Posted on 08/14/2014 9:04:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Everyone loved the Oscar-winning actor in Aladdin, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting, Awakenings, Mrs. Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society, but some other great roles have received far too little attention in the wake of his shocking death.
10. Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Williams’ only Woody Allen film is essentially a series of sketches in which Allen works out his demons. Williams is in the film for only a few minutes but he makes them count in a brilliant bit part as Mel, a film actor whose life is such a blur that he has literally gone out of focus.
9. RV (2006)
At this stage of his career, Williams was tagged, not unfairly, as an actor given to mugging in broad comedies aimed at children, but in this family-vacation laffer he is far more restrained, largely content to be the put-upon dad holding himself in check as chaos erupts around him. The movie is far funnier than critics gave it credit for.
8. Happy Feet (2006)
Williams’ performance as the genie in Aladdin was groundbreaking, but he was almost as memorable playing both the nutty rockhopper penguin Lovelace and as Ramon, the chipper best friend who helps the protagonist, Mumble, find his voice.
7. Robots (2005)
In another brilliant sidekick role, Fender the oddball robot, Williams was able to use his freewheeling improvisational style in a hilarious animated adventure stuffed with jokes from start to finish.
6. Fathers’ Day (1997)
Williams plays a suicidal poet in one of the many comedies with dark undertones that characterized his career. Billy Crystal co-stars as one of two middle-aged friends on a road trip during which they will discover which of them is the father of a teen whose mom they both dated. The movie, seen as a failed attempt at commercial comedy, has moments of poignance and soul.
5. The Survivors (1983)
Williams teamed with Walter Matthau for what appeared to be a routine pairing of a curmudgeon and a manchild, but in fact this Michael Ritchie film was an early sign that Williams was attracted to dark satire. His character becomes an on-the-spot hero by showing unexpected resolve during a restaurant robbery but then turns into a paranoid survivalist freak who moves to a training camp in the woods. Williams manages to keep hold of the character’s winning childlike simplicity even as he becomes a dangerous crackpot.
4. World’s Greatest Dad (2009)
Doomed by its bland title and (perhaps) unfairly dismissed by its pedigree as the brainchild of writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait, who wore out his welcome as an annoying standup, this ultra-black comedy could only have received its full due if it had come from, say, the Coen Brothers. Williams plays a frustrated English teacher (a sort of parody of his Dead Poets Society hero) whose dim-witted son dies in an auto-erotic-asphyxiation accident. The dad makes his son a post-mortem hero by faking the boy’s journals and making him seem like a beautiful, sensitive soul who was taken from us far too early. The circumstances of Williams’ own death have blanketed this film in an extra layer of bleakness, though.
3. One Hour Photo (2002)
Williams is mesmerizing as a creepy photo developer who works in a discount store. He becomes obsessed with one happy family’s pictures and insinuates himself into their lives in an attempt to sow heartbreak and fear. The film was a modest hit at the time but has become neglected over the years.
2. Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
Highly acclaimed at the time — just a couple of years after Williams shed his Mork persona — this Paul Mazursky film quickly became dated, and is now all but forgotten. Williams plays a visiting Russian saxophone player who defects to America in the middle of Bloomingdale’s. Few films of the era were as forthright about the daily deprivations of life in the freedom-strangling USSR, and though the New York City his character becomes attached to was then near its nadir, through the eyes of Williams’ Vladimir we can see the exhilaration of a society where possibility is unlimited.
1. Insomnia (2002)
Al Pacino plays a detective sent from the mainland to investigate a crime linked to a mysterious thriller writer played by Williams in a bone-chilling performance. Williams was never more restrained, clinical or terrifying. This magnificent role would made any actor proud, but for Williams it was the capstone of his transformation from the amiably sharp-witted standup he was at the start of his career.
My kids LOVE World’s Greatest Dad which is ironic because the scene where he discovered his dead son hung always made them cry. He had to dig deep to play that so convincingly and yet took the chance of his own family going through that.
I still remember “Moscow on the Hudson” and very fondly. As a compare/contrast between the late-era Soviet Union and chaotic NYC it does allow Robin Williams to be much less frenetic and more nuanced from his “Mork & Mindy” character. Particularly haunting to me is the eloquent sad face he displayed in his homesickness that I have seen again in so many of his more recent photos.
