Some actors are just meant to play the bad guy it would seem since Clancy Brown’s demeanor, size, and just overall look seem to indicate that he’s bound to be the villain more often than not. He’s played the good guy a few times but he still comes off as pretty gruff and more of an authoritarian. Thankfully that’s where he tends to be at his best since he’s the kind of guy that looks as though you wouldn’t want to get him mad and you wouldn’t want to be on his hit list. That being the case it would seem that he’s a pretty nice guy in real life no matter what he looks like. It’s obvious he’s been typecast for a while but with some individuals it does seem as though this isn’t such a bad thing since it does play to their strengths and doesn’t try to force them into roles that just aren’t meant for them.
Here are the five best movies from his career.
5. Shoot to Kill
There was a time when Sydney Poitier and Tom Berenger were big-time actors and were known to be able to take on action movies in a big and effective way. In this movie it’s proven since the two of them take off after a killer that has fled into the mountains and seeks to elude capture by joining up with another hiking group. The movie is one of those that you might not remember all that well but it was one that managed to show just how effective Clancy is as a villain since like a lot of roles that would come after he showed that he was an imposing character that was perfect for the role he’d been given.
4. Bad Boys
It’s tough to say that young kids shouldn’t be subjected to the same horrors that adults are involved in and are responsible for when all some kids see growing up are the same things that they tend to perpetrate as adults. Clancy predictably played a big bruiser named “Viking” in this movie and he played his part well, but the star was obviously Sean Penn whose character had to learn how to gain respect without being seen as the killer type that would do anything and take down anyone that threatened his status. Of course given the fact that he accidentally killed someone, which is how he got locked up, one had to imagine that a confrontation was coming all the same.
3. Highlander
There can be only one! Highlander is one of the classic movies that is kind of hard to take seriously at this point since it’s become kind of a joke, but the first movie was absolutely great since there was a hero, a mentor, and a villain that was easily identified. Ed Power of The Telegraph would likely agree since this movie was something that presented a villain that seemed unstoppable and yet was flawed in an obvious way that allowed the Highlander to finally prove victorious. Out of all his enemies the Kurgan was no doubt one of the strongest and the most dominant, as he was just brawn and swordsmanship combined without the need for much of a back story.
2. Starship Troopers
Medic! This was one of the best lines that Clancy had in this movie as Sergeant Zim, the hard as nails but awesome drill instructor that was charged with training the next group of recruits that were to enter the war against the bugs that had torn apart so many. His training methods were a little brutal but they did get the point across, don’t act tough if you’re not and by all means don’t take training lightly or he’ll teach you the error of your ways. The knife through the hand might have been a little excessive, but then if a broken arm can be splinted and the recruit put back in training only a short time later then a hand wound shouldn’t be much worse.
1. Shawshank Redemption
Margaret Heidenry of Vanity Fair is right in calling this a favored classic but while a lot of people focus on Red and Andy you’ve got to give a good deal of credit to Clancy for his portrayal as the meanest guard on the block. One moment he’s stomping the lights out of a scared and whimpering prisoner and the next he’s about to throw Andy off the roof. Then he becomes Andy’s protector, kind of, and takes out another inmate that’s been bothering him in the worst way, so really the guy is easy to buy off one way or the other. But he did turn out to be one of the most memorable characters in the movie, so that’s something.
Some folks are just meant to be typecast as a certain character, but at least Clancy rocks it the best he can.
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