From Dusk Till Dawn

8. "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996): I went into this movie thinking, "What the hell?" I came out thinking George Clooney is ... cool. Wait a second: George Clooney is incredibly attractive — and not in that nice doctorly way my grandmother loves so much. And George Clooney truly... more has a sense of humor about himself. And ... OK, forget this TV business: George Clooney should always be on the big screen. Even if he's sporting a Caesar haircut and an overly obvious tattoo while offing vampires next to Quentin Tarantino, he's a refreshing presence. As Seth Gecko, Clooney played the bad boy, outlaw brother to Tarantino's Richard Gecko — two robbers on their way to a seedy Mexican bar where patrons do quite a bit more than down shots of tequila. Along the way, they kidnap a nice minister (Harvey Keitel) and his two kids (Juliette Lewis, Ernest Liu) and then take over the family's recreational vehicle for what will be the craziest road trip of their lives. And that's just the half of it. There's a lot in the darkly funny, wonderfully absurd "From Dusk Till Dawn" to obliterate Clooney — chiefly zombies and an insanely sexy Salma Hayek — but his combined mixture of relaxed danger, effortless charm and wit was an immediate standout, making viewers such as myself take serious notice. There was something different about Clooney. He managed to be the supremely handsome, easily likable straight man yet also had a touch of oddball. It's a recipe that's worked well for him ever since. (Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett Collection)