@12: it's Reeve. George Reeves played The Big Blue Schoolboy in a bunch of really shitty serials in the 40s and 50s. While the serials themselves are terrible, Reeves was good. And it was the perfect role for him. Biggest thing he did without the S was as Burt Lancaster's BFF in From Here to Eternity. He wound up killing himself (most likely, the George Reeves conspiracies aren't all completely nuts). So that's how you remember Christopher (paralyzed) Reeve--who toughed out ten years as a C-2 Incomplete Vent-Dependent quadriplegic no-S. George Reeves--who failed to meet the standards of the Hollywood Dream and (probably) did for himself with a Walther PPK--S for suicide.
@14 I saw the original theatrical release, which was quashed after two days and sent back for re-chopping. I thought it was awesome, but I'm weird. It didn't just stand the Hollywood western on its head, it slaughtered it in cold blood. It was a grand, historical fiction with the gritty underbelly of a Dickensian landscape. The audience didn't like that one bit. While Walken was clearly a protagonist, the emotional center of that film wasn't in any of the characters, but in the politics and agrarian rivalries of that world.
I don't know if you could say he was the emotional center of Scotland P.A. but he was definitely the moral center of that film, him being McDuff and all.
Christopher Walken is the emotional center of another new release, Seven Psychopaths. After so many years of playing a caricature of himself, it is great to see Walken really acting again.
Just a thought but I'd fucking love to see Walken do a movie with Alan Arkin. Like a way past their prime buddy cop movie. Or as rival lotharios of a retirement community. Or just walking around New York getting into old dude shenanigans while grousing at each other and everything else.
@23 no, the worst movie ever made was Dead Zone in which Walken was the emotional center, even if I don't know what the hell y'all mean by Emotional Center.
At this point, I'd go see just about anything with Walken in it. Philip Seymour Hoffman too. It was a joy to watch just the trailer for A Late Quartet. I can't wait to see this movie.
Came here to mention Scotland PA, which nobody I ever mention it to has seen, but knobtheunicorn beat me to it. "Emotional center" is kind of a squishy concept, especially when it comes to Shakespeare and his interpreters, but the movie is worth noting for his performance alone.
@29 You have your wish. Stand-up guys stars Walken, Alan Arkin and Al Pacino (and is pretty damn good.) Sounds like it'll get wide release in January. (I saw it at a film festival last weekend.)
I, apparently, am on a wishes granted streak this week. Thanks for the heads up @35, I just watched the trailer and that looks pretty fucking good. I will expect to weep manly, man tears.
In my opinion, he was the emotional center in King of New York too.
Whoopsy-doobie!!
"Never Mind." :-)