Tony Curtis once said that he enlisted in the Navy after seeing the Cary Grant submarine classic, 1943’s Destination Tokyo. Since they first flickered on the screen, movies have been a window for observing human behavior and presenting archetypes that audiences could be inspired by. Guys especially wanted to ride tall in the saddle like John Wayne, take nothin’ from nobody like James Cagney‘s gangster characters, and be dashingly heroic like Errol Flynn’s outlaws.
These and other legends from Hollywood’s golden age seemed to know the secret of what it takes to be a man. Whether they were playing heroes or antiheroes, this now-vanished breed of movie star talked the talk and walked the walk, onscreen and off. We didn’t condone everything they did in their private lives, but their bad-boy behavior, very much in character, only added to their mystique.