Saturday, January 28, 2017

R.I.P., John Hurt

It saddens me to report that John Hurt, character acting legend and he of the velvet voice of I, CLAUDIUS; ALIEN, WATERSHIP DOWN, THE ELEPHANT MAN, and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, has passed on. I've described his performances as "perhaps the finest narration of all time," "beleaguered and badass," "eccentric and dripping with pathos," "the best Caligula," "surly and greasy," "hypnotically affable," "a standard-bearer for sheer, in-the-moment craft," "gently terrifying," and "mysteriously comforting." The landscape of cinema will never quite be the same.

A selection of my John Hurt movie reviews:

DEAD MAN (1995, Jim Jarmusch)
HEAVEN'S GATE (1980, Michael Cimino) 
THE HIT (Stephen Frears, 1984)
THE LIMITS OF CONTROL (2009, Jim Jarmusch)
THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND (1983, Sam Peckinpah)
WATERSHIP DOWN (1978, Martin Rosen)
WILD BILL (1995, Walter Hill)

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