criterionforum.org

bearcuborg wrote:John Heard.

Underrated actor, both on stage and screen. His best work on film may be his least seen.

hearthesilence wrote:

bearcuborg wrote:John Heard.

Underrated actor, both on stage and screen. His best work on film may be his least seen.

Agreed entirely. Terribly tragic. A great underrated actor, easily one of the best of his generation. And, on a personal note, I am dismayed that he never got the chance to do the Mindwalk sequel with Waterston and Ullmann that I always dreamed about (preserving the original I guess as that much more special).

Articles are saying John Heard played in Gladiator but I happened to watch it yesterday again, I didn't see him in it and he's not listed in it on IMDB.

Rayon Vert wrote:Articles are saying John Heard played in Gladiator but I happened to watch it yesterday again, I didn't see him in it and he's not listed in it on IMDB.

the boxing movie from 1992, not the, uh, gladiator movie from 2000

Duh. OK.

Fave Heard moment was the squash game in Big!

"Gimme the goddamn ball you little shit!"

No matter what I see him in, he's still Kevin's dad to me

Its the image of Heard obsessing over Nastassja Kinski in Paul Schrader's Cat People remake for me!

In what was most likely John Heard's last interview, he was the guest on the latest episode of Illeana Douglas’ podcast.

domino harvey wrote:No matter what I see him in, he's still Kevin's dad to me

I have to agree. I remember watching this all the time as a child. Interesting that he had more a career than the star of that film though.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:His stop on the AV Club's Random Roles just a few years ago.

This is one of the most entertaining things I've read in some time, and makes me like Heard a lot. So little ego (or, at least no shortage of honesty about his own failings) and some interesting bon mots like:

And the producer—who’s still a friend of mine—was convinced that Ivan Passer was not Ivan Passer, and that he’d actually been killed by a border guard getting out of Czechoslovakia, and the guard had taken on his identity and come to the States.

Sad to hear this news. His performance as the dogged Vietnam vet in Cutter's Way is one for the ages ( and where's the Blu-Ray Arrow?) I'd only ever seen him as the dad in Home Alone before I got round to watching the Passar film and was really surprised. That role alone should have launched him into a different league altogether, but, with hindsight, it was a film out of time. The audience had shifted and disillusionment was out! Rambo: First Blood followed a year later signalling a different approach in how to address the Vietnam experience, which was to essentially flee in the opposite direction to the harsh cynicism of the New Hollywood! If Cutter's Way had come out five or six years earlier I'd wager Heard's career could have really took off in the manner of someone like Dreyfuss or Hackman. That said, what we do have is still good. I like his part as the bartender in After Hours and he has perhaps the least flashiest, loneliest death in The Soprano's.

Mr. Deltoid wrote:Sad to hear this news. His performance as the dogged Vietnam vet in Cutter's Way is one for the ages ( and where's the Blu-Ray Arrow?) I'd only ever seen him as the dad in Home Alone before I got round to watching the Passar film and was really surprised. That role alone should have launched him into a different league altogether, but, with hindsight, it was a film out of time. The audience had shifted and disillusionment was out! Rambo: First Blood followed a year later signalling a different approach in how to address the Vietnam experience, which was to essentially flee in the opposite direction to the harsh cynicism of the New Hollywood! If Cutter's Way had come out five or six years earlier I'd wager Heard's career could have really took off in the manner of someone like Dreyfuss or Hackman. That said, what we do have is still good. I like his part as the bartender in After Hours and he has perhaps the least flashiest, loneliest death in The Soprano's.

My thoughts exactly. Heard was memorable in After Hours and The Sopranos, but to me he's a great actor just for Cutter's Way alone. Which is definitely, in many ways, a 1970-1976 film in 1981 clothes (I believe the book is set in '75 or so, though I forget if the film ever implies any year in particular).

From Daniel Stern's Twitter:

More than a little late, but I just found out that John Heard passed. He had an extensive filmography and deserved more recognition. He was great in Cutter's Way, The Sopranos, Rambling Rose. He was great in every role he played, including his lesser seen indie roles. He really nailed the philandering Hollywood producer role in My Tiny Universe.

Glad to see this much regard for Cutter's Way, which I've loved since I first saw it in '82.