As one of the great musical icons of our time – Heather Small – once sang: You’ve got to search for the hero inside yourself.
It’s an idea long beloved by Hollywood: the idea of the ordinary person, with no super powers or magic tricks, having to step in – and step up – to save the day.
Two new releases this month toy with this idea. In ‘A Working Man’, Jason Statham plays a construction worker who must rescue his boss’ daughter from a human trafficking gang, while in ‘Novocaine’, rising star Jack Quaid plays a regular bank suit, who must rescue his colleague/crush from the clutches of bank robbers.
Now look, in both movies, there’s a catch: Quaid’s character can’t feel pain (due to extremely Movie Reasons), while Statham’s guy is a former Royal Marine. Regardless, it seems like a good opportunity to celebrate 10 movies where a real Ordinary Joe goes from bystander to butt-kicker.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR A WORKING MAN
Speed (1994):
Pop quiz hot shot. You’re trying to get to work on public transport when a hot cop (Keanu Reeves) jumps on board and the friendly bus driver is shot. You find out if the bus’s speed drops below 50pmh, it explodes. What do you do? Passenger Annie (Sandra Bullock) doesn’t hesitate, hopping behind the wheel to drive the bomb-rigged bus to safety (and steering herself to superstardom to boot).
Jaws (1975):
When a great white shark threatens the lives – but, more importantly, the economy! – of the people of Amity Island, it falls on two very ordinary men, a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfus) and a local police chief (Roy Scheider), to join a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to hunt down and kill the floating beast. At sea, the men quickly find themselves out of their depth (sorry) but rally by the end to save the day.
Erin Brockovich (2000):
In as much as someone as supernaturally gorgeous as Julia Roberts can play “normal”, here Julia’s title character is a struggling single mum who stumbles into an environmental scandal while temping at a law firm. Erin’s charm, street-smarts and intelligence (of the emotional and actual kinds) see her prevail in one of modern cinema’s great David v Goliath moments.
Dave (1993):
Back when we had the luxury of simply having to imagine whether a businessman with no political experience could do any worse job as US president, Kevin Klein played small town guy Dave, whose identical resemblance to the commander in chief leads to him secretly filling in when the actual president ends up in a coma. Naturally, Dave does a better job – and wins the heart of alienated (again, sorry) First Lady Sigourney Weaver.
Legally Blonde (2001):
One of the great contemporary ‘triumph of the underdog’ movies sees Reese Witherspoon play Elle, a ditzy LA girl who goes to law school, and ends up surprising everyone – including herself – by how much she takes to it. What, like, it’s hard?
The Fugitive (1993):
Harrison Ford is perfectly cast as a mild-mannered surgeon forced on the run to clear his name after he’s wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. He must outsmart – and tolerate the entire move being hijacked by – the wily US Marshal (Tommy Lee Jones) tasked with re-capturing him. Put simply, this is a perfect film. Not one scene or word of dialogue is wasted.
Forrest Gump (1994):
Love him or hate him, Gump is one of cinema’s prime “ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances” characters – whether it’s meeting JFK, being heroic in Vietnam, inventing the smiley face or inadvertently exposing the Watergate scandal. Only Tom Hanks could’ve had the everyman charm to pull that one off.
Spy (2015):
In one of Melissa McCarthy’s greatest comedic performances, here she plays desk-bound CIA analyst Susan, whose boring office life is soon thrown into turmoil when she has to venture out in the field to rescue her partner (Jude Law). Watching Susan flail and then dig deep to rely on her training is pure comedy gold – especially when she goes up against snooty arms dealer Rose Byrne and a rival agent (Jason Statham).
North By Northwest (1959):
Hitchcock’s most purely entertaining film sees Cary Grant play Roger Thornhill, a New York ad man who gets caught up in an increasingly elaborate case of mistaken identity. When he’s framed for murder, Roger goes on the run, aided by a resourceful, mysterious woman (Eva Marie Saint). It’s the kind of movie that cuts away from the start of a sex scene to a train entering a tunnel. Tremendous fun.
The Goonies (1985):
Every millennial’s favourite ‘80s kids adventure movie sees a group of working class, outsider kids team up to find hidden pirate booty that could help save their soon-to-be-redeveloped neighbourhood. Luckily, today’s kids will also be able to relate to a story where literally the only way out of near destitution, besides inherited wealth, is to find buried treasure.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR NOVOCAINE