MovieChat Forums > Cool Hand Luke (1967) Discussion > Let's talk Coolest Film Characters Ever....

Let's talk Coolest Film Characters Ever...with a caveat

posted 13 years ago by kanuffelrik
85 replies | jump to latest

The caveat is they must be at least 20 years old. Why 20 years? I don't know, I'm just thinking of cool characters that have stood the test of time, instead of "The Joker", "Iron Man" etc. If you must choose more recent characters, so be it, but I'm going for classic film characters.

Here is my starting list off the top of my head, feel free to add your own:

Cool Hand Luke - Obviously, since were on the Cool Hand Luke board. "Sometimes nothin' is a pretty Cool Hand." He is really cool, and I love how the other guys (especially George Kennedy) go from wanting to pummel him to wanting to be him.

Blondie (The Good The Bad and the Ugly) - I think Eli Wallach owns this movie, but Eastwood is really cool.

Harry Lime (The Third Man) - The way he makes his entrance and the cuckoo clock speech etc. make you understand why everyone likes him, despite his shady behavior. He's cool!

Quint (Jaws) - I just always thought he was cool, the bandana, the boat, the verbal abusing of Brody and the verbal sparring with Hooper...even when he gets eaten he's cool :-)

Chuck Tatum (Ace in the Hole) - A lesser known character, but I think Kirk Douglas is great in this movie. Kind of a sleazy guy, but cool, especially at the beginning when he's trying to get a job at the town paper. Check out the Memorable Quotes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/quotes or the first 5 minutes of the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSB54h-rvfU and see what you think. You can't go wrong with Billy Wilder...

...which leads me to Walter Neff (Double Indemnity) - Fred MacMurray (yes, Fred MacMurray) is really cool in this classic noir. "Good-bye baby."

JJ Sefton (Stalag 17) - Hmmm another Billy Wilder movie. William Holden is really cool as the guy who they think is a rat cause of all the perks he's got.

I'm sure there's much more, but that's what comes to mind off the top of my head. And as for recent characters, I really like the villian in Oldboy. A messed up twisted guy, but always cool, even in a floppy hat :-)

[–] LIcyclist 12 years ago

"Kowalski" Barry Newman from Vanishing Point
"Chaney" Charles Bronson from Hard Times
"The Stranger" Clint Eastwood from High Plains Drifter

[–] mistermemory 12 years ago

Burt Reynolds as Paul Crewe in The Longest Yard
James Caan as Jonathan E in Rollerball
Lee Marvin as Walker in Point Blank

[–] hwarangdo 12 years ago

Jack Foley (Out of Sight)
Jimmy Conway (GoodFellas)
Mr. Wolf (Pulp Fiction)
The Bad (The Good, The Bad and the Weird)
Tyler Durden (Fight Club)
Sands (Once Upon a Time in Mexico)
Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Frank TJ Mackey (Magnolia)
John Smith (Felon)
Mr. Goodkat (Lucky Number Slevin)
George Stone (The Untouchables)
Magneto (X-Men: First Class)
Chopper (Chopper)
Alonzo Harris (Training Day)
Stansfield (Leon)
Floyd (True Romance)
Kai (Romeo Must Die)

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Elder_Yautija 12 years ago

I like that one! Solo's one of the coolest ever! Good call!

The ones that come to mind now:

- both The Dude and Walter (Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, "The Big Lebowsky")
- The Predator (Kevin Peter Hall, "Predator")
- Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro, "GoodFellas")
- Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson, "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest")
- Marv (Mickey Rourke, "Sin City")
- The T-1000 (Robert Patrick, "Terminator 2")
- Det. Vincent Hannah (Al Pacino, "Heat")
- Det. Bud White (Russell Crowe, "L.A. Confidential")
- Titta Di Girolamo (Toni Servillo, "The Consequences Of Love")
- Boris "The Blade\The Bullet-Dodger" (Rade Serbedzija, "Snatch")
- Gunney Sergeant Hartmann (R. Lee Ermey, "Full Metal Jacket")
- Arthur Burns (Danny Houston, "The Proposition")
- Don Logan (Ben Kingsley, "Sexy Beast")
- Carl Fogarthy (Ed Harris, "A History Of Violence")

[–] chetanhsk-1 12 years ago

McMurfy - One Flew over cuckoo's nest
Maude - Harold and maude
Leon - Leon The Professional

[–] samotraki 12 years ago

Toshiro Mifune's character in "Yojimbo" and especially "Sanjuro" A lot of you mentioned the man With no Name, this is the original dude.Coolest ever imho

Fast Eddie Felson in both "The Hustler" and "The Color of Money"

John "Goldie" Mickens in "the Mack"

John McLane in the Die Hard series

Darth Vader

Bullit

Jean Gabin in "Pepe le Moko"

[–] deck007-1 12 years ago

This is a cool topic - but I think it's too broad - there are just too many characters - I think it should be made more specific.

