jeff bridges poll!

i dont know whether to go for best bridges perf. or best movie--hes the best thing in a bunch of mediocre movies

The best American actor of the last 35 years?

Chose Fearless over half a dozen possibilities: Last Picture Show, Fat City, Cutter's Way, Wild Bill, The Contender.

Morbs and I once fantasized about Brokeback Mountain starring a young Dennis Quaid and Bridges.

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/050609/123545__critic_l.jpg

^probably watched this film once a year, every year since it came out.

This is easy: The Big Lewbowski

I do like him as a baddass liberal president (in The Contender) better than most actors trying on that role, but Bridges and the Dude were made for and ennoble each other. The visionaries, naifs, villains, victims, and opaque blanks in the other movies are a pretty amazing assortment though.

The best American actor of the last 35 years?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, November 30, 2008 11:18 AM (11 hours ago)

chris walken is pissed

used to be super-dreamy. this is difficult!

anyway, fucking impossible, so i'm going with the boring choice of Lebowski cuz it's one of my faves ever

i really love the fabulous baker boys even though nothing really happens in it.

"used to be"??

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2008_Iron_Man/2008_iron_man_010.jpg

i dunno, the most recent thing i saw him in is Stick It and he finally looks like a dad. not a hot dad; just a dad.

one of the best speaking voices.

When all those cover stories praised Robert Downey, Jr.'s comeback in Iron Man a few months ago, I was a little pissed that no one mentioned that the movie's also Jeff Bridges' highest grosser.

he looks like billy joel in that iron man picture :-/

one of my favorite actors. kind of splits the difference between paul newman and harrison ford (cooler and more detached than ford, shaggier than newman). lebowski ftw, but i voted fearless. could have easily gone for last picture show, baker boys (just watched that again last week), maybe tucker. he's really good in starman. and against all odds too. and jagged edge. never seen american heart, been meaning to for 16 years.

American Heart is really good. This is a tough poll.

could have easily gone for last picture show, baker boys (just watched that again last week), maybe tucker. he's really good in starman

this

Dude Runner.

short list:

The Last Picture Show
Fat City
Cutter's Way
Starman
Tucker
American Heart
Wild Bill

Never seen American Heart.

he's also funnier in Hearts of the West and Nadine than in you-know-what.

max takes out Hearts of the West and Rancho Deluxe & leaves in THE LAST UNICORN

(hint: always drop the recent crapola and voiceovers)

hint: no

then just watch Rancho Deluxe.

no

W'happen, someone steal your inauguration minicamper?

Jeff looked bloated and coked up in Kong '76.

W'happen, someone steal your inauguration minicamper?

i think he's taking a boxcar

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Finally saw The Last Picture Show since this thread started, and what an amazing erotic movie--except Bridges hasnone of it! His sexuality is so non-aggressive or traditional in film that maybe it's been neglected.

yeah this poll is impossible. He is a great actor and has played like every character, even though a lot of times its "jeff bridges as a ___", it doesn't matter -- cause its Jeff fuckin' Bridges!!! That said, I have to vote for Tron, because I have vote for Kevin Flynn, my inner 10 year old would hate me if I didn't.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Tron in second!

woah wait Jeff Bridges is in Tron? I have vivid memories of that film, and that face belongs to Jeff Daniels...

and that, folks, is how eyewitnesses have put thousands of people in jail for crimes they didn't commit

Tron is no crime!

I saw him on Rollins' show a couple of years ago. He talked about Moondog and how he wouldn't be averse to playing him. . . .

another five years or so and he'll be able to!

next Bridges poll w/ all '70s films so Lebowski and Tron can fuck right off

Lebowski is a truly great performance (and I saw that as a skeptic of the film at large), but Tron in second is some prime ILX/fanboy bullshit.

this dude is basically the only guy who could get me to sit through a movie about a washed-up country singer and his late in life redemption

I'll be seeing that FOR MY CONSIDERATION. didn't you see Rip Torn's washed-up country star movie?

(forgot to do the poll of the films max left out)

i clicked to make sure lebowski won and morbs got mad itt. as u were :)

American Heart is some excellent performing, from Bridges and one of those Edwards I always confuse (Norton? Furlong? one of them) Good luck finding it, though.

Lebowski is excellent, but Fearless is underappreciated, so my vote, if I'd voted, would have gone to it, just as a shout out to a great film and great performance.

woulda voted last picture show

really, watch Cutter's Way

he could certainly win the Oscar for Crazy Heart, and it wouldn't be a disgrace.

Can't believe Arlington Road got no votes!! Amazing movie, amazing performance.

Even better than digital jazz.

looking fwd to Hearts of the West tonight, haven't seen it in 30+ years.

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/hearts-of-the-west-slither

unavailable on DVD either

well yeah that's why im going, w/ a cold

You can get a dvdr of HotW from Warner Archive.

picture quality could be better, especially since they claim it's been "remeastered"

yea, also "rent"/stream-able from amazon for $2.99

yeah, I don't stream. Saw a decent 35mm print.

Alan Arkin: "You're fired, pissant, fired!"

whenever i can't figure out what to watch, i watch cutter's way.

only seen it once

I watched The Last American Hero the other night for the first time in 30+ years. (It played on TV here regularly through the late '70s.) It's good, but I don't think as good as Kael writes ("The casting, the acting, and the milieu seem effortlessly, inexplicably right"). I think Heart Like a Wheel, where she wasn't especially enthusiastic, is the much better film. I wouldn't doubt that Tarantino's use of "I Got a Name" in Django was partly a nod to The Last American Hero.

W'happen, someone steal your inauguration minicamper?

