At an old and dear friends wedding a few weeks ago, the gang got together and renewed an old debate. How bad ass is Kurt Russell?
I’m not talking about how bad ass he is in real life. How cool it is he dates Goldie Hawn and that Kate Hudson is super hot. No, I’m talking about Kurt Russels body of work. Pointedly – Jack Burton and Snake Pliskin. More importantly, the role(s) that Kurt Russell should have had.
In fairness, the conversation didn’t start out this way.
It did start in a discussion about the nearly departed Patrick Swayze. Swayz (pronounced sways) was a true legend of bad ass movie roles. Most people remember that “hoping I pleased you” smile and his dancing and romantic movie roles. But Swayz played three bad ass roles in three incredibly bad-ass movies. You probably don’t need me to point them out, but for the sake of organization, here goes.
Bodhi, Point Break: Beyond iconic. You can't discount all the ways you get to make fun of Keanu but this cat was Hannibal Lechter with an adventure sports jones. Seriously, not only was he a world class surfer, he picked off a Heisman QB, jumped out of planes regularly, and had an ironic and absurdist sense of humor. He used performance art to criticize society WHILE he robbed banks! Not only did he manipulate Keanu, but he had all of LA’s surf scene, the LAPD and the FBI in the palm of his hand. Plus, he was never caught. Complete Bad Ass.
Jed, Red Dawn: The cold war got hot, and Swayz pissed it out.
It became pretty evident after a night of greyhounds and champagne that we wouldn’t be who we are as a nation, as a people, or as individuals without the Swayz.
But then, as always happens (as it should) when discussing spectacular movie stars of the 1980’s and 90’s… Kurt Russel came up.
Kurt Russell is secretly the movie bad ass by which all movie bad asses should be judged. (Forget Backdraft, Tombstone, Stargate Captain Ron, Tango and Cash... those are all icing on the cake.)
Start with Jack Burton. Sloppy, lazy, underachieving Jack Burton is a man before his time. Dude was grunge a decade before grunge was cool, and he wasn’t even trying to be cool. He was trying to get maximum pay for minimum effort. He wasn’t even a brigand with a soft heart. Han Solo rolled around with his homeboy chewie, so you knew he had some degree of sentimentality underneath that cash-driven bravado. Jack Burton drives a truck, calls things like he see’s them, and is not afraid to stack the odds completely in his favor. He’s also not ashamed to run when things get dangerous. Nor can you appeal to any sense of pride to get him to do something for you.
Now, a lot of times Jack gets by on luck (and reflexes) and a bunch of times he ends up taking a nap when the fighting really starts. But Jack Burton is a true bad ass. Jack Burton is so bad ass that he goes through an entire mystical
If you don’t believe me, revisit some of Jack Burton’s greatness.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090728/quotes
Snake Pliskin is where Russell really takes over though, showing true versatility. Many argue that Swayz is the more versatile and more accomplished bad ass. After all, Swayz led his hickory clan against the mob (next of kin), took out an entire town of goons while having crazy Dr. Sex (Roadhouse); Merely laughed at the Russo/Cubans (Red Dawn) and still managed to be a World Class surfer, only tamed by the greatest of all waves (Point Break). (And we don’t know if that’s the actual case! I maintain that Swayz probably paddled out past the wave, rocked it north a quarter of a mile, and walked to his Land Cruiser and avoided the aussie federales. It’s not like Keanu was a top notch investigator.)
However, while Swayz was a world class surfer, Pliskin was the greatest natural surfer of all time. Dude surfed the entirety of Downtown Los Angeles raw and then jumped onto a moving vehicle. That’s real (Escape from LA.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMOByadg6vk
Which leads me to the real point… Kurt Russell CLEARLY should have been Luke Skywalker.
TBC...
