by Gary Susman
As Javier Bardem prepares to wreak havoc in ''No Country for Old Men,'' we look back at the most memorable guns-for-hire in movies
13. Julian Noble
The Matador (2005) 
PLAYED BY Pierce Brosnan
THE LOWDOWN While on a job in Mexico City, lonely Julian befriends a businessman from Denver, Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear). Months later, Danny is surprised to see Julian show up on his doorstep, in the midst of a personal crisis.
WEAPON OF CHOICE Rifle
REDEEMING VIRTUE Besides being capable of guilt and regret, he makes a fine drinking buddy and an entertaining houseguest.
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST It's a treat to see Brosnan send up his James Bond image as a sleek, natty, unflappable killer.
12. John and Jane Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) 
PLAYED BY Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
THE LOWDOWN Bored marrieds John and Jane find new excitement in their marriage when they discover that they're both secretly working as assassins — and that they're contracted to kill each other.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE You name it.
REDEEMING VIRTUE They're both really hot, and their home is tastefully appointed.
WHY THEY MADE OUR LIST Did we mention that they're really hot?
EW MOVIE GRADE B-
11. Michael Sullivan
Road to Perdition (2002)
PLAYED BY Tom Hanks
THE LOWDOWN After he's betrayed by the Rooneys, the Depression-era gangster family he works for — and sees his own family all but wiped out — Michael goes on a rampage, aiming to take down the Rooneys, both out of revenge and self-preservation. Accompanying him on his rounds is his little boy, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), the only other survivor of the Sullivan family massacre.
WEAPON OF CHOICE Tommy gun
REDEEMING VIRTUE He clearly loves his son — enough to try to ensure that the boy doesn't follow in his violent ways.
10. Martin Q. Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
PLAYED BY John Cusack
THE LOWDOWN Freelance assassin Blank hopes to kill two birds with one stone by attending his 10th high school reunion and offing a hometown target. Unfortunately, the marked man turns out to be the father of Debi (Minnie Driver), the high school flame with whom he's hoping to reconnect.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Rifle, .357 Magnum handgun, dinner fork, ballpoint pen
REDEEMING VIRTUE At least he's in analysis (this a good two years before The Sopranos and Analyze This made therapy popular for killers), though shrink Alan Arkin remains terrified. Also, he's honest — he tells everyone at the reunion he's a hitman, knowing no one will believe him anyway.
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST As played by Gen-X icon Cusack in a hilariously deadpan performance, Martin's like so many of us who've gone from adolescent embarrassment to adult frustration — just a little more extreme.
EW MOVIE GRADE A-
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST Hanks makes an unlikely killer, but his Everyman quality lends enormous sympathy to a character who must do a lot of bad things in order to do good.
EW MOVIE GRADE B
10. Martin Q. Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) 
PLAYED BY John Cusack
THE LOWDOWN Freelance assassin Blank hopes to kill two birds with one stone by attending his 10th high school reunion and offing a hometown target. Unfortunately, the marked man turns out to be the father of Debi (Minnie Driver), the high school flame with whom he's hoping to reconnect.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Rifle, .357 Magnum handgun, dinner fork, ballpoint pen
REDEEMING VIRTUE At least he's in analysis (this a good two years before The Sopranos and Analyze This made therapy popular for killers), though shrink Alan Arkin remains terrified. Also, he's honest — he tells everyone at the reunion he's a hitman, knowing no one will believe him anyway.
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST As played by Gen-X icon Cusack in a hilariously deadpan performance, Martin's like so many of us who've gone from adolescent embarrassment to adult frustration — just a little more extreme.
EW MOVIE GRADE A-
9. Jeffrey
The Killer (1989) 
PLAYED BY Chow Yun-Fat
THE LOWDOWN Like many John Woo movies, from Hard Boiled to Face/Off, this classic from the director's Hong Kong period is really a twisted love story between two men — dapper gangland killer Jeffrey and the cop on his trail, Inspector Li (Danny Lee) — who come to admire each other's respective codes of honor.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Woo and Chow pretty much invented the classic pose of a gunman holding a pistol sideways, as copied by countless imitators in Hollywood action films. Jeffrey also likes machine guns.
