Actually I remember the novelization---by the screenwriter, who may have originated the story: he seemed like an authoritative author---better than the movie, and it may have had some detail or whole scenes that didn't make it to the screen--if you find the groovy paperback in the thrift stone, as I did, check it out: it's pretty tight, and the first-person teen female testimony comes across pretty perceptively or at least plausibly, especially for pop culture then (not that the author or I were ever teen girls, alas).
― dow, Monday, 2 July 2018 00:03 (five years ago) link
Voting Close Encounters because I learned that he lied about knowing French to get the part.
Also, because they were filming a year after Jaws came out, people kept mistaking him for Richard Dreyfuss.
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 2 July 2018 02:55 (five years ago) link
I don't even really like Ghost World but it kinda feels like the thing to vote for tbh
love this guy whenever he shows up, and his directing career is about as bizarre as his acting CV
― Οὖτις, Monday, 2 July 2018 16:53 (five years ago) link
A Mighty Wind
― flappy bird, Monday, 2 July 2018 17:14 (five years ago) link
never seen this one but lol @ this cast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Boyfriend%27s_Back_(1993_film)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 2 July 2018 17:28 (five years ago) link
Balaban too overshadowed by Charles Haid in Altered States, so Close Encounters it is, esp. his "star scene" where he figures out the ETs are sending a latitude and longitude.
― Eliza D., Monday, 2 July 2018 17:30 (five years ago) link
xp it's like the character actor follies!
― Eliza D., Monday, 2 July 2018 17:31 (five years ago) link
Paul Dooley! *and* Mconaugheyhey's debut!
― Οὖτις, Monday, 2 July 2018 17:35 (five years ago) link
there's something sexy about bob balaban.
― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Monday, 2 July 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
Anybody else a fan of his Dr. Chandra in 2010? I thought there was surprising poignancy in his last scenes with HAL considering he was talking to a red light, and a lot of that has to be to his credit.
― a shomin-geki poster with some horror elements (WilliamC), Monday, 2 July 2018 18:09 (five years ago) link
Guffman forever.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 2 July 2018 18:30 (five years ago) link
Kael on Absence of Malice: "As the head of the strike force, Bob Balaban must think that he's doing Captain Queeg. He has devised an attention-getting nervous shtick--he spins his hands around while playing with rubber bands--and he never gives it a rest."
I'll probably vote for one of the performances in that Close Encounters to Prince of the City run--though he is pretty memorable in Midnight Cowboy.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 3 July 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
BDE
Going with Whose Life Is It, Anyway?
― ... (Eazy), Wednesday, 4 July 2018 03:50 (five years ago) link
blowing Jon Voight in a movie balcony?
he grew up in the biz -- his uncle Barney Balaban was the president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 4 July 2018 06:04 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 9 July 2018 00:01 (five years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 00:01 (five years ago) link