MovieChat Forums > Footloose (1984) Discussion > John Lithgow is Terrifying!

John Lithgow is Terrifying!

posted 17 years ago by toothfairy8505
29 replies | jump to latest

I grew up in Payson, UT where the majority of this movie was filmed and John Lithgow scared the hell out of me. I was young and couldn't separate fiction from reality, so I thought he was a real guy who lived in my town. After I grew up a little and realized he was an actor, I was still crapping my pants when I would see him in something. (Um, "Cliffhanger"? yeah...) It wasn't until I started watching "3rd Rock From The Sun" that I finally calmed down and decided that he wasn't really a psycho preacher that I might run into while grocery shopping.

Why would anyone want to kill the cook? Dinner wasn't that bad.

[–] Useless_Chick_23 17 years ago

LOL! Awww, you poor thing!

"FRA-GEE-LAY. That's Italian!"
"I think that says 'fragile', honey."

[–] PiercedDiva 17 years ago

He was more less power tripped not terrifying if you want a scary preacher watch poltergeist 2 and 3

I carved your name on a bullet so you would be the last thing going through my head

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 17 years ago

I didn't find him scary except at the very beginning. He was actually a fairly likeable character. The other townspeople though... that's another story.

There may be honor among thieves, but there's NONE in politicians!

[–] Useless_Chick_23 17 years ago

Paraphrasing but:

SHOCKED WIFE: "Slaughterhouse Five! Can you believe that title?"
REN: "Oh, yeah. It's a great book. It's a classic."
HER HUSBAND: "Do you read much? Tom Sawyer's a classic."
WIFE: "Maybe in another town it's a classic."
REN: "In any town."

"FRA-GEE-LAY. That's Italian!"
"I think that says 'fragile', honey."

[–] SweetasCandyKLM 16 years ago

The book burning scene reminded me of, The Lottery. Mob mentality, scary.

[–] ceebeegee 14 years ago

"if you want a scary preacher watch poltergeist 2 and 3 "

Nightmares for DAYS. Absolutely terrifying.

[–] jefgg 13 years ago

Why do scary preachers in movies and on tv always seem to have hot daughters?

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 10 years ago

"if you want a scary preacher watch poltergeist 2 and 3 "

Nightmares for DAYS. Absolutely terrifying.

^^This. I actually thought Lithgow's character was a pretty likable guy in the film.

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

[–] Livana_Faolan 10 years ago

He is, and I do find him sympathetic. He's just very heartbroken and very misguided. I mean, what person - in their right mind - would think that banning music and dancing would prevent kids from having sex, drinking, etc.? If anything, it's going to increase the odds that they're going to rebel. For crying out loud! I grew up listening to music and going to dances ... although I very rarely danced. I'm still a virgin. Also, I didn't take my first sip of alcohol until I was 18-years-old, during my senior trip. And even then, I didn't get drunk. Music and dancing had nothing to do with my decision, either. I was just bored, and I wanted to know what the big deal was. I haven't touched another drop of alcohol since, because I'm simply not interested in it.

[–] Synetech 17 years ago

He was pretty creepy in Ricochet as well. Apparently he is quite good at playing the serious, cold, sociopathic type.

--
Synetech

[–] sonofbeach-sheet 17 years ago

Actually I was glad to see he was a pretty complex character in this movie. Many preachers when they're behind the pulpit try to frighten their congregations into "living right", then when they step down, they're perfectly nice people. It appeared in the movie the kids thought he took away all their fun, but all the parents and elderly folks sure looked up to him.

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 17 years ago

The Reverend is not really a bad guy. As I said above, it's the townspeople who are the jerks.

There may be honor among thieves, but there's NONE in politicians!

[–] BethH24 16 years ago

John Lithgow is great at playing insane characters !.Have you seen him as " B.Z " in Santa claus:the movie " aswell ?

[–] Livana_Faolan 12 years ago

I agree. Even though I think he took it to an extreme, I could see that what he was doing came from a good place.

[–] ceebeegee 14 years ago

Agreed, I actually think he's fairly sympathetic. It sucks that he's so high-handed about "knowing" what's best (or trying to appear so) but he also truly does believe that IS what's best. And of course he's still grieving for his osn.

[–] Clemencedane 12 years ago

Seriously, do yourself a favor and rent Blow Out. Lithgow will scare the crap out of you. Also it's a pretty good movie, too.

[–] Synetech 12 years ago

I saw that last year and it was pretty good. I don’t recall Lithgow in it, but I’m sure he was good because the whole movie had a foreboding tone to it.

[–] Clemencedane 12 years ago

For anyone else who might read this who hasn't seen Blow Out I'll use spoiler font. Lithgow was the psycho killer in Blow Out who was murdering all the women. The scariest one to me was when he hid in a women's bathroom and waiting for this woman to go into the stall next to him. When her back was to him he leaned waaaay down into her stall (he was tall enough) and slipped this wire garotte around her neck and in one motion pulled her up by the neck and strangled her with the wire. I'll never forget that scene.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] kwalstedt-1 12 years ago

I agree. It was a beautifully nuanced and modulated performance.

[–] TMC-4 (20491) a year ago

John Lithgow also played a really scary bad guy in Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone. If you're first big exposure to John Lightow was of him playing a goofy alien on Third Rock from the Sun, it has to be a major shell-shock to see him in stuff like Cliffhanger or Ricochet.

[–] TurnerJazz 16 years ago

Yeah, after rewatching this I realize he was actually much less one dimensional and much more likable than I realized when I was a kid.

- "Someone is hitting my soul in the crotch with a frozen sledgehammer." Michael Scott

[–] Squeeth2 13 years ago

I thought he copied Hitler's body-language for the preaching scenes. ;O)

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

[–] Clemencedane 12 years ago

That's really funny. How old were you when you thought he actually lived there?

[–] PsychoDingo 12 years ago

he's one of the great actors of our time...excellent job by him in this movie

Who cares about stairs? The main thing is ice cream.

[–] cfruge444 10 years ago

For playing the villain in Santa Clause The Movie, he was still slap-dab nuts, though.

[–] psmithyyyyy 8 years ago

Lithgow is one of the greats, he can be very sympathetic, funny and likeable, or he can be a real creepy psycho. very talented.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pepetoony (1780) 2 years ago

I was trying to figure out who the hell would want to attend his church service? To get yelled at? Yea, no thank you. I LOL'd when his wife said at one point that his sermons lift people up. Sure, Jan!