Where Have Our Manly Heroes Gone?

Looking at the recent Oscar nominees and winners, as well as the top films from last year and anticipated ones making the trek to the big screen this year, it’s easy to notice a dying trend. Manly cinema and leading men are quickly becoming relics of the past. Gone are the days when men with battered faces and personal histories dominated the screen. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Kirk Douglas, Sean Connery — where would these men fit in today’s cinema?

While the patriarchal, cigar-chomping male was once the backbone of Hollywood releases, it’s now a new world where leading men are encouraged to be more dressed-down and sensitive. In place of ’80s superstars like Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, we now have Leonardo DiCaprio, Eddie Redmayne and Chris Pine.

It’s hard to imagine macho films like “Dirty Harry” or “Death Wish” being released today. These were stories that showed patriarchal macho stars living in mostly black and white worlds. The stars were men like Eastwood and Charles Bronson, men with backgrounds in the military, men who weren’t well groomed and looked like they enjoyed a beer after work.

Political correctness and a call for more diversity may have ultimately led to the death of such Hollywood heroes. Celebrated today are quieter films that delve into more diversity friendly issues like “The Danish Girl” and “Carol,” two recent awards favorites.

“Social media killed the macho cinema star. … Everyone and their grandma is so entitled now. It’s all about stepping on toes and offending people. … It’s the vicious dog paradox. You know the story … a dog typically ONLY bites when they’re terrified then they hide while looking to see who they attacked,” says “Into the Grizzly Maze” screenwriter Jack Reher.

The sentiment is not a hard one to grasp. The power of social media and its influence on Hollywood is undeniable today. Just take a look at #OscarsSoWhite and the Academy’s swift action taking response. That powerful influence may be what is discouraging filmmakers everywhere from making “macho cinema.”

Some films have made attempts to capture the old glory. “The Expendables,” “Taken,” and recent release, “No Escape,” are accused by critics and culture watchers of insensitivity, xenophobia, misogyny and all around political incorrectness.

Even more thoughtful films attempting to put a heroic, sometimes insensitive, male center stage in the hopes of dissecting the ideas of bravery, courage and machismo get torn apart. Case in point: “American Sniper.” Despite the film’s wild box office popularity, the flames of controversy were well fed amongst liberals and critics throwing accusations of racism and other nonsense around.

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These days, it appears stars need to wear tights to be held in favor, bad guys need to be sympathized with and intimidating, patriarchal males better not grace the screen in any favorable way.

Brian Mahoney is someone who knows a thing or two about machismo, on and off the silver screen. Along with serving in the military and flying Cobra helicopters, Mahoney has starred in such macho fare as “Furious 7” and 1999 film “The Boondock Saints,” a vigilante story about two Irish brothers that gained a cult following as well as much derision thanks to its politically incorrect protagonists.

“Although one cannot be blamed for thinking that ‘machismo is dead’ after reviewing a list of the top 100 movies of 2015.  ‘Brooklyn,’ ‘Spotlight,’ ‘Room,’ ‘About Elly,’ ‘Carol,’ ‘Iris,’ ‘The Diary Of A Teenage Girl,’ all point to a new trend — the exploration of the new feminism.  Even the more traditional male themes expected in films such as ‘Bridge Of Spies,’ ‘Sicario’ and ‘The Big Short’ seemed to meld into a more intellectual approach, served up not with hubris but with intelligence, thoughtfulness and restraint,” says Mahoney.

The idea that new voices and more thoughtful filmmaking are what is behind the death of macho cinema and the leading man of yesteryear is serviceable. Still, it’s still hard not to long for today’s “Die Hard” or “Dirty Harry” instead of “The Avengers” or “Jupiter Ascending.” It’s also hard not to want a young version of Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson instead of the boys of today’s cinema who look like they’ve never needed to buy a razor and shaving cream.

Mahoney admits that, “machismo is not dead in Hollywood.  It is undergoing a metamorphosis … Machismo in Hollywood is changing, broadening its themes.” It could be partly true. The prime example would be last year’s “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

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A continuation of the Mel Gibson starring, ’80s macho action franchise with fast cars and a hard-edged hero, the film managed to impress most audiences feeling an itch for macho driven cinema. It also managed to avoid much controversy and win six Academy Awards. Its approval from the Hollywood elite may have come from its depiction of equal and well thought out female characters. Mad Max didn’t change, however. Actor Tom Hardy portrayed the same quiet, macho warrior audiences remembered.

Screenwriter John Sullivan, author behind action flicks like “Recoil” and the upcoming “Security,” agrees with the diagnosis of an evolution and current metamorphosis.

“Genres mutate. We’ll never see a ‘Delta Force’ in the theater again, but we have a lot of filmmakers who grew up on those films, and they try to pay tribute,” says Sullivan.

While a mutating genre, the rise of social media and diversity friendly filmmaking could be viable reasons for a lack of macho cinema and real leading men, it’s still a shame to be missing out on the Hollywood heroes we once had. Men like Eastwood, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Bronson, John Wayne and a slew of others always seemed to stand a little taller than everyone, knew what to say and when to say it and had codes of justice and honor young men could aspire to. Perhaps non-groomed men with personal histories and real gravitas are too much for today’s sensitive audience, but that won’t stop some from longing and fighting for macho cinema.

Ben Trebilcook, author of “My Name is Not Jacob Ramsay” and producer of the recent Sci-fi release “Doomsday,” says he misses the days when cinematic men “were rough and ready, smoked, cursed, and were messed up by a woman, but were damn cool, which is why you had them as a poster on your wall and rented them on VHS each week. Now, we have pretty boys who probably head to the spa after seeing their therapist.”