― Dr Morbius, Monday, December 1, 2008

yeeesh - can't believe someone voted for anything having to do w/ the American remake of The Vanishing (aka Spoorloos!)

http://www.dreamingwithjeff.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-bridges-met-wife-photo_5661ef65e4b072e9d1c61223

that is fantastic

http://www.fubiz.net/en/2015/04/02/pictures-taken-by-jeff-bridges-on-the-set-of-his-movies/
This is widely known already, I assume? Not?

Some seriously amazing shots in there.

Cutter's Way Bluray has come out

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/cutters-way

woo

Bridges seems to be trying to outgrizzle Old Kristofferson in HoHW, but it goes beyond that, esp in the last 20 minutes. Chris "Nu-Kirk" Pine is the revelation here, as it's a less showy role than Ben Foster's; Pine has the slump of a beaten man throughout.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/08/hell-or-high-water.html

thoroughly enjoyed

i wanna see this

"hell or high water" is great btw, prob deserves its own thread

probably at least David Mackenzie's best film

Ok (I haven't seen it yet), but has anyone seen Perfect Sense?

this was indeed a pretty excellent film, and pine was a surprise, although i suppose i could have done w/o the fashionable roots-rock that the characters would probably not have been caught dead listening to (except for waylon).

Rather good.

Agree that the final scene's tops. My review.

I'm a bit surprised to see Bridges getting so much awards season notice for Hell or High Water, mostly because it seems like the kind of movie whose critical love was as much a result of it having been released in the slim pickings of summer than anything else. I thought it was reaching for No Country For Old Men but landed a lot closer to Shotgun Stories--hicksploitation cliches delivered with a straight enough face to convincingly fake Significance. Possibly the most overrated 2016 release I've seen so far.

You're right about everything except the hicksploitatin part. It's smarter than that.

Stay Hungry is one odd duck of a movie

Bridges v RG Armstrong brawl at the end outshines any of the laidback Schwarzenegger scenes

Aw man

As the Dude would say.. New S**T has come to light.

I have been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good.

I’m starting treatment and will keep you posted on my recovery.

— Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) October 20, 2020

I’m profoundly grateful for the love and support from my family and friends.

Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. And, while I have you, please remember to go vote. Because we are all in this together. https://t.co/6sAU4MYixl

Love, Jeff

— Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) October 20, 2020

Mr. Jeff Bridges has heretofore led something of a charmed life, but he has always repaid this inestimable gift by being, in return, endlessly charming. I wish him nothing but the best.

well shit

Love this dude. Morbs was right: he and Dennis Quaid star in my slash fic version of Brokeback Mountain.

You know what movie always gets overlooked? "Starman." It's a John Carpenter film from his peak years, it got Bridges an Oscar nom, and yet ... afaict totally forgotten.

nice run-down, but no Fat City?

Starman was only available on a shitty pan'n'scan DVD for the longest time.

Bridges and Karen Allen were terrific together in it.

nice run-down, but no Fat City?

― Neil S,

It's fine, sort of repeating himself that era.

Starman is on Netflix and is as wonderful as ever.

Died @ Alien Bridges saying goodbye to Charles Martin Smith. Had completely forgotten that it happened the way it happens.

They've also got Against All Odds.

Should I? I've seen Out of The Past.

He's getting a well-deserved Chaplin Award:

https://www.filmlinc.org/about-us/chaplin-award-gala/jeff-bridges/

Have not seen Against All Odds but I don't think I can watch a remake of Out of the Past, one of my favorites (and one by a really great filmmaker).

Cutter's Way may be my favorite Jeff Bridges film and performance though it's hard to pick a favorite when he's delivered a wide range of great performances. I really love him as Lebowski - it's not like playing Richard Bone demands similar qualities from Bridges, so it feels absurd to say either is better than the other.

Baker Boys was real hard to find on blu ray until last year when it was reissued. Copies were going for $100+. This article by a Seattle local sums up how I feel about it, it’s so crazily underrated. Shame that Kloves had to get involved with Rowling but at least it made him rich I guess.

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/the-fabulous-baker-boys-at-30-elegantly-captured-a-bygone-seattle-even-as-weve-moved-on/

I think about Fat City all the time since seeing it a year or so ago

Should I? I've seen Out of The Past.

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain),

It has a schlocky charm. Bridges is illegally hot all pumped up. James Woods steals the show, as he often did during this era.

xps Baker Boys is really good. I'm not sure why the director hasn't made a lot of films, but at least he's had a lucrative career as a screenwriter. I'm sure the Harry Potter films alone made him comfortable for life but he also adapted Wonder Boys for Curtis Hanson, which may be my favorite film from either.

Fat City is great too - John Huston's had a very uneven filmmaking career, but that's definitely one of the gems from his later years.

I bought Fat City on Blu-Ray a few years ago and never got around to watching it. I have a copy of Cutter's Way, too. That one rules. (It's currently on Tubi.) I should watch Starman. I've always heard really good things about his performance in that.

Just about every time I go to Lincoln Center these days, which has been a lot recently, I enjoy seeing the trailer for him and his award.

A terrific Bilge Ebri essay:

From the start, there was always something likable about Bridges. With those pleading eyebrows and that broad smile, he has a face that hovers between bafflement and acceptance, which is probably an attitude more relatable to the average viewer than the brooding turmoil of so many leading men of his generation. He moves with ease, but we can sense a halting indecision behind the eyes. Many of Bridges’s best films mine this tension, and part of his appeal as a movie star over the last 50-plus years is rooted in familiarity and openness. When we watch Jeff Bridges, we see, and understand, ourselves a little better.

https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/jeff-bridges-the-wanderer/

*Ebiri