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[Stoney Mason]

Watch Eastern Promises. He is fucking terrific in that one (and more than a wee scary)

Hidalgo I felt was a very under-rated popcorn flick.

 

[segasonic]

ed norton = boy-man?

 

[Count Dookkake]

Hildalgo I felt was a very under-rated popcorn flick.

People laugh when I tell them it is a good movie!

 

[segasonic]

This article was a stretch to begin (who the hell wants to put Travolta in an action movie?), but then it hypes up the manliness of 1960's era stars, nothing tops the masculinity and badassness of 1980's action stars.

John Woo apparently

 

[permutated]

American men act tough, foreigners complain they're too macho. American men act sensitive, women complain they're not macho enough.

Can't win. :lol

QFT.

 

[jax (old)]

The problem with real tough guys is that they suck as actors. Since they are so tough, nobody is willing to give them criticism to improve their acting for fear of getting beat up. So directors are forced to choose between pansies that can fake toughness or tough guys who can fake acting. It really is a tough choice.

they can look tough.. .its called acting. It however really is more of a casting situation. I'm sure the actors are out there but you really have to wonder how these casting agencies work.

I recently watched Candyman 3... and yes, its a budget film but you look at the cast and the lead female is a plastic blond who cannot act. She was plasticky good looking (so much so it made her look really hideous) and the acting was actrious. Somehow, she got picked. The problem isn't that there isn't anyone out there they can use, its how they somehow manage to pick the shittest actors to use.


McDreamy (from Gray's) is quite manly. The other roguish actor from Gray's is also quite masculine.

 

[Defuser]

Or Christian Bale in Little Women.

Not American.

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

too bad American actors aren't tough like Jude Law.

 

[Ceres]

Not American.

I think you're missing the point I was making.

 

[milanbaros]

too bad American actors aren't tough like Jude Law.

Or Orlando Bloom.

But seriously Daniel Craig is a great tough man.

 

[jax (old)]

too bad American actors aren't tough like Jude Law.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-485612/Receding-Jude-Law-shows-bald-new-look.html

http://www.defamer.com.au/2008/04/jude_law_in_bitter_struggle_to_save_his_hair-2.html

http://www.tmz.com/2008/07/24/phil-collins-and-the-genesis-of-jude-laws-hairline/

 

[Mr. Durden]

I started thinking of actors than could qualify, but then I realized a LOT of those famous actors are not from America....

 

[Fourth Storm]

ed norton = boy-man?

He's a great actor. His voice is just a bit too high/nasally to command authority.

 

[Stoney Mason]

For me age or the look of age and maturity is a part of it. It's why Will Smith isn't a badass to me but Denzel Washington is.


I recently saw Men In Black for the first time in a long time and that movie sort of typifies what I don't like about the modern movie star. Will Smith is supposed to be some sort of cocky funny cool guy but I just don't buy it at all. Now as he gets older I find I like Smith a little more. Hancock (the first half) was the first time I think I ever really bought Will Smith in one of his roles.

 

[Fei]

I don't know about you guys, but when I watch movies from the '60s I laugh at how bad the actors were by today's standards. The fact that we don't have many "John Waynes" in today's mainstream is a good thing.

 

[Kandrick]

I don't know about you guys, but when I watch movies from the '60s I laugh at how bad the actors were by today's standards. The fact that we don't have many "John Waynes" in today's mainstream is a good thing.

I laugh at you.

 

[Always-honest]

I don't know about you guys, but when I watch movies from the '60s I laugh at how bad the actors were by today's standards. The fact that we don't have many "John Waynes" in today's mainstream is a good thing.

there were pretty good actors, but John Wayne wasn't one of them

 

[milanbaros]

The fact that we don't have many "John Waynes" in today's mainstream is a good thing.

I don't think anyone went as far as to claim John Wayne was a good actor.

 

[Egg Shen]

I don't know about you guys, but when I watch movies from the '60s I laugh at how bad the actors were by today's standards. The fact that we don't have many "John Waynes" in today's mainstream is a good thing.

You're watching the wrong films, then. The Great Escape is an excellent WW2 film from the 60's with a fantastic ensemble of top shelf actors (or those who would later be regarded as). It was a virtual who's who of "tough guys" with Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Garner, and James Coburn. Watching Bronson play someone with a nearly crippling fear of being in the tunnels he actually builds is something I didn't expect from a "tough guy" like him.

 

[Az]

there were pretty good actors, but John Wayne wasn't one of them

 

[the_zombie_luke]

The actors aren't the only ones becoming too soft, just go to a public place and see how people are. It's disgusting.

I think you're right about that. Seems like more and more guys are Nice Guys and get walked all over. It is pretty sad. Everyone rent the Death Wish movies and get mean.

 

[Always-honest]

ha, yeah. now there's an actor. and a tough guy

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I dont see a problem here. Can Clive Owen not do an American accent?
Just get the aussies and euros to do a fake accent. Manufacture them as stars with marketing and then American actors will rise up from the rubble themselves to compete.

Matt Damon simply isnt a very good actor anymore. I look at the guy and I only ever see Matt Damon. I never beleive him in his roles regardless of the movies quality.

Viggo has done some terrible roles, but I think hes an okay actor.

Matt's a consistent actor, and he has a certain charm to him in most of his movies. Well, not counting Legend of Bagger Vance and Stuck On You.

 

[yacobod]

Charles Bronson agrees with the OP

 

[Narag]

Charles Bronson agrees with the OP

I never really appreciated him until I saw Once Upon a Time in the West and The Magnificent Seven.

 

[Always-honest]

Charles Bronson agrees with the OP

yeah, he's great

 

[JasonUresti]

Its only been about 20 years since they made Predator. It takes time to recharge the tough guy reserves after using so much of it to assemble that cast.

 

[Gallbaro]

The simple solution is to give Tom Hanks a Fedora, a trench coat and a scar on his face.

 

[whytemyke]

i thought we had vin diesel, too.

 

[Jado]

Vin Diesel and The Rock are too goofy and muscle-headed to pull off the tough guy role. They're parodies of 80's tough guys. They would fit in better as the big, mindless Nazi that Indiana Jones needs to get past, than as Indy himself.