Toughest hombre west of the Pecos?


John Wayne or Clint Eastwood?
Also your preference:
Solid State or Tubes?
Wondering if there is a correlation.
phaelon
1.Eastwood, by a mile. I always thought Jack Palance and Bruce Dern were bad dudes as well.
2.Tubes
Actually, Wayne was the toughest man south of the Picket Wire. Wayne would have bashed Clint upside his head with the butt of his Colt. Absolutely no contest. Suprisingly, Clint's the tube guy, with Wayne a very early adaptor of solid state. Despite that, when the smoke clears Lee Marvin is the last man standing.
Eastwood.His early spaggetti's are a cult.Not any disrespect to Wayne however,just different not better.Tubes rule!
George
Definitely Eastwood... By contrast he makes John Wayne look like a mama's boy. Eastwood's just plain has more "grit".

As to my preference in electronics, I go both ways. I like tubes and solid state; and often times mixing the two in the same system is extremely gratifying.
I agree with Onhwy61 - Lee Marvin is the man. If he is in the mood for tubes, he heats up jeep windshields with a flamethrower, rolls them into bulbs, then sucks all the air out of them, and sticks his dogtags inside for getters. If he wants some solid state power, he chews up some KT88s in his mouth and spits them out at high temperature and pressure to make silicon for transistors. I do the same thing with money and things around my house that I don't suspect will be missed, and turn them into audio equipment of both varieties. Like Lee Marvin, I use whatever I am in the mood for at the time, and enjoy both.
Well, I guess I will throw in my 2 bits!

I reckon ol' Clint would freeze the Duke with one of his patented stares, and then blow the top of the Dukes head off with a Colt .45 he drew from under the dirtiest poncho (a real poncho, not a Sear's poncho, mind you!), that you ever saw!

As far as tubes vs. solid state, I would say both. (My Lamm M2.1 hybrid monoblocks use the best aspects of both technologies).

As far as Lee Marvin goes, he would be off drunk in some bar, and would miss the gunfight entirely. :-)
William Holden (sure cleaned out that varmint's nest GOOD at the end of the "Wild Bunch").

The Duke is the King, however.
Big John said his epitaph should read:

"He was big, He was ugly -He had dignity".

Gotta go with big iron. Tubes would last about a minute on the noon stage, partner...
Chuck Norris- he never sleeps, he waits.
And he doesn't need either tubes or transitors, he stares
at something long enough, it sings.
John Wayne, for sure. Both are awesome, and they were good at beating up the bad guys, but John Wayne always won with the women , too. Clint always seemed a bit lost with the ladies. Plus he had really bad taste in women.
Oh Yeah and tubes,too!

And I wanted to say that all those guys in the old westerns were awesome! All the ones already mentioned like Lee Marvin and Robert Mitchum were just great. Don't forget Gregory Peck and Henry Fonda ( now that dude was mean!). what's really amazing about those old films were that even the small part actors were great. They all just seemed like real guys.

Too Bad they can't make westerns like that anymore.
It has to be Lee Marvin. he faced combat in WW II, received many medals for bravery under fire, and of course rarely ever talked about it. he liked tubes, as they made good target practice.
Please, people! Clint didn't *need* women. Women cramped his style. He took care of number 1 and didn't give a damn what anybody else thought. John Wayne doesn't hold a candle to Clint Eastwood. Aside from 'Stagecoach,' he wasn't even in any quality Westerns. Clint was in the best westerns ever made, and he made one of the best Westerns ever made. (Unforgiven)

oh, and solid state, baby! (although i'm listening to tubes as i type this on my office system)
Suprised no one mentioned Bronson. He took on whole "hoods" to avenge the wrongs...And he certainly wasn't a pretty boy.

Tubes driving vintage "iron" OPT's
The governor of California, and of course being a cyborg, the Terminator likes solid state!
Jack Palance, freelanced as a vampire when he wasnt doing 1 armed pushups at the age of 80. Definatly a tube dude, prettyboy Robert Conrad 2nd place. Try and knock that battery of his shoulder..hands down solid state dude.
I am sorry but Charles Bronson in 'Once Upon a Time in the West' was the man, fearless!

