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RIP Brian Dennehy: Big Guy, Crooked Sheriff, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Bartender...and more

posted 5 years ago by ecarle (14979)
6 replies | jump to latest

Brian Dennehy passed this week at age 81. His family made a point of noting that he did NOT die from COVID-19.

For a number of years in the 80's and 90's, Brian Dennehy was my pick for the "big guy" in movies.

It seems like the movies have almost always had a "big guy" who doesn't fully reach leading man hood, but maintains a certain character star power based on the fact that he(and its always a he) IS a big guy.

Victor McLaglen (the Big Guy of the 3 in Gunga Din, memorably fought John Wayne in The Quiet Man)
Ward Bond(the Big Guy who seconded John Wayne as his pal or gentle conflict in a film or two)
Ernest Borgnine (shorter than most "big guys" but stocky and formidable, whether bad guy in From Here to Eternity or good bad guy in The Wild Bunch. I don't count his nice guy in Marty.)
Richard Boone(a very articulate, thoughtful big guy, but a big guy nonetheless.)
George Kennedy(Big and thuggish sans wig in Charade and Mirage; converts to good guy in Cool Hand Luke, alternates thereafter.)

Looking at that list above, its interesting that four of them played against John Wayne -- with Boone and Kennedy as villains in two of Wayne's final Westerns in the 70's. It was said that a number of big guys got their work in Hollywood starting out as Wayne's foes -- he needed guys as big as he was to beat up. (Or to verbally joust with -- I don't recall Wayne fighting Boone on screen.)

The RIPs say that Brian Dennehy started in movies and TV in 1977; so he just missed getting to play against John Wayne as a baddie.

But my favorite role of Dennehy's WAS as a baddie in a Western . Its Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado, my favorite movie of 1985, an attempt to return to the more "innocent" Westerns of the 50s and 60's but with an 80's Indiana Jones flair(Kasdan had written one of those, plus some Star Wars films.) The film purposely eschewed the slo-mo gore of Peckinpah and the weird over-slow operatics of Leone to tell its tale crisply, and with a big cast.

There was a bit of a problem with that cast. The Magnificent Four who centered the tale were played largely by low wattage star actors: Kevin Kline(great nonetheless, deadpan, intelligent and pensive), Scott Glenn(late of Urban Cowboy and The Right Stuff; kinda dull); Danny Glover(hot from The Color Purple and Witness the same year, but not a veteran star); and a new young kid named Kevin Costner(low-billed, he became the biggest star).

In the tradition of The Magnificent Seven where Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen were the buddy leads among the 7, or The Professionals, were Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin were the buddy leads among the 4 -- in Silverado, its Kline and Glenn who are meant to be the star pair...and it never really works. Because Scott Glenn(looking rather like a pallid Carradine brother) never projects stardom. Kline has to carry the load.

And yet: in Kline's scenes where he shares the screen(and the frame) with Brian Dennehy -- THERE's your star pair. The story will force the two characters to take opposite sides, but together before then as wary friends -- Kline and Dennehy are the two stars of Silverado.

One critic wrote that Brian Dennehy in Silverado "looks like a buffalo standing up on two legs," and its true -- and probably on purpose. Dennehy wears a big fur coat, a big beard, big hair -- he's bigger than a bear in this, and very flamboyant and flashy, with a big 100-watt grin that makes you want to like him even as he has to "turn evil" to force a showdown with Kline and company.

That same year -- 1985 -- a clean shaven Dennehy played a mysterious big guy in Florida in Cocoon . Like Richard Boone before him, Dennehy played his bad guy in Silverado like a good guy; and his good guy in Cocoon like a bad guy -- he's mysterious and menacing and you're not quite sure if he's dangerous(he's an alien. From outer space.

So taken was I by Brian Dennehy in his 1985 films that one summer later -- 1986 - I was very disappointed by how he was used in the courtroom romantic comedy thriller "Legal Eagles," with Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hannah in a triangle. Because of the "star package," Dennehy barely shows up in the film (as a mysterious NYC cop) and is barely used. It seemed a spectacular waste of his newfound character stardom to me. CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Within a year, Dennnhy had a couple of "co leads" that were good for him, In "FX," he was the good cop following wrong man Bryan Brown(an untraditionally handsome Aussie star for a few years) in a movie with the gimmick of Brown's being a movie effects wizard. In "Best Seller" the huge and laid back Dennehy was paired with the thin hair-trigger James Woods...and it was a great pairing(I remember that, but I remember nothing about the plot except for a briefly horrific murder committed by Woods with a knife to the throat of a victim...caught in the four photos-on-a-string that emit from the photo booth in which the victim is killed!)

I skimmed Dennehy's IMDb filmography and -- My God -- he was in scores of TV productions(mainly) and movies, and cable movies for DECADES past that Silverado 1985. 90% of them -- I never saw. My Brian Dennehy fandom is pretty much based on his 80s/early 90's output alone.

He was good, for instance, as prosecutor Harrison Ford's bulky DA boss in 1990's Presumed Innocent; its a shock to both men when they realize that they've both been seduced separately by the same femme fatale "for business reasons." And I have a friend in the auto parts business who dearly loves the Chris Farley comedy "Tommy Boy" and Dennehy's turn as the big father of big Chris who has bought himself a beautiful wife "because I wanted to buy myself a toy."(Dennehy is a rich auto parts king -- hence my friend's love of that movie.)

I was surprised to see that Dennehy did a "Miami Vice" TV episode around the time he was hottest in movies(1987) but then Miami Vice was a hot, movie-ish series.

