James Garner's New Antihero Gave Us Jack Sparrow and Indiana Jones

Gary Cooper. Steve McQueen. John Wayne. Humphrey Bogart. Yul Brynner. Charlton Heston.

Being an American action hero was a pretty grim business from the dawn of movies and TV straight through the '60s, conducted by sober men with steely temperament. There was a time when you'd be hard-pressed to find a single frame of a leading man flinching, looking scared and vulnerable, or trying like hell to avoid a fight. And wisecracks? If you got one, it was more likely to be pointed and pragmatic — I showed you! — than sarcastic or self-deprecating.

SEE ALSO: James Garner Dead at 86

But when James Garner moved from B-movies to TV, the humorless hero found an adversary who simply wouldn't be faced down. Instead, he'd duck, he'd run, he'd try to talk his way out of trouble. Sometimes he'd succeed at it, but often he'd fail — and forced into a fracas, he'd find a way out alive, dignity-intact-be-damned. Read more...

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