Doc (Jim) over at Music Enthusiast was mentioning a performance that was real nasty. He said a particular scene was really hard to watch. The scene was from ‘The Unforgiven’ and the performance was by Gene Hackman as ‘Little Bill’. That convo gave me some fuel for an idea I’ve been rattling around in my head for a while. My favorite Bad Asses in film. Great performances by actors bringing to life some real nasty pieces of work. These BA’s have provided CB with some memorable moments. Brilliant work. So here they are. Feel free to add your own “Nasty’s”.
Bill Sykes (Oliver Twist) : Robert Newton – scary, sweaty, drunk’n headcase.
Wilson (Shane) : Jack Palance – Ice in his veins killer.
Scorpio (Dirty Harry) : Andy Robinson – Fucking nuts!
Anton Chigurh ( No Country For Old Men) : Javier Bardem – Freak with bad hair
Max Cady (Cape Fear 91) : Robert DeNiro – Vengeful Psycho
Max Cady (Cape Fear 62) : Robert Mitchum – Big vengeful Psycho
Little Bill Daggett (Unforgiven) : Gene Hackman – Unstable flip out case. Sadisticly violent
Johnny Rocco (Key Largo) : Edward G Robinson – Bad man
Don Logan (Sexy Beast) : Ben Kingsley – A real special kind of head case.
Angel Eyes (Good Bad the Ugly) : Lee Van Cleef – Cool, calculated badness.
Shack (Emperor The North Pole) : Ernest Borgnine – A little unstable and a lot fucking mean.
Lee Clayton (Missouri Breaks) : Marlon Brando – Fucking weirdo.
Jack Torrance (The Shining) : Jack Nicholson – Not playing with a full deck. But playing with an ax.
Wez : Vernon Wells (Road Warrior) – Pretty far from right in the head.
Mapache (The Wild Bunch) : Emileo Fernandez – A “General’ asshole.
Toothless and his buddy (Deliverance) : Herbert “Cowboy” Coward and Bill McKinney – Bad news wood nymphs.
Ramon/El Indio (Fist Full $/Few $ More) : Gian Maria Volonte – Head troubles.
LT (Bad Lieutenant) : Harvey Keitel – Bad Ass cop
Frank (Once Upon a Time In the West) : Henry Fonda – Old and nasty
Edward Hyde (Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde) Jack Palance – Flip side Bad Ass
‘Doc’ Council (Fools Parade) : George Kennedy – A man of God. Not really.
Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (Gangs of New York) – Daniel Day Lewis – Patriotic Bad Ass
Baby Jane Hudson (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?) : Bette Davis – Yup, women are bad asses too
Maggott (The Dirty Dozen) : Telly Savalas – Another man of God. Not really, he’s a maniac.
Miller (Hang’m High) : Bruce Dern – Sleazeball cowboy.
Mike Brennan (Q&A) : Nick Nolte – Even the bad asses are scared of him.
Red Leary (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot) : George Kennedy – No sense of humor. Just fucking mean.
Reno Smith (Bad day At Black Rock) : Robert Ryan – A good old dyed in the wool racist
Arthur Burns (The Proposition) : Danny Huston – A very sick individual.
Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (Manhunter) : Brian Cox – A very scary kind of man.
Rudy Butler (The Getaway) : Al Lettieri – Hall of Fame Bad Ass
Tuco (Good Bad the Ugly) : Eli Wallach – Likeable Bad Ass
Lou Ford (Killer Inside Me) : Casey Affleck – Certified crazy and real violent on the side.
Howard (One Eyed Jacks) : Timothy Carey – Tub of guts asshole Bad Ass.
Richard Kuklinski (The Iceman) : Michael Shannon – Believable, truthful psycho.
Grimes (Hombre) : Richard Boone – Not a nice guy.
Vic Vega (Reservoir Dogs) “Tooth Pick Vic” Mr. Blonde – Michael Madsen – I want this prick to be dead.
Tommy, Henry and Jimmy (Goodfellas) : Pesci, Liotta, DeNiro – A team of Bad Asses
Daniel Plainview (Let There Be Blood) : Daniel Day Lewis – A very bad human being.
That’s it folks! CB’s Bad Asses of Film. I probably forgot a few, but fuck it, this is enough badness for a lifetime.
(If this was a quiz you would get bonus points for naming the two meatballs below)
Yup, fine list, CB. I was hoping to find the scariest actor in Hollywood on this list, and thankfully, you mentioned Robert Michum in Cape Fear (great movie!). The only other one of his that was equally disturbing was Night of the Hunter. Either way, he is a bad ass!
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Harry Powell another “man of God”. You’re absolutely right Sarca (Nice catch), Robert Mitchum was one scary Bad Ass in that film. I should have added that performance. There were a few other actors that kept coming up in various performances, Telly Savalas, Ernest Borgnine.
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Here’s a few – Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) in ‘Cuckoo’s Nest.’ You didn’t list Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter so I’ll do that. Mickey and Mallory (Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis) in ‘Natural Born Killers.’ Nicolas Cage in ‘Wild at Heart.’ Kiefer Sutherland in ‘Eye for an Eye.’ Al Pacino, ‘Scarface.’
