The Kurt Russell Appreciation Thread

Kurt Russell = legend. One of cinema's great badasses with a great flair for comedy to go with it. Just a shame his performance in Death Proof didn't result in a Travolta-style career resurgence, but at least we can look forward to him cropping up in Django Unchained later in the year.

Also, you put him on a commentary and you get Instant Awesome.

Gotta say, he was great in Breakdown. Seemed like one of his few roles where he isn't playing some form of his usual wisecracking tough guy. Played a really believable normal guy who came across as being completely helpless. 

 A Poll on "Best Kurt Russell Flic"?!

MUST WE CHOOSE JUST ONE?????

3000 Miles To Graceland, people!

Top 5

1) Big Trouble In Little China

2) Escape From New York

3) Soldier

4) Death Proof

5) The Thing

Underrated Kurt performance: Miracle. I don't give a fuck about hockey or the Olympics, but I gave it a chance anyway for Russell, and it's amazing work.

I really think he's one of the few actors that can jump from genre to genre. Hope he gets the chance for a major comeback. In addition to the commentaries, I really like this radio interview he did with the O&A show:

PART 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT96Hw46rLk

PART 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVGHpklIWKI&feature=related

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 

Underrated Kurt performance: Miracle. I don't give a fuck about hockey or the Olympics, but I gave it a chance anyway for Russell, and it's amazing work.

Absolutely.  Fantastic film.

It's very weird to me that his performance in The Thing doesn't rank hire for some people. It's understated and real in the middle of an impossibly insane story. The text gives MacReady absolutely no backstory, but the performance creates an entire guy who you want to trust and see survive or at least keep the creature from surviving.

I guess I haven't seen a lot of his movies (only 5 in the poll), but so far he's definitely one of those actors I tend to like better than the movies he's in. With both "Big Trouble in Little China" and "Escape From New York", I found myself wishing the great Kurt Russell character and performance I was watching had found itself in a better movie.

Fortunately (and I know I'm probably one of only two people in the world who feels this way) Snake Plissken also starred in another movie that I liked much better, and "Escape From L.A." is my favourite Kurt Russell movie at this point (haven't seen "Miracle" and "Tombstone" yet). "Sky High" was cool too. One of the better kid movies of recent years.

You haven't seen Tombstone?! By God, man - GET ON THAT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

You haven't seen Tombstone?! By God, man - SKIN THAT SMOKE WAGON, BOY!

I concur.

Indeed. The question remains "IS HE GONNA SEE THE MOVIE OR JUST SIT THERE & READ?".

The Thing, Used Cars, Escape from NY and Big Trouble are all pantheon-great.   Then add the awesomeness of Death Proof, Miracle, Tombstone, and Executive Decision among many others.  He's one of my favorite actors.  

I hated to pick just one Kurt Russell movie as a favorite, but I chose Escape from New York. I also love the hell out of The Thing, Used Cars, Big Trouble in Little China, Tombstone, Soldier, Stargate, and Tango and Cash. I also loved him as Stuntman Mike in Death Proof.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZombieFever 

Gotta say, he was great in Breakdown. Seemed like one of his few roles where he isn't playing some form of his usual wisecracking tough guy. Played a really believable normal guy who came across as being completely helpless. 

I just watched this last night, and he's so good at keeping the ball rolling, communicating so much without any words at all.  Brilliant.  Of course on the poll I voted for The Thing because his performance is such a central part of the greatness of that flick, but he's great in everything, Breakdown, Escape From New York, Big Trouble, Tango & Cash, even that turkey Tequila Sunrise.  He brings not only toughness but humanity.  Love the Kurt.

I like to imagine that in between scenes, Kurt is just hanging out drinking come cold ones in a hot tub wearing that red speedo from Captain Ron surrounded by chicks just clamoring for his attention. 

I'm not the only one who does this, right?

Like Jeff Bridges, Russell is a guy who simply doesn't know how not to deliver. Dude is a pro.

He also gives an intense-as-hell, tour de force performance as a damaged corrupt cop in Ron Shelton's 2002 Dark Blue. Though a lesser Training Day, it's worth checking out.

I voted TOMBSTONE, but I love the hell out of all of his performances.  The way he confronts Billy Bob Thornton in TOMBSTONE is one my all-time favorite moments.

I really like The Best of Times. Russell is the rare actor who can keep a lid on Robin Williams and it benefits them both.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

Like Jeff Bridges, Russell is a guy who simply doesn't know how not to deliver. Dude is a pro.

