The Official 2004 William Hurt Discussion Thread

John Dewey, American Educational Philosopher
George Bernard Shaw, Playwright
Aldous Huxley, Writer
Frederick Perls, Originator of Gestalt Therapy
Moshe Feldenkrais, Originator of the Feldenkrais Method
Professor Nikolaas Tinbergen,Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine
John Houseman, Producer, Director, Actor
And many others, including: Paul McCartney, Sting, Paul Newman, Mary Steenburgen, Irene Worth, John Cleese, Robin Williams, Jeremy Irons, Joel Grey, and the Israeli Airforce.

Picking up the discussion nine years later.

Too Big to Fail: so-so. From a political standpoint, it will make people see red; Paulson (Hurt), Bernanke, and Geithner are treated as well-meaning and human-like. As a film, because I'd just re-watched Zodiac and The Social Network last week, this served as a reminder of how mechanical the accumulation of detail and criss-crossing of storylines can be in the wrong hands.

Thought I'd give The Accidental Tourist another look. I know I didn't like it 25 years ago, but can't remember how strongly I felt about that. General puzzlement this time. Amy Wright's character behaved just like a person, with everyone else it was "What planet are we on?" I got that it was meant to be a dropping-out-of-life story (haven't read the novel), and I often love such films, but there was a stiltedness to just about every conversation that felt unreal. Geena Davis is supposed to be the uninhibited life force who turns up one day and saves William Hurt, but even she turns into a dreary scold as soon as they get together. And then she turns back into an uninhibited life force, and it's sometimes impossible to tell how much time has passed as you move from one scene to another. One of those movies that was up for a thousand awards that year, and does anyone even remember it anymore?

We discussed it in the eighties Oscar thread. This is EXACTLY the sort of respectable WASP-ish film in which the Oscars reveled. It's true -- it's gone. What an odd movie: a tonal failure, in my judgment, failing to reconcile the serious and the "whimsical." Geena Davis set a bad precedent for lovable kooks getting nominated in the supporting actress category.

My wife and I often refer to him as "Mississippi" William Hurt. This eases the pain a bit.

Hurt and Kathleen Turner seemed like they hardly knew each other. It shouldn't feel bizarre when two married people spontaneously decide to have sex. The only films I've ever really like Mississippi in were Smoke and Broadcast News.

I don't remember anything specific about The Accidental Tourist other than the experience of my mom renting it when it was new, pitching it to us as "it's supposed to be a comedy." About a half hour in, my dad finally breaks the silence with "yeah, these people are a barrel of laughs."

WORST of the Best Picture Oscar Noms (Only The '80s Edition)

I remember TAT being a pretty good novel.

Just saw Dark City last week; Hurt is pretty good considering the only other actors who make an impact are flooring it (Kiefer Sutherland doing his dad as Peter Lorre, Richard O'Brien doing himself).

By far the best actor (after Mickey Rourke) in the entertaining but often ponderous in its symbolism Body Heat (WE'RE HOT IN FLORIDA THE CURTAINS ARE BLOWING DON'T YOU SEE). Like in Broadcast News, he's terrific playing numbskulls.

I found no Lawrence Kasdan thread!

There's a lot of feeling in his performance as an introverted middle-aged man who adopts a troubled boy in Second Best.

RIP. Gorky Park is the one I’d like to revisit.

William Hurt, the acclaimed actor best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and his work in “Broadcast News,” “A History of Violence” and “Children of a Lesser God,” has died at 71 years old. https://t.co/g2BhtVlNbI pic.twitter.com/RxvAwwgxII

— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2022

Reposting and expanding on what I wrote in the obituary thread, I've always had a tough time figuring out that guy's acting. Sometimes he could be funny, or empathetic, or menacing, other times he was weirdly somnambulant, like he'd been hypnotized. Sometimes he could be charming, sometimes frustratingly aloof, and I was never sure what was an acting choice and what wasn't. Or was just an eccentric choice, a la the impenetrable Nic Cage. Not that Hurt is at all like Cage, but there was something about him that was ... uniquely unconventional? Especially considering he wasn't some notorious method screen chewer or anything.

He splits honors with Harvey Keitel here, but this is my favourite scene of his.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdSqCQ8A3TY

Actually I do think of him like Nicolas Cage - there's been some very weird choices in his acting, as you say. But his presence was usually welcome, RIP

RIP, rapist