In honor of his Best Actor win at the Oscars and because Sandra Bullock doesn’t have too many good movies, we’re bringing you a Rank’ Em thread for Jeff Bridges, a dude that has been acting steadily since the 1960s and an actor that has always been cool to like due to his unappreciated status (despite his four prior Oscar nominations before this win). Glancing through this filmography, it seems I have yet to see a lot of his work (again, this guy has been around a long time, so specifically his older stuff), so maybe your lists will help me sort out what I should and should not bother watching. Rank these anyway that you would like: the movie itself, his performance, the amount of dudeness. I’ll rank mine by how much I enjoyed the film itself.
10. Starman
9. K-PAX
8. The Men Who Stare at Goats
7. Crazy Heart
6. Iron Man
5. The Contender
4. The Fisher King
3. Arlington Road
2. The Last Picture Show
1. The Big Lebowski
Damn, there are a ton of his films that I am interested in that I haven’t watched: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Bad Company, Fearless, The Door in the Floor, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Cutter’s Way, and Heaven’s Gate (shit, this also stars Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, and Brad Dourif – way too much machismo for one movie).
Also, I remember loving Blown Away when I was like 12… but that was probably the last time that I watched it and that was when Speed was one of my favorite movies also.
By Performance:
10-The Last Unicorn
9-The Morning After
8-Heaven’s Gate
7-Winterkills
6-Tucker
5-The Fisher King
4-The Contender
3-Fearless
2-Starman
1-The Big Lebowski
By Film:
10-The Last Unicorn
9-The Morning After
8-Tucker
7-The Fisher King
6-Winterkills
5-Starman
4-Heaven’s Gate
3-The Contender
2-Fearless
1-The Big Lebowski
There are more than a few Bridges films I’ve never seen, Simpatico, Arlington Road, Seabiscuit, Crazy Heart, The Door In The Floor, Texasville, The Muse, Jagged Edge, Kiss me goodbye, The Vanishing (remake), Blown Away, Wild Bill, The Mirror Has Two Faces, The Moguls, Masked and Anonymous, Bad Company, The Last Picture Show, and it has been far too long since TRON, The Ice man Cometh, The Cutting Edge, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and King Kong ’73 for me to remember much of anything.
Heaven’s Gate review for the Raging Bulls, Easy Riders marathon is coming, btw…
Can’t believe I’ve never seen The Last Picture Show. Sigh.. Yet apparently I’ve seen a hell of a lot of Bridges’ movies. Here they are in order of how miuch I enjoyed the overall film…
Lebowski (obviously)
The Contender
Men Who Stare at Goats
Door in the Floor
Tideland
Crazy Heart
TRON
Starman
Arlington Road
Fabulous Baker Boys
Wild Bill
Seabiscuit
Fisher King
Blown Away
The Moguls (aka The Amateurs)
Vanishing
Tucker
Fearless
Masked and Anonymous
King Kong
Stick It
Iron Man
K-PAX
The Muse
I really liked Tideland. A lot more than most. It probably could have squeaked onto my list, depending on my mood. I want to hear some thoughts on Thunderbolt and Lightfoot though. Jeff Bridges and Clint Eastwood in a Michael Cimino directed movie! I’m pretty sure it is on Hulu to watch for free, but I’m not going to get the chance to watch it any time soon, since I’m headed out west here for a week.
p.s. Why hasn’t Michael Cimino directed anything in fifteen years?
Because Heaven’s Gate was apparently such an awful movie that bankrupted millions of people and destroyed lives, all while Cimino was being an asshole to everybody in the world.
I believe it, because The Deer Hunter sucks.
But Heaven’s Gate is a pretty sprawling awesome piece of cinema. YOu’d love it Henrik, seriously. It’s all about the characters and real emotions and behaviours and HUMAN-FUCKIN’-BEINGS.
Would you say The Deer Hunter was about that? Because I hated that.
I liked Blown Away because it was about SHIT GETTING BLOWN UP.
Hello! Fat City look into it, one of the best movies of the 70′s
I have a soft spot for Bridges as President in the Contender. mmm shark meat.
Henrik: all the hometown stuff in first half of the Deer Hunter didn’t endear to your sensibilities?
I remember some sort of wedding scene lasting about an hour with nothing going on? That was The Deer Hunter right?
I was just bored out of my skull. Maybe I could give it a second go, but there is nothing about the movie that makes me interested in trying, the only reason would be that so many people say it is good.
I also hated Apocalypse Now (though I only saw the extra-extra long version, maybe the theatrical cut is better, I would imagine so), but one Vietnam movie I am dying to watch is Coming Home. Jon Voight used to be a great actor man.
I had real problems with The Deer Hunter as well. Like Henrik, I was completely bored. The Russian Roullette scene is intense, but the rest of it is boring as hell and just focuses on how fucked up “everyone” who came back from Vietnam was (like just about every movie about post-Vietnam) without much substance. I’d rather watch Missing in Action 2.