Knock, Knock

For 15 years, Harris has taken an annual poll with one question: “Who is your favorite movie star?” As a sign that there may be hope for our culture, Sean “Spicoli” Penn doesn’t make the Top Ten. Matt Damon is also absent, as is Tom Cruise. And Vaht Is Dis? No Brad Pitt?

Trivia Question: Who is the only actor to appear in the Top Ten each of the 15 years the poll was taken, ranking in the Top Three 13 of those years? Yup: The Man, The Mountain, The Legend, The Rugged Individualist, The Duke--John Wayne. This year, he is tied for Third Place with Will Smith. By the way, during the 15 years of this poll, he is the only actor to appear posthumously.

This has got to just rip the weenie actors, directors and writers who want nuanced boys and girls to emote like Sophomore Thespians over the plight of anyone and anything that is anti-American, anti-Individual, or anti-Hero. In one of Wayne's movies, there is a scene where he kicks down the door, and says (deadpan) "Knock, Knock." This Poll is Wayne standing just inside their splintered and broken door, saying, "Well, Pilgrim: you were saying ...?" Along with Box Offices receipts around America, this Poll is also saying, "We'll take The Duke, and his kick-bad-guy-ass-or-die -trying movies over your Nancy films, any day."

This Year's Top Ten

Denzel Washington
Clint Eastwood
John Wayne
Will Smith
Harrison Ford
Julia Roberts
Tom Hanks
Johnny Depp
Angelina Jolie
Morgan Freeman

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2009