Interesting topic Bruce I would also add Rutger Hauer to that list. His role of Roy Batty in Blade Runner combined villain and victim in a most amazing way that evoked fear and sympathy. I can watch that role over and over and still be amazed.
BTW I watched Lethal Weapon the other day for the first time in years the other day. It still held up well as an action film. What struck me most was Mel Gibson's acting in the context of what we know about him now. He plays a quasi homicidal/suicidal self-destructive cop. He is constantly screaming, yelling and having temper tantrums. He does a manic Curly Howard impression, appears to have no sense of personal boundary, and spins out of control at the slightest misplaced word on the part of another. It was scary to watch and I realized that Mel didn't really have to dig inside himself very deeply to appear so crazy. The real acting came during the 10 minutes in the film where Mel Gibson's character seems to be calm and empathetic with others. I remember back to working on the film and how awkward and uncomfortable it was to be around Mel during post-production and it all made sense upon seeing the film again. Michael Kamen, who died way to young, did an amazing score for Lethal Weapon and used Eric Clapton and David Sanborn as soloists and co-creators, which was really unheard of at the time. Michael then did the Die Hard score the following year and his work on that film was also brilliant. Lethal Weapon's success was actually the impetus for rushing Die Hard into production. It had been laying around for a long time. Fox had offered the part to many people before offering it to Bruce Willis who was still shooting the TV series Moonlighting. They offered it to Mel Gibson and technically Fox had to offer the part to Frank Sinatra first, because he owned the rights to the character by virtue of owning sequel rights to the film The Detective from 1968. The original idea for Die Hard came from a Robert Thorpe book (Nothing Lasts Forever) that was part of the "Detective" series. I imagine if Sinatra had decided to exercise his rights, the film would have languished and not been produced at that time. ----- Original Message ----- From: MICHAEL ARCHIBALD To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 5:10 AM Subject: Re: [MOPO] I re-watched Die Hard the other day (for the first time since 1988) I couldn't agree more Bruce. A movie is so much more compelling with a great villan... Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II Henry Fonda in "Once Upon A Time In The West" Heath Ledger in Dark Knight Klaus Kinski in The Great Silence ...if the villan isn't strictly a one dimensional character but has some redeeming qualities - inelligence, humor, etc - it generally makes for a good movie experience. Mike From: Bruce Hershenson <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 7:02:57 AM Subject: [MOPO] I re-watched Die Hard the other day (for the first time since 1988) I re-watched Die Hard the other day (for the first time since 1988) and I was reminded of just how excellent a movie it was. It has a great script and great performances by Bruce Willis and Bonnie Bedelia, but what really makes it "work" so well is the remarkable performance by Alan Rickman as the villain (and amazingly he had never been in a movie before!). The producers of the James Bond and Mission Impossible type movies should ALWAYS hire a really first-rate actor (Ben Kingsley, Geoffrey Rush, F. Murray Abraham, Bob Hoskins, etc) to play the villain, because it adds SO MUCH to the movie (and of course it also makes sense to find the most beautiful women in the world, whether or not they can act at all)! Bruce -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site our auctions Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
