Car Chase movie tough guy rankings......

After the last post I had some people ask if Robert Mitchum was the number one car-chase movie tough guy. I gave all the famous car-chase movie tough guys some thought, and I have to say, as much as I personally like Mitchum, he came in number 2. Here's my rankings of the baddest musclecar movie leading men. # 1. "Gator McCluskey"  "White Lightning", "Gator." Brilliantly played by Burt Reynolds, "Gator" was the quintessential southern-fried badass. The song in the opening credits of "Gator" by Jerry Reed-"Some say he was born in the swamp, and some say he come straight out of hell." Says it all. He's in prison when we meet him because he's been running moonshine since he was 13. He cons prison officials and the ATF into letting him out so he can get the crooked sheriff who murdered his brother on income tax evasion charges. But right from the start, we know Gator is going to kill the sheriff. Anyone with balls enough to kill a cop, even a corrupt one, while out on probation, has to be Numero Uno on the tough guy list. In the second movie he's let out of prison again to take down a drug dealer-"Bama McCall" played by Jerry Reed. Since they were grade-school buddies, Gator and "Bama both give each other several chances to walk away. But we know an epic showdown is coming. Two of the best scenes-in a southern whorehouse when a 16 year old hooker asks Gator-"Where have you been all my life?" Burt responds-"All your life?" "In prison."  And when "Bama finds out Gator is working with the feds, he drugs his whiskey. After Gator passes out, he tells his 6 foot 8 inch "Enforcer" "Bones" to "Put him in his car over the county line heading north." "And Bones-" "Don't you hurt him none." "I've known him since I'se a kid." "So don't you hurt him none." But Gator doesn't go north, and the showdown between him and "Bama's gang is epic.  # 2. "Luke Doolin"  "Thunder Road." Robert Mitchum was already 32 years old when he hit it big with this flick. Like I said in the earlier post he sold it to the studio because Elvis Presley was going to be the star. When Elvis pulled out they went ahead anyway. Little-known facts-Luke's little brother was played by Mitchum's 16 year old son James, who along with his younger brother Chistopher- obviously because of the family name-both became huge action movie stars in Europe in the '60's and '70's. Mitchum not only starred and wrote the screenplay, he also sang the song "Thunder Road" that was a big radio hit after the movie came out. It was a smash hit, and like "Shane" it was one of the first movies to feature an "Anti-Hero" in other words, the star wasn't a "Good Guy".  For 1958, this was heady, ground breaking stuff.  # 3. "Chance" "To LIve and Die in L.A." William Peterson ( "Manhunter", "CSI" ) was totally badass as a Secret Service agent out for vengenance for his murdered partner. He let's a counterfiter out of prison and loses him and has to find him, commits a robbery to get front money to trap the guy who murdered his partner, and gets a DEA agent killed. He also sexually abuses Darlanne Fluegel, his hooker / informant / drug mule / girlfriend and threatens to revoke her parole when she threatens to leave him and stop sending him busts. He also leads the DEA and the LAPD on a terrific chase in a stolen cop car, the WRONG way down  the LA freeway. He dies in a blaze of glory at the end, but it's a fiery performance from a classically trained stage actor that rivals anything Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson ever did.  # 4. "Carter "Doc" McCoy" "The Getaway". Steve McQueen was never cooler. Like "Gator" we meet "Doc" in prison. He tells his wife ( a gorgeous then 24 year old Ali McGraw ) to tell a prominent Texas criminal-"Jack Benyon" that "I'm for Sale". He gets out, unaware how Ali has bought his freedom. The job he's supposed to do goes wrong, and him and Ali have to elude not only the law, but Benyon's henchman as well. Directed by Sam Peckinpah ( "The Wild Bunch" "The Osterman Weekend" ) the action is still cool even 40 years later. Best line in the flick-When Benyon asks what went wrong-Doc cooly replies "Hanson got stupid and killed a guard. "Rudy got ambitious and killed Hanson." "Then he completely lost his mind and tried to killed to me."     # 5. "Kowalski"  "Vanishing Point". Ex-Viet Nam Vet, Ex-cop, Ex-car and motorcycle racer "Kowalski" bets a drug dealer the tab for his speed that he can make it from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours in a 440, 4-speed 1970 Challenger R/T.. He misses the time frame, and dies in a blaze of glory, but along the way he's guided by a blind, clairvoiant DJ "Super Soul" ( brilliantly played by a young Cleavon Little) and meets some evangelists, a snake-charmer and a naked motorcycle rider who help him along his way. He also beats up some gays who try to car-jack him, and wrecks the Jaguar of someone trying to race him. Barry Newman had a long TV and Movie career, but he never topped this role. # 6. "Frank Bullitt" "Bullitt"  Steve McQueen again-this time playing a cop. The chase is legendary, and the movie poster blurb-"There are good cops and there are bad cops". "And then there's Bullitt." is true. When the star witness he's protecting is murdered, Bullitt cons a doctor into helping him hide the body, lies to his superiors that the guy's still alive, and kicks a lot of ass leading up to the final shoot-out in the San Francisco airport. # 7. "Driver"  "The Driver" Ryan O' Neal at his tough-guy best playing a criminal getaway driver for hire. The two best scenes in the flick-. O'Neal destroys a Mercedes in a parking garage while his Russian mob passengers scream like schoolgirls, and in the 2nd one when a Thug pointing a gun at him sneers "A man with your attitude should really carry a gun." O Neal shoots him through the window of the Firebird he's driving, and says calmly "I do."  Sorry, F&F fans-the characters played by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker can't top these classics. Not even close. Mastermind