Finally Let Him In
Tom Berenger has been jogging around the track for 35-plus years. He broke into features in the mid ’70s and had a great 16-year run — Looking for Mr. Goodbar (’77), In Praise of Older Women (’78), The Dogs of War (’81), The Big Chill (’84), Platoon (’86), Someone to Watch Over Me (’87), Major League (’89), Born on the Fourth of July (’89), The Field (’90), At Play in the Fields of the Lord (’91), Sliver (’93) and Gettysburg (’93). And then he seemed to slip into B-level genre stuff, but he came back two years ago with a significant role in Chris Nolan‘s Inception.
The man is a veteran who’s paid his dues several times over and is now into his seventh decade of life on the planet…and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has only just granted him membership? I understand that you have to apply and that you need a sponsor or two. Maybe Berenger never applied, but why wouldn’t he have? He knows this town and that membership couldn’t hurt and could possibly help his career, so what kind of moron do you have to be to say “naaahh, I don’t want to join”? So if he did apply before, why would Academy gate-keepers turn him down? It just seems weird. The overwhelming majority of those recently granted membership are people who broke through within the last ten years or less.
Wait…is it because he’s politically conservative or something? I don’t know anything but that kind of thing can be a stopper.
The odd thing about Berenger is that he’s allegedly declared that his favorite feature of those he’s starred in was Gettysburg, in which he played Gen. James Longstreet. That movie has stayed in my mind for one reason only — bad beards. I would say that the beards in that film were ludicrous — they looked woven out of yak hair.
He should be been given membership to the Academy back when he was nominated for Platoon? How did he not win? Was Michael Caine really that much better? Or, did the Dafoe/Berenger vote split?
Dont you find it much stranger that Terrence Malick wasn’t invited until now?
Or Stephen King for that matter? Just the films inspired by his writing probably grossed a couple of billions.
And wasn’t it the rule until quite recently that a nominee got automatically invited?
He was also great in thre recent Hatfields Vs. McCoys mini-series.
or Ryuchi Sakamoto
If you look up the term “B-level genre crap” in the dictionary, there’s a picture of the SLIVER one-sheet next to the definition. Not Berenger’s finest hour, and it should be left out of any discussion of his “great run”…
No love for Wolfgang Petersen’s Shattered, with the ridiculously hot Greta Scacci?
Strangely, I can remember exactly which suburban Chicago second-run theatre I saw that at, and there were three different ones in the neighborhood we used to frequent.
Berenger should have been an automatic-by-the-rules member after he was nominated for “Platoon” – which he absolutely should have won for had he not come headlong into the Michael caine lifetime achievement Oscar.
He has been a nit of a hack for the past twenty years, though with several straight to video/dvd clunkers.
As was already mentioned, he was very good in the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries. He was completely unrecognizable, never would have known it was him if I hadn’t seen the credits.
I remember arguing post-Platoon that Berenger should be the choice for Burton’s Batman. Just re-watched Platoon recently, and man does he own that flick.
One does not become an automatic member of the Academy when one is nominated for an Oscar.
You can read the Academy Membership bylaws here.
I’ve always dug Nolan’s penchant for casting lesser-used, somewhat-fallen-by-the-wayside actors in even his biggest, A-list, “blockbuster” projects, giving them some exposure that they probably hadn’t gotten in many years.
Rutger Hauer in Batman Begins, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, and Michael Jai White in The Dark Knight, Roger Rees in The Prestige, Berenger in Inception, etc.
(Hell, TDK alone is a “cool supporting genre-actor” big-budget showcase/wonderland all by itself — Szarabajka, Carbonell, Danny Goldring, Hall, Roberts, White, and BILL MOTHERFUCKING FICHTNER.)
It’s great how Nolan doesn’t give a shit how “A-list” someone is when casting his movies — like Tarantino, if he’s a fan, he simply uses them for the right roles. Also, we’re now seeing TV spots for The Dark Knight Rises featuring Matthew Modine in a big, prominent role (hefting a machine-gun, etc.).
Now, all that’s left is for Nolan to somehow figure out how to use Dudikoff in his next film.
lazarus — you are correct on two counts: Shattered was very good, and Greta Scacchi was the most smoking hot actress on the planet in that Coca Cola Kid-to-The Player 85-92 period…
What’s any of this have to do with “Magic Mike”?
TOM PHOOLERY SAYS…
Who the hell is Mr. Goodbar?
Berenger was probably done by 1990. Shattered bombed and I remember thinking why does a star like him do something like this, the usual soapy noir movie that b/c-list actors end up making a career of playing. A few years after this, you see him in Sniper and think wow whatever happened to this guy?
I liked him in Training Day too.
Ah, so he just turned 63. I can deal with that. When I saw the phrase “seventh decade” I freaked out a bit that Jake Taylor was over 70…
thankyou for sharingbaju batik modern
jam tangan casio
jual jam tangan original