Scott Glenn vs. Sam Shepard
Battle of the Crusty Cowboys

We are aware that both Sam Shepard and Scott Glenn had careers as actors before they were all gruff and leathery. That is to say, we are aware in theory that Sam Shepard and Scott Glenn had pre-leather careers. To us, and to generations of filmgoers, Shepard and Glenn have always been crusty, much as Jason Robards seemed to have always been old.

Glenn is looking crustier and more leathery in each role these days; not only is he getting skinnier -- replacing what little extra flesh he once had with strand upon strand of ropy sinew -- but he seems to be getting smaller, too. Smaller, and a little meaner. The list of characters he's played reads like a who's who of hard-boiled tough guys: Jack the FBI agent; Tony the muckraking investigative reporter; Wes the urban cowboy; Bart the submarine honcho. We certainly never expected that the grizzled mountain man Glenn played in Vertical Limit would be named something as snooty as "Montgomery," but it doesn't really matter; we didn't need to see the movie to know that Glenn's role in the movie was the laconic, all-knowing mountain savant that Chris O'Donnell would have to defy, finding his way to his marooned sister led by his passion to save her life. Flinty and tightly wound, Glenn is an old-school cop, military man, or old-west sheriff.

The only actor who gives better cop, military man, or old-west sheriff is, in fact, Sam Shepard. Given his status among America's preeminent contemporary playwrights, it stands to reason that Sam Shepard has not been quite as prolific in his film roles as Glenn. But he's definitely hoeing the same row, with a CV dotted with words like "General," "Major," "Horses," "Cedars," "Laredo," "Country," "Paris, Texas," and "The Good Old Boys." In the current Swordfish, you might think that Shepard diverges from his type to play a U.S. Senator -- except that he's a Senator from Texas, and just about the shit-kickinest Senator you'd ever hope to meet. Sure, he's the head of some kind of shadow CIA organization...or something...you know, it's really such a stupid movie that most of that isn't explained and doesn't matter anyway. The point is, he's a very powerful, very evil (or, perhaps, not evil enough? We don't know, nor do we care), highly placed governmental figure, and yet he lets his guard down in front of his even more powerful, even more evil colleague by going fly fishing. So he dies in a stream. Because he likes to get back to nature, you see. Even when he's an elected official, he's still basically a cowboy.

Glenn's and Shepard's careers have collided before; both starred in The Right Stuff, playing the leads Chuck Yeager and Alan Shepard. Almost twenty years later, Stuff still stands tall among the most macho movies in film history, dealing, as it does, with male bonding, pioneering, and not just astronauts but the formation of an elite group of astronauts. Playing the über-studs in a movie chockablock with them, Glenn and Shepard could scarcely follow The Right Stuff with a slate of milquetoast roles; that's why God created Anthony Edwards, anyway. The world needs a crusty cowboy, and for now, we have two in Glenn and Shepard; long may they mosey.

Advantage: Glenn, but it's very close.