 

He also gives an intense-as-hell, tour de force performance as a damaged corrupt cop in Ron Shelton's 2002 Dark Blue. Though a lesser Training Day, it's worth checking out.

Agree. Dark Blue came out with not a lot of fanfare but was really good. He was amazing in what was such an against type character for him. Loved it.

I'm a fan of Russell's mid 90's Action Hero as dork period, but my favorite is USED CARS.

My favourite bit of Kurt Russell trivia:

During the scene where the severed head of Ash's girlfriend bites his hand, and before embarking for the tool shed, Bruce Campbell says the single line "work shed". This line was later re-dubbed in post-production due to the quality of the audio, giving a strange, slightly "disproportionate" sound to the audio. Nine years later, while filming his cameo in Escape from L.A., the first thing Kurt Russell said to Bruce Campbell on the set was, jokingly, "say work shed".

Funny guy, that Kurt Russell.

I'll also throw out some love for "Unlawful Entry". It's trashy cinema, but entertaining trash. Besides.....it's Kurt Russell vs Ray Liotta! GOLD!

Quote:

Originally Posted by yt 

I just watched this last night, and he's so good at keeping the ball rolling, communicating so much without any words at all.  Brilliant.

Speaking of his nonverbal brilliance: I've only seen Stargate once since I'm not a huge sci-fi guy, but I will never forget how his character is introduced, sitting there in his son's room, those amazingly expressive eyes instantly telling you everything.

One of my all time faves, he's a pure and perfect actor. Dramatic chops, tough guy skills, comedic ability, he's got everything in spades. And something special happens whenever the guy does Elvis (gotta love that quick shoutout with the bedside statue in Used Cars)

"Henry Swanson's my name, and excitement's my game!"

Kurt Russell, having been born in Springfield MA, is something of a home town hero 'round these parts. I've always been a big fan. Not only can the man act, but he's a straight up movie star.  STARGATE alone should be proof, as if he'd not already established that cred 10 times over by the time that film was released. There is no need to cite his iconic work as Plisskin or MacReady to you guys, you know it all by heart. You know of his power to command the screen with an effortless ease that suggests he was born to conquer the silver screen. Instead, I'll just offer up a few thoughts on some of his lesser works, before closing with a few special comments on BREAKDOWN

SKY HIGH has no right to be a good movie, but it works with an assist from Russell who gives the film heart, humor and no small degree of class

DARK BLUE is one of the better Ellroy adaptions, IMHO. Russell does some of the best work of his career in this one, his final press conference calling to mind the conclusion to AND JUSTICE FOR ALL with it's sense of righteous outrage and spectacular bridge burning

He is the voice of ADULT COPPER in THE FOX AND THE HOUND!

He apparently ghost directed TOMB STONE, if his own word on the matter is to be believed

Finally, BREAKDOWN

This is perhaps in many ways my favorite Russell film. It's a movie I like to refer to as a "Massachusetts Pride" flick, and it has come to mean alot to me on a personal level. Russell and Quinlan play the quintessential every-couple, driving west to see the sights. With the Massachusetts plates on their cherry red SUV, to JD Walsh's villainous serial killer they stick out as an easy mark, and they're soon targeted with evil intent

Walsh and his toothless backwater buddies are practiced killers, and assume their latest victims will go down without a fight... yet with each new feat of derring do, Russell proves that Walsh and his cronies underestimate the Bay State at their peril. Rising to the occasion in every respect, Russell goes through hell to save his wife and stick up for Massachusetts residents everywhere. When Russell finally gets the drop on the kidnappers as they sit down for dinner, his righteous outrage rivals that of Harrison Ford in the FUGITIVE. It still gives me the goosebumps

The final battle is wonderfully staged, and the choreography of the climatic confrontation in the cab of the crashed 18 wheeler is the stuff of legend. The glint in Russell's eyes as he caught the chain was outdone only by the sudden look of helpless fear on Walsh's face, as the creep realized the tables had been turned and it was now game over. With Walsh's broken body on the ravine below, Quinlan dispatches her tormenter without pity, crushing him beneath his own massive truck. Too tired for a pithy remark, the couple wait for help and no doubt plot their return to the safety of New England as the credits roll

It's a first rate ending to a first rate actioner, and it's my top reason of the day why Kurt Russell is a super star

You can't not like him, yet you never catch him trying to be likable, and indeed even when he's playing bastards (cf. Stuntman Mike) something about him pulls you into complicity.

