There's Something I Want to Axe You...

This is just a brief diversion while I continue to write and gather portraiture for the next post. A smattering of photos featuring various actors wielding an axe. We prefer our axe-handlers shirtless whenever possible, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Our cover boy, Reb Brown as Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983) got it right! LOL Here come a few other gents who for one reason or another took up an axe...

1930s actor Warren William, who was among the more athletic and hearty performers of his time, makes short work of a small tree.

An all too covered up Richard Arlen strikes a pose for the 1944 film Timber Queen.

Kirk Douglas filmed both outdoorsy dramas The Big Sky and The Big Trees in 1952. The inset, at least, is from publicity for The Big Trees.

Horror star Peter Lorre finds a different use for his axe in The Raven (1963.)

Cameron Mitchell counts an axe among his tools for the heart-tugging rural drama All Mine to Give (1957.)

Bodybuilder Richard Harrison prepares for the worst in Messalina vs. the Son of Hercules (1964.)

Movie & TV star Chad Everett takes out his frustrations on a fallen log.

Don Knotts, as Deputy Barney Fife, prepares to demolish a moonshine still on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1965.)

Martial Arts icon Bruce Lee has an axe to grind in costume tests for a film ("The Dragon of Jade") which was never made.

Jeremy Kemp ratchets a hatchet in the 1968 adventure drama A Twist of Sand.

Jonathan Lynn has his hands on one serious looking weapon in The House That Dripped Blood (1971.)

TV & miniseries star Bruce Boxleitner (wearing his 1981 East of Eden mustache) prepares to chop some firewood.

Ol' Pa Ingalls (Michael Landon) of Little House on the Prairie (1974-1983) could often be found hacking away at a log or a stump.

One more shot of Reb Brown from Yor, along with costar Corinne Clery.

Bruce Campbell has become a cult figure taken on deceased assailants in movies like The Evil Dead (1981), The Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992.)

You don't wanna see what Christian Bale does with his axe in American Psycho (2000.)

Jake Gyllenhaal takes on some logs in a publicity shoot.

Of course when it comes to this topic (and most others, to be honest!), few can compare to the towering strength and beauty of one Clint Walker.

His wood-chopping scene in the family film Night of the Grizzly (1966) stood out enough to make the rest of the film seem like a distraction.

It was once relayed to me that one man, watching this sequence for the first time, had to leave the room because it was affecting him in ways that needed to be kept secret. (True story!)

Walker almost always included shirtless scenes in his movies, though all that would come to an end after 1971. That was the year he fell from a ski-lift chair and a pole pierced his heart! He was even pronounced dead, but managed to pull through. You can see this scene, though it's in wretched pan & scan and the shit heel who handled that for the video company actually cuts Walker out of the frame for a fair amount of time! (???) The magic begins at 0:40 at this link. Maybe someone will someday link the scene from a widescreen DVD and give us all another reason to adore youtube!

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Due to the popularity of one Reb Brown, I have added this additional color photo discovered after this post was up and finished!  Enjoy.