Friday, 15 February 2008
Roy Scheider 1932-2008
posted @3:12 p.m. by Richard Kelly
Since I’m on the subject, and contributions having been thin on the ground for a while, let me doff my cap to the great Scheider. He always seemed an unlikely movie star, rather more like someone who had crossed over from stage and TV in the 1960s and 70s, just as did some of the major US directors of that era, the Alan J. Pakulas and so forth. AS a star, though, Scheider made some astounding choices. (I’m afraid to say I never saw Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number (1983), though I remember the cover in the video store.) Here’s my pick of ten favourite RS roles.
Top Ten Favourite Scheider Pictures/Performances
10. Blue Thunder (1983),br>I remember Malcolm MacDowell’s sardonic baddie (‘Catch ya later…’) rather better, but then Scheider gets the pleasure of blowing him away…
9. The Rainmaker (1997)
If in late career you have to play villains, might as well be a white-collar corporate villain in a Coppola picture.
8. The French Connection (1971)
I haven’t watched this in about 25 years but I’m sure it’s still pretty good.
7. Marathon Man (1976)
He was totally convincing as an ice-cold agent. Indeed I wish he had iced Olivier, rather than vice versa.
6. Naked Lunch (1991)
If in late career you have to play cameos, might as well be William Burroughs’ notorious Dr Benway in a Cronenberg picture.
5. Last Embrace (1979)
One of those rather pointless efforts by a major director to update Hitchcock, it repays the watch partly because of Scheider’s hard-edged impassivity and partly because of Janet Margolin, who died of ovarian cancer well before her time but here, in her only real lead role, was incredibly compelling and sexy as the obligatory woman-with-secrets.
4. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
I close my eyes, see Ken Ogata in military uniform, and hear Scheider: ‘Lately I’ve sensed an accumulation of things that can’t be expressed in an objective form like the novel. Words are insufficient. So I found another way…’
3. Sorcerer (1977)
If you haven’t seen it, do try. Region 1 DVD only, alas.
2. Jaws (1975)
Naturally.
1. All That Jazz (1979)
The others are all pretty-good-to-great, but the sheer bravado of this one sets the seal on the body of work. Goodbye, Roy, goodbye.
Comments
I remember seeing Roy Scheider standing by himself at a bar in the chic West Beach Cafe in Venice, CA in the 1980s. Powerful presence. No one there bothered him, just let him enjoy himself with a drink.
By the way, I finished your novel, The Crusaders, last night and want to thank you for writing it. I thought it was powerful.well-crafted, and memorable. For me, John Gore represented the reckless naivete of youth, that I could very much relate to personally. I am about 60 years old, and my moral and spiritual compass was as unsettled as Gore's when I was that age, although I was doctrinally more like Barlow, I lived like Gore. I'm glad I found out about your book from the TLS. Loved the dialogue. I hope you do another novel soon.
david larkin
dclarkin1948@gmail.com
Tempe, Arizona
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