So I got into a debate with a few friends over dinner the other night about the Greatest Actors of All Time. While tossing around names like Laurence Olivier, Robert DeNiro, and Tom Hanks, I said, “And then there’s Jeff Bridges.” Stunned silence from the group met my revelation. Until one of my mates agreed… and one didn’t. And the one that didn’t, disagreed profusely.
An American born in into an acting family in 1949, Jeffrey Leon Bridges was the son of actress and writer Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson) and actor Lloyd Bridges. He eventually starred with his brother in 1989’s The Fabulous Baker Boys. His first big breakthrough was when he was 22 and wowed audiences in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971) where he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His portrayal of Duane Jackson, along with Cybill Shepherd’s Jacy Farrow signaled the arrival of a fresh new faces and talent on the silver screen.
It’s tough to narrow down Bridges’ body of work when you have films like Against All Odds (1984) with James Woods and Rachel Ward, 1993’s Fearless directed by Peter Weir, and last year’s Tron: Legacy (where Bridges acted with himself) and True Grit, so I’ve narrowed the field to three of my favorites.
Most of my circle of friends would agree that Bridges’ best film was the Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski. While not very successful in its initial run at the box office, the film is now a cult favorite, known for the typical Coen Brother’s unique weirdness in cinematography, dialogue, and soundtrack. And while Bridges himself has said that the character of Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski is most like his true persona, there is so much more than just “I’m the Dude, man!” to the actor.
Being a former radio show host, I’m particularly fond of Bridges’ turn in 1991’s The Fisher King. Directed by Terry Gilliam and costarring Robin Williams, Mercedes Reuhl, and Amanda Plummer, The Fisher King is the story of ‘shock jock’ Jack Lucas, who becomes detached and suicidal after learning that comments on his radio show led a caller to gun down patrons at a New York City bar. Years after his firing from his job, while down and out, he meets Parry (Williams), a psychotic homeless man obsessed with the Arthurian legend of The Fisher King and the Holy Grail (where the titular character is charged by God with protecting the Grail, but through pride was beset up on by a debilitation only to be relieved by a simpleminded knight).
Jack learns that Parry was the husband of one of the victims of the shooting and begins to feel responsible for him. The film flip-flops between who is helping whom through their respective depressions and trials, and eventually both are shown the light. It’s one of the ‘not too weird’ Terry Gilliam films out there, and even though Bridges didn’t win any major awards for his role, his costars did: Mercedes Ruehl won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, and Robin Williams won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture in a Comedy/Musical.
Bridges finally won his Best Actor Academy Award along with a Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor for his role as Bad Blake in 2009’s Crazy Heart. It was said that Bad Blake is based on a combination of Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard. Bad is a hard-smoking, hard-drinking, promiscuous borderline never-was Country music singer/songwriter. Despite being somewhat predictable, Crazy Heart resonates by the sheer force of Bridges’ acting talent. As Bad, he encapsulates disappointment and shattered dreams using all manner of conveyance.
He’s a tattered slob with a gruff smokers/whiskey drinker’s cough, and even though smell-o-vision failed in movies a long time ago, we can almost smell the same permeating through the screen. His ‘tour’ through the Southwest USA involves driving from one bad gig to another; bowling alleys and holes-in-the-wall. When he meets reporter Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) in Santa Fe, the audience knows that she’s not only going to fall for him, but will ultimately be let down. In the not so unsurprising end, Bad Blake recovers from his addictions, and manages to come to terms with his fate, but it’s the way in which Bridges emotes and lets the character envelop him that elevates this average film to greatness.
In addition Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart also stars Colin Farrell and the always great Robert Duvall. A bonus for the film is that T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham were responsible for the Original Music. As a result, the song ‘The Weary Kind’ won not only the Academy Award for Best Original Song but a Golden Globe as well.
So to my pal I say this: See these two films (along with Lebowski and True Grit) and then tell me that Jeff Bridges isn’t one of the greatest actors out there. WH