We’re all in lockdown - I’m watching the Bond related Knives Out and realising, I actually have a good collection of films with Christopher Plummer, and every one of them is brilliant!
So what collection have you accidentally built with an actor, writer or director, that you could count as a collection.
Not a collection as such, just some films I picked up over the years because I was for a time fascinated by the idea of Richard Burton as Bond:
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
HOTEL INTERNATIONAL
THE COMEDIANS
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD
WHERE EAGLES DARE
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Mind you, most of them I watch seldom enough. Burton was no doubt a gifted actor - but he also often enough just managed to play his parts while some production assistant was topping up his scotch with more scotch. Notably THE SPY seems to have been a major occasion for this method of ‘method acting’, at least according to John le Carré’s memoirs*.
In most of the above films Burton looks - and often acts - ten years older than he was. I think he might have been a good fit for Bond in the later books. But it’s also remarkable to me how much his act profits from Elizabeth Taylor’s performance. She is very much the star in TAMING and WHO’S AFRAID and when her part isn’t allowed that dominance, or when she’s absent, you miss this element.
*The Pigeon Tunnel, chapter 28.
What @Dustin is talking about is what I mean. Having half a dozen or so films by one person, by pure coincidence- that moment where you realise you’ve accidentally built a collection a studio would sell.
In my case;
Christopher Plummer
Chris Evans
David Fincher (I know you won’t believe that one, but it is weirdly true due to my own ignorance,)
Mine is Ian McShane…
Ransom
Villain
Sexy beast
John Wick
King Fu Panda
44 inch Chest
And a DVD of Lovejoy
I genuinely thought I was the only person who’d seen Lovejoy.
At which point I say American Gods - I say as someone who counts it as my favourite book.
McShane NAILS Mr. Wednesday
Got distracted there, McShane is brilliant by the way but I never realised how much of his work I actually have. Also going through my collection I have accidentally quite a lot of Ray Winstone accidentally also…
Sexy beast ( intentional)
The departed
Kingdom of the crystal skull
Nil by mouth
44 inch Chest ( intentional)
Last orders
And Quadrophenia
It’s such a great show! Anyone who can during lockdown watch it!
Yes, Lovejoy is great. Or, at least, until maybe the middle of Series 3. Series 4 and 5 are weak, apart from an excellent S4 episode with Jack Shepherd. It had some great characters too, particularly Tinker and Charlie Gimbert.
Which is my point - you’ve built a collection just because their work was brilliant. You only realised one person was in all these films long after you bought them.
Cillian Murphy and Pete Postlewaite would be two others I could cite for myself.
What did you think of Knives Out, Orion? I haven’t seen it yet, but I hope Rian Johnson plays fair with the mystery.
He does. He gives you clues along the way to know who did it, even when you don’t realise it…I genuinely don’t know what to say next, as someone who is enjoying 5 films in a row by Rian Johnson.
Okay, great stuff.
For me that has got to be Tom Wilkinson.
The Full Monty
Rush Hour
The Patriots
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Batman Begins
Valkryie
RocknRolla
The Green Hornet
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Also the video game Sleeping Dogs.
I seem to collect lots of Kenneth Branagh movies… and Tom Selleck has smuggled his films and shows unto my shelves as well.
Harry Dean Stanton…
Paris, Texas
Escape From New York
Alien
Repo Man
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Twin Peaks
This Must Be the Place
The Pledge
The Straight Story
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Wild At Heart
The Last Temptation of Christ
Slam Dance
The Missouri Breaks
Farewell, My Lovely
Two-Lane Blacktop
Kelly’s Heroes
Godfather II
and Cool Hand Luke
That’s just the one’s i’ve got. If i counted the one’s i’ve seen him in too… That man was prolific as well as uber talented.
Just because it’s lockdown I’ve discovered another accidental collection…
Kim Basinger
Batman
NSNA
LA Confidential
Cool World
The Nice Guys
Fool For Love
The Man Who Loved Women
Just the use of that phrase has brought me great pleasure
Also a magnificent statement.
A quick glance suggests shelves unexpectedly replete with Bill Nighy, Matt Damon and Benedict Cumberbatch, but I suspect the varied persuasions of one’s family in all of those. I appear to have an unexpected fondness for Leonardo DiCaprio and, surprised nonetheless, I make that admission most proudly.
Michael Caine - but Michael Caine up until 71…
Zulu
Alfie
Ipcress
Italian Job
Get Carter
And while it’s a humdrum Don Siegal thriller at best, I used to own The Black Windmill on VHS…
Don’t try and hide it, you have a copy of Jaws: The Revenge in there too. 