3% Man Movies With Masculine, Charming & Funny Men

Some good movies to watch with masculine men who are charming & funny.

In this video coaching newsletter I discuss an email from a viewer who asks which movies he should watch with men who embody the characteristics of a 3% Man. Charming, funny, confident and masculine. I go through several movies that are recommended to watch.

My comments are in bold italics like this below in the body of his email.

So I got a short email from a guy who was asking me to give a list of movies. Some of them I’ve talked about over the years. So last night I probably spent an hour or two just kind of racking my brain thinking about some of the videos I’ve mentioned over the years that are, I think are good movies, and it shows the masculine lead in a good light. He’s charming, he’s funny, he gets what he wants, he’s confident.

So I got a short little email and I’ll go through the list and I’ll kind of go through each movie. I don’t know, there’s like eight or nine of them I think, total. There’s there’s others I’m forgetting because I’ve talked about this off and on over the years, but this is the first time I put a bunch of them into a video together.

Viewer Email:

Hi Coach,

I’ve read your book many times and understand the principles very well intellectually.
What I’ve noticed, though, is that knowing the material and actually embodying it in real situations are two different things.

Well, that’s why repetition is the mother of skill. The idea is you read the book and you go out, you apply it and you get feedback, and you use these video newsletters to help you fine tune your approach based upon real world situations and how the book is applied to them.

So the idea is you want to read it 10 to 15 times and get to know the book so well, you could teach a class on it. Just going through it once or twice, you’re just not going to have sustainable success, even though probably the majority of people don’t listen to me when I say that the majority of guys I do phone sessions with, it’s one of the first things I ask them. Unless they’ve been following me for a while, I’m always like, “Well, how many times have you read the book?” “Well, I’ve been following you for eight years. I just read it the first time, but I’ve been watching lots of your videos over the years.” I’m like, “You wonder why you’re struggling?” He’s like, “Yeah, I know. I always swore I’d never be one of those guys that you roast in your video newsletters and end up on a phone session after all these years going, ‘Yeah, I just read your book the first time last week,'” or whatever.

So let’s go through his email or back through his email, I should say.

Recently I realized that watching certain movies has helped me internalize the behavior much more naturally. Staying calm, not reacting emotionally, keeping things light and grounded. Casino Royale was a good example of that for me.

That’s the one with Daniel Craig.

That made me curious: Are there specific movies you personally recommend that really model the right masculine behavior, not theory, but behavior you can absorb and imitate?

I’d genuinely appreciate any recommendations you think are worth studying.

Bob

So let’s go through the list. On the article on the website, I’ll have links that’ll take you to Amazon, the Prime Video, so you can watch it, buy it or get a copy.

Movie #1: Casino Royale

First and foremost, is Casino Royale. That was the first James Bond that Daniel Craig did. There’s a lot of really good parts in it. He’s very stoic, very masculine, just goes for the things he wants without fear. He’s calm, he’s cool. He’s collected. One of the best parts is the part where he comes out of the casino after winning the Jaguar, the main bad guy that he’s kind of pursuing lost to him in a, I guess, a card game or poker or something like that. So he walks out and he’s about to get in the car, and the bad guy, his girlfriend comes along and she says something. He invites her for a drink. Obviously he knows that she’s with that guy because he just took his car in a card game, and she laughed and she says, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been that bad,” or something like that. With kind of a smile on his face, he has a little smirk and he’s just like, “Well, maybe you’re just a little out of practice,” and he just stands there.

Remember, in negotiation, he who speaks first loses, and he’s got a smirk on his face. For a slight second, she gets kind of like a, “How dare you? I’m with somebody,” kind of look on her face. Then she laughs, she hops in the car and they drive around in a circle, and they go to his room, he spends a lovely evening with her and then ultimately I guess her boyfriend finds out about that and offs her in the movie, but James Bond gets his revenge. It’s a really good movie just because it presents a healthy masculine archetype. Plus, he’s funny, he’s charming, and he’s calm.

Movie #2: The Tailor of Panama

So the next one is The Tailor of Panama, and that’s with Pierce Brosnan. So that’s a really, really good movie because he’s pretty aggressive. He’s kind of a smart ass. There are parts in the movie where the women are like, “Oh, there’s no way I’m sleeping with you,” and he just got a smart ass comeback to her, and of course, he ends up sleeping with her. So that’s another good one to watch.

Movie #3: Cinderella Man

One I referenced in 3% Man with Russell Crowe. It’s called Cinderella Man. What I really liked about that, obviously you guys that have been good students and read the book, there’s a part in the book where, because I guess he was retired, this is during the Great Depression, wasn’t fighting anymore, and he’s got no work. He’s having a hard time feeding his family. The power’s getting turned off because he just don’t have the money. So he decides to go back into boxing because a promoter approaches him. They need a fighter. She says, “No, I don’t want you to go,” and he’s just like, “I gotta do this.” She’s like, “Well, I’m not going to support you,” and he’s like, “I gotta do it anyways.” A man does what he must despite the consequences. Of course, she ends up listening on the radio, and I think she shows up at the end of the fight. It’s just a good movie because he’s a strong man in a difficult situation. Despite the protests of his wife, he’s like, “I’m doing this.”