REDEEMING VIRTUE In a plot borrowed from Rock Hudson's Magnificent Obsession, Jeffrey takes on one last job to pay for an operation to restore the eyesight of nightclub singer Jennie (Sally Yeh), whom he accidentally blinded in a shootout.
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST This role helped put Woo and Chow on the international map, but none of their imitators — maybe not even Woo himself — can top the gloriously over-the-top ballets of gunplay choreographed here.
EW MOVIE GRADE A-
8. Charley Partanna and Irene Walker
Prizzi's Honor (1985) 
PLAYED BY Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner
THE LOWDOWN When dimwitted Mafia goon Charley meets fellow professional Irene, it's love at first sight. The two get married, but they soon find they've been contracted to kill each other.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE These two are old school, favoring simple handguns.
REDEEMING VIRTUE After a surprisingly sweet courtship, Charley tells Irene he doesn't want a wife who works, but she convinces them to go into business as a team. Not exactly a resounding victory for feminism, but at least she proves that the couple that slays together stays together.
WHY THEY MADE OUR LIST Sure, they're hired killers, but Charley and Irene learn that there may be no one deadlier than that cherub with the bow and arrow.
EW MOVIE GRADE A
7. Leon
The Professional (1994) 
PLAYED BY Jean Reno
THE LOWDOWN Loner Leon is a skillful ''cleaner'' (not unlike the ''cleaner'' Reno played in director Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita, see next page), but his solitude comes to an end when he takes in a neighbor, orphaned waif Mathilda (Natalie Portman, right), whose family has been massacred by corrupt cops led by Agent Stansfield (Gary Oldman). Even as he reluctantly trains her to ''clean,'' he arms himself for the inevitable return of sadistic Stansfield and his squad of thugs.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Sniper rifle, pistol with silencer, hand grenades
REDEEMING VIRTUE Leon does have one rule about his targets: ''No women, no kids.'' And he proves an unexpectedly decent role model and father figure to Mathilda.
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST A killer taking a little girl under his wing? Could have been cornball or exploitative, but it's neither, since the hard-boiled Reno, the precocious Portman (in her first film), and glossy-pulp master Besson all play it straight.
EW MOVIE GRADE A-
6. Nikita
La Femme Nikita (1990) 
PLAYED BY Anne Parillaud
THE LOWDOWN Homicidal junkie punk Nikita is transformed by government agents into a sleek, chic assassin. Unfortunately, her makeover into a lethal Eliza Doolittle also saddles her with a conscience and a sweet, unwitting boyfriend, Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade). She quickly loses her stomach for the work, but her job comes with no early retirement plan, only potential early termination by agency cleaner Victor (Jean Reno).
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Nikita is multitalented, adept with handguns, rifles, and explosives.
REDEEMING VIRTUE Nikita seems ill-suited to a cheerful domestic life with dippy supermarket clerk Marco, but her affection for him is genuine, and her growing revulsion over her increasingly violent life makes you root for her to escape to suburbia.
WHY SHE MADE OUR LIST Filmmaker Luc Besson's creation is the template for virtually every contract-killer-with-a-soul who followed. Unlike too-cute Bridget Fonda (in the Hollywood remake, Point of No Return) or wry Peta Wilson (in the cable-series version of Nikita), Parillaud is pouty, feral, and existentially angst-ridden in a way that only French actresses can pull off.
EW MOVIE GRADE B
5. Vincent
Collateral (2004) 
PLAYED BY Tom Cruise
THE LOWDOWN Vincent has an unusual M.O.: He likes to do several hits in a single night, forcing a taxi driver to shuttle him around; then, at the end of the night, he'll kill the cabbie and pin the murders on him, making his own killing spree look like the random act of a hack who's cracked. Can his latest chauffeur, Max (Jamie Foxx), save himself and the remaining names on Vincent's to-do list?
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Vincent carries a handgun and a laptop, where he stores his victims' profiles.
REDEEMING VIRTUE There's that visit to Max's ailing, hospitalized mother. And Vincent displays good taste in live jazz.
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST It's fun to see Tom Cruise in a rare villainous role. And that chrome coif is a surprisingly good look for him.
