Both in a film that needed a character to be a center of strength and experience, but also as an actor leading all this young talent, Reynolds was perfect in both roles. Reynolds as Jack Horner in BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997).Īs Jack Horner, Reynolds was a force. I didn’t end up seeing Deliverance or Smokey and the Bandit until years later. As a kid, he was a mustached, good-looking actor, but didn’t know his credentials from say Tom Selleck, who I mixed him up with often. I more knew him at the time by name only. Yesterday, after hearing about the death, I got past my more knee-jerk thoughts and really started to appreciate how great Reynolds was in the film. But there was another actor who loomed over the whole project. Mark Walhlberg I was aware of primarily for his rap videos on MTV and the melodramatic but still weirdly respectable teen horror film Fear. They were, to me, virtually unknown, though to more astute film-watchers at the time, they were relatively known up-and-comers. I had no idea what to expect when I watched it the first time, but it definitely wasn’t what I experienced.īoogie Nights is filled with such a great cast. I had just began exploring better films, a path that was started by Quentin Tarantino by excelled by Paul Thomas Anderson. When I first watched Boogie Nights, I was around eighteen years old. True star power often comes from an intrinsic understanding of solid and understated screen presence Burt Reynolds’ was truly an anchor worthy of any acting medium. In tone and setting it felt like an updating of The Andy Griffith Show to a young me and, like the generous Andy Griffith persona of the classic show, allowed other actors the spotlight on Burt’s own starring sitcom. With a great supporting cast including Hal Holbrook, Charles Durning, Ossie Davis, Elizabeth Ashley, Michael Jeter, and Marilu Henner, Burt’s return to the medium that gave him his start in the 1950s and 60s was mirrored in his character’s return from the world of professional football to the coaching of his former high school’s team in his Arkansas hometown of the title. He had always commanded full screen authority, but in the latter, quirky comedy-drama, where he mentors a younger thief with the wisdom and experience of hard-lived years, he brought a mature gravitas that served him well in later roles.Ī final mention should be reserved here for his equally and characteristically charming TV series Evening Shade, which I fondly remember watching during its four season run. If a star could effortlessly ride away with the fast-cruising charm of his semi-rig and top-down convertible, that film banditry came courtesy of Burt Reynolds in his cowboy-hat, long boots-wearing, and full-mustachioed prime.īesides the obvious Deliverance and The Longest Yard, I had found him most enjoyable in some of his atypical efforts like At Long Last Love, Nickelodeon (both for director Peter Bogdanovich, who showcased his talent for lighter and more sophisticated fare), and much later the marvelous late ’80s character piece from Scottish director Bill Forsyth Breaking In, where he plays an aging thief. He frequently collaborated with friend Burt Reynolds, appearing in 13 movies together, including Whorehouse, as well as Reynolds’ 1990s TV sitcom Evening Shade, which landed Durning two Emmy nominations.Reynolds and Sally Field in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977).Įarlier this year, I watched Smokey and the Bandit for the first time for a list of films made in my birth year and, despite having avoided it all the years I was alive, found it outside of Saturday Night Fever the most purely and ridiculously entertaining movie of that year. Durning was nominated for supporting-actor Oscars for the 1983 Mel Brooks comedy To Be or Not to Be and the 1982 musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He got his break with a role in the 1973 movie The Sting and was a standout in the 1982 comedy Tootsie. Durning started his acting career on stage before segueing to film and TV. According to AP, Durning died of natural causes. A former professional boxer and a decorated World War veteran who took part in the D-Day invasion at Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Bulge and was one of few survivors of the Malmedy massacre, Durning earned two Oscar and nine Emmy nominations, most recently an Emmy nom in 2008 for his last major role, a recurring part on FX’s Rescue Me as Denis Leary’s retired firefighter father. Veteran character actor Charles Durning died in his Manhattan home.
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