In an age of the “sensitive male” movie character (gag me), it is in the past that we must look to in order to find the brutish, suave, and downright bad ass movie men that are not only entertaining, but idolized by men for their rakish ways.
So here I present, in chronological order, the greatest movie bad-asses of all time (so far, at least).
Errol Flynn
The first, and still one of the greatest, bad-asses ever to grace the silver screen. Flynn’s bad assness stems from his swashbuckling adventures that made women want him and men want to be him.
Jane Russell
While not a man (thank god) she is still a bad ass and worth mentioning on this list. In flicks such as Gentleman Prefer Blondes her naughty attitude, in addition to her voluptuous figure, made her one of the more desirable sex symbols in the 40′s and 50′s.
James Dean
The first true Hollywood bad boy, James Dean defined the whole reckless cool attitude with everything he did. Even dying while driving his race car was the only cool way he would go. I could go on forever so I’ll just stop here. Everyone knows who he is anyway. One thing though; of all the pictures ever taken of Dean, the one that has had the most prints is the one where he is walking down a New York street, in the rain, through a puddle, with a cigarette on his lips and his trench coat collar turned up. Theres just something about it that is so flipping cool that I have a poster of it.
Sean Connery
Starting with the James Bond series, starring as none other than 007 himself, Sean Connery was the poster boy for the suave, dangerous man that we all wanted to be (mostly for the gadgets and hot chicks). Whenever he entered a room, ordered his signature drink, or kicked an ass here or there, Connery brought a tangible quality of coolness to the role. Through out his career he has also brought this quality to most roles that he has played; even the more thinking type roles such as the character of William Forrester in Finding Forrester.
My favorite movie, not counting the Bond series as they are in a class of their own, is The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen where he played the adventurer Allan Quartermain. Total bad ass in that one.
Steve McQueen
Bad boy, rogue, hard core. Steve McQueen is a bad ass and anyone saying anything otherwise is just jealous. Movies such as Bullit put him squarely in the bad-ass category. More info about him is at INDB and his very own Wikipedia page.
Harrison Ford
Han Solo would not be the character he was if not for Fords amazing job with the films. Indiana Jones would be rather boring without the dynamic performance and humorous wit that Ford 
provided for that series as well. Whether a blaster toting rogue captain on the fringe of the law, or a dashing bookworm with a bull whip and a fedora, Harrison Ford provided so much bad-assness to these films that no man or woman can not see the movies and go “Damn, he’s cool”.
Since he’s getting on in years it is worth it to note that he has lost none of his coolness; let alone his bad-ass-ness. Even in his latest one Firewall, his is a bit of a badass despite being a computer geek at a bank. Its the same as a lion; the older they get the more fierce they become.
I am sure that there are some in the movies that I have missed. Well, I havent seen every movie out there so if I missed one that should be up here let me know and I will look into adding them.
So, what can we take away from this list? What ideals can we absorb that will hopefully return some of our manlyness to us and awaken our own inner bad-ass? Here is a short list of what I believe is some noteworth information:
- Carrying (and using) a sword is cool
- Being seen with a hot chick never goes out of style
- Walking your own road makes most people the people they are (bad-ass and non-badass alike) and if you have a hard road then you will probably become badass sooner.
- Smoking is cool. At least for a while.
- Carrying (and using) a whip (without injuring yourself) is totally wicked and badass-ish.
-Cheers