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Man vs. Beast! Who Wins?

GREGORY PECK VS. A WHITE WHALE
Moby Dick (1956)
As Herman Melville's Captain Ahab, Gregory Peck roars, thunders, and hops as the raging pursuer of the white whale who bit off his leg. Said whale, when he finally shows, turns out not to be the cuddly pet of Saturday morning TV, but rather the embodiment of the wrath of God/nature/an inscrutable universe. Ahab goes down roped to his prey, though not before getting in a few good harpoon jabs — and serving as a model for all the mad, vengeful hunters who followed him on film (think Robert Shaw in Jaws, Richard Harris in Orca, and the Melville-quoting Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). —Gary Susman