Top Fifty Guy Movies of the 1990s
30. Rounders, 1998
Premise: A law student and former poker hot shot meets an old friend who took the fall for him and went to prison years earlier. The friend pulls him back into the poker world, much to his girlfriend’s chagrin.
Director: John Dahl
Stars: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Turturro
What you’ll Remember: Teddy KGB.
Reasons it is on the List: It’s a great non-dumbed down poker movie, and what guy doesn’t love poker? Maybe a little before its time, as poker has really surged in popularity this decade. Plus it features roles for nice looking ladies Gretchen Mol and Famke Janssen. I’d bet three stacks of high society on this film.
29. Ronin, 1998
Premise: An Irish woman gathers five men and briefs them on a mission to steal a briefcase.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Stars: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård
What you’ll Remember: An amazing car chase.
Reasons it is on the List: Beyond some great action sequences, it’s a compelling story of theft and who’s on whose side. It’s not a flashy action movie, but instead a gritty deadly serious flick. It’s really more of a throwback with its 70s style and European locations.
28. Trainspotting, 1996
Premise: A young British man decides to forego heroin and get beyond his life of mischief.
Director: Danny Boyle
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle
What you’ll Remember: An unfortunate bedroom accident by Ewen Bremner.
Reasons it is on the List: A great dark comedy, it juggles parallel character strands and juxtaposes image to fabulous music. Although brilliant in its execution, the movie can be both hilarious and uncomfortable at times, with some truly disturbing scenes.
27. Out of Sight, 1998
Premise: A long time bank thief breaks out of prison, only to befriend a federal agent.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Stars: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle
What you’ll Remember: The trunk scene.
Reasons it is on the List: The impossibly cool George Clooney and the in her prime J-Lo combine for a cool, fun mix. It’s also a great heist story, although some of the criminals involved aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. The novel and movie later inspired the TV show, Karen Sisco.
26. Dazed and Confused, 1993
Premise: A group of students in the mid 70s have various adventures on the last day of school.
Director: Richard Linklater
Stars: Jason London, Rory Cochrane, Wiley Wiggins
What you’ll Remember: That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.
Reasons it is on the List: The large ensemble cast is star-studded, and the movie is a great comedic look at high school and its various experiences. A pretty spot on recreation of 70s life, it has good looking women, drinking, drugs, partying, and hazing.
25. Léon: The Professional, 1994
Premise: A young girl befriends a hitman after her family is murdered by crooked cops.
Director: Luc Besson
Stars: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman
What you’ll Remember: Natalie Portman
Reasons it is on the List: The extremely versatile Gary Oldman (he’ll play a pimp on the next movie in this list) is the bad guy here, wreaking havoc as a drug crazed crooked cop. You get to see Natalie Portman train to be a hitman, or cleaner, and you get to see Jean Reno blow things up and shoot people. It’s an action movie with heart.
24. True Romance, 1993
Premise: An unconventional love story, the plot revolves around drugs and violence and a man who meets a girl on his birthday.
Director: Tony Scott
Stars: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper
What you’ll Remember: Elvis.
Reasons it is on the List: This is a Quentin Tarantino movie that is not a Quentin Tarantino film. Written by Tarantino but sold away, it’s a twisted romance where a guy falls in love with a hooker at a Sonny Chiba triple feature. It soon has pimps, cocaine, gun fights, and Brad Pitt with a honey bear bong. Is that not enough? Well it’s also got Elvis.
23. Dark City, 1998
Premise: A man wakes in a hotel room with no memory, and tries to figure out why the police think he is serial killer and what is wrong with the world at large.
Director: Alex Proyas
Stars: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly
What you’ll Remember: The Strangers
Reasons it is on the List: A visually stunning film and an under-appreciated gem, this sci-fi thriller is well written and features the beautiful Jennifer Connelly. It’s got the same basic concept as The Matrix, but done in a completely different manner. The atmosphere of the movie is fantastic with its dark scenery and creepy strangers.
22. Clerks, 1995
Premise: A convenience store clerk gets called in to work on his day off and bemoans his situation.