Now, I wonder how that's gonna work when he plays probably the meanest bastard he's ever played in Django Unchained. Probably brilliantly. Like, maybe Best Supporting Actor brilliantly.

Gotta give him credit too for being in one of the longest running (by Hollywood standards) marriages without ever even getting married.

And his son is named Wyatt. That's pretty cool.

"Kurt Russell" was also Walt Disney's final words scribbled on a piece of paper.  Wrap your head around that one.

Whaaat?! Whoah, I never knew that, and I want to revisit this childhood classic even more now, even if it will still make me a crying, blubbering mess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naisu Baddi 

My favourite bit of Kurt Russell trivia:

 

During the scene where the severed head of Ash's girlfriend bites his hand, and before embarking for the tool shed, Bruce Campbell says the single line "work shed". This line was later re-dubbed in post-production due to the quality of the audio, giving a strange, slightly "disproportionate" sound to the audio. Nine years later, while filming his cameo in Escape from L.A., the first thing Kurt Russell said to Bruce Campbell on the set was, jokingly, "say work shed".

 

Funny guy, that Kurt Russell.

The way I had heard that, it was a request made by Kurt's son, relayed by Kurt. Everything I've heard about Russell suggests movies are a day job for him, and he's not much of a cinephile, and probably not someone who would have sat through Evil Dead 2 more than once. He's the one guy I'd love to meet, but also I guy who I feel I'd have nothing in common.

Still, child star, to minor league ballplayer, to badass leading man of the 80's and 90's and beyond? Quite a full life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by floyd2006 

#8 Kurt Russell

11 Celebrities Who Were Secretly Badasses

"Oh, and one last thing. His name was the last thing ever uttered by Walt Disney".

Damn. Well, that settles it.

Kurt Russell is King Of Men.

He's fucking cool in TEQUILA SUNRISE, playing a smooth L.A. cop (his slicked-back hairstyle was reportedly based on former Lakers coach Pat Riley, writer-director Robert Towne's first choice for the role!) at odds with childhood friend turned drug dealer Mel Gibson. He has chemistry to burn with leading lady Michelle Pfeiffer and makes a meal of Towne's tangy dialogue ("This is my backyard...I don't grow weeds in my backyard just so I can pull 'em," he tells a superior who suggests he plant evidence on Gibson).

He's also a terrifically subtle actor, as others have pointed out here. Even in the dopey as hell SOLDIER, he conveys so much with facial expression and body language.

Recently rewatched DEATH PROOF...it's still a mess, and the performances of many of the women are pretty dreadful. But Kurt throws so much heat in it, whether he's breaking the fourth wall to grin at the audience or freaking out after taking a bullet in the arm ("WHYYYYY?").

And I love that Cameron Crowe cast him as the 'good dad' archetype in VANILLA SKY. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy five-tone 

He's fucking cool in TEQUILA SUNRISE, playing a smooth L.A. cop (his slicked-back hairstyle was reportedly based on former Lakers coach Pat Riley, writer-director Robert Towne's first choice for the role!)

Jesus christ, seriously?

I'm imagining an alternate reality where Pat Riley essentially has Ray Wise's career.

I remember in one of his interviews he talked a lot of (good-natured) shit about Ron Shelton because Russell felt the Costner role in Bull Durham was rightfully his.

Which it was. I mean, Costner's fine in it, it's one of his better jobs, but the character is more or less Russell, who played in the minors but never made it to "the show." (Shelton, I guess, wrote the part for him but the studio insisted on Costner, who was hot at the time.)

I'm guessing there weren't really hard feelings, since Russell went on to work with Shelton in Dark Blue. Course, that was fifteen years later...

All things considered, who would you rather be right now, Russell or Costner? If you're in this thread, that's probably a no-brainer.

Occurs to me now they co-starred in 3000 Miles to Graceland. I want to believe Russell pranked the shit out of Costner every day on the set.

There's a little story behind 3000 Miles to Graceland where Russell complained about the final theatrical edit we saw being inferior to a cut that has (as far as I know) never seen the light of day. Costner backed the director on this, Russell stood his ground, 3000 Miles to Graceland crashed and burned critically and financially. The lesson? We may never know, but we should just all go ahead and assume that Russell was correct.

