The mullet has a timeless elegance, and was an indispensable accessory to make an 80s action hero complete. The haircut has seen a resurgence in the last years, so it was time we admire the originals, and present you the top 15 actors and their mullets in action movies!
15 – Will Forte (MacGruber)
Based one of SNL’s most awesome skit series, MacGruber is a great parody of MacGyver and old-school action films. Sporting a classic mullet, MacGruber’s overconfidence and total cluelessness are a constant catalyst for mayhem and low-brow jokes.
14 – Marc Singer (The Beastmaster)
Of the many mullet-wearing, swashbuckling heroes in Sword & Sorcery films, Marc Singer’s version turned out to be the most refined and always well-maintained, despite frequent exposure to dust, blood and sweat. His mane is even more impressive than that of his tiger companion and an important asset to this classic fantasy action-adventure!
13 – Jim Belushi (The Principal)
Jim Belushi is as bad-ass as they come in one of the best entries to the teachers-straightening-out-school-kids-by-using excessive-violence subgenre of action films. This rowdy teacher is punished for insubordination and promoted to principal of the worst school in the country. His curly mullet version with the onset of a receding hairline means serious business.
12 – Rutger Hauer (Wanted Dead or Alive)
The most famous Dutchman since Vincent can Gogh takes center stage as vengeful bounty hunter in this archetypal 80s action thriller. Gene Simmons as a muslim terrorist (with one of the great demises in movie history) is no match for Hauer and his blonde manifestation of manliness.
11 – Dolph Lundgren (Masters of the Universe)
The live-action version of the kids TV series was a fun mess, and in his second feature film Dolph Lundgren took on the honorable task of boosting action figure sales. He is the perfect look-a-like of He-Man with his absence of facial expressions just like his plastic counterpart, and a peroxide mullet of the highest chemical grade.
10 – Brian Bosworth (Stone Cold)
For Stone Cold, former NFL star Brian Bosworth took it down a notch mullet-wise compared to his real-life hair style. His character Joe presents to us a more refined version of his glorious hair, an important element for going convincingly undercover to infiltrate a criminal biker gang, and to indulge in high-octane action!
9 – Joe Piscopo (Dead Heat)
In this fantastic mix of zombie horror and action comedy, detectives Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo) are your typical antipodal cop duo. Mortis is sophisticated and undead, Bigalow has an attitude and is alive. The latter sports an impressive cement mullet, with his hair standing perfectly still even in the most perilous situations.
8 – Roddy Piper (They Live)
They Live is a cult Sci-Fi satire and another ultimate classic by John Carpenter. For a world full of hidden messages and illusions it only made sense to cast Roddy Piper as the main star, one of the great representatives of another realm of illusions, the world of wrestling. And just like every self-respecting wrestler of his time, he sports a well-maintained haircut and a no-nonsense attitude.
7 – Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon Movies)
Martin Riggs delighted us with a most impressive mane throughout three films of the Lethal Weapon franchise. Always on the edge and often crossing into insanity territory, his wild hair style is a fitting visualization of his explosive temperament. With Riggs, it was always business in the front and party in the back!
6 – Sylvester Stallone (First Blood: Part II, Rambo III)
Muscles and mullet make an action hero complete. They also provide John Rambo with a neck warmer for the cold Afghan nights and a sweat catcher in the tropical jungle of Vietnam. And the short hair in the front is crucial to to have free aim at his commie enemies for taking them down by the dozen.
5 – Chuck Norris (Invasion USA)
It’s hard to believe that the mullet existed before Chuck Norris wore it in this entertaining Red Dawn rip-off. Norris’ authoritative and uncompromising aura is perfectly augmented by his finely trimmed hair and beard, making him the embodiment of an ultimate 1980s action hero.
4 – Kurt Russell (Big Trouble in Little China, Tango & Cash)
Kurt Russell was blessed with lots of hair, and in two of his great action classics he used it to create voluminous mullets for his characters Jack and Cash. In fact, secretly they are same person, with both being extrovert, trigger-happy and sporting a similar hair style.
3 – Jean Claude Van Damme (Hard Target)
An explosive actioner deserves a haircut of the same kind. Van Damme gives it all in one of the best iterations of the manhunt-for-fun scenario, but we’re massively distracted whenever his hair shows up on screen. It radiates total badassery, and to prevent the generously applied gel from dripping into his eyes, Van Damme combed it back all the way, and created a totally new category, the oil mullet.
2 – Patrick Swayze (All his 1980s Movies)
The only actor on this list who embraced the mullet throughout all of the 1980s receives this entry for virtually all films he made in that time, first and foremost his actioners, of course. If you think mullet, you should think Patrick Swayze who wore it with an elegance and naturalness like no other actor on this list did.
1 – Christopher Neame (Steel Dawn)
Sho the villain even trumps the mighty hair of Patrick Swayze’s main character Nomad in this posta-pocalyptic actioner that entertains mostly because of the bonkers costumes and hairstyles of pretty much all protagonists. Neame’s pineapple mullet stands out, however, featuring a multidimensional geometry created in an infinite backcombing session!