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See what you made me do Doc. Everytime I see someone building a house I think of “Little Bill” Daggett. I had the Nurse ready to go and forgot to add her. Scary part was how real it was when Mac was strangling her. That was real shit. I also had Hopkins up and forgot, I guess because Cox was my first choice for Lektor. Bad on CB.
On the other ones you noted, I haven’t seen. Maybe the Cage (jog my brain). Time for some viewing. Thanks for the BA nudge.
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Good list, CB.
Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man is another.
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Yeah another good catch Neil. I did one of my first takes on the “Is it safe?” scene. Szell was a very bad man. Great flick.
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Wow – you’ve got ’em all here. Apart from Nurse Ratched and Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man (shudders!).
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I huge over sight on CB’s part. My punishment is a dinner with anyone of the Bad Asses. Yeah Neil also brought up Szell from Marathon Man. I had a dentist just like him except my guy was an old English pain giver. He was mean. I think I’ll add him to the list.
(Listening to Clutch while I do my catching up. Another one of your nudges)
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Yup, yup, yup. You got a host of horrible bastards here, CB. I’m glad to see Arthur Burns in there… aside from Nurse Ratched, I’d add
William Forsythe as Richie in Out For Justice and Sheriff Wydell in Devil’s Rejects. Also,
Woody Harrelson’s Abraham in The Duel. He’s a charming, touched by the hand of God bad ass.
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Good work by Houston as Burns. His Dad (should be on the BA list) did a real creepy job as Noah Cross in Chinatown. The Nurse was a gross omission. She was like a living nightmare.
I will seek out the performances you mentioned. Forsythe is good. I seen Devil’s Rejects a long time ago. Time for a rewatch. Thanks. Never heard of The Duel but I see it’s a duster and Woody can go to the dark side. Something about the “hand of God bad ass”. Thanks for the input J.
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Aw man, I really liked The Duel… one of those special kinda flicks that come along every now and again (always nice to see folks exploring what can be done with the ‘western’ – speaking of, have you seen Bone Tomahawk?).
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Duel’s on the radar now for sure (why I do this thing I do). Religious nut bars are a special breed. Yes ‘Bone’ has been cued up just have to pull the trigger. Did you like it?
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I really liked it, aye. Very enjoyable and the cast are great, too – particularly Russell, Jenkins, and Matthew Fox.
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I’m going to see if I can get to it this weekend.
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Let me know what you reckon.
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You will be the first to know.
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The last two guys were in “Diamonds Are Forever.” Mr. Wint (?) and Mr. ?
Also, another one of the most coldblooded women ever: Laurence Harvey’s mother (Angela Lansbury) in “The Manchurian Candidate.” And speaking of mothers, throw in Norman Bates’s mom (himself) in “Psycho.”
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Just watched the original “Candidate” on Friday. Your right about Lansbury. I should have added her for sure. I thought about Norman and a few other of Hitchcock’s baddies.
I knew you’d be the one guy who would bite on the Bond duo. Mr Kidd. I loved those oddballs. I’ll send you 5 bucks.
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I assumed i wouldn’t recognize anyone on your list because of my fondness for musicals and romantic comedies. Then I perused the list and discovered I’d been fooling myself about my lighter taste in moves. I recognized those bad asses and liked their movies! So much for my sweet little old lady image. Thanks for injecting a dose of reality into my LaLa Land.
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That’s funny, you gave me a chuckle. “Liked their movies”, that’s the key. They were all performances in really good films (In CB’s opinion).
I don’t get into LaLa Land much but I do like a good song and dance in a flick once in a while (Idea for a take?). Thanks Beulah. Nice to get a female perspective on things. I did one of my first takes on the link below. Claire Trevor does a little song and is forever in my top performances for this. John Huston nailed it. Eddie G is a prize winning Bad Ass.
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How did we overlook Richard Widmark in ‘Kiss of Death?” He ties some poor old lady to a wheelchair and pushes her down the steps.
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Another “overlook” on CB’s part. Yeah, Widmark was a nutbar in that one. Kind of set the tone for future headcases in film. Thanks Doc, you are the man.
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I was enjoying your list so much I wasn’t able to think of any to add…
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One that came to mind was Martin Sheen as Kit in Badlands. He was an all American Serial killer. A real nasty one also was Henry (Michael Rooker) ‘Henry : Portrait of a Serial Killer’. Hard film to watch. You gotta have one for CB to look at or remember. Did you get the two clowns at the bottom?
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I reckon Mitchum wins this one, CB.
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Where ya been Jersey? Yeah, Mitchum seems to be stirring up some chills with folks. I was rightly corrected about not including his ‘Night of the Hunter’ role. I get a month of “Romantic Comedy” viewing for that one.
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Been moving house and doing it all ourselves so no time for idle scribbles for the past month. Settled in now, though, so idleness can resume.
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Happy settling. I’ll pop over to see some new photos and more of your takes. Once you get “Settled” snuggle up with your gal, make some popcorn, grab a beverage and watch a “Bad Ass” flick.
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Done and done.
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