Boisterous Bruiser / Live-Action Films

• BRIAN BLESSED typically plays these roles:
  • Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980). "Diiiiiiiive!!"
  • Boss Nass, the Gungan head honcho from The Phantom Menace. His booming voice and seizure-like expressions of displeasure make him more expressive than most of the human cast. The character was written as a strict, xenophobic no-nonsense ruler with little patience, who eventually had a change of heart when he realizes he's misjudged the race he despises, and becomes friendly and joyful. Blessed's performance changed the characterization.
• Every character that Alan Hale Sr. did. His son Alan Hale Jr. did this as well early in his career. But as he aged he was cast more and more as a villain. Which is why he took the role of the Skipper in Gilligan's Island , he was tired of playing bad guys.
• Sheikh Ilderim in Ben-Hur. Manages to dodge being an Ethnic Scrappy because he's just so delightful.
• Jack from Blackjack (1998). A huge, imposing guy (being played by Dolph Lundgren), but also all kinds of easygoing and a Friend to All Children who bonds easily with 7-year-old Casey.
• Ray Jackson, played by Donald "Ogre" Gibb, in the immortal Van Damme opus Bloodsport.
• Raven in Cecil B. Demented is a combination of Boisterous Bruiser, Badass Adorable, Perky Goth, and Cloud Cuckoolander, among others.
• You could argue that El Indio from For a Few Dollars More is a deconstruction of this trope. He might laugh all the time (even on his "Wanted!" Poster), hug his friends a lot, be enthusiastic and boisterous and run a band of plucky outlaws out to rob an impenetrable bank against all odds — but he's still a violent thug who's not at all above child-murder and rape, with said band of plucky outlaws implied to be every bit as bad as him, eventually turning on him after he tries to screw them over. Lastly, his good moods seem almost maniacal, and are probably at least partly drug-induced.
• For Your Eyes Only and Colombo, arguably a thinner version of the character. Played by Topol.
• Antaeus the bully bandit from Hercules Unchained, featured in MST3K. At one point Crow even wishes that he was on the heroes' side, since he seemed a lot more fun than the real hero, Hercules (who seemed to spend most of the movie either sleeping or acting like a total crab).
  • Speaking of Hercules movies that were on Mystery Science Theater, Reg Park's portrayal of Hercules in Hercules and the Captive Women - and even more so in the prequel, Hercules in the Haunted World - is very much along these lines, playing the character as a very jovial, good-natured guy with a mischievous sense of humour, and who just happens to be almost as wide as he is tall.
• Wayne Westerberg, played by Vince Vaughn in Into the Wild.
• King Arthur (2004): Ray Winstone as Bors. Cheerful, savage, so many children he just gives them numbers...
• Kingdom of Heaven: Liam Neeson's character, the Baron of Ibelin, who's a knight. He fights fiercely, even if he gets wounded (as he remarks himself: "I once fought two days with an arrow through my testicle!"). He also learns his son Balian to fight as well, and knights him.
• Liam Neeson's character in Krull, a swaggering hard-drinking mercenary who seems to have a wife in every town
• Bruce Campbell's character in My Name is Bruce is like this when he's in action hero mode. His civilian identity is more of a Jerkass, although he improves with Character Development.
• Dablone, the loud, laughing leader of the underground gang in Mystery Science Theater 3000 Show #705, Escape 2000. Mike and the Bots nickname him "Toblerone", after the Swiss candy bar.
• From Outlander, the loud and frequently inebriated Boromir.
• Sheik Amar, played by Alfred Molina, plays this type of character in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
• The Good Viking Boltar (played by Victor McLaglen) in the 1954 film of Prince Valiant.
• Friar Tuck from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
• Kikuchiyo, the farmer's son turned would-be samurai in the movie Seven Samurai. Double points by being played by Toshiro Mifune, of all people.
• About half the cast of The 13th Warrior. In something of an inversion, they generally approach combat with absolute seriousness.
• The Big Lebowski: Walter Sobchak did not watch his buddies die face down in the muck just so he could be left off this trope!
• Tuco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is energetic and quite temperamental. He also has the friendly, welcoming demeanor to go with it.