I can say that I took note of Dennehy's bulk and great smile when he played the Mexican resort bartender who counselled Dudley Moore in 10 (1979) and that I was suitably repulsed by Dennehy's "debut"(?) in 1977's Semi-Tough, playing a big NFL linebacker with a goon's face, an idiot's IQ and an ape-like mistreatment of women. Ick -- he was good as a terrible person. CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

RIP articles remind us that Dennehy, particularly in his later years, was a major Broadway star, principally in one of those revivals of Death of a Salesman that seem to turn up every 10 years. I always have extra respect for movie/TV people who can work the stage -- all that memorization, every night.

Evidently, Dennehy played psycho John Wayne Gacy in a TV film. I'm glad i missed THAT one. I want to remember Dennehy differently than that. (Hey, there's the "Psycho" connection, kinda.)

And this: evidently before he turned to acting, Dennehy was a New York stockbroker who worked with Martha Stewart. One day, I guess, Dennehy realized his big guy bulk and winning/menacing smile was worth getting into acting over. He was right.

And this: though Dennehy saw service as a Marine, I guess for a few years there he told the public he served in Vietnam. He didn't He apologized. OK. Still...a blight on his character that I did not know about until this week with the obits.

Oh, well, Dennehy, like other actors(Mel Gibson?) like other people (us?) didn't have a perfect life. He made his impact in other ways, and seems to have been loved by friends and family.

Me...I'll probably remember him most warmly for Silverado(above all); for the good cop in FX(unbuttoning his shirt to open his tie; I could relate); and for the advising bartender in "10"(I've known a few of THOSE guys.)

RIP, Brian Dennehy. You filled the Big Guy role well.

PS. Do we have a big guy today? I can't think of one. For about 10 years there, we had James Gandolfini, but we lost him.

[–] MichaelJPollock (731) 5 years ago

"Do we have a big guy today?"

***
I guess The Rock and Dave Bautista.
And yes, I'd agree they're not in the same league as any of the 'Big Guys' you mentioned...

By the way, loved Borgnine's Big (Mean) Guy turn in Aldrich's 'Emperor of the North', and Kennedy's in Cimino's 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot'.

"I was surprised to see that Dennehy did a "Miami Vice" TV episode around the time he was hottest in movies(1987) but then Miami Vice was a hot, movie-ish series."

***

Maybe because he'd already played the heavy in Mann's first feature film 'The Jericho Mile' in '79.
Mann tends to reuse actors that have worked with him in the past a lot, even if only in the series or films he's just producing (e.g. Dustin Hoffman in 'Straight Time' and 'Luck'...).

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

"Do we have a big guy today?"

***
I guess The Rock and Dave Bautista.
And yes, I'd agree they're not in the same league as any of the 'Big Guys' you mentioned...

--

Well, they are both certainly big guys. The Rock has zoomed right on up to "top superstar status"(though it seems a bit wobbly -- he doesn't make very good movies and he depends on the international market.) Bautista has more of a character star thing going -- he has great "menace charisma" but -- I don't suppose that either of these guys could play "regular guy" big guy roles. They've both played cops, ala Dennehy in FX...but they are "supercops."

Perhaps the whole "big guy" idea has been exploded in the age of Schwarzenegger(body builder) and The Rock et al(a wrestler - and John Cena has achieved some stardom, too, as well as Bautista.) Big guys can be stars -- but have no real range to play characters. (Like Brian Dennehy did.)

Speaking of Schwarzenegger, I recall thinking how lucky it was he came around in the 80's. Had it been the 50's or 60's, he would have been relegated to "Hercules" movies(and he DID play Hercules early on) and maybe being "the strongman" in a caper movie. But not the star. In the 80's, he could be a star -- and the wrestlers followed.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

By the way, loved Borgnine's Big (Mean) Guy turn in Aldrich's 'Emperor of the North',

--

There's a movie wouldn't be made today -- a movie about a middle-aged hobo(to put it nicely) figthing a middle-aged railroad conductor . Lee Marvin(versus Borgnine) wasn't really a "big guy" -- just a tough guy. And an action star of more rugged and real stripe.

Around 1970, Borgnine appeared in a caper movie called "The Split" and played a gym owner who is the "muscle" of the gang. He played it believeably -- middle-aged, bulky -- but dangerous.

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and Kennedy's in Cimino's 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot'.

--

That was an interesting role. As "Red," (and in a red haired wig) Kennedy starts as a menace to star Cilnt Eastwood -- then joins his gang as a "colleague", then becomes comic relief, a buffoon -- but proves murderous and brutal at the climax, beating one sympathetic character to death(delayed over several days of suffering). That was definitely a "big guy" role. Eastwood used Kennedy again the next year in "Eiger Sanction."

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[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

"I was surprised to see that Dennehy did a "Miami Vice" TV episode around the time he was hottest in movies(1987) but then Miami Vice was a hot, movie-ish series."

***

Maybe because he'd already played the heavy in Mann's first feature film 'The Jericho Mile' in '79.
Mann tends to reuse actors that have worked with him in the past a lot, even if only in the series or films he's just producing (e.g. Dustin Hoffman in 'Straight Time' and 'Luck'...

--

I didn't know any of that -- and I haven't seen The Jericho Mile(though I've seen Mann's other stuff.) As I note up top, it turns out that I didn't see 90% of the work that Dennehy did. But I saw maybe 10 of his films -- enough to recognize him, and to like him.

Its that way with a lot of stars for me. Particularly the old time ones. I've probably only seen about 25% of the movies made by Cary Grant, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy -- but I love them on the basis of their films I DID see.