Makes perfect sense and may reflect what best served Costner's monstrous ego at the time. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 

I remember in one of his interviews he talked a lot of (good-natured) shit about Ron Shelton because Russell felt the Costner role in Bull Durham was rightfully his.

 

Which it was. I mean, Costner's fine in it, it's one of his better jobs, but the character is more or less Russell, who played in the minors but never made it to "the show." (Shelton, I guess, wrote the part for him but the studio insisted on Costner, who was hot at the time.)

 

I'm guessing there weren't really hard feelings, since Russell went on to work with Shelton in Dark Blue. Course, that was fifteen years later...

 

All things considered, who would you rather be right now, Russell or Costner? If you're in this thread, that's probably a no-brainer.

 

Occurs to me now they co-starred in 3000 Miles to Graceland. I want to believe Russell pranked the shit out of Costner every day on the set.

To be fair, Costner is very accomplished and pretty incredible in his own right

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

Everything I've heard about Russell suggests movies are a day job for him, and he's not much of a cinephile.

 

I get this impression from him too. I actually like the fact that he's apparently not much of a geek. I think it's somehow even cooler when an actor isn't obsessed with the craft or the method or whatever, but can still blow you away with his/her performance and make it look easy.

You don't see him in many, if any, "art films." Not to say he doesn't make good serious films. He's just never been one to chase indie cred, that I can recall. Unless you want to count Death Proof as indie, which I really don't. He's an entertainer and a professional. Dying breed. He may occasionally play tormented characters but there's absolutely no "tormented method actor" about him. I can imagine him finishing an intense scene, nailing it, then dropping the mood quick and popping open a brew and checking baseball scores. And of course his lighter performances just share the fun with us.

Big Trouble aside, can we think of a role where he's convincingly played stupid? Not that he couldn't, or hasn't. But one other thing he does is exude intelligence, shrewdness. It seems like he has to go big and farcical to play a dummy since it's too far away from what he usually brings. For the most part if he's playing someone who knows all the angles, or has been in a job for decades and knows it backwards and forwards, or has a doctorate, you just buy it without question.

Love Russell like everyone else here. However, the man needs to get around to giving us he promised "better edit" of Tombstone.  Ghost direct and still nail the on screen, shit, that's the defination of bad ass right there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jl1718 

Love Russell like everyone else here. However, the man needs to get around to giving us he promised "better edit" of Tombstone.  Ghost direct and still nail the on screen, shit, that's the defination of bad ass right there.

That's something I'd love to see. Hey, they can rerelease the film with a decent transfer while they're at it!

Though I love Gary Oldman in the role and really wouldn't wish anyone to take his place, part of me really would really love to see what Russell would have done with the part of James Gordon, seeing as how it was offered to him before Oldman (he may have been Nolan's first choice actually). Russell apparently turned it down because he didn't want to travel, and Chris Cooper turned it down because he didn't like the script (and I don't blame him, Gordon is just an embryonic exposition machine in that first film, which ultimately pissed Oldman off something fierce).

That's awesome. Thank God Cooper passed, he'd have been too dour. He's like a beaten down bloodhound.

While Oldman is perfect & imbues Gordon with a great deal of soul, Russell's presence would automatically give the character a weighted sense of weathered gravitas. Maybe in Batman's next cinematic iteration, Russell will get another shot. He'd be incredible (as would Jeff Bridges, come to think of it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

That's awesome. Thank God Cooper passed, he'd have been too dour. He's like a beaten down bloodhound.

 

While Oldman is perfect & imbues Gordon with a great deal of soul, Russell's presence would automatically give the character a weighted sense of weathered gravitas. Maybe in Batman's next cinematic iteration, Russell will get another shot. He'd be incredible (as would Jeff Bridges, come to think of it).

Cooper can bring a light touch if it is called for. See: THE KINGDOM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 
 

Big Trouble aside, can we think of a role where he's convincingly played stupid? Not that he couldn't, or hasn't. But one other thing he does is exude intelligence, shrewdness. It seems like he has to go big and farcical to play a dummy since it's too far away from what he usually brings.

You might be right about that. He did variations to the Jack Burton blue collar oaf/slob thing in Overboard and Tango and Cash, but neither character was a total idiot.

Now I'm trying to picture Kurt Russell in one of those oscar baity retard movies. He'd be like the smartest most badass retard ever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by floyd2006 

Russell>Costner

this goes without saying