So one of the dogs is chewing a deer antler and rubbing the metal leg of my little computer table. So that’s what the noise is. The other day, she was gnawing on the deer antler throughout the video, and guys were like, “What the hell is that weird noise?”

Movie #4: Swingers

So another movie that I think is really good is Swingers, with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, who did a lot of the Avenger movies and stuff like that. Jon Favreau kind of plays the beta male guy, and there’s just some really painful parts to watch in that movie. Like he’s calling a girl and he’s leaving weird messages on her phone, and you cringe when you hear it. Then, of course, Vince Vaughn plays the alpha and he’s breaking his balls.

You got the healthy masculine archetype and he’s got his beta male friend that he’s kind of kicking and tweaking his balls, trying to get him to step up and act more like a man instead of such a beta male. Everybody that watches that, especially Jon Favreau, those of us that didn’t know any better, we’ve been there before, so we can totally relate, and he does a really good job of just acting like most guys act that don’t know what the hell they’re doing.

Movie #5: Charade

Movie #6: It’s A Wonderful Life

So the next movie is this is an oldie but a goodie. It’s from the 1940s. I talked about this movie often, and obviously during the holidays it’s always on TV. It’s called It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. What I like about it is that he takes over for his dad, who passes away from a heart attack suddenly in the beginning of the movie, and it just kind of details the love story of how Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed’s character grew up there. He was a few years older than her, and she always had a crush on him when they were real little. Always dreamed that someday when they grew up, that she would marry George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart’s character, and they’d lived happily ever after at this whole rundown house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

So life intervenes as they’re about to kiss, a bunch of family and friends show up, “Hey, your dad just had a heart attack,” and he has to leave Mary and go deal with that. Then he kind of puts off his plans to go see the world. He’s like, “Well, now I gotta be the head of the household and run the Bailey Savings and Loan, which isn’t doing very well.” The movie’s a great love story and there’s just a lot of beautiful moments in there. It just shows how women will pursue you. You act like a man, they’ll pursue you.

There’s other women, like Violet’s another one. She’s like one of the really beautiful girls in town that all the guys want to see. There’s parts in there where George is kind of walking down the street, Violet’s there, and these three guys come over, “Hey baby, can I take you somewhere? Hey baby, can I light your cigarette? Hey baby, can I buy you some? Hey baby, can I take you to dinner?” They’re trying to do things because they’re seeking her attention and validation, and she’s just, “Hold on a minute, boys,” and she walks over to George because George is like, the most eligible bachelor in town, and he doesn’t want anything to do with women, marriage or relationships. The only thing he’s thinking about is he can’t wait to get out of that shitty little town and see the world, and of course, Mary’s got other plans. She basically seduces him, and then they live happily ever after.

So it’s a good movie to watch. Good archetypes. Again, it was made in the 40s, so it’s old. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Movie #7: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Another one that I saw was Spider-Man: Homecoming. I think it was from 2017. So it’s with Tom Holland. What I liked about that movie is that the girl he’s interested in, this one girl who happens to be the daughter of what turns out to be like one of the bad guys that he’s chasing. I forget his name, the Phoenix, or something like that. It’s like all throughout the movie, like right as they get together, something happens and he’s got to take off and go back on his mission and purpose because he’s Spider-Man.

So he’s kind of dipping out and she kind of starts to get an inkling that he might be Spider-Man. Then you got Zendaya, the actress who they’re actually together in real life now apparently. I guess at the end of the movie, he kisses her because the other girl moves away after her father gets arrested or whatever, he dies, I can’t remember. Her dad turns out to be a bad dude, but it’s cool because he’s in high school. He’s a kid, basically, and even though he’s really shy and he’s insecure, he still asks the girl out for prom in a way that’s weird and awkward. All of us when we were young, and the first time we were doing something like that, you’re overwhelmed with fear. You’re sweating, you’re nervous as fuck, but at the end of the day, he was still brave and courageous and did it. Even though how he handled it, he didn’t handle it like James Bond because he’s in fucking high school, but he did a great job because the girls are chasing him, trying to get his attention throughout the movie or put themselves in his orbit, but he’s always got something that’s kind of taken him away and he’s got to run off, and the girls are like, “What the hell?” Which makes him even more interested. That’s why I liked it.

The movie that came right after it though, when it came out in 2019, where they’re in Europe, it’s like I was thinking that the continuation, they just turned Tom Holland into a total fucking pussy and a beta male, he’s afraid of his own shadow, and he’s afraid of his girl. It’s just not a good archetype, but Spider-Man: Homecoming is really good. I suspect people that were working on that movie that are the writers probably were familiar with my work, because you can always kind of tell by how the characters are presented.

