He seems to play the same eccentric slow spoken roles all the time, but for some reason it really worked in this film. You could easily imagine him being your company seargent and scaring the bejesus out of you from the start! It seems to me to be the best role he played.
shareI was entering the boards to discuss exactly that. I watched it again last week while going to sleep. This is definitely one of his best, if not his very best, role, but it IS Neil Simon and I think, probably didn't get as much attention as it deserved. He had such a small part in Pulp Fiction, but it was classic. And, of course, DH and AH were great roles for him.
shareVery best? Walken is amazing, his work is staggering, but this part was not good for him. I've seen this movie several times and I always think it could've been better casted. Walken did a great job, but the role would have been more powerful with a younger, meaner, louder, possibly southern man -- a real D.I. type.
shareno....
After experiencing scores of DIs throughout the 50s 60s 70s and 80s(think if Jack Webb, Full Metal Jacket, Officer and a Gentleman...) who were loud, in your face and sterotypical, here comes a guy no less brutal but almost never raises his voices, says "nice to see you".....complete antithesis....its a perfect performance...
I disagree, that's the stereotype in many films. His portrayal is more interesting imo, lso he based his demeanor on a srgt he knew.
shareNot even close. He's had many great ones, of course, but I think his best ever has to be The Dead Zone. So touching.
This movie was too stage-y and weirdly subdued even when the characters were angry. The only scene I actually believed was when Toomey was holding the gun to Eugene's head.
"It's that kind of idiocy that I empathize with." ~David Bowie
"too stage-y and weirdly subdued "
Perhaps, but it seemed to fit. Was it not originally written as a screen play? It has the same feel as Lost in Yonkers and Breighton Beach Memoirs...a stagey feel, if that's what you call it.
Maybe it's just "my kind of movie." I like Jane Austen adapations as well, so there you have it.
Not sure what you meant, trinity when you said the only scene you believed was when Toomey was holding the gun to Eugene's head. That's the only scene I didn't believe...or at least that's the only scene that didn't fit as well. Everything else held together well and "flowed."
my god its full of stars
He is great in this film, but my all-time fave for CW was "suicide kings".
shareChris's best performance? You can't be serious. If you think so, you certainly do not take him as a respectable actor, which he surely is. This performance was nice but it is NOT his best performance, no way! Go watch The Deer Hunter, At Close Range , or so many wonderful things he had done, for Chrissake!
shareGo watch The Deer Hunter, At Close Range , or so many wonderful things he had done, for Chrissake!
Biloxi Blues may not be Walken's best performances, it's certainly one of his funniest. When he first addresses his troops, he comes on really friendly: "Hi! How's it goin'? When Eugene spots him in the mess hall, he says, "It's Sgt. Toomey! He must have come in for his cup of hot blood." Ah, they don't make 'em like that anymore, etc.
share"One of his funniest". Oh I agree!! The scene in the swamp where he tells Selridge "you'd need three promotions just to get to be an ***hole" had me laughing so hard the first time I saw it. I had to stop the VCR. I was laughing so much that if I'd seen it in the theatre I probably would've missed the next five minutes of the movie because my laughter would've drowned out the dialogue.
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The Deer Hunter and At Close Range are nowhere near his best films, but he gave phenomenal performances in both.
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