In October Jeff Bridges fans (and who is not?) were stoked. Looked like Hollywood's most reliable character (and character actor) would nab a supporting-actor bid for his role as the space-cadet Col. Bill Django in Men Who Stare at Goats. Then came Crazy Heart, starring Bridges as a Kris Kristofersson-lookalike country singer "Bad Blake" battling his demons and alcohol, which so far has earned the previously awardless (zero-for-four at the Oscars) actor a Golden Globe and a Screen Actor's Guild prize, making him odds-on favorite for an Academy Award. (Oscar nominations are announced next Tuesday).
As Bad, Bridges gives one of those lived-in, self-effacing, subdued (sub-Dude?) performances that draw you in because it's behavior, not acting. It's a very good performance from a behavioralist who has never been less than good. But is it his greatest. Probably not: I'd go for The Last Picture Show, Fearless or The Fabulous Baker Boys. Still, in the happy event he wins the Oscar, Bridges won't be the first to be given what I call the "Oops!" award -- recognition for a performer who should have been recognized already.
The most famous recipients of "Oops!" Oscars are Paul Newman (not for The Hustler or Hud or The Verdict, but for The Color of Money), Al Pacino (not for The Godfathers or Scarface but for, heaven help us, Scent of a Woman) and Denzel Washington (not for Malcolm X or The Hurricane, but for Training Day).
Watching Crazy Heart, I kept thinking how much Bridges sang and moved and smiled like a beefier version of Kristofersson, his co-star in Heaven's Gate, the notorious failure where Bridges also met music songwriter/producer T Bone Burnett, who likewise worked on Crazy Heart. While Bridges, like his Thunderbolt and Lightfoot co-star Clint Eastwood, is unassuming as an actor, his performances (also like Eastwood's) define an embattled, hard-won masculinity.
What do you think of Bridges' chances? His only real competition this year is George Clooney, very good in Up in the Air, and Christopher Plummer, sublime in The Last Station. And what would you choose as the Bridges performance that had the greatest degree of difficulty? Much as I love his signature role in The Big Lebowski, as the air-crash survivor in Fearless, the disc jockey in The Fisher King and the failed auto-maker in Tucker, Bridges had greater acting challenges. The Dude abides.
I expect Jeff's superlative performance in the extremely enjoyable Stick It will be overlooked by your respondents, so I thought I'd mention it.— ccjroberts- I think it's a lock, but I liked the more when Robert Duvall made it and it was called TENDER MERCIES. As for Bridges' best performances, I think AMERICAN HEART was criminally overlooked. And I still love WINTER KILLS, which is a forgotten, absurdist masterpiece.— garyk
- Oh, ccjrobers: I love love love Stick It (written by Jessica Bendinger, who likewise wrote Bring It On), with Bridges as a gymnastics coach. garyk, i love Winter Kills, from a very naughty script by William Richert and Richard Condon. And I neglected to mention Ivan Passer's "Cutter's Way," the role in which Bridges minted the restless boho/cultural dropout character.— carrierickey
- Right! CUTTER'S WAY is a fave of mine too.— garyk
- Carrie is right on, except that she left out his performances in Fisher King and Tucker. It's sad how many times actors win life time achievement awards instead of awards for the films that warrented them. Bridges is long over due and he really is one of the finest actors in the nation.— Contract Aaron
- He was a great leading man for Farrah Fawcett in "Somebody Killed Her Husband" and for Barbra Streisand in "The Mirror Has Two Faces."— JDM
- Carrie, The Contrarian here. As much as I like Bridges in general, Bridges in “Crazy Heart” and the film itself, I think – dare I say it? – that both the film and the performance are a tad overrated. Also, I’ve been put off by the fact that Bridges has been showing up at awards telecasts behaving exactly like Bad. What’s that about? Can we therefore assume that he will give the same performance in the “True Grit” remake? (And do we really need a remake of that film?) Anyway, I agree with JDM about Bridges in Lamont Johnson’s neglected gem, “Somebody Killed Her Husband” (from a script by the estimable Reginald Rose) and I also liked/admired him in such oddball films as Johnson’s “The Last American Hero”; William Richerts’ “The American Success Company” (with a script by Larry Cohen!); Frank Perry’s “Rancho DeLuxe” (penned by Thomas McGuane, shamelessly borrowing from his own “Missouri Breaks”); Bob Rafelson’s “Stay Hungry,” Howard Zeiff’s “Hearts of the West,” John Huston’s “Fat City”; Ivan Passer’s “Cutter’s Way”; Hal Ashby’s “Eight Million Ways to Die”; Richerts’ “Winter Kills”; Steve Kloves’ “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (in tandem with brother Beau); Terry Gilliam’s “The Fisher King”; Coppola’s “Tucker and, as garyk says, Martin Bell’s “American Heart”– hell, anything that Bridges made in the 1970s-80s. What a rich filmography! But his defining role remains the Coens’ “The Big Lebowski.” I don’t care if he wins the Oscar this year, but he certainly deserves one of those life achievement awards for the jaw-dropping body of his work.— Pash
- I think the four acting awards this year are already set in stone and Bridges is one of the four. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with American Heart or Baker Boys. The real suspense this year will be picture, director and original screenplay.— edwardcopeland
- CUTTER'S WAY, EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO DIE, or WILD BILL.— Tony Dayoub
- One of the advantages of ringing in late is getting to agree with most of what has been said. I do think Jeff Bridges will walk away with an Oscar. I also think that Bad Blake is one of his best acting efforts. I had to keep reminding myself of other films because he seemed so real that it was hard for me to realize that I was watching an actor. Loved him as the President of the United States. Love him period.— CPven
- I'll add "The Contender." It was wonderful to watch an actor playing a role with such relish, to take such sheer, obvious pleasure in getting to be that character for a while. It was big in a way we almost never see anymore in American movies, big in the way Cagney was in "White Heat" (although Bridges' President shared practically nothing else in common with Cagney's sociopath). In a much smaller role - smaller in the sense that the character itself was one defined by limitations and compromises, rather than the breatless expansiveness of his "Contender" character - I love Bridges' work in the nearly unknown "The Amateurs." If he finally wins his Oscar, I will be deeply pleased. With all due respect to DeNiro and Pacino, the finest actor of his generation.— wwolfe
- VIEWED
- Commented
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
