Bruce Dern is the kind of actor you look at and want to respect, but also realize is one of the most weasel-looking characters you’ve ever seen. It’s unfortunately true and it’s a big part of why his more negative characters have become a lot more memorable than others since he plays them so well. That being said he’s a great actor and has earned the accolades that have come his way throughout the years since watching his characters get their comeuppance is nothing short of justified and fun. Some might state that it’s hard to watch one of your favorite actors be thrown under the bus for a character time and time again, but as you can imagine he’s got an exceptionally thick skin just like many actors would need since he had played some of the most despicable characters in cinematic history. But on the flip side he’s also created a few characters that are also a lot of fun and down to earth in a way.
Here are are some of Bruce’s best movies from his career.
5. The Burbs
There are almost always those neighbors that just have to be up in other peoples’ business no matter if they have good cause or not, and then in some neighborhoods there’s that one neighbor that’s unaware that the war is over and can’t seem to grasp the idea that being aggressive in the suburbs is like slapping a G.I. Joe into an episode of The Simpsons. It does make for great comedy though since Dern’s character in this movie is someone you wouldn’t want to mess with since he’s a trained soldier and, despite his heightened state of paranoia, he does happen to know what he’s doing, sometimes.
4. Down Periscope
You wouldn’t expect someone that’s reached the rank of Dern’s character in this movie to really act the way he does, but then again in a movie anything goes most times since people want to see something that’s entertaining and that usually calls for a bad guy of some sort. Rob Schneider plays a snitch, not really a bad guy, so it’s easy to think that he’s kind of expendable after getting enough laughs at the expense of his character. But the antagonist that Dern plays has to have a moment of defeat in which he’s completely flabbergasted in order to really bring home the idea that he was that bad to begin with.
3. The Hateful Eight
To be honest this has to be his least active role since all he does is sit in a chair and listen to the drama unfolding around him as killers and victims alike are thrust into a single haberdashery together when the weather outside forces them to hunker and wait it out. The only problem is that the old man knows more than he’s letting on, and thanks to the secret that’s being kept he stays quiet for the most part, at least until Samuel L. Jackson’s character finds out who he is, and relays just what he did to his son well before the movie. You can’t blame the old man for wanting to shoot the man that killed his son, but it was an ill-advised move at best.
2. Nebraska
It’s hard letting go of your independence as you get older, and it’s even worse when you’re suckered into thinking you’ve won a fortune thanks to a scam letter that many of us have likely seen or heard about in our time. Woody is convinced though that he’s won a million dollars and is bound to go and get it, despite the fact that once people think he has money he suddenly becomes important to them again. Only his son, David, seems able to put up with his antics for the entire movie, and even he seems to want to be anywhere else when it comes to dealing with his father. You can’t blame him, but at the very least he tries to do right by his dad.
1. Diggstown
John Gillon is perhaps one of the most vile human beings to ever be seen on screen since he’ll do just about anything to gain and keep the influence he has over Diggstown, which is named for the famed boxer that he once managed. The trick of this however is that without Macom Diggs, Gillon would be nothing but a weasel-faced individual with a silver tongue and not much else. Gillon doped his fighter to make a humongous fortune, thereby cementing his place in the town and taking over nearly the entire place after a while as he rose to power. When Gabriel Cain and Roy Palmer come to town though Gillon is pressed for what to do when it comes to pitting his fighters and his town, as well as his reputation, against one of the most convincing con men in the business.
He’s fun to watch and he plays a character that you can’t help but hate, but he’s extremely good at it.
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