stay!”
I must take issue with the assertion that the Die Hard movies took a downward turn. 2 was indeed disappointing because it was essentially a remake with a different setting. But 3 was terrific. They totally changed the format, added in a sidekick – the almoist always excelletn SLJ, no less – and gave the whole franchise a real shot in the arm. I won’t go so far as to say it’s better than #1, but it is quite good, especially considering that a) 2 was so lackluster and b) they could have made plenty of money just cranking out another cookie cutter installment but chose to actually make an effort instead.
And yes, you really should see Dirty Harry (all of them) and The Godfather (1 & 2, don’t waste your time on 3).
I confess to have only seeing DH 1-2; after 2, I couldn’t bear to see 3, and simply assumed the trend continued. I’ll reassess if the opportunity arises.
A DH 4 has been announced (it shows up in the IMDB pages, at least).
I have the sense that I should see The Godfather, 1 at least, if only because it seems to be one of those Major Motion Pictures That Everyone Includes On One List Or Another. Sort of like Gone With the Wind. You almost can’t discuss film or American popular culture without having seen it.
Stan, I’m not sure that either Blazing Saddles or Kill Bill are exclusively Guy Films. I know plenty of women who enjoy Mel Brooks, and I’m not sure a flick with a wildly powerful and dangerous female protagonist (not to mention antagonists) counts, either.
Yes, Dave, you should see Dirty Harry! Andrew robinson (in his first film!) was the first villain I ever loved to hate! You’re just sitting there, waiting for Callahan to blow this fraggin’ bastich to pieces. What a disgusting sicko!
The only other films on the list I’ve seen were The Terminator (very good) and Caddyshack (mind-numbingly stupid–imo).
So, why are these “guy films”? And Dave, why on Earth would you consider The Sting a guy film?
The article goes into their criteria.
For me, male buddy films are Guy Films. That’s part of why The Sting qualifies. It’s about vengeance, and male bonding, and pranks, and poker, and mobsters, and bookies, and capers. Those are all Guy Film qualities, IMO.
Dave, I think that there are a lot of “guy” flicks, that over time, have become to be loved by both genders. This might be Generational in nature. Our Parents generation (based on my Mother and Step-Mother) are not very “fond” of any of the Mel Brookes or Monty Python Movies. Over time these films have “morphed”. Women of “our” generation seem to be more open about movies (based on Noel, Candy, Margie, Lori, Jackie, Julie, and my Sister).
Examples:
Any Monty Python Movie.
The Sting.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Kill Bill incorporates all of the bits and pieces of a “Guy” flick (Cool Violence, Great lines, No really need for anyone to get in touch with anybody’s feelings, and hot chicks) and uses them to their full advantage. I think that it might speak more about women today that they like the film instead of hating it. If Kill Bill had been released, say, 15 years ago…pure Guy Flick.
Other Guy Flicks
Slapshot
Jerimiah Johnson
A Bridge too Far
Lock, Stock and two smoking Barrels
Snatch
Anything from the Three Stooges (without Curly Joe please).
Boulder Dude:
Does that mean you like Joe better than Curly Joe? Odd.
I liked Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp.
I’d tried to blot out Joe and Curly Joe out of the memory banks. But, Hey, Thanks for reminding me about Joe…
Oh, you craaaaazy!
Nyuk-Nyuk-Nyuk…
Apocalypse Now — “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Bridge Over The River Kwai — “Be happy in your work.”
The African Queen — Rose: How do you know? You’ve never tried it.
Charlie: I never tried shooting myself in the head, neither. The trouble with you Miss is, you, you don’t know anything about boats!
The African Queen?
Sorry. Nothing with Katharine Hepburn in it is going to be a guy flick!
More:
Kelly’s Hero’s
the Evil Dead Series
48 hours
***
Apocalypse Now – only up to the point that Brando shows up.
I can’t believe I forgot blazing saddles…..classic guy flic. I’d have to say that History of the World would be in my top 20.