Harvey Keitel!!!
Wow, how about the role Harvey Keitel played here as nutjob Ben. Ben just chewed up the scenery in his scenes with Alice.
Anyone else agree??
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MovieChat Forums > Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975) Discussion > Harvey Keitel!!!
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Yep, he was very convincing and totally menacing. BAD LIEUTENANT is a must-see film for anyone who likes Harvey Keitel.
I don't mean to impose, but I am the Ocean.
It was a very powerful performance indeed. In the commentary Scorsese said the whole set was very quiet and disturbed after that.
Bear in mind that it was only acting.
Some of it was improvised too - like the bit about the scorpion.
From the look on Ellen Burstyn you can tell she wasn't acting - more like reacting.
Ellen Burstyn wanted to portray the trials and tribulations of single motherhood in her times. Paramount performances like this made this film the success is became. Ironically, she declined the role as an executive director as she didn't want such authority. It sounded like she had no regrets about this either.
Total nutjob that Harvey Keitel, even in real life. Just ask his ex-wife Lorraine Bracco.
He was probably coked out of his head for that spaz-out scene. There was a ton of cocaine going around Scorsese's movie sets in those days. Literally sugar-bowls full of coke for the whole crew according to that book 'Raging Bulls and Easy Riders."