Men can't live on girls alone. Sometimes they need big guns, fast cars, dumb jokes and huge explosions.

Which is why American magazine "Men's Journal" has listed the top 50 "guy movies" of all time in its December issue.

The Godfather

"Dirty Harry" — the 1971 flick featuring Clint Eastwood as a tough-as-nails cop — took the No 1 spot. Surprisingly, only one James Bond film made the list — "Dr No" at No 12.

Most James Bond films are just too "subtle" to rate as guy films, according to Mark Horowitz, executive editor of "Men's Journal".

So, what does make a great guy film?

First, the film has to be something only men can love. When it's popped into the DVD player, it should make any girl in the room want to leave.

Second, the film should make men want to watch it again and again, learn the lines, and quote them whenever possible. When a guy does blurt one of them out in public, it should make other guys — total strangers even — glance over at him and nod with respect.

More important, a great guy movie has to be unapologetically male — violent, sexist, and totally superficial. No romantic storylines thank you.

In spite of such machismo, guy movies will have a moral, and that moral is always the same: you must be brave and honourable, no matter the consequences.

"True guy movies don't like to hit you over the head with their message; they just like to hit you over the head," says Horowitz.

The top 10 guy movies of all time, according to "Men's Journal", are:

1. "Dirty Harry", 1971

As cop Dirty Harry Callahan, Clint Eastwood became the most politically incorrect hero in movie history. With a 0.44 magnum ( "the most powerful handgun in the world") in his hand at all times, Clint brought a no-nonsense form of law enforcement to crime-ridden San Francisco.

Best Line: "You have to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

2. "The Godfather", 1972

Francis Ford Coppola's mob opera is the modern man's guide to surviving with honour in a dog-eat-dog world.

Best Lines: "Don't ever take sides with anybody against the family again."

"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

3. "Scarface", 1983

An unapologetic assault on everything decent and honourable — and that's why people love it. Nothing beats the film's drug-fueled mobster wisdom. Lines like "First you gotta make the money, then you get the power, then you get the woman," set the tone for a whole generation of gangster rappers.

Best Line: "Say hello to my leetle friend — the friend being a gun."

4. "Die Hard", 1988

Forget all the great action scenes this film has — the best moments involve Bruce Willis' jokes.

Best Line: "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!"

5. "The Terminator", 1984

Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally offered the human lead in the film, but he realized that a killer robot from the future was the role he was really born to play. "There is a little bit of the Terminator in everybody," director James Cameron once said. "Everyone wants to operate outside social constraints like he does."

Best Line: "I'll be back."

6. "The Road Warrior", 1981

Along the endless highways of the Australian outback, the loner hero usually found in western movies gets a futuristic face-lift and becomes Mel Gibson's leather-clad Mad Max. The film has it all: robbers, boomerangs, and high-speed car battles.

Best Line: "You want to get out of here, you talk to me."

7. "The Dirty Dozen", 1967

World War II gets a sixties makeover as Lee Marvin takes a bunch of prisoners and turns them into a squad of stone-cold killers tough enough to make all Americans proud.

Best Line: "You've got one religious maniac, one malignant dwarf, two near-idiots, and the rest I don't even wanna think about!"

8. "The Matrix", 1999

This cyberpunk epic created a new kind of male hero — the tough computer geek. By setting the action in cyberspace, the Wachowski brothers are able to supercharge all the fights with gravity-defying stunts and amazing digital effects.

Best Line: "There is no spoon."

9. "Caddyshack", 1980

Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and a robotic gopher called Chuck E. Rodent destroy the saintly image of golf. It took 20 years and the arrival of Tiger Woods to make the game seem cool again.

Best Line: "Hey, everybody, we're all gonna get laid!"

10. "Rocky", 1976

A classic tale of a working class man who becomes a hero simply because he can absorb a surreal amount of punches.

Best Line: "All I wanna do is go the distance."

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