Movie #8: Breezy

Another one, this is an older one. This is one of the first movies that Clint Eastwood directed. It’s an older man, William Holden. He was a very famous actor. I think it was made in the 60s, if I remember right. This is like during the hippie and all the stuff going on in the 70s, the anti-war movement and all that stuff. There’s this beautiful girl, I can’t think of her name, but she’s really young. She’s like 18, ran away from home, comes from a broken home, and he’s just a real estate agent and I think he’s divorced and he’s kind of cranky and crabby.

So they end up meeting somehow, she just kind of tags along and he kind of takes her in and is helping her out. So she’s like, free love, kind of thing, and part of the movie, at some point in the movie, she’s basically, “Hey, you want to hook up kind of?” And he’s like, “OK.” So they kind of start a relationship and it’s just a real cute love story where you got this masculine, stoic older man who’s calling her out, kind of like a father figure to her, and they end up dating and hooking up. So it was just a cool story.

Movie #9: The Philadelphia Story

Another one is Philadelphia Story. This is with Katharine Hepburn and the late, great Cary Grant. Jimmy Stewart’s also in that particular movie. It’s just a lot of good bantering from Cary Grant, a lot of breaking balls. If I remember right, he was married to Katharine Hepburn. They got divorced, but they still know each other. I think they work as news reporters or something like that. You can tell he kind of still wants her, and I think she’s kind of seeing Jimmy Stewart, and Jimmy Stewart kind of plays a little bit of a beta male in that role, but that was a good one where it’s just good, playful banter.

Movie #10: His Girl Friday

Then another one with Cary Grant, His Girl Friday, same thing. Lots of good banter, playfulness. Just not putting up with a woman’s bullshit, calling her out on it.

Movie #11: Waiting

Another movie that any of you guys that have waited tables or tending bar, this is with Ryan Reynolds, who was absolutely awesome at delivering deadpan, smart-ass kind of humor. So he’s kind of the jock that works in this restaurant, and he obviously gets women and is hooking up with different women that he works with. I think he’s hooking up with a hot young hostess. Then you got the manager that is just a total dork who’s kind of hitting on the hostess. So people are trolling him, and it’s just a really funny movie. I loved it, just because anybody that’s waited tables, there’s so many things in there. Clearly the writers had waited tables and they know what it’s like. It was just a fun movie. Like I said, Ryan Reynolds, he’s just the masculine guy and does what he wants, sleeps with the girls that he wants and he’s always got a better, funnier, cockier more smart-ass type of comeback.

Movie #12: Office Space

Another one that’s a great movie, it was made in the late 90s with Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston called Office Space. So he just gets to the point where he’s just like, “I’m tired of living this way and living in this little cubicle, and I’m just not going to go to work anymore. I’m not. I’m going to do what I want. There’s this cute girl at the restaurant. I’m gonna ask her out,” and he just goes and does it. He’s just very matter of fact and doesn’t give a damn what other people think. It’s just a great, hilarious movie.

Movie #13: I Am Steve McQueen

Last but not least, this is actually a documentary on one of the greatest male actors to ever live who embodied dangerous masculinity. It’s called I Am Steve McQueen. So you got his widow. You have two of his ex-wives there in it. You have that supermodel, I can’t think of her name. She’s really beautiful. She used to be a Victoria’s Secret model. She’s in it. So they got these beautiful women just talking about Steve McQueen and the sex appeal that he oozed. There’s lots of clips from the movies in there and how he lived his life. He was just a man’s man.

One of the quotes he said, “You only go around once in life, and I’m going to grab a handful of it,” and he absolutely did. He was known for, again, you’ll see this in the documentary, I think it was the Beverly Hills Hotel. He kind of had an office there. He had a a suite that was like always his, and every time he met a new starlet or an up-and-coming one, he’d always take them there to hook up and he just slept with who he wanted. He did what he wanted. That’s where I saw one of my favorite Steve McQueen quotes that I actually have on my wall and a picture. “I live for myself and I answer to nobody.” He just totally embodied that.

So that’s another great documentary. I got clips from his movies like Bullitt and some of his other ones. His son, who just passed away last year, his name was Robbie McQueen. He was in the original Karate Kid in the early 80s, and when he was young, he raced cars just like his dad. His dad got him into racing, and I guess about 10, 15 years ago, he had a really bad wreck, had internal injuries and that just basically shortened his life. He had a lot of complications because of it, so he just passed away I think it was last year, the year before.

So I know there’s more that I’m leaving out, but I was racking my brain thinking about which ones would be good ones to watch. A lot of playfulness, a lot of charm, a lot of smart-ass type of humor, not taking shit, breaking a woman’s balls, that kind of thing. In other words, treating her like a bratty little sister. Which you know, all these movies, these guys do a good job of that.

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