I pray that the generous God will forgive this tortured soul.
One of his best performances ever, but I think the fact that it’s a Gilliam film, and most people don’t “get” Gilliam makes it get less recognition than it should. Still, brilliant director, brilliant script, and brilliant performance from Williams on that one.
RV was just horrible.
My favorite Williams scene was in “Good Morning Vietnam”
He had just quit as the DJ, and was driving and came across some troops, obviously on their way to a fight, and they stopped him, and begged him to do his schtick, which he does...but at the end, he knows where they are going and tells them very poignantly “be careful up there”.
That showed how great he was at going from playing that wacky persona to becoming incredibly poignant. Nobody could pull that off quite like Robin could.
Despite his many, many flaws, I shall miss him.
I wasn't a huge fan of his "serious" roles.I mentioned "Awakenings" because it was an outstanding film in which he was OK.To me he was a comedian...and at his best he was an outstanding one.He appeared in several good "serious" films,films which stood out for reasons other than his performance.
But I haven't seen "One Hour Photo".Who knows...perhaps I'd like it.
Robin William’s death has brought upon much more sadness to this country than the fact that all the sacrifices that US soldiers have made is now a waste and millions of innocents are persecuted.
It’s tough to say anything connected to him is not getting as much attention as it deserves.
“What Dreams May Come” is missing on this. That was one of the most underrated of all. Probably because of the religious undertones.
Same here.But mine was "what's the difference between the Army and the Cub Scouts? Cub Scouts don't have heavy artillery".
I have no alimony payments so maybe I am unclear as to the extent of that burden but it is harder to imagine someone like RW under such financial pressures.
Many other films had RW in various roles but he does not appear in the credits. Dead Again was very good - RW is a ex-therapist working as a store clerk advising Kenneth Branaugh in his realization that he is a reincarnated person - very good flick.
“What does three up and three down mean to you, Airman?”
“End of an inning?”
+++
(And you will cry your eyes out.)
A lot of soldiers are saddened because despite his political leanings, Williams always supported the troops.
I recommend 1 Hour Photo highly. Very underrated film. I wish there was a dvd release of the versionthey released for the Sundance Film Festival as it was a much better version than the version they released in theaters. The guy Romanek reedited the film in a dumbed down way for the theaters. They also cut out a great opening narration from Robin Williams explaning the red eye effect that really set the tone pf the mmovie. Also you dont know he gets arrested until the end of the movie not like the theatrical version where he gets arrested right at the beginning of the film, so there is no suspense with the final version.Also a much better soundtrack in the original version.
Take a chance, its very good.
I was never a huge fan of Robin Williams and liked him in a few roles. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of laughter he gave to the world and am not knocking that in the least.
Just overall I wasn’t a huge fan of his style of humor. But then again a lot of very popular comedians are not my style of humor.
I admired William’s contribution to the USO and his other charitable works, too.
If anyone knows of a source to get the roughcut version of 1 Hour Photo please post here. I saw it on the internet back then probably a torrent . Ifile. I lost the version i had years ago on one of my computers hard drives and it got lost in the shuffle.
The scene with the...certain-shaped cookies is hysterical. But it would probably give many around here the vapors.
“I have no alimony payments so maybe I am unclear as to the extent of that burden but it is harder to imagine someone like RW under such financial pressures.”
Well, he had multiple divorces, and rich people tend to get hit very hard when it comes to alimony. The alimony is generally set at a level to keep the other partner in a similar lifestyle to whatever they were in at the time of the divorce, and that usually doesn’t change if the alimony payer’s income drops off.
Of course, he also had kept a multimillion dollar estate and had a well known drug problem, so those could have contributed more than the alimony payments to his situation, who knows?
Aye.
The really sad thing is that apparently he was feeling down because of having to do roles he didn't really want to — I wonder if somebody in his life had said something along the lines of Hey, the troops love you, and it's obvious you love them too, so why don't you finish this stupid crap up and do a couple USO tours where you'll really be appreciated
if it would have been enough.
Sometimes it's that simple to give somebody a little hope.
I enjoyed that movie, and I remember my amazement at how much body hair Robin Williams had. He was half gorilla.
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