Salon: The 10 most macho movie Scenes

[SeekHer]

In my Salon.com newsletter they had this little tidbit.

The 10 most macho movie moments

Slide show: From "Aliens" to "Rambo III," the scenes that took machismo to a whole new level
By Matt Zoller Seitz

With "The Expendables" opening this coming week -- a film that its director and star, Sylvester Stallone, has called "Sex and the City" with action heroes -- we've put together a slide show of great moments in movie macho. Some of these moments occur in godawful films and are so trashy and overwrought that they feel like parody played straight -- yet their excess is precisely what makes them memorable. Other macho moments are played with wit and restraint and make ludicrous situations seem almost plausible. Still others slough off the bonds of realism, leap toward the mythic and stick the landing.

But all the moments on this list have core traits in common: They celebrate a warrior's mentality, or at the very least, a certain resoluteness -- a willingness to dig in when things seem to be at their worst, and greet fate with a cocky smile and a quip. In other words, they're the stuff that action movies are made of.

Add your own selections in the Letters section.

View the slide show

· Matt Zoller Seitz is Salon's staff television critic

10. Wound care, "Rambo III" (1988) Sylvester Stallone
9. The land mine, "The Big Red One" (1980) Lee Marvin
8. The joust, "True Grit" (1969) John Wayne's
7. The egg chamber scene in "Aliens" (1986) James Cameron's
6. Napalm in the morning, "Apocalypse Now" (1979) Robert Duvall's
5. Three coffins, "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) The Man With No Name
4. Tony Jaa climbs the stairs, "The Protector" (2006) Tony Jaa
3. The surgery scene, "Ronin" (1998) Robert De Niro
2. James Cagney acts yellow, "Angels With Dirty Faces" (1938) James Cagney
1. Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris, "Return of the Dragon" (1972) Bruce Lee

There wasn't any "honourable Mentioned"!

Y. M. M. V.

[Yogimus]

"Pain Don't Hurt", as well as the entirety of roadhouse.
"Remember what Jack Burton always says..." Big trouble, Little China

[Erik]

"300", especially the scene before the first Persian attack, "Here is where we hold them! Here is where we fight! Here is where they die! Earn these shields, boys!"

And of course the last scene in the movie.

[mekender]

I dunno, the scene in Predator when the Indian guy took off all his gear, pulled out his bowie and cut his chest while taunting an invisible alien... That was pretty macho right there...

[staylor]

Just about anything from Taken but especially the scene where he threatens the kidnappers over the phone.
"I will find you and I will kill you."

[Old Grafton]

"Ask me to stay so I can leave."

[308Mike]

"We were Soldiers" = the scene where the relief troops were coming up to the knoll and yelling, "Sgt Savage, are you here?!?!?!?" and suddenly you see a hand with a couple of outstretched fingers and arm come poking up from among all the dead and wounded and leaves and branches, letting them know where he was.

[workinwifdakids]

In Platoon (1986), when the character played by Dale Dye orders air support to bomb his location because the base is overrun.

Snakebite leader, Bravo Six, for the record, it's my call. Dump everything you got left on my POS. I say again, I want all you're holding INSIDE the perimeter. It's a lovely fucking war. Bravo Six Actual and Out.

[Jered]

"Play Marseillaise. Play it." --- Casablanca
"Fix bayonets." --- Gettysburg

[mekender]

In Platoon (1986), when the character played by Dale Dye orders air support to bomb his location because the base is overrun.

Snakebite leader, Bravo Six, for the record, it's my call. Dump everything you got left on my POS. I say again, I want all you're holding INSIDE the perimeter. It's a lovely fucking war. Bravo Six Actual and Out.

And from Flight of the Intruder

Sandy Low Lead, Sandy Low Lead, this is Cole, 5-0-5. I'm done, Sandy. I'm all screwed up. My back's broken. They're everywhere. I'm sitting on a ZSU. They're using me for bait. Do it, Sandy. Lay it in on me, man. I'm popping smoke. Do it, Sandy. Do it now. I'd do it for you.