Russell Crowe in Gladiator
new Caesar tries to have him killed, fails, ends up getting put into slavery and kills enough gladiators to fill the Coliseum, makes a big enough name for himself as a slave to personally fight Caesar and wins even after Caesar fights dirty.
Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
no one sticks it to the man like cool hand luke and eats 50 hard boiled eggs in a hour.
Steve McQueen - Bullitt
enough said
Daniel Craig - 007
made bond a bona fide bad ass again after the awful Brosnan bond.
Val Kilmer - Doc Holiday
I'm your huckleberry.
Honorable Mention
DeNiro - Travis Bickle
"June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on there will be 50 pushups each morning, 50 pullups. There will be no more pills, no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body. From now on will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight."