VERN'S TEDIOUS THOUGHTS ON THE BADASS 100 2006 REVISED LIST

The new BADASS 100 list is exciting to me, I feel like it's a stronger list this time around. This is mostly due to a much larger group of courageous World Badass Committee participants but also I think it helps that many of us have been studying the films of Badass Cinema more seriously in the years since the original list.

Credit also goes to the DVD format which has helped people to catch up with alot of movies that had been forgotten or had disappeared at the time of the previous list. For the original list GET CARTER was nominated but didn't receive enough votes to qualify, this time around (after being widely seen on DVD) it was one of the most commonly nominated films and debuted at a respectable #32 on the list. Criterion is probaly responsible for the inclusion of LE SAMOURAI and LE CERCLE ROUGE on the list. Fortunately ROLLING THUNDER and 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN were able to squeeze in there without DVDs available (in region 1 anyway). Perhaps if EIGHT DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER had been available in region 1 it would have made the list(with its 8 votes it had an average 8.9375 rating).

In order to qualify, at least 10 people needed to vote on each movie. I didn't think it would fair for a movie with a high average score between 35 votes to lose out to one that rated higher averaged from, say, 5 votes. So I cut out anything with votes in the single digits. The most unfortunate casualty of the cut-off was HELL IN THE PACIFIC, which I consider to be part of the Badass canon. It just missed the list with 8.4444444 out of 9 votes. SWORD OF DOOM also had an amazing 9.5 average, which could have made it #1 but it only received 7 votes. Sorry, SWORD OF DOOM. Maybe next time.

You'll notice that alot of the horror/sci-fi/fantasy type movies from the original Badass 100 have been dropped: all three EVIL DEAD movies, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, JAWS, DUEL, DAWN OF THE DEAD, FACE/OFF, TERMINATOR 2, ROBOCOP, X-MEN. On the other hand, John Carpenter's THE THING and John McTiernan's PREDATOR made the cut this time. Also, Romero may have lost DAWN OF THE DEAD but he added KNIGHTRIDERS.

Due to the new NOPE rule (voters could give a zero-point NOPE vote to movies they either felt weren't worthy or didn't fit the criteria of the Badass 100), scores were generally lower. On the original list, the #1 movie THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY rated 9.7, this time it rated 9.185 which would have put it in second place if it wasn't part of the MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY that ranked #1. (Eligibility of an entire series was another new rule that changed the outcome of the list.)

Of the original Badass 100 list, 43 were cut from the list. Only 16 moved higher up the list, the most impressive being THE STREET FIGHTER which moved 57 slots from #80 to #23. FIGHT CLUB had the most precipitous drop of the movies that stayed on the list - it fell 74 slots from #6 to #80. EVIL DEAD 2 was the highest ranking movie from the old list to be cut - it was #17 last time.

So maybe voters are being more strict this time around - but at the same time, the lower end of the list is higher rated now. The lowest rating on the new list is THE GREAT ESCAPE with 7.3958333. That's higher than the bottom 23 slots on the old list, which suggests a higher standard of Badass Quality in the new list.

Not every movie I wanted on there made the list. If it was up to me, BLADE woulda gotten on there (it got 7.0711111 out of 45 votes,
BLADE II got 7.3769231 out of 39). And I guess I'm the only one still pushing for DESPERADO (6.6230769 out of 39). You've probaly noticed that not a single Seagal film made the list. Not that that's surprising consider the general attitude toward Seagal these days. Maybe that will change when I finish my book.

I don't agree with every inclusion on the list, either. Although it does have a great set of badass actors in it, I'm not convinced SIN CITY needs to be on the list at this early date. OLDBOY - okay, that hammer scene is great, but will the movie still come to mind as a badass classic once everybody's moved on to some other trendy Asian import? And while TAXI DRIVER is obviously a masterpiece, I'm not sure about us havingTravis Bickle on a list of badasses. Isn't he just a crazy guy who snapped? I guess if Rambo is on there too...

Anyway, it doesn't matter what I think, because the WBC has spoken. I'm very happy to see that STANDER and CHOPPER were two of the movies released since the creation of the old list that were added to the ranks, along with the more obvious KILL BILL. And we added alot of classics that were somehow missed before, like HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and GET CARTER.

I guess the biggest surprise to me is how many of the movies I consider Badass canon I've never bothered to review. I mean, MAD MAX, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, even THEY LIVE? What the hell am I doing?

Anyway, I'd really like to thank everybody who took part or who read all this crap. Thank you.

Here are some more statistics:

TOP BADASS:

Clint takes it again with 7 movies. Robert Deniro and Takeshi Kitano came in second with 4 movies. Chow Yun Fat, Al Pacino, Toshiro Mifune, and John Wayne tied for third with three films, while Charles Bronson, Bruce Lee, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, and Robert Mitchum each had two.

TOP DIRECTORS:

This time, if you include each film in a series that made the list, we have 7 directors who tied at 4 films:

John Carpenter
Howard Hawks
Takeshi Kitano
Sergio Leone
Sam Peckinpah
Quentin Tarantino
John Woo

just missing at 3 films were:

Clint motherfucking Eastwood
Akira effin Kurosawa
Martin god damn Scorsese

And of these of course we must honor the achievements of our eternal Badass Laureates, the only two who are on the list both as Badasses and as Directors: Eastwood (7 times as a badass, 3 times as a director) and Kitano (4 times each).

HONORABLE DISCHARGES:

These movies rated high but were disqualified due to receiving less than 10 votes. So consider them recommendations for possible further study.

