Adam Sandler. I'm sure someone must've mentioned him in this long thread. All others mentioned (McConnauheighh, Keanu, Costner et al) are bonafide Jedi Masters of acting compared to that guy.
I think Hoffman has been cast outside of his range more often. I don’t often buy him as a guy in charge or a gristled military guy. I do as a NYC actor or dad. But otherwise he’s like seeing The Fonz as a tough guy for the first time and not as a kid in the 70s. Very unbelievable.
I didn't see that one, but his performance as Sir Lancelot in First Knight is one of the most ineffectual that I can remember. He seems more or less like a modern American in funny clothes and a sword instead of a modern American firearm. It's about as mythical and magical as an episode of Hawaii Five-0.
I remember reading an interview at some point where the swordsman who had to train Gere said the actor was, to put it mildly, not a natural when it came to sword fighting, in contrast to Antonio Banderas, who apparently became quite accomplished when training for that lame Zorro film he made.
I once saw "King Solomon's Mines" (not the 1950's version) on a flight to Europe. It had Sharon Stone before she was famous and Richard Chamberlain. It was hilariously bad.
There's some good stuff about those films in the Cannon Group documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films.
Hell, the red to yellow gradient typography effect on the film title alone just screams it's a Raiders rip-off.
He was/is a SNAG - Sensitive New Age Guy. Louder than Gloria Steinem on supporting ERA in the 70s. Perceived to have audience appeal as such. Not a political statement, just a historical note. It's one of my fave films and I agree completely but...Francis was probably part of the old-line star-making system, possibly under studio contract. In the Wouk book, Willie was an equally halting, spoiled, stiff mama's boy so maybe it was lazy and/or accurate typecasting. As you say, he had a thankless task among that cast. Let's cut him a break, as he died in the crash of his small airplane about a year after the film's release. PS - what have they done to IMDB? Amazon bought it and are choking the life out of it, eliminating sections and forcing format changes on everyone. They have a smug, smarmy PR rep claiming that the user base 'demanded' the layout changes but there are many who are protesting loudly. My overrated-can't-stand-her is Julianne Moore. 'Oh, she's 50+ years old - she doesn't look it!'....'She's so petite!' Great. So she wears clothes meant for a 20 year old and looks like a Bunny Rancher. In the meantime, she's a horrid actress. Her bag of tricks totals just 2: 1) Squint and whisper to convey emotional intensity 2) Cry & laugh simultaneously to express happiness, sadness, exasperation, etc. etc. etc.
I have to agree. Many years ago I went to a small movie theater in Tryon, NC. And an old venue that sold beer and popcorn to those of us who sat in the balcony. Mostly occupied by transplanted New Yorkers who had been in the south for many years. That's night's feature was the remake of "Cape Fear." DeNiro's "Southern accent" was so bad, even to our ears, that the audience erupted into laughter when he spoke his first line. I appreciate his talent. But casting DeNiro as a Southern or a Midwesterner is sort of like casting Jim Carey as Othello.
Thank you. On the strong personality icon ones... I just hv a prejudical filter on negative reacting to their distinct vocal or etc characterstics, or similar roles or type of movies, movie to movie. That's just me. Yes, a 'newish' actor is nice too. .
You just made me think of Garth Marenghi's: Darkplace, a television show about a fictional incredibly tacky early 1980s hospital horror thriller series. General Hospital meets The Twighlight Zone? There's a slide in it that quotes the play King Lear, page 46 ("This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen".)
Coincidentally I just bought that movie on DVD. For John Candy. His voice acting of the robot with the big cone-shaped ears is hilarious!