Tubes - an don't look at me that way :)
Both Jack Palance and Burt Lancaster were mentioned. Here's a story about the two of them:
Once, while filming a fight scene with Burt Lancaster, Palance actually punched the unsuspecting Lancaster in the face. Tough guy Lancaster responded by socking Palance in the gut, causing him to vomit.
And Palance was a professional boxer before he became an actor.

The film was "The Professionals". It probably had the all-time toughest homebre cast. Lancaster, Palance, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan & Woody Strode.
Joe don Baker was the coolest of em all,i once saw a movie with him it it called (Charley Varrick) where in a scene he slapped his female co star in the mouth for back sassin him then had her fetch him a beer,minutes later they were off to the bedroom for some fun.

the duke or clint could never top that scene.

dont forget about the 1st walking tall.
John Wayne & tubes. Wayne walked with a swagger, and always looked like he was in charge, and would kick your ass if you gave him any crap. Eastwood was more of a silent loner type, that would have to take some crap, or a beating, but would always come out on top!

Some newer Westerns that I enjoy:
1) Silverado
2) The Quick & The Dead
3) Quigley Down Under
4) Tombstone
5) Bite The Bullet

Some other great actors have been mentioned but let's not forget that gentle giant, Dan Blocker [Hoss on Bonanza]. Just don't get him mad, or he turned into the old West's version of the Incredible Hulk!

An interesting footnote: all of Dan Blocker's children studied Karate under Chuck Norris!
These responses are great, and more varied than I anticipated. As long as were at it, how about sharing our favorite western/tough guy movies.

How about the Duke as Ethan Edwards in "The Searchers". Remember his line to Jeff Hunter "I could whup you to a frazzle". If you put Eastwood on Hunters horse that line still works.

Fatparrot-
Very interesting, and good safety tip everyone: Don't mess with Blocker's kids.
Oops, second question, give me solid state, kids and tubes should not be allowed in the same neighborhod.
Phaelon, yeah, Dirk Blocker [Black Sheep Squadron with Robert Conrad] looked so much like his late father, Dan! But I think that Dan was still bigger than his kid.
Fatparrot-
Who doesn't love Big Dan, but Little Joe always got the better of him. I also have to say this; the decision to put that ten gallon hat on him was the wardrobe genius move of all time.
Mongo from "Blazing Saddles". He could cold-cock a 17 hands high horse with one punch one minute and admit he loves candy and Sheriff Bart the next. That's one tough SOB...
My eyes have tears from laughter, this is one funny thread.

What about blazing saddles, remember the line from Cleavon Little?

"Nobody move or the xxxxx gets it!"

I nearly lost it with the expression on his face, especially after seeing him do his "stroll" walk with such style.
Another Cleavon Little line from Blazing Saddles,

'"Scuse me while I whip this out"
And another:
"Candygram for Mongo...."

Or this (from Gene Wilder):
"Well, my name is Jim, but people call me.... Jim"

One more from Cleavon Little:
"Oh no baby, two schnitzengruben is my limit"
I'll always remember Cleavon Little as DJ "Super Soul" from the '70's cult film, VANISHING POINT.

Trivia questions [for cultists only!]:
1) What were the call letters of his station?
2) What was the name of the town in which it was located?
Station: KOW (later named KOWalski).
Town? I'll leave this for another "cultist".

P. S. I just shared this movie with some fellows at work the other night.
These youngsters couldn't quite understand the nature of the movie not growing up a part of the "counter culture".
They did like the scene with the gay carjackers, however.
Def. Clint Eastwood,,baddest ever!Didnt have to say much,always got the job done,tubes and SS are good
Slipknot1-
OK, Mongo was impressive, but that horse was a about two days short of glue. Let's see him pull that sh*t on Trigger.

A movie that has it all: "The Comancheros" Plenty of action, Humor, Romance(not to much), Indians, Texas Rangers, River Boats, Gun Runners, Dueling, etc.
allright here's the best line ever from blazing saddles.

the sheriff is walking down the board walk when he run's across the sweet little old lady & says " morning mamm ".

what was the sweet old ladies response?
"Up yours xxxxxx"

What do I win? You give me a clue to any line from Blazing Saddles - I'll give you the line.
Nathan Lane trying to imitate a John Wayne swagger for Robin Williams in the movie Birdcage...sweet tubes sound would definitely be the best match here...