This is kinda interesting
 

This just occurred to me: movie bad-asses are almost always old. no, not old as in the 70's, but 50's or around there.
Examples? Sure thing!

Quint, Jaws.

Von Helsing, Coppola's Dracula.

Major Koenig, Enemy at the Gates.

Dressler, Sum of all Fears. Granted, he does receive his come-uppance, but he is pretty hard-core nonetheless.

Hannibal Lecter.

Yes, I know there are young bad-asses, but.... to me, it's part of their image, their character, that they are experienced, odd, silent unless necessary, old school and well....just old.

Any thoughts?

That's actually one of my pet peeves in films.
Something about an old bastard like Sean Connery punching the living $hit out of a 25 year old muscle bound antagonist doesn't fly with me...

5 examples really isnt enough to stagger the mind but I agree that many of the best badasses are older. One great one you forgot is Wilson from the Limey.

Ultimate old badass: Yoda :D

Simply put, with age comes more of a belief that they can do the things they do because of a hard life/experience in the field sort of thing.

To quote Way of the Gun, "the only thing you know about a broken-down old man is that he's a survivor."

And visually, it's just hard to think of a guy who still has baby fat on his face as a badass, not matter what he's done.

Based on what mee2 said, though, people have different definitions of what bad-ass means. To me, it doesn't mean the best fighter or physically strongest, it just means a tough and very serious guy who knows what the hell he's doing.

Not very interesting at all... i don't think there's any correlation there. Bad Asses come in all shapes, sizes, ages, genders.

*ahem*

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/lifestyle/g...small/omen.jpg

Yeah but how old is the anitchrist, 6? I don't think so. You just proving the age point, no?

Is Damien the antichrist or is he an anarchist? Does he know what he wants? Does he know where to get it? Does he want to destroy passers by? :)

You're a sick, sick man, but feel comforted that at least I got your joke.

Geena Davis: A Long Kiss Goodnight

How old was Leon? 40, 45? He is one of the all time movie badasses and he is closer to your 50 age than the 20 something Early Grace badass.

Winnah!