1. RIPLEY
Sigourney Weaver ALIEN SERIES

Quite simply, she's one of the toughest women around. Tougher than any man in the series, tougher than any bug. You can do a Freddy, Jason, or Predator and change the hero every time. Nobody will really care. But consider doing an "Alien" movie without Ripley, and you may as well spend $40 mil making another "Critters" movie, because nobody will care.

2. SIDNEY PRESCOTT
Neve Campbell
SCREAM TRILOGY

Horror films almost always have a heroine rather than hero, and despite cliches are usually about female empowerment. What makes this role unique is that over 3 films you see how she gets worn down, and how seeing so much murder has affected her. Yes, in the third film she is given far less to do, but "Scream 2" was one of the best written character follow ups in the genre, despite anyone's plot issues.

3. JULIET HULME
Kate Winslet
HEAVENLY CREATURES

Called her based on this performance, her first feature film role. Juliet is a real person, and the script, while having to show the tragedies that took place, remembered that. It's never about how evil these children are, but about how alone, confused, and yet imaginative they were. The real life Juliet initially denounced the film as essentially cashing in on the story and in poor taste. She later retracted her statement, after seeing how well it was handled.

4. ALYSSA JONES
Joey Lauren Adams
CHASING AMY

"Mallrats" was hardly a chick flick. Based on that work, and the amount of peurile humor, who'd have guessed he could create a character like Alyssa. Well, probably Ms. Adams, who she's partially based off of. The role itself was a chance for her to do something she'd never really tried before: Act. (I know I overlook that Very Special Episode of "Vinnie & Bobby.") It was a strong, feminine character, one that showed some good guesses by a guy as to how a female mind works, and since women typically like this film best out of Smith's work, I'd say not too far off.

5. NIKITA
Anne Parillaud
LA FEMME NIKITA

It's hard to think of action stars shaving their armpits. I doubt John Rambo would have been so tough if he was caught using a Lady Shtick in his "gotta become a war" montage. That's why the French were the first to give us a real female action hero. She runs, she jumps, she gets hurt, her character comes to terms with shedding who she was, and she could kick Van Damme's sorry ass any day of the week

1. PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA
Carrie Fisher
STAR WARS Trilogy

I read an article when the Star Wars Special Editions came out a few years ago. It was by some idiot reviewer for the Baltimore Sun. In this review he claimed that Princess Leia was a poor role model for the women of the 70's. Supposedly he meant the 1770's, when women were supposed to be quiet and docile. He claimed that the Princess was always "waiting around to be rescued by the men". Like the time she led the escape from the Death Star. Wait, maybe he was referring to the time she saved Han Solo. Hold on, it must have been when she killed Jabba the Hut and saved her friends. What movie did this bonehead watch? Leia Organa is one of the coolest screen women ever.

2. NIKITA
Anne Parillaud
LA FEMME NIKITA

She's French and she's a bad ass. Nikita blows away all the female action star wanna-be's. She goes from gutter junkie criminal to resistant goverment experiment to slick killer and comes out the other side with a concience and a whole new life. Give some points here to director Luc Besson, who knows how to create a unique and cool role for women. Two of his other heroines, Mathilda from "The Professional" and Leelo from "The 5th Element" were also serious contenders for my list.

3. JULIET HULME
Kate Winslet
HEAVENLY CREATURES

Kate Winslet was maliciously robbed when this performance didn't garner her an Oscar nomination. Peter Jackson creates a likeable and sympathetic charactor. You know for her being a psycho and all. The marriage of Winslet's acting and Jackson's crafting make Juliet more than your run-of-the-mill Movie of the Week Real Life Crazy Bitch. They have created someone so deep that when Hulme takes her final, drastic action to stay with her dear friend the action seems almost predictable, if not rational.

4. RIPLEY
Sigourney Weaver
ALIEN Series

The charactor of Ripley is spread over four films and four directors. It's hard in any sci-fi or action saga for a charactor to retain their integrity throughout the series run. The exceptions are few and usually found in films like the Star Wars saga, where one person holds control over the whole line. Thankfully for Ripley the four "Alien" directors are talented and intelligent filmmakers who built on each others work. This enables our heroine to go from novice space cowgirl to a Big Bad Mama by the fourth film.

5. HERO
Kate Beckinsale
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

I'm well aware that this choice could beget it's own little bit of controversy around the DangerSeekers dinner table. I mean no one will argue that one of The Bard's own belongs on this list, but why not Juliet? Lady MacBeth? Ophelia? Hell, even fellow "Much Ado About Nothing" lady Beatrice? It's simple, while Hero may not be the most compelling charactor ever written, she is symbolic of an underappreciated role for women. The ingenue. When you talk about important roles for women it's easy to ignore those who do not kick ass or buck the system. Erin Brockovich was ballsier, Sarah Conner helped save the world and Annie Hall was revolutionary. What about the quiet dignity of Hero's virtous women wronged? She didn't grab a machine gun and start wasting away her accusors. She didn't scheme and plot to unmask the villians. She waited. She sat and held fast to her belief that she was good and that her beloved was good. In the end all that mattered to her wasn't being right, it wasn't getting an apology, it wasn't punishment for the wicked, all she wanted was to clear her name and get her life back. She didn't use threats or profanity, she relied on faith and dignity.

1. RIPLEY
Sigourney Weaver
ALIEN series

What can I add that my good buddy Pat hasn't said, that I can't simply reiterate? When Marlee Matlin walked off with her Oscar, she shoulda been checking over both shoulders for a power-loader-wearing Sigourney Weaver shouting "GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BITCH!" In the course of the series, we see Ripley's transformation from sexless stoic, to scarred and protective mother, to yearning mourner, to part-human/part-alien clone. With the exception of that last one, each rematch against the spiny xenomorph was a chance for this incomparable actress to engagingly strut her stuff, with an underlying hint of threat that she'd kick all our asses if we didn't like her.

2. MATHILDA
Natalie Portman
Leon

Luc Besson's got a way with women (Bridget Fonda's junkie whore in KISS OF THE DRAGON maybe notwithstanding). There's Nikita, the kickass professional killer; Leeloo, the kickass intergalactic perfect being; but at the top of the heap, there's Mathilda, the vulnerable, yet steely (and ultimately kickass) little girl who teams up with the big, brooding hitman in this 1994 classic. With Natalie Portman's debut (and honestly, still best) performance, the possibly ludicrous contradictions of the character are delivered smoothly and, not only with intensity, but remarkable assurance for a thirteen year old actor.

3. CLARICE STARLING
Jodie Foster
Silence of the Lambs

Three words: Fuck Julianne Moore.

4. MRS. ISELIN
Angela Lansbury
The Manchurian Candidate

In a single monologue delivered late in the film, the mother of the victimized and robotic war hero goes from ranting about her incipient, McCarthyesque takeover of the American government, to her desire to make the bastards who ruined her son (under her orders, mind you) pay for their crimes. Delivered with a chilling, patrician self-righteousness, this speech alone - never mind the rest of the character's horrifying deeds, are enough to wipe the taste of MURDER, SHE WROTE out of our mouths forever.

5. JOSIE McCOY
Rachael Leigh Cook
Josie & the Pussycats

The hell with Bjork's heart-wrenching performance as the tragic musical heroine Selma in DANCER IN THE DARK. And Satine, MOULIN ROUGE's Sparkling Diamond can bite me. If you ask me, a real musical heroine doesn't need to be going blind or dying of consumption. No, she needs to show off her midriff. Thank you, Josie. Thank you a lot.