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

[–] happyguy99993 11 years ago

Jean Gabin in EVERYTHING

I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out if I'm really alive.

[–] suicidea 11 years ago

========================================
Jean Gabin in EVERYTHING
========================================

I second that. He could just stand there doing nothing, yet people would still watch him. He was not about toughness or badassness, but about class and coolness.

Never be complete.

[–] LuckyGoldStar 12 years ago

My all time fave Movie Character...

Dirty Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) - Cool, calm, bad attitude, plays by his own rules, a lot of traits I admire.

James Bond - (mainly Roger Moore and secondly Sean Connery) Definition of cool really.

Jim Rockford (James Garner) - Mainly a TV character but he did start off in a pilot 'MOVIE' an there was the TV movies of the 90s. Cool, calm, laid back, yet could be a coward and mean to people who didn't deserve it (Turning down clients etc), yet Garner made this cool. Goes to show how naturally cool Jim Garner is.

Irwin 'Fletch' Fletcher (Chevy Chase) - Witty, funny, laid back.

Lew Harper (Paul Newman) - Going with the recurring theme he's laid back, funny etc.

R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) - Funny, Could be laid back but its more his 'doesn't give a *beep* about rules, authority etc' attitute I admire.

Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) - Again generally has the same traits I admire. Theres alot of other Bogart characters I love (Rick Blaine, Sam Spade etc) but I think Marlowe would be my favourite.

[–] iKateB 12 years ago

- Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) in Angels with Dirty Faces

- Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in To Kill a Mockingbird

[–] Scorsesefellow 12 years ago

- Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) in Eastern Promises. One of my favorite films ever.

End of passion play, crumbling away. I'm your source of self-destruction.

[–] atlasmb 12 years ago

Ferris Bueller

[–] suicidea 12 years ago

To the OP: When I read your post, I thought it was something I had written but forgotten. I agree on each and every one of your selections.

I'd add:

Joliet Jake Blues from The Blues Brothers
Charles Bronson in Mr. Majestyk
E.G. Marshall in 12 Angry Men
Seiji Miyaguchi in Seven Samurai (as Kyuzo, the master swordsman)
Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront
Ash in The Evil Dead films,
Anthony Quinn in The Secret of Santa Vittoria
Sigourney Weaver in the Alien films

plus Lino Ventura, James Coburn, Jack Palance, Toshiro Mifune, Peter Lorre, Bruce Lee, Michael Caine, Tom Waits and Alain Delon in pretty much anything they appeared in,

and Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen for the top spot.

Never be complete.

[–] suicidea 12 years ago

I almost forgot:

Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda and Jason Robards, all three of them, in Once Upon a Time In The West. Sorry if someone else mentioned that before.

Never be complete.

[–] westal_sage 12 years ago

Honestly I think Newman was cooler in The Towering Inferno than he was in this movie.

[–] balboa76 12 years ago

Newman was cooler in Towering Inferno lol You know you really are an idiot. With so many great Newman films to choose from like Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, The Color Of Money, The Verdict, Road to Perdition, Nobody's Fool and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you choose the weakest Newman character as the coolest. How old are you? Probably 12.

[–] mrchiken-556-277993 12 years ago

Robert Mitchum "Night of the Hunter"

[–] HarveyManfredinStJohn 11 years ago

Robert Mitchum "Out of the Past"

Going station to station is hunky dory but if the trip's low on heroes it can drive Aladdin Sane.

[–] westal_sage 12 years ago

I didn't say Towering had Newman's coolest character. What makes Luke so cool? Crimes out of boredom? Eating a bunch of eggs? Bluffing a hand of poker? When I was 12, I bet I would've liked this film alot more.

[–] balboa76 12 years ago

I would respond to you, but it would be pointless to educate a putz like you who cant even figure out why Cool Hand Luke is one of the coolest characters in the history of the cinema.