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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2019 17:05:26 GMT
Last night, I couldn't sleep and I turned on a talk show where John Goodman was a guest. I started thinking about current American film actors compared to the golden age. You used to have John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Bogart, William Holden, Gregory Peck - and they all epitomized Americana in some way. I was wondering which current actors epitomized Americana to someone not from here. My list.
John Goodman Jeff Bridges Clint Denzel Tom Hanks Bradley Cooper George Clooney
Thoughts?
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Oct 17, 2019 21:33:02 GMT
Tom Hanks surely
He has that everyman quality
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2019 23:08:29 GMT
Tom Hanks surely He has that everyman quality More than Jeff Bridges. Bridges plays more quirky characters, but I think of his as an everyman. But then a few of them have played that type: Goodman and Denzel Washington uses that as camouflage in his recent Equalizer movies. I thought he played the perfect every man in Philadelphia, coincidentally, alongside Hanks.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2019 12:16:58 GMT
Tom Hanks surely He has that everyman quality He represents how liberal America would like to see itself, much like Henry Fonda in the fities. He's this symbol of decency, tolerance and integrity.
Whether that's actually representative of America today is another question.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Oct 18, 2019 12:23:59 GMT
people need these things though, don't they?
Some kind of physical representation of an idea.
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Sneelock
god
there's a difference, you know...
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Post by Sneelock on Oct 22, 2019 21:45:30 GMT
We always have! Clark Gable, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Arnold, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.. “ little by little the look of the country changes based on the men we admire” - Old Guy in “HUD”
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Sneelock
god
there's a difference, you know...
Posts: 8,434
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Post by Sneelock on Oct 22, 2019 23:10:34 GMT
I picked Bridges and not just because the Dude abides. I think he's done a lot of damned good work. he's not really a "type" the way Tom Hanks often is (though I think Hanks is a very good actor too)
Jeff Bridges really impressed me in "Thunderbolt & Lightfoot" when I was a teen & he's been impressing me pretty steadily ever since. He can show off or he can play it close to the vest. You ever see "Fabulous Baker Boys"? it's hard to recommend since it's a romantic movie but without a big sloppy kiss at the end. she waves goodbye. maybe they'll see each other again maybe they won't. He has a drink with his brother. He loves his brother but he's just as fucking hard to read as he is with a vine-ripened Michelle Pfieffer. he has emotion but it's piled way under a bunch of other crap. tricky stuff for an actor to get onscreen but JB does.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2019 21:24:18 GMT
Jeff Bridges really impressed me in "Thunderbolt & Lightfoot" when I was a teen & he's been impressing me pretty steadily ever since. He can show off or he can play it close to the vest. You ever see "Fabulous Baker Boys"? it's hard to recommend since it's a romantic movie but without a big sloppy kiss at the end. she waves goodbye. maybe they'll see each other again maybe they won't. He has a drink with his brother. He loves his brother but he's just as fucking hard to read as he is with a vine-ripened Michelle Pfieffer. he has emotion but it's piled way under a bunch of other crap. tricky stuff for an actor to get onscreen but JB does. Which is why I picked him. He gets overlooked, and while he doesn't play everyman heroes like Hanks does, he bestows a goofy grace and optimism to roles, that I think is particularly American. Even though he plays a small time hood in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, that sense of optimism shines through. And that optimism never disappears even with world weary characters like the Fabulous Baker Boys or his Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. I think he does an unbelievable job in that role and plays it far more nuanced than Wayne, who did a good job too.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2019 21:37:28 GMT
We always have! Clark Gable, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Arnold, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.. “ little by little the look of the country changes based on the men we admire” - Old Guy in “HUD”I think you can pick guys like Damon, Affleck, and Cooper too. What I find interesting is there really isn't a Jack Lemmon or Matthau, Albert Brooks, or a comedic actor that can display pathos like those guys. Maybe Zach Galifianakis, and Michael Cera or Jonah Hill will grow into those type of characters. Willy Loman types.
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Post by quaco on Oct 31, 2019 15:59:22 GMT
Tom Hanks definitely wins the award of "Most Punchable American Actor". He's just so smug and cute and always in these meaningful or "just so" films. I think he's more like what Liberal America actually is.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 18:10:16 GMT
Tom Hanks definitely wins the award of "Most Punchable American Actor". He's just so smug and cute and always in these meaningful or "just so" films. I think he's more like what Liberal America actually is. He was good in Bosom Buddies.
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