I can’t tell you how excited I was when Nostra from My Filmviews asked me to be the first person to participate in his newest Blogathon Relay. If you aren’t familiar with My Filmviews it is a great place for movie reviews, features, and great actor/actress visual spotlights. Please check out the site. Trust me, it’s well worth it.
Nostra’s entire relay concept is brilliant and it’s one of my favorite ideas for a blogathon. This particular relay was very appealing to me. It revolves around the most iconic movie characters in cinema history. Ooooh this was tough for me. After a few days of laborious deliberation I had my choices narrowed to three: two who were sentimental favorites and the eventual winner.
Now before I jump in, here are the official blogathon rules from Nostra: A list of 10 iconic movie characters has been made. That list will be assigned to another blogger who can then change it by removing one character (describing why they think it should not be on the list) and replace it with another one (also with motivation) and hand over the baton to another blogger. Once assigned that blogger will have to put his/her post up within a week. If this is not the case the blogger who assigned it has to reassign it to another blogger. After you have posted your update leave the link in the comments here and I will make sure it gets added to the overview post.
Before I make my addition and subtraction let’s take a look at the list of iconic movie characters that currently occupy the Top Ten:
Indiana Jones
Ellen Ripley
Terminator
Darth Vader
James Bond
The Tramp
Tony Montana
E.T.
Rocky Balboa
Jules Winnfield
Definitely some iconic movie characters on this list and removing one proved to be more difficult than I imagined. I eventually narrowed it down to two. That didn’t make the choice any easier but such are the rules of the relay. Someone had to go.
REMOVED: Jules Winnfield
Yes that look he is giving scares me as I type this. Samuel L. Jackson without a doubt gives us an amazing character that really stood out in Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”. But the word that kept sticking in my head was ICONIC. Winnfield is fun, entertaining, and you can’t take your eyes off of him, I’m not certain that I would place him among those who we call movie icons. When I think of the impact others from this list have made I just don’t think Jules quite makes it to that level. Great character but not quite iconic.
Whew, now that the unpleasant part is done we get to the equally difficult but much more enjoyable part. I get to add a replacement who I think truly represents a movie character icon.
ADDED: “Dirty” Harry Callahan
When I think of an iconic film character I think of someone who has become synonymous with movies and pop culture. Someone who was not only popular during their time but who still is well known and recognized today. One of my genuine favorites is “Dirty” Harry Callahan. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s Clint Eastwood starred as Callahan in five movies. As a grumpy, non-conformist San Francisco police inspector, Callahan blasted his way through police red tape and literally through an assortment of bad guys. Armed with his signature .44 Magnum and that unmistakable Clint squint, Callahan became a big screen icon who spanned two decades. He’s left us with so many memorable scenes and of course those memorable lines such as “Do you feel lucky, punk?” and “Go ahead, make my day.” If that doesn’t point to an iconic movie character I don’t know what does!
So there you have my subtraction and my replacement. Another special thanks to Nostra for including me. It was a ton of fun thinking this one over and coming to my conclusions. Now it is time for me to pass the torch. I’m happy to pass the baton to my pal Ruth from Flixchatter (click the banner to link to her phenomenal site).
Ruth will not only bring in our first bit of female perspective but she also has a great taste in movies. I can’t what to see what she is going to bring to the table. Take it away Ruth!
keithandthemovies.com 
What a fun idea! Nice job, Keith. I approve of your replacement, however, I was expecting your substitution ould have been Rick from Casablanca 😉
I REALLY wanted to put Rick but I knew it would be more of a personal thing. Sam Spade was also in the running! 😉
Cool Keith! When making the initial list I was thinking that Jules probably would be the first one to go, but I just had to put him in there. Your reasoning for removing him is solid and Dirty Harry is a great choice. Looking forward to see what Ruth will do!
Again, thanks for asking me to take part in the relay. It’s such a cool concept. Can’t wait to see where this ends up. A couple of other characters came to mind but I’ll wait and see if they get mentioned down the road!
Very cool idea! Have to agree with your choice and reasoning, too. Looking forward to following this as it develops.
Thanks. It’s such a great idea. So much fun to do. Definitely keep an eye on it. Hopefully Harry will stick around for a while.
Excellent idea this one.
As much as I love jackson in Pulp Fiction, I totally agree with your reasoning; he’s not quite iconic material. Hard to argue with Harry Callahan either. Great work here guys!
