The 5 Manliest and 5 Girliest of Your Favorites

[miss jesus]

Masculine
Seven Samurai (1954)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Elite Squad (2007)
The Wild Bunch (1969)

Feminine
Educating Rita (1983)
Opening Night (1977)
All About My Mother (1999)
In the Cut (2003)
Passion Fish (1992)

[MmzHrrdb]

Manliest:
Apocalypse Now
Once Upon a Time in the West
Night and the City
Suspiria
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV

Girliest:
Au Hasard Balthazar
How Green Was My Valley
La Jetée
Sunrise
Jules et Jim

I don't believe Nights of Cabiria is girly. Not at all.

Nights of Cabiria is totally about a woman and her quest for love, however misguided her attempts may be. There aren't any real guy characters in it, aside from victimizers. In what way do you see it otherwise?

Suspiria isn't one I would have thought to call "manly" considering that it's pretty artsy for a Horror flick, and it takes place in a ballet scool. And it's designed as a fairy tale with a female in the lead role with almost no male characters of significance.

[DavidC]

Manly:
Saving Private Ryan
Gladiator
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Unforgiven

Girly:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Wall-E
Juno
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Almost Famous

[Stewball]

I have a conundrum: where should Whip It be placed? Is it a flick about Tom-chicks, or is it about feminism unleashed?

[caocao]

da Man:
The Matrix
Three Kings
Last of the Mohicans
Fight Club
Once Upon a Time in the West

Lady time:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
All About Eve
Amelie
Waking the Dead
All About My Mother


I don't really get the point of this exercise.

[MmzHrrdb]

I have a conundrum: where should Whip It be placed? Is it a flick about Tom-chicks, or is it about feminism unleashed?

I interpret "Manliest" to be movies that represent particularly masculine traits (perhaps to an exaggerated degree) while exhibiting little to nothing feminine. Whip It! is all about tough girls, and so it is not Manly. I grouped Johnny Guitar in the Girly group because it switches typically assigned gender roles around and pretty much castrates a lot of the men in the movie. That's my take on it.

I don't really get the point of this exercise.

Who says there needs to be one? How about it gives you an opportunity to explore how you view movies through a stereotypical masculine/feminine lens? Or just make one up. It's just something to do.

[Quicky]

Using my movie databases awesome powerz I calculated the "manliness" of all the movies*, using the male/female votes on IMDb. Ok, that may not be exactly your definition of manlyness, but it's one take on things...

Update: I made an error in my calculations which put more emphasis on really bad movies. I corrected it, so the lists are a bit different now.

Here are the 5 manliest and girliest non-obscure** movies in my tiers 9 & 10:

Manliest:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Casino (1995)
3. For A Few Dollars More (1965)
4. There Will Be Blood (2007)
5. No Country for Old Men (2007)

Girliest:

1. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
2. Titanic (1997)
3. The Constant Gardener (2005)
4. The Bucket List (2007)
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

And irregardless of my own taste...
Here are the 5 manliest and girliest non-obscure** movies of all-time:

Manliest:

1. Patton (1970)
2. The Seven Samurai (1954)
3. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
4. Paths of Glory (1957)
5. Unforgiven (1992)

Girliest:

1. Dirty Dancing (1987)
2. Sex and the City (2008)
3. Grease (1978)
4. Mamma Mia! (2008)
5. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

And if we only look at movies since 2000 then we get the following list:

Manliest:

1. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
2. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
3. Oldboy (2003)
4. There Will Be Blood (2007)
5. The Wrestler (2008)

Girliest:

1. Sex and the City (2008)
2. Mamma Mia! (2008)
3. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
4. The Chronicles of Narnia (2005/2008)
5. Twilight (2008)

* The database currently contains about 5,000 movies, containing among others all movies that have more than 25 votes on Criticker.
** non-obscure being defined as sitting in the top 15% of my database when it comes to number of votes on IMDb

[Stewball]

Whip It! is all about tough girls, and so it is not Manly.

So are such tough girls feminine or girly? If so, wouldn't sissy men, manly?

Nit to pick: Twiddling one's thumbs or watching American Idol is something "to do". Thinking, even minimalist examples such as this, is always useful.

[MmzHrrdb]

Whip It! is all about tough girls, and so it is not Manly.

So are such tough girls feminine or girly? If so, wouldn't sissy men, manly?

Nit to pick: Twiddling one's thumbs or watching American Idol is something "to do". Thinking, even minimalist examples such as this, is always useful.

No, such tough girls are not feminine or girly. However, my definition of Manly in this case requires that the characters in a movie possess a pair of balls in the literal and figurative sense. Sissy men are lacking.

I'm glad you find this exercise at least minimally useful.

[Stewball]

I'm glad you find this exercise at least minimally useful.

Well, yes. I think, ergo I am. Those that don't, aren't.