Friday, August 25, 2006

Too cool for school? Too cool for anything else?

Click! Click! Click! Click!
That's the sound of finger snapping here at Route 1, where this week's FRIDAY QUESTION asked readers: Who is the coolest person you have ever seen on the screen -- TV or film?
Inger H. -- I'd have to say Jean Paul Belmondo... especially in "A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)." The cool, laid-back demeanor, the cigarette smoking, the absent-minded lip scratch, the Frenchness... Ya can't get much cooler than that.
Annika H. -- Cosmo from "Fairly Oddparents."
Mike D. -- I guess that would be Fonzie.
Scout S. -- Duh. Robert Mitchum. Anybody tells you anything different can go screw.
Rob K. -- Lauren Bacall, wife of Humphrey Bogart, who would be up there, too. Such a classic. Always seemed to be in control, a thought ahead of everybody else. And those eyes... Now, at the other end of the spectrum -- least cool -- my vote goes to Carrot Top. Finger nails on a blackboard is cooler.
Laura C. -- Hands down, it's Johnny Cash. I saw a clip of him as a young man, playing on some TV variety hour, and he was the most intense, electric presence I've ever seen. He was behaving himself, since it was family television, but there was a glint of mischief in his eye that told you he was just barely keeping it on the rails... so subversive, and so very cool.
Dave B. -- Clint Eastwood in any of his westerns. The dude oozed coolness with his cigar and poncho.
Rick T. -- Elvis of course! He was the coolest of all. No one will ever beat him in cool. When you say the name "Elvis," everyone knows who you're talking about.
Steve M. -- I'll try Sean Connery as James Bond for now. Steve McQueen rates up there as well. That is a tough one.
Erik H. -- I was watching "Kurutta Kajitsu (Crazed Fruit)" the other night and I couldn't take my eyes off the finger-snapping, Amerasian character of Frank Hirosawa (pictured), played by Japanese-Danish actor Masumi Okada.
He was always in control. His presence lit up a room. Girls and guys both flocked to him because of his magnetism. He always said the right thing.
Then I realized: I had seen all of these ULTRA COOL attributes in another character that I have been watching for decades.
That's why my answer must be Bugs Bunny.

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