It’s not too hard to believe that John Goodman was a football player at Missouri State University once upon a time, he’s a big guy and was probably a valuable player. When an injury forced him out of the sport however he turned towards acting and it seems that this might have been the best thing that could have come from such an injury. A lot of people might know him best as Dan from the former Roseanne show, but Goodman has starred in a lot of different productions that have allowed him to be his usual charming and very versatile self. He’s the kind of guy that can easily be typecast as the big, bearish type that can either be very kind or somewhat cruel, but each and every character he’s played thus far in his career has been different enough that you can’t help but love the guy whether he’s good or bad.
Here are some of his best movies from his career.
5. Revenge of the Nerds
Here’s a good example of Goodman playing a bad guy that you can’t help but laugh at since he’s kind of pathetic in a way but also can be used as a way for some people to relate to what they’ve been through in their lives. As a coach the character is kind of a hit and miss personality, as he wants his team to win but he also keeps them on edge by segregating their way of thinking when it comes to jocks and nerds. This movie probably wouldn’t have been made in the same way in this day and age as it was back then, but if you really look at it the stereotypes of that era didn’t hold up all that well in the movie, just as they wouldn’t today.
4. O Brother Where Art Thou
Between this movie and Argo this one was possibly the more compelling of the two when talking about Goodman. Big Dan Teague is a deplorable sort that makes his appearance in the film in the most detestable way and doesn’t seem willing to hide the fact that he’s a snake just waiting to take Everett and Delmar’s money for himself. It’s a smart move to get the guys outside and away from anyone that might call the cops since he can beat them senseless and then just up and leave them be. But the best part about Dan is that when the boys crash the Klan meeting they leave a parting gift in the form of a fiery cross that presumably falls on Big Dan, crushing him and anyone around him. Yeah, that seems like justice in a very brutal fashion, but it works.
3. Trouble with the Curve
He doesn’t have as big a presence in this movie but it’s enough to see him as the big guy that knows his job and resents the younger individuals that are attempting to take baseball and make it into a system that is run by the statistics and nothing else. That alone makes him one of the old duffers that works primarily on instinct and is a lot more suited to the game than others that don’t rely on the knowledge of the game so much as the numbers that are crunched and spat back, determining how a player will perform based on the math and not the actual performance that’s witnessed.
2. The Big Lebowski
Walter is a psychopath, there’s just no other way to say it. He’s a good friend to the Dude but he’s also the kind of guy you don’t want to upset since he carries a pistol around with him and has a generally bad attitude towards those that upset him. In some ways he’s an interesting counterpoint to the Dude since the Dude is so laid back it’s insane, but Walter is also the guy that doesn’t always make sense considering that he tends to follow rules that others don’t really understand sometimes. Still, any friend that could possibly stand up to three men that torch your car and demand your money, one of them with a sword no less, is the kind of guy you might want in your corner.
1. King Ralph
If you’re English and watched this movie the implications might have made you feel dizzy or perhaps even made you laugh derisively since the idea that an American, who is unfortunately kind of boorish and ill-mannered as much of the world seems to think of us as, became the king of England in a very ridiculous manner. Now it’s true, a lot of Americans don’t know their own country’s history let alone that of other another country’s, but all in all King Ralph didn’t do absolutely horrible since he did manage to realize that he wasn’t really cut out for the crown and did step down with a worthy successor to name in the process.
John Goodman is simply the guy that you want to be friends with since he seems like a very friendly person. We didn’t forget about how good he was in Flight and Argo.
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