I lifted some off of a site, but it would not allow main characters cuz it said that Frank Dux or Dalton were too tough for their list, cuz they can't be beat
But Getbig is a much tougher forum
#20 Ogre – Revenge of the Nerds- Ogre’s resume speaks for itself. As was discussed in the Bullies column a few weeks ago, Ogre took pride in harassing nerds and those weaker than him and he did it well. This guy was massive, wore sleeveless letter jackets and had the ability to put a preppy, weenie like Stan Gable on his shoulders and make him look intimidating. One had to believe that Ogre was a little bit screwy upstairs, which makes him that much more difficult to deal with. Throw Ogre in an octagon with 90% of the characters in Hollywood and I’m putting my chips on this crazy SOB to take them all.
#19 Mr. Joshua- Lethal Weapon- Presumably the Lethal Weapon script called for a middle-aged, blond man with a touch of martial arts experience and the ability to frighten people upon contact. I can imagine the casting director’s response when Gary Busey walked into the room to audition. Done. This man could be scary in any role, in any movie, period. If they cast Gary Busey in a role where he simply played with bunnies and watched Smurfs reruns all day it would be frightening.
shonufffullsize#18 Sho ‘Nuff- The Last Dragon- How Sho ‘Nuff, the “Shogun of Harlem,” missed the cut on AFI’s recent list of the top 50 villains is beyond me. He was the prime antagonist to Bruce Leroy in this 80’s classic, and he was one of only a few known men to have achieved the elusive “glow,” the true pinnacle of a karate master. For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about, just picture Busta Rhymes in a shogun outfit, kicking ass and speaking in jive and you’ve got Sho ‘Nuff.
#17 Genghis Khan- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure- Just so happens Genghis is the only Mongol warrior to make this year’s list. Simply being a Mongol warlord is plenty to stake one’s place as a tough movie character, but Genghis took it one step further. After being teleported to San Dimas, California circa 1989, Khan showed all that his trademark club was not a relic in the world of urban warfare. He smashed up a suburban mall, looked for some women to thrash and showed everyone that he was a very versatile tough guy.
#16 Jules Winfield- Pulp Fiction- If words were all it took to be considered the cream of the tough guy crop, Jules would probably reign supreme. Samuel L. Jackson’s jheri curled creation was one smooth talking assassin. Sure, he used a handgun to do his dirty work, but I have to believe that if Jules had to throw fists, he’d be just fine. He was certainly tougher than his partner Vincent Vega, otherwise known as John Travolta with a ponytail.
#15 Moses Hightower- Police Academy- Perhaps no other character represented the zany Police Academy crew like the 7 foot tall behemoth played by former NFL star, Bubba Smith. Of course, he’s pretty much the only character who actually appeared in all 19 Police Academy movies. In each episode of the series, Hightower showed another sign of just how bad he really was, unfortunately, I don’t remember any specific examples because I have elected not to watch a Police Academy movie anytime in the last decade. If I’m getting pulled over for speeding and I see this monster get out of the cruiser, I might be soiling myself. I’d much rather have the guy who made all of the funny noises writing me a ticket.
#14 Hammer & Slammer- I’m Gonna Git You Sucka!- Okay, I know I said only one character per movie, but what can you do? These two guys always came as a package deal when chasing down Mr. Big’s crew, so I couldn’t separate them. Both were seasoned, veteran blaxploitation crime fighters, played by the legendary Jim Brown and Isaac Hayes. If there was a crime lord corrupting the nation’s youth with fake gold chains, these are the guys I’d call to hunt him down.
#13 Johnny Lawrence- The Karate Kid- The front man for the devastating Cobra Kai karate dojo, Lawrence is the first to make the list from the Toughest Movie Character- High School Division. If this list were like the NBA draft, where players are selected on potential, Lawrence may be in the top five. Unfortunately, being a high schooler and weighing roughly 150 pounds, no matter how deadly his brand of karate is, he couldn’t quite crack the top 10. Losing to someone as nerdy as Daniel San doesn’t help his cause.