Thanks brutha! I love Jackson’s role and I certainly don’t want to take anything away from it. But it just didnt have the iconic value of the others. Still I have so many others in the back of my mind. It’s going to be interesting to see if they get added later on.
Yeah, when I was reading this, lots sprung to mind. It’ll be interesting keeping and eye on this one.
I had a few sentimental favorites that I would personally put ahead of Dirty Harry. But I ended up staying away from them because I feared they would be removed fairly quick.
I can understand that. A few sentimental ones came to my mind too. There is one already in the list, though, that I find will be very hard to beat… Indiana Jones! Is there anyone more iconic than him?
It’s funny you should mention him. He is the very first person that came to mind when I first saw the title. Two of the ones that I really love but decided to leave off were Sam Spade and Daniel Plainview. Spade maybe more iconic but probably not enough to stay on this list. Plainview is just flat out amazing. What a character!
Love both these guys but you could be right there, they might not last in the eyes of others. Personally, I’d also include Day-Lewis’ Bill The Butcher but again, he’d probably get pulled.
This is very cool indeed! Awesome idea from Nostra and I can’t disagree with your pick Keith, I think I’d have taken him out as well. Looking forward to see what Ruth comes up with!
Thanks man. A lot of characters come to mind don’t they? I’m not sure if Harry can stay in for the duration but I think he deserves to be in that conversation.
Yeah he definitely deserves to be there, at least for a while. There are a couple I’d lose before he went.
As far as removing someone, it came down to Jules and Tony Montana. I went back-and-forth between those two trying to decide which one to take off.
I would never trade Jules for Harry, but I usually think in terms of favorite nor iconic, so you’ll probably right 🙂 Good luck to Ruth, this looks hard!
Sati, I’m happy to hear you would keep Jules….although I feared he might be one of the first ones to be removed I hoped he would hang in for a bit longer…
I really like the Jules character. That’s what makes it hard. His look, his shifting attitudes, everything about him! Yet I don’t really see him as an icon. That’s what kept tripping me up.
Cool idea! I would probably boot off Ellen Ripley or The Tramp and put Vito Corleone on my list I think.
I really thought about Vito but I kind of figured he would be put on pretty soon anyway. I love Ripley though. For me she could possibly be the strongest female character I’ve ever seen (At least in the first two Aliens films). And I have a soft spot for how Chaplin’s character became an icon from the silent era.
When making the list I was also thinking about Sarah Connor as she was also a very strong women in Terminator 2. In the end though decided that Ripley was more iconic.
Ohhh I didn’t think of Sarah Connor. That’s a good one.
WOW, what a fantastic idea for a blog relay! My goodness, these are great picks, that’ll be tough to swap out anyone here. I do like your pick Keith, I liked Pulp Fiction but I didn’t love it as much as a lot of people do. I do think Harry Callahan is definitely iconic, I mean his two lines you mentioned have become pop culture quips to this day! Thanks for passing the torch… gotta put my thinking cap on 😀
Good luck making the change Ruth! 🙂
It’s all yours Ruth. I can’t wait to see what you bring to it. It really is a cool idea isn’t it? The thing is there are so many others that came to my mind. Narrowing it down to one proved to be an almost impossible task. There were choices that I liked better than Harry. But I’m not sure if they were iconic enough for a list like this.
Anyway, you have the time ma’am! 🙂
Nice addition. Can’t wait to see where Ruth goes with this.
Thanks! Harry seemed like the perfect addition!
Nice list. I can definitely see with taking off Jules; he’s one of the best movie characters there is but probably isn’t among the most iconic. And I can’t disagree with the inclusion of Dirty Harry.
Thanks man. It was really hard to come to a decision. Still it was a ton of fun to do.
Can’t get any more iconic than a Clint Eastwood character and Dirty Harry is a great choice. You have a great blog here and this was a great post to be introduced to your writing! Cheers.
Hey thank you very much. I really appreciate you stopping by and I hope I’ll see a lot more of you. Please feel free to comment anytime.
All great characters. I would have kept Jules over Dirty Harry, though. (Not that Dirty Harry is a bad character, mind you. Just that I really love Jules.)
I completely understand where you’re coming from. I like him too. I just don’t know if I would call him iconic. He definitely has the look though and the attitude.
Honestly, as I reflected on the meaning of iconic, I think you might be right. Dirty Harry probably is more of an icon. Everyone knows him.
So I recant my earlier statement. 🙂
No worries. I bet there are a number who feel Jules is an icon. That Ezekiel quote is pretty stellar! Who can forget it?
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