8. Spurgeon Tanner - Deep Impact (1998)
Deep Impact has great appeal to me. I love stories about the end of life as we know it. From World War Z to Night of the Comet, I have read them all and seen them all. So when a movie about an Extinction Level Event that could actually happen came along, I was thrilled. Deep Impact graces us with a somewhat realistic view of how the world would react to a killer comet on its way toward Earth. Robert Duvall plays Spurgeon Tanner, an astronaut tasked with the job of destroying the comet before it can reach Earth. The original plan fails, and millions of people are wiped out when a piece of the comet impacts the Atlantic Ocean. But in a heroic and touching buildup to the climax of the film, Tanner leads his crew in a suicide mission that leaves humanity alive.
Why He's Great: Spurgeon Tanner and his crew epitomize everything we all (hopefully) strive to be. He's heroic and selfless and willing to sacrifice his life to save the rest of us. If World War II mega-hero Audie Murphy had been born 150 years later, he'd be Spurgeon Tanner.