• Thor again in The Incredible Hulk Returns. He boasts of learning to be subtle after he sees off someone who is looking for Dr. Banner using subterfuge. This is what he considers subterfuge:
  Jack McGee: I'm looking for a man...
  Thor: (interrupting) You have found one!
  Jack McGee: This is a particular man.
  Thor: Oh, I am a particular man... and I do not like your face.
• Gimli, son of Glóin, as portrayed by John Rhys-Davies in the film version of The Lord of the Rings.
• Pretty much all the dwarves that are on the quest in The Hobbit. It must be a dwarven thing.
• Hound from Transformers: Age of Extinction carries many guns around and puts them to good use in the climax against the mook army, shouting one-liners the entire time.
  Hound: I'm a wicked warrior robot!
• Willow
  • Madmartigan, whenever he wasn't being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • The two Brownies following Willow are about ankle-high (to a halfling) but otherwise perfect examples.
• Catching Fire gives us a female example in Johanna Mason. Action Girl with plenty of axe-swinging skills, on her first scene strips of all her clothes without any shame, later curses plentifully in an interview, and gives a Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter moment.
• Underground has the main characters, Serbian WW2 gunrunners Marko and Blacky. They love a good scrap and are always partying as hard as possible. In one scene, Marko stumbles across a brawl started by Blacky, hands his personal brass band a tip to play some fast-tempo music, and throws himself into the fray while dancing to the beat.
• Whip It has plenty, but Smashley Simpson (played by Drew Barrymore) and Bloody Holly (Zoë Bell) are two of the most prominent.
  • Smashley despite having only a handful of lines, is played with utter Large Ham aplomb by director Barrymore and steals every scene she's in.
• Mace Windu, a Jedi on the Council (who first appeared in The Phantom Menace) qualified. He loved to fight, and given the tempting nature of the Dark Side, this was a dangerous trait for a Jedi to have; as a result, he studied favored Form VII (also known as Juyo or Vaapad) a very difficult and hard to use school of swordplay, that demanded near-unmatched mental discipline and lightsaber control. His concentration was such that he was even able to use certain Dark Side techniques, like Force Crush, without succumbing to the temptation. (However, he was clearly the exception, not the rule.)
• Darius Kincaid in The Hitman's Bodyguard. Played by Samuel L. Jackson in full Large Ham mode, Kincaid's exuberant joie de vivre shines through whether he's killing a bunch of bad guys, trolling his bodyguard, or making friends with a busload of singing nuns.
• Blackbeard is portrayed this way in Anne of the Indies: carousing, consuming huge quantities of food and booze, and firing his pistols into the ceiling when he wants silence.
• M'Baku in Black Panther (2018), a very large man with a very large presence, is both a fierce warrior and a jovial Troll who laughs at his own jokes.
• Auda Abu Tayi in Lawrence of Arabia, a Proud Warrior Race Guy-meets-Loveable Rogue Bedouin chief, played by iconic Large Ham Anthony Quinn at his most exuberant. The historical Auda also qualified, according to Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
  "He had married twenty-eight times, had been wounded thirteen times, and in the battles he provoked had seen all his tribesmen hurt, and most of his relation slain. He himself had killed seventy-five men, all Arabs, by his own hand in battle... He saw life as a saga, and all events in it were significant, and all personages in contact with him heroic. His mind was stored with tales of old raids, and epic poems of fights. He had no control over his lips, and was therefore terrible to his own interest, and hurt his friends continually. He spoke of himself in the third person and was so sure of his fame that he loved to shout out stories against himself. At times he seemed taken by a demon of mischief: and yet with all this he was really modest, as simple as a child, direct, honest, kind-hearted, and warmly loved even by those to whom he was most embarrassing - his friends.”
• Grim Prairie Tales: Morrison (James Earl Jones) is a huge bear of a man, who likes drinking and telling stories, and boasts of the pleasures to be found in the sin palaces of the various towns he's visited.
• Les Visiteurs: Godefroy de Montmirail (Jean Reno) is a brave, manly, strong and fierce French knight from the 12th century, and he enjoys singing bawdy songs when he feasts. Even when he's stranded in The '90s due to a Time Travel potion mishap.

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