Director: Kevin Smith
Stars: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti
What you’ll Remember: Jay and Silent Bob.
Reasons it is on the List: 37! A movie that cost only $27,575 to make and used no name actors, it relies entirely on intensely clever dialogue. Fortunately it works. Kevin Smith built a career on this movie and its various characters, most importantly Jay and Silent Bob. This low budget flick would spawn a sequel, an animated series, and a number of spin-off movies.
21. Swingers, 1995
Premise: A story about the lives of single, unemployed actors living on the East side of Hollywood.
Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Heather Graham
What you’ll Remember: Vegas baby! Vegas!
Reasons it is on the List: Relationships from the male point of view, it also has a young Vince Vaughn before he became mainstream, and on the female side Heather Graham. Plus, any movie that can make Wayne Gretzky’s head bleed is okay in my book. This comedy is so money, and it doesn’t even know it.
51. Waterboy! I love that movie man…
It’s a little bit obscure, but The Big Hit is definitely one of my favorites.
Great list, but missing Casino!
where is casino… was expcting it at number one
I knew people would not like Casino missing. It’s a fair argument to make. I think its the Sharon Stone annoyance factor that did it in.
Interesting that 2 of the top 5 best guy movies of the 90’s feature highly prominent scenes of male on male sodomy.
Shawshank IMHO should be #1 but still dugg for being in the top 5.
Gladiotor??????
Did I no9t see Gladiator on the list. Come on now
You don’t see Gladiator because this is movies of the 90’s not the 2000s.
Fight Club #1? This list is a joke. Heat was MUCH better. And Wild Things is top 10 just for the make out scene alone.
Good list, but “Out of Sight”? That movie sucked.
Totally blew it on The Rock…..thing I remember about that movie is Sean Connery’s famous line “Losers always whine about their best….winner’s go home and fu*k the prom queen!”
The Rock – “Carla was the prom queen!”
You have to include A Few Good Men. Say what you want about Tom Cruise, but his scenes with Jack were awesome.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
Great list, but you forgot Suburban Commando, brother!!
And CASINO definitely needs to be on this list. Top 5 hands down…
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what about Snatch
True Romance was 1993, not 1998 (look it up). Also, Armegedon wasn’t a great movie, but it was a lot better than some of the ones you’ve got in the top 50.
Snatch was in 2000, but is very good.
Sorry about the True Romance, wass a typo
If you’re a fan of Michael Mann (”Heat”), then you can’t leave out “Last of the Mohicans” (1992). Daniel Day-Lewis plays the colonial bad-arse Hawkeye. Awesome battle scenes, both group and mano-a-mano. Wes Studi’s “Magua” does some serious butt-kicking of his own until he meets his fate at movie’s end.
[...] Top Fifty Guy Movies of the 1990s – Gunaxin [...]
[...] fifty guy movies of the nineties. [...]
The Shawshank Redemption was an awesome movie
Good list, but Trainspotting takes place in Scotland. So, he’s a young Scottish guy. Just a heads up!
Kilmer’s quote in Tombstone was I’m your Hucklebearer…you know the guy who carries the casket at a funeral.
What the hell is a huckleberry?
Two points:
1) Scotland is in Britain, hence British man. All Scots are Brits
2) I’m pretty certain the quote is “I’m your huckleberry”, even the subtitles confirm this. “I’m your huckleberry” was slang for “I’m the man for the job” or “I’m the man you’re looking for”
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[...] Top ’90s guys movies – Gunaxin [...]
Fight Club in first place??? Of Course!! It is just the best film i have ever seen. Matrix is my second favourite, but only the first movie,the second looks like some marvel stuff, and the third is just fun to watch but not deep. Pulp fiction i find it overrated… If you see this as a list of most enjoyable movies, the other movies in the list are well chosen otherwise you wouldn´t see terminator in 7th place, it is satisfying but not a great great movie. This is the best 90s list!!!
[...] of the best films of the ’90s, Shawshank is a tour de force in storytelling and acting. A circumspect banker named Andy Dufresne [...]
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