#12 Debo- Friday- I would consider Debo sort of the Godfather of the ghetto. No, he wasn’t into any organized crime or racketeering, but he did rule the neighborhood through fear. Debo was essentially a spin-off of “Tiny” Lister’s character Zeus from the Hulk Hogan classic No Holds Barred. He was a big ogre who grunted, beat up everyone and freaked people out with his lazy eye. If my neighborhood had someone like Debo stalking around harassing everyone, I’d probably hide my gold chains and earrings like Craig and Smokey did when he showed up. Of course, that would mean I would have to start wearing earrings and gold chains and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
#11 Sloth Fratelli- Goonies- Everyone remembers Sloth as Chunk’s cuddly buddy, who rescues the Goonies from the evil Fratelli family, so they can live happily ever after with One Eyed Willie’s jewels. Not me. I choose to see Sloth as the deformed, retarded beast who breaks out of his chained restraints so he can maul a candy bar. I personally believe that if Chunk doesn’t have a Baby Ruth in his pocket, Sloth rips off Chunk’s arm and eats that for a snack. Let’s not forget that this man was a step shy of being a wild animal and had the mental problems that easily could have fueled a different ending for the Goonies. Plus, he kind of scared me when I was a kid.
#10 Gunnery Sgt. Hartman- Full Metal Jacket- Earlier, I mentioned that if words were all it took to be tough, Jules Winfield would be at or near the top of this list. If that were the case, this infamous Drill Sergeant who spit out hundreds of memorable one-liners would have certainly occupied the top spot. When it came to Sgt. Hartman, it didn’t matter how tough he actually was because he had your ass in tears within minutes of verbally assaulting you. His tongue-lashings drove Private Pile to eat the wrong end of a pump-action shotgun, for god’s sake. If that isn’t top 10 material, I don’t know what is.
#9 Buzzsaw- The Running Man- The Running Man was a ripe territory for this contest. It featured numerous tough guys including stalkers Sub-Zero, Fireball and Captain Freedom. Of course it also produced the gay, opera-singing stalker, Dynamo, but we won’t worry about him. Out of all of the possible Running Man candidates for this slot, I consider Buzzsaw the top dog. Part of the reason is that, if you stripped him of his trademark chainsaws, he’d still be a handful. Unfortunately, in the end, Arnie introduced the chainsaw to the most sensitive of Buzz's body parts. Let’s just say there won’t be any little Buzzsaw’s running around anytime soon.
#8 Major Dutch’s Special Forces unit- Predator- This is another crew that just couldn’t be separated. Only an invisible alien who collected human skulls for fun could have possibly taken them out. You had Mac, who was constantly massaging his cheeks with a razor blade minus the shaving cream, Blain, who had a mini-gun strapped over his shoulders like a backpack, and Billy, whose weapon of choice was a 12-inch hunting knife. Dutch’s crew wouldn’t break a sweat dealing with most humans, it's just those pesky aliens that they have trouble with.
drago#7 Ivan Drago- Rocky IV- Rocky Balboa has had to go to war with many a foe. He’s taken on Apollo Creed, his annoying wife, Clubber Lang, Tommy Gunn, the English language and numerous others. None have been tougher than the 7-foot tall Russian giant, Ivan Drago. The Russian had the pin-point buzz cut that would have made Kurt Warner and his wife proud, a body that was literally put together by scientists, a punch that could inflict over 2.4 million pounds of pressure per square inch and one confirmed kill in the ring. Simply put, he was a tough cookie.
#6 Louis Fedders- Men at Work- Louis Fedders is somewhat of an obscure tough guy. He wasn’t tough in the typical huge muscle, big meathead sort of way. He was a trained killer, schooled in the jungles of Vietnam. Fedders went along for a ride on Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez's trash route in Men at Work and managed to assault a pizza man, two police officers, Estevez, Estevez's’s co-workers and numerous others. He was a loose cannon, someone that could flip out at any time and “snap your neck like a twig.” As Fedders proves, tough guys come in all shapes and sizes.
