The Most Badass Movie Scenes of All Time

Something I am often taken by in regards to film is the notion of being badass. It’s an art, really. Cinematically, badassness can present itself in a number of ways. There’s the thrilling action scene, the intense monologue, the subtle Fuck You – whatever the case may be, I love watching badass things unfold on screen.

Now, this list was cooked up in a fit of inspiration based on something I posted on Facebook earlier today. After much deliberation, my friends there proposed that I draft a list of my favorite badass scenes, which I’ve gone ahead and done. Kind of.

In all honestly, the list here is endless, these are just the 10 that came to my mind right away. This is the type of list that, as soon as I publish this post, I will think of 10 more (possibly better) inclusions, which is where you all come in. If there’s ever a time I implored interactivity on this blog, it is now. Tell me your favorite, most badass movie scenes. There are no rules, no restrictions. Have a ball with it. Let the badass become you.

Raging Bull (1980)

The Beating

Okay, I’m not sure if this belongs in the badass column or the holy-shit-this-is-what-desperation-looks-like category, but either way you pin it, you can’t help but be in awe (or horror) of the hurting Sugar Ray Robinson puts on Jake La Motta late in Raging Bull. By this point in the movie, La Motta has physically and emotional terrorized damn near every single person in the film, so when Robinson gets him in the ring again, it’s almost as if Jake feels like he deserves the most epic beating of his life.

But that ain’t all. After the ref stops the fight, Jake rushes over to Sugar Ray and quietly tells him that, “You never got me down, Ray.” (Watch, in a miraculous piece of physical acting, the way Robert De Niro pulls up his boxing trunks as he walks away.) Again, badass or desperate, I’m not too sure. Probably a fair mix of both.

Glengary Glen Ross (1992)

The Talk

This isn’t really going to provoke much of a description from me. In the form of words, David Mamet’s priceless monologue, as delivered expertly by Alec Baldwin, is badass personified. Put, that, coffee, down, and enjoy it below.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The Go-Back

So, you break free from two sadistic rapist bastards (and one chained up gimp), and instead of fleeing the scene (and leaving your sworn enemy to perish), you stay. Why? Because you have to go back. You tour the inventory. A hammer. Too small. A baseball bat. Too weak. A chainsaw. Too loud. And then you see it. A giant, glorious, pristine samurai sword. Time to go, you badass mofo.

Desperado (1995)

The Neck Break

There’s a scene midway through Desperado in which our El Mariachi owns a bunch of Mexican thugs in a bar. Toward the end of THAT badass sequence, Antonio Banderas is faced with the last man standing. Or rather lying. They slide next to each other on the bar, pull the triggers of their guns and – blank. They get off the bar and pick up two more guns. Blank. They try two more, then two more, then, finally, Banderas bum rushes the guy, grabs his neck and as he’s twisting it he yells FUCK YOU at the top of his lungs. That... is badass.

Rounders (1998)

The Nut Straight - SPOILER

Here’s the subtlety I’m talking about. When you go back and watch the final card game of Rounders from the beginning, you see that Matt Damon has it won very early on. And he knows it. And not only does he not let us know, his narration doesn’t either, which is part of the scene’s brilliance. Look at the way Damon slams those cards down. A subtle act of badass defiance.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

The Speech

Some people call Tony D’Amato’s locker room speech in Any Given Sunday (which is, for the record, the very best locker room speech ever given) inspirational. Me? Sure, but I also think it is supremely badass. There’s Al Pacino’s slow build up, the simple music, the growing encouragement of the players, but really, this scene is equipped with something that the others on this list are not: humility.

There’s something I find unspeakably poetic about D’Amato’s gentle relent into how, and why, his life sucks as bad as it does. He’s opening his heart to men he doesn’t expect to give a shit. But, maybe, if he bears his soul to them, they will bear their souls on the field. It’s an excellent scene of outspoken shame and regret, and one that I find immensely moving, and uniquely badass.

(PS, look for the camera move at 1:39. THAT, my friends, is a short piece of expert direction. One of the best shots from any monologue ever.)

American Psycho (2000)

The Ugly Bitch

I cannot draft a list of badass scenes that does not in some way include Patrick Bateman. Bateman does a host of badass (and, you know, psychotic) things in the movie, but the one that I find especially entertaining is his telling-off of a rude female bartender. After the bartender dismisses Bateman’s expired drink voucher, she turns his back to him, and he tells her that, “You’re a fucking ugly bitch. I want to stab you to death, then play around with your blood.”

It’s our first glimpse into the warped mind of one of my favorite anti heroes. Does the bartender hear him? Nope. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

Chopper (2000)

The Kung Fu

Early in this brilliant, criminally underseen Australian thriller, Chopper (a nearly unrecognizable Eric Bana) is stabbed by his best friend and cellmate, so that his friend can gain some jailhouse clout. Thing is, Chopper doesn’t feel the shank repeateding going into his abdomen. After the first hit, he suggests to his soon-to-be-enemy that it’s, “A bit early for kung fu.” It takes a second stab for ol’ Chop to feel anything. But because Chopper doesn’t go down (or show any sign of pain whatsoever) the cellmate stabs him again, then, again, then… shit, I think it’s seven times total. Oh, and did I mention that everything in this scene actually happened in real life? Yup. Badass.

Eastern Promises (2007)

The Bath

The badassness of Eastern Promises’ most iconic sequence isn’t that it happens, it’s that it Just. Keeps. Going. A few minutes after Viggo Mortensen’s Nikolai is attacked in a Turkish bathhouse and left to defend himself with literally only his dick in his hand, he takes his two attackers down, and that should be that. But then, slowly, desperately, he crawls overtop one of the goons and, after a brief struggle, plunges a shank into one of his eyes. The thing is… Nikolai does this as if he’s done it a dozen times already. No mercy. Nikolai is as badass as they come.


Surprisingly, I was unable to find an embeddable clip of this scene. I found many parodies, but the scene itself is well hidden. Here's a glimpse:

Inception (2010)

The Hallway

Now, here is a perfect example of situational badassness. The first time I saw Inception, I was dumbfounded by the marvel of most of the film, but when Dileep Rao's faulty maneuverings of a van sent Joseph Gordon-Levitt flying through the air, I knew I was in the midst of something that deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as 2001. Inception has its fair share of naysayers, which is fine, but like the film or not, there’s no denying how epic this floating hallway fight scene is. And the fact that it was achieved using very little special effects is, well, you guessed it.

Seriously, folks, the possibilities here are endless. I’ve left it wide open, so please, do share your favorite cinematic badass sequences.