Avenging Eagle, The (Alexander Fu Sheng) = 7.5 out of 2
Bittersweet Life, A (Lee Byung-hun) = 8 out of 3
Black Caesar (Fred the Hammer Williamson) = 7.4285714 out of 7
Blade, The (Man Cheuk Chiu) = 8.6 out of 5
Boss, Il (Henry Silva) = 8.3333333 out of 3
Boxer From Shantung, The (Chen Kuan-Tai) = 9.75 out of 2
Burning Paradise (somebody) = 10 out of 1
Charley Varrick (John Vernon) = 7.7142857 out of 7
Classe tous risques (Lino Ventura) = 8 out of 2
Colorado Territory (Joel McCrea) = 8.6666667 out of 3
compañeros (Franco Nero, Tomas Milian) = 7.75 out of 4
Coogan's Bluff (Clint) = 7.7 out of 7
Crime Story (tv movie by Abel Ferrara) (Dennis Farina) = 7.5 out of 5
Crippled Avengers (aka Return of the Five Deadly Venoms) (ensemble) = 8.375 out of 4
Cross of Iron (James Coburn) = 7.8333333 out of 9
Day of Anger (Lee Van Cleef, Giuliano Gemma) = 9.5 out of 2
Day of the Outlaw (Robert Ryan) = 9 out of 2
Dead or Alive series = 8 out of 5
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (Riki Takeuchi) = 9 out of 1
Deaf and Mute Heroine (Helen Ma) = 9 out of 1
Death Rides a Horse (Lee Van Cleef) = 7.5 out of 4
Django (Franco Nero) = 8.5714286 out of 7
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Gordon Liu) = 8.9375 out of 8
Face To Face (Tomas Milian, Gian Maria Volontè = 9 out of 1
Female Prison Scorpion series (Female Convict Prisoner 701, Female Convict Prison Scorpion Jailhouse 41) (Badass = Meiko Kaji) = 8.5 out of 7
Firm, The (the Alan Clarke one, not the John Grisham one) (Gary Oldman) = 7.5 out of 6
Five Fingers of Death (Lieh Lo) = 8.75 out of 4
Graveyard of Honor (Tetsuya Watari) = 8.3333333 out of 3
Graveyard of Honor, remake (Goro Kishitani) = 9.5 out of 2
Hanzo the Razor trilogy (Shintaro Katsu) = 8.25 out of 4
Hard Times (Charles Bronson) = 8.5 out of 9
Hell in the Pacific (Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune) = 8.4444444 out of 9
Hellbenders, The (Joseph Cotten) = 8.5 out of 2
Hill, The (Sean Connery and friends) = 8.6666667 out of 3
His Kind of Woman (Robert Mitchum) = 10 out of 1
The Italian Connection (Mario Adorf, Henry Silva) = 8 out of 3
Kid With the Golden Arm (ensemble) = 8 out of 2
Kill! (Tatsuya Nakadai) = 8.5 out of 4
Kung Fu (the tv movie, not the series) (David Carradine) = 4.375 out of 8
Little Caesar (Edward G. Robinson) = 8 out of 1
Long Riders, The (Carradines) = 7.75 out of 8
Made in Britain (Tim Roth) = 8.25 out of 4
Man From Laramie, The (Jimmy Stewart) = 8.7142857 out of 7
Mechanic, The (Charles Bronson) = 7.7333333 out of 9
Milano calibro 9 (Mario Adorf) = 10 out of 1
Molly Maguires, The (Richard Harris) = 8 out of 3
Naked Spur, The (Jimmy Stewart) = 8.4285714 out of 7
One-Armed Swordsman, The (Jimmy Wang Yu) = 8.4 out of 5
One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando) = 7.8333333 out of 6
Outfit, The (Robert Duvall) = 8.5 out of 5
Paid In Full (Wood Harris, Mekhi Pfeiffer, Cam'Ron) = 7.5 out of 5
Prime Cut (Lee Marvin) = 8.1375 out of 8
Professionals, The (ensemble) = 7.5 out of 5
PTU (Simon Yam) = 7.75 out of 4
Rainy Dog (Sho Aikawa) = 9.5 out of 2
Revenge (Bo sau) (David Chiang) = 10 out of 1
Samurai I, II and III (Toshiro Mifune) = 7.4875 out of 8
Secret Master, The (aka Legend of a Fighter) (Kar Yan Leung) = 9 out of 1
Seven Men From Now (Randolph Scott) = 9.3333333 out of 3
So Close (ensemble) = 7.9166667 out of 6
Street Fighter trilogy (Sonny Chiba) = 8.6875 out of 8
Sword of Doom, The (Tatsuya Nakadai) = 9.5 out of 7
Tai-Chi Master (Jet Li) = 8.75 out of 4
Tatooed Life (Hideki Takahashi) = 9 out of 1
Ten Tigers from Kuangtung (Alexander Fu Sheng, Lung Ti) = 10 out of 1
Thomasine and Bushrod (Max Julien, Vonetta McGee) = 10 out of 1
Tiger On Beat (Chow-Yun Fat) = 7.5 out of 4
Touch of Zen, A (ensemble) = 8.5 out of 2
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (Jean Gabin) = 8.375 out of 4
White Dog (Paul Winfield) = 8 out of 5
Winchester '73 (Jimmy Stewart) = 8.4444444 out of 9
Wing Chun (Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen) = 7.7 out of 5

BOOBY PRIZES:

Breathless (Richard Gere) = 1.8928571 out of 14 (9 NOPES)
Walk the Line (Joaquin Phoenix) = 2.1384615 out of 26 (sorry Johnny) (13 NOPES)
Basic Instinct (Sharon Stone) = 2.8176471 out of 34 (12 NOPES)
Internal Affairs (Richard Gere) = 3.2727273 out of 11 (5 NOPES)