Hot Fuck Action to the Max: The Philip Baker Hall Poll

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If the title's a problem, please feel free to delete the first half.

He's made even more films than Bob Balaban, so I had to cut about 25 out--uncredited roles, voiceovers, low billing (lower than 10th). Also eliminated The Zodiac (2005)--I don't think anybody's going to vote for his Frank Perkins in that ahead of his Sherwood Morrill in Zodiac. Dead even for me between Morrill and Floyd Gondoli. But I bet Secret Honor or Hard Eight or The Insider wins.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
1996 Hard Eight (Sydney)	7
2007 Zodiac (Sherwood Morrill)	3
1999 Magnolia (Jimmy Gator)	1
1997 Boogie Nights (Floyd Gondolli)	1
1984 Secret Honor (Richard Nixon)	1
2003 Die, Mommie, Die! (Sol Sussman)	1
1988 Midnight Run (Sidney)	1
2017 Person to Person (Jimmy)	1
2004 In Good Company (Eugene Kalb)	0
2007 You Kill Me (Roman Krzeminski)	0
2006 The Shaggy Dog (Lance Strictland)	0
2005 The Amityville Horror (Father Callaway)	0
2003 A House on a Hill (Harry Mayfield)	0
2005 Duck (Arthur Pratt)	0
2005 The Matador (Mr. Randy)	0
2009 The Lodger (Captain Smith)	0
2009 Wonderful World (The Man)	0
2017 The Last Word (Edward)	0
2014 Playing It Cool (Granddad)	0
2013 Bad Words (Dr. William Bowman)	0
2012 People Like Us (Ike Rafferty)	0
2012 Departure Date (Old Jake)	0
2012 Bending the Rules (Herb Gold)	0
2011 50/50 (Alan)	0
2011 Mr. Popper's Penguins (Franklin)	0
2011 The Chicago 8 (Judge Julius Hoffman)	0
2010 All Good Things (Malvern Bump)	0
2003 Bruce Almighty (Jack Baylor)	0
2003 Dogville (Tom Edison Sr.)	0
1998 Judas Kiss (Pobby Malavero)	0
1998 The Truman Show (Network Executive)	0
1997 Air Force One (U.S. Attorney General Andrew Ward)	0
1996 Hit Me (Lenny Ish)	0
1995 Kiss of Death (Big Junior Brown)	0
1992 Live Wire (Senator Thyme)	0
1991 Blue Desert (Joe)	0
1989 How I Got Into College (Dean Patterson)	0
1989 Say Anything... (IRS Boss)	0
1998 Rush Hour (Captain William Diel)	0
1998 Psycho (Sheriff Chambers)	0
2002 A Gentleman's Game (Charlie Logan)	0
2002 The Sum of All Fears (Defense Secretary David Becker)	0
2000 Lost Souls (Father James)	0
2000 The Contender (Oscar Billings)	0
2000 Rules of Engagement (General H. Lawrence Hodges)	0
1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley (Alvin MacCarron)	0
1999 The Insider (Don Hewitt)	0
1999 Cradle Will Rock (Gray Mathers)	0
1999 Let the Devil Wear Black (Sol Hirsch)	0
1987 Three O'Clock High (Detective Mulvahill)	0

― clemenza, Monday, 9 July 2018 14:24 (seven years ago)

Haha, I will vote for Midnight Run just because he has to sit straight-faced while Dennis Farina says, "Not one word, or I'll stab you in the eye with a fucking pencil."

― Eliza D., Monday, 9 July 2018 14:51 (seven years ago)

Too hambone in Secret Honor, perfect in Hard Eight, for which he deserved an Oscar nomination. I wish someone had made a Wallace Stevens biopic so as to cast Hall.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 July 2018 14:56 (seven years ago)

Yeah, I'm going with Hard Eight as well, despite not having seen it in decades. His most memorable performance--alongside Bookman, of course.

― Police, Academy (cryptosicko), Monday, 9 July 2018 15:32 (seven years ago)

That said, I love his scene in Say Anything. His empathy towards Ione Skye is a touch most actors wouldn't have bothered going for in such a role.

― Police, Academy (cryptosicko), Monday, 9 July 2018 15:36 (seven years ago)

Could've sworn I saw him in something recently (at home) but I can't find it here or in his complete filmography. Going for the Altman Nixon one. the most recent of these I've seen - Person to Person - had potential but was half-baked.

― flappy bird, Monday, 9 July 2018 16:32 (seven years ago)

When I was checking details to see what to eliminate, one of the few films where PBH gets first billing, A House on a Hill, looked pretty interesting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332129/

It's directed by Chuck Workman, the Academy Awards' clip-montage guy. IMDB lists its Opening Weekend box office (and Gross box office) as $678.

― clemenza, Monday, 9 July 2018 22:38 (seven years ago)

never bought the Altman/Hall Nixon as having much to do with Actual Nixon

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, 9 July 2018 23:30 (seven years ago)

The two best screen Nixons are Dan Hedaya and Glenda Jackson (Nasty Habits).

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 July 2018 23:34 (seven years ago)

Jason Robards and maybe Rip Torn on TV

i don't much like the PTA films PBH is in, either, so i really don't care much about him

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, 9 July 2018 23:45 (seven years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Thursday, 19 July 2018 00:01 (seven years ago)

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

― System, Friday, 20 July 2018 00:01 (seven years ago)

Hard Eight??

― flappy bird, Friday, 20 July 2018 00:31 (seven years ago)

it's a film that was written expressly to give him a leading role, so

― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Friday, 20 July 2018 00:40 (seven years ago)

I voted for Zodiac in the end, even thought he gets off four unforgettable lines in the space of about two minutes in Boogie Nights: the thread title, "Meet boy, meet girl," the bit about making a "dollah-and-a-cent," and something about life's simple pleasures.

― clemenza, Friday, 20 July 2018 02:34 (seven years ago)

xp Is it any good? Only PTA I haven't seen & most of my friends that have seen it thought it was juvenalia / minor work at best

― flappy bird, Friday, 20 July 2018 17:45 (seven years ago)

It has some clunky moments and definitely smacks of “early work” but it’s good nevertheless. Hall and John C Reilly both quite good. I think it compares pretty favorably to eg Pulp Fiction, probably not as good as Blood Simple.

― devops mom (silby), Friday, 20 July 2018 17:54 (seven years ago)

Jason Robards and maybe Rip Torn on TV

i don't much like the PTA films PBH is in, either, so i really don't care much about him

But have you seen his bookman, the actual winner of this poll

― Centipedes? In this economy? (wins), Friday, 20 July 2018 17:56 (seven years ago)

I used to loudly protest that I vastly prefer Hard Eight to Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love, and I still do at least to the extent that neither of those films has managed to grow on me much, but it’s also been so long since I’ve seen it that I definitely owe it a fresh viewing.

― Police, Academy (cryptosicko), Friday, 20 July 2018 17:57 (seven years ago)

three years pass...

Boogie Nights will (deservedly) get the bulk of memorial clips, and Seinfeld, but he's so great in Zodiac. "Sorry counts as speaking."

― clemenza, Monday, 13 June 2022 17:31 (three years ago)

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