If there ever were a cause to charge into battle shirtless, it would be for Troy, the legendary city that was the focus of Homer’s Iliad. Of course, in the 2004 cinematic interpretation of the Greeks’ epic assault on Troy, the warriors actually donned semirevealing bronze armor when engaged in battle, but moviegoers don’t remember that (or at least not those of the female persuasion). Instead, Troy remains ingrained in pop culture as a film that boasts the trifecta of buff, bare-chested and beautiful actors: Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana. While all three are easy stand-ins for their fabled characters — Pitt as warrior Achilles, Bloom as Paris and Bana as Hector, the princes of Troy — it’s Pitt who steals the shirtless show with his ripped abs, flowing hair and overall masculine ‘tude. Unfortunately, his looks don’t stop him from meeting his fateful end at the hands of young Paris.
Top 10 Shirtless Movies
This weekend, as moviegoers take in the remake of Conan the Barbarian in all its bare-chested, chiseled-torso glory, TIME takes a look at other movies in which clothing was clearly optional