The last two blogs I've done I let die out - I was kind of bored with them, posting personal stuff and activites I've been up to. Let's be ffrank - I'm not exactly an international man of mystery here. But, I've been reading other blogs dedicated to people's interests, and I've decided to go after that route instead. So, I'll be blogging about some of my favorite things: books, movies, TV shows, music, sports, and pop culture. And, as you can tell from the blog's title, it'll be a random mix of things.
We've all probably had those nights when we've been hunched over drinks at a local tavern, talking with friends about the things we'd want to bring with us on a desert island, which books are better than others, and so on. I just did that last night for the first time in a while, so I decided to organize my postings around that idea, in a list format.
To kick things off, I'm a huge movie fan, and I always find myself renting or buying and watching films with memorable characters. So, for that reason, I'll be starting off with a top ten list of a group of characters who are vital in making a good flick: scene stealers and key characters no movie can do without. So, my list of all-time favorite supporting actor roles in film.
10) Marty Feldman as "Igor" in Young Frankenstein. I don't think you can go wrong with this movie; yes, it's kind of cheesy, and it's kind of dated, but it's still pretty funny. Feldman steals the show, and his role is the most memorable from the movie. You gotta love a scene stealer, so I had to put him in at 10.
9) Ben Kingsley as "Ben O'Ryan" in Suspect Zero. I know most people would list Kinglsey's role as Don Logan in Sexy Beast here, but there's something about Kinglsey's performance in this movie that makes me give the nod to this character. Suspect Zero was an indy flick from a few years back, and in case you haven't seen it, and for me not to spoil it for you, Ben O'Ryan was (maybe) a remoter viewer trained by the FBI. O'Ryan's speciality was tracking down serial killers - as the film progresses, it's unclear if he himself is a serial killer or if he is still trying to track them down. This is a pretty creepy performance from Kingsley, and I think a stronger one than his role in Sexy Beast.
8) Jason Miller as "Father Damian Karras" in The Excorist. Yet another creepy one here, but I think Miller hit it out of the park in this movie. What's particularly striking about Miller's character are the contradictions he needs to resolve in this movie. While he's a man of science - a trained psychologist who looks for verifiable data - he's also a man of faith as an ordained Jesuit priest. Also, although he has dedicated his life to the priesthood, and still feels guilt at leaving his aged and sickly mother to live alone in run-down neighborhood. When he encounters the possessed young girl, and the older, more experienced priest sent to perform the ritual, these tensions come to a head. The final twenty-five minutes or so really sell this character to me: watching Fr. Karras be continually tested and ultimately unravel is one of the more suspenseful scenes in a movie loaded with suspense.
7) Lee Strasberg as "Hyman Roth" in The Godfather, Part II. I think a debate over which of the first two Godfather flicks is very viable. While Part One is complete in itself, Part II has so many strong story lines woven masterfully together and so many great characters. While DeNiro's role in this film won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, there are several other great ones - Robert Duvall as Tom Hayden, Michael Gazzo as Frankie Pentangeli, and John Cazale as Fredo Corleone. But for me, Lee Strasberg's performance as the Meyer Lansky-esque Hyman Roth stands out. Strasberg was a long-time acting teacher, and one of his most famous students (Al Pacino) helped to get him this role. But, Strasberg delivered in this part. One of the more memorable scenes from this movie is when Michael Corleone (Pacino) confronts Roth about a possible hit on one of Roth's associates. The fierceness in Strasberg's eyes, combined with a slow delivery of lines about Roth's former associate Moe Green, is one of the more memorable scenes from that great movie.
6) Javier Bardem as "Anton Chigurh" in No Country for Old Men. Yeah, it may seem like a trendy pick, as Bardem just won the Oscar for his performance in this movie. But, for those of you who saw this movie, ask yourself this: what do you remember the most about this movie? Chances are pretty good that it's a scene featuring Bardem. While you could very easily posit Chigurh as the villian of this film, or as the anti-hero, what really grabs me about his performance is how closely this character adheres to characteristics of a cowboy figure/character. That's one of the things which really grabbed me about this character -although his character seems to be the exact opposite of Tommy Lee Jones's character, who's arguably the hero of the film (it's even down to a standard Western cliche - Bardem's character dresses all in black, whereas Jones's character is rarely seen without his white Stetson), Chigurh nonetheless adheres to a strict code, and the code strikes me as something coming out of a dime Western novel - but it's also a bit twisted.
5) Robert Duvall as "Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore" in Apocalypse Now. Yes, he's got the famous line of "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," but this is also another memorable performance in a film loaded with memorable performances. Kilgore seems like a character who embodies the paradox of the American experience in Vietnam - while he recognizes that he's in an foreign land, he still insists on making this land as American as possible, while he recognizes that this war is dangerous for his men, he still puts them in harm's way, while he knows he's in the jungles of Vietnam fighting an enemy who is indistinguishable from innocent civilians, he still insists on using outdated, WWII-era mentalities and strategies in combat - i.e., bomb them back into the stone age. The scene where Kilgore makes his men surf during a firefight is a prime example of this.
4) Samuel L. Jackson as "Jules Winfield" in Pulp Fiction. Loved this character in this movie. The dialogue between Winfield and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is incredible in this movie. In addition to the killer dialogue written for Jackson's character in this film is the transformation of his character as the film comes to an end.
3) Joe Pesci as "Tommy DeVito" in Goodfellas. You can't go wrong with this pick - Pesci is this movie. Goodfellas is one of Martin Scorcese's best films, and while there is a great cast for this movie, it's Pesci who steals the show. Yes, he's got the great, memorable lines in this movie, but the balance the character shows between being a devoted friend and a ruthless mobster and as a family man and a raging psychopath makes for a compelling character.
2) Kevin Spacey as "Verbal Kint" in The Usual Suspects. This is one of my favorite movies - even though I know the twist at the end is coming (and I won't spoil it for people who haven't seen it), I still never get tired of watching this movie. The main selling point to me is Spacey's performance: as a viewer, I find myself rooting for Kint, being disgusted by him, feeling pity for him, being afraid for him, and thinking of him, at alternate times of the film, as a smart man and as a complete idiot. I stick to Hitchcock's definition of suspense as playing with audience's emotions throughout a film - knowing that something's about to happen and the audience has no way to stop it. In this performance, Spacey plays the audience like a organ, which makes for a great film.
And, in my opinion, the great supporting actor role of all-time goes to ....
1) Joseph Cotton as "Jedediah Leland" in Citizen Kane. Cotton was one of those actors who fit best in an ensemble cast - other notable Cotton roles include great casts in Shadow of a Doubt, The Third Man, and Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. But, if you want to talk about the utlimate ensemble cast, it's Citizen Kane. Cotton never got the accolades that Orson Welles did, which I think is unfortunate. The character of Jed Leland does what a good supporting character should do - react to and be the opposite of the lead character in a film. Jed Leland is the opposite of Charles Foster Kane in every way - in a sense, Leland acts as the conscience that Kane very desperately needs. It's perhaps no coincedence that Kane's character begins his downward spiral once he fires Leland and kicks Leland out of his life. Cotton plays this role in such a way that he helps to make a man who looks very much like a tyrant (Welles's Kane character) seem flawed, human, and redeemable.
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