#5 LaFors- Mallrats- While Louis Fedders doesn’t appear as your typical tough guy, LaFors epitomizes it. He’s huge, intimidating, speaks very infrequently and has numerous confirmed kills while working as a security guard at the mall. Why would a man so bad be working as a security guard at a mall? Well, I don’t really know but, quite frankly, I wish he would peruse some of the malls around these parts to rid them of the some of the trash. LaFors could take the most unruly mall and whip it in to shape through nothing more than a little god old-fashioned, physical intimidation.
#4 T-1000- Terminator 2- To this point, all of our toughest characters have been of the human variety. T-1000 is the first participant to be made out of liquid metal, although, until he got cut, many feared that Drago was too. I don’t know about any of you out there, but when I see someone get his head blown in half with a shotgun then proceed to simply dust himself off, melt his head back together and resume whipping ass, I’m impressed, no matter what the guy's made out of. I have to believe that if I'm made of liquid metal and someone blows my head into two pieces, it's going to take me a minute to get myself back into a fighting frame of mind.
#3 Chong Li- Bloodsport- Karate movies are overflowing with characters that are supposed to be tough, but just don’t have it. I mean Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a karate villain in a Bruce Lee movie for the love of God. Not many of these villains have what it takes to be viewed as a true tough guy. Most of the time they’re disgustingly skinny, they jump around like monkeys and constantly preach about how fighting is a spiritual experience. Chong Li fought because he liked destroying weaker opponents in the Kumite. He liked being the best. If his opponent tried to surrender, Chong Li would promptly break his leg in half. Chong Li would take someone like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid, rip off his head and use it as a bowling ball. He loses points only because, rather than simply fighting Frank Dux straight up, he went with the illegal salt tablet to give him an edge, but, then again, who wouldn’t look for an advantage when going up against Frankie Dux.
#2 Buddy Revelle- Three O’Clock High- Like Johnny Lawrence, Revelle came to this list from the Toughest Movie Character- High School Division. Who would have thought that a high school student could have been one of the two toughest movie characters to ever grace the screen? But, to be honest, this guy wasn’t like you and I in high school. He didn’t have acne and worry about who his date to the prom would be. He didn’t care what his SAT scores were or whether or not he would make the varsity football team. His singular purpose was to destroy those students who pissed him off. As Jerry Mitchell, the school nerd, found out, if you so much as touched Revelle, you were getting pounded. As his tune-ups for the Mitchell fight, which took place on his first day at his new school, he beat the crap out of the reigning school bully, the school security guard and the principle without breaking a sweat. With three bodies in his wake, one would have to assume that Buddy would get swiftly booted out of school. Didn’t happen. Who’s going to tell Revelle that he can’t come back to school?
hurley#1 Bull Hurley- Over the Top- Weighing in at 300 lbs, sporting a “Blaster” T-shirt and a frightening Fu-Manchu, and able to break arms with a single flick of the wrist is our champion. The toughest man in the last 20 years of movie history is Bull Hurley, arm wrestler extraordinaire. More so than any other man or machine on this list, he brings the total package. He has all the tools of a legendary tough guy - intimidation, strength, size, attitude and appearance. Hurley didn’t bother to learn a fighting discipline or use his skill for the greater good. He spent his time doing what he enjoyed most, breaking arms and sometimes if his opponent mouthed off, breaking faces. Hollywood allowed for Lincoln Hawk to take his arm wrestling title for a brief period of time, but those “in the know” realized that it was nothing more than a sham. The scariest part of Bull Hurley, besides the fact that he looked like he could rip off your arms and use them as eating utensils, was the fact that the guy who played him really was a trucker and a champion arm wrestler. This guy wasn’t acting, he really was Bull Hurley. When all is said and done, we can take solace in the fact that we probably won’t meet Buddy Revelle or T-1000 at the gas station one day. The same cannot be said about Hurley. Every time I speed down the highway cursing at the big rigs that try to slow me down, I am conscious of the fact that there is a possibility, albeit slight, that the driver could be the bald-headed, mustached monster just waiting for a chump like me to piss him off so he can mount me on the front of his rig as an oversized hood ornament. Please God, never let me cross paths with Mr. Hurley.