EW MOVIE GRADE B+
4. The Bride
Kill Bill — Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill — Vol. 2 (2004)
PLAYED BY Uma Thurman
THE LOWDOWN As part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS), she was known as Black Mamba. But when she tries to get away and get married, boss and old flame Bill (David Carradine) leaves her for dead in a massacre at the altar. After a four-year coma, she's rested and ready for payback.
WEAPON OF CHOICE Samurai sword, handmade by master craftsman Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba)
REDEEMING VIRTUE In Vol. 2, she evolves from simply a sword-wielding Terminatrix into a woman of surprising heart and tenderness, thanks in part to her reunion with Bill and the daughter she never knew.
WHY SHE MADE OUR LIST As created by Quentin Tarantino, from the Frankenstein lab of his memory of a thousand other martial arts and exploitation movies, the Bride is the ultimate butt-kicking babe. It'll be hard for Tarantino, Thurman, or anyone else to top her.
EW MOVIE GRADE A- (Vol. 1), A (Vol. 2)
3. El Mariachi
El Mariachi (1992), Desperado (1995), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
PLAYED BY Carlos Gallardo/Antonio Banderas
THE LOWDOWN Mistaken for a similarly black-clad hitman, the wandering guitarist (played by Gallardo in Mariachi and Banderas, pictured, in the two sequels) becomes one out of necessity. The first two movies find him embroiled in one-man feuds against Mexican crimelords; the third entangles him in an international conspiracy set in motion by a rogue CIA agent (Johnny Depp).
WEAPONS OF CHOICE El Mariachi packs a variety of pistols, shotguns, and machine guns, but our favorites are the firearms built into his guitar case (in Desperado) and his guitar (in Mexico).
REDEEMING VIRTUE Aside from his love of music, he just wants to be a family man — and with Salma Hayek for a bride, who can blame him?
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST El Mariachi may be the most iconic killer-as-reluctant-hero since Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, to which director Robert Rodriguez owes a clear debt. Rodriguez puts him in some of the most inventive action sequences ever. And as portrayed in the latter two films by a soulful, burnished, impeccably dressed Banderas, he's also the most smolderingly sexy killer in movies.
EW MOVIE GRADE B- (El Mariachi), B (Desperado), B (Mexico)
2. T-800
The Terminator (1984) 
PLAYED BY Arnold Schwarzenegger
THE LOWDOWN This cyborg assassin from the future is designed to be the perfect killer, since he's incapable of feeling remorse or guilt (or any other emotion) and is programmed not to stop until his quarry is dead. Said quarry is Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), mom-to-be of the man who will rally humanity to rebel against the future takeover by the machines.
WEAPON OF CHOICE Shotgun
REDEEMING VIRTUE Not overly chatty
WHY HE MADE OUR LIST The Terminators that followed may have been more technologically sophisticated, with better weapons, but for sheer bad-ass-ness, you can't top the original.
EW MOVIE GRADE B+
1. Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield
Pulp Fiction (1994) 
PLAYED BY John Travolta (Vincent) and Samuel L. Jackson (Jules)
THE LOWDOWN Saddled with two of the most unfortunate haircuts in film history, Vincent and Jules make the rounds for Los Angeles crime boss Marsellus Wallace, performing odd jobs, like whacking people who cross the boss and retrieving that mysterious, glowing briefcase. Vincent also takes up Marsellus' order to show Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) a platonic night out on the town.
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Besides their handguns, Jules also arms himself with a fiery passage from Ezekiel that he uses to intimidate his victims.
REDEEMING VIRTUE Vincent saves Mia from a heroin overdose with a dramatic jab of an adrenaline needle to the heart. He also helps her win a twist contest trophy. Jules finds religion after he emerges miraculously unscathed from a gun battle, and he defuses an armed robbery without violence.
WHY THEY MADE OUR LIST They may not be the most effective hitmen in movie history (there's that messy accidental shooting in the back seat of their car), but they sure are the chattiest and most entertaining. Travolta and Jackson display unrivaled chemistry as they discuss the Big Questions — God, spirituality, hamburgers, and foot massages. With these two, Quentin Tarantino reinvented the hitman as hipster philosopher — a character that quickly became a tired cliché in the hands of numerous imitators. But Vincent and Jules remain the original gangsters.
EW MOVIE GRADE A
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20158677,00.html?iid=top25-20071107-13+best+Hollywood+hitmen+%28and+women%29
