'Boys! Avenge me!'
Wow. I know we all get old, but Harry Dean Stanton is making an art form out of it. (In all fairness, he's 80 years old.) Stanton attended the May 10 premiere of his new movie "The Wendell Baker Story" in Los Angeles. The buzz on the film, which stars Luke and Owen Wilson, is phenomenal -- with a lot of critics specifically praising Stanton's performance.
That should be no surprise to long-time fans. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger once said "no movie featuring Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." (Though he appropriately reconsidered his theorem after 1989's "Dream a Little Dream.")
But if I must pick his five best? (Oh, I must.)
TOP 5 HARRY DEAN STANTON FLICKS FROM THE '80s:
5. Pretty in Pink (1986): "Just because you love someone, it doesn't mean they're gonna love you back."
4. Red Dawn (1984): "Boys! Avenge me! Aveeeeenge me!"
3. Young Doctors in Love (1982): "There are over twenty bodily fluids present in the human body and I am proud to say I have tasted all of them."
2. Escape from New York (1981): "They're savages, Mr. President."
1. Repo Man (1984): "Credit is a sacred trust, it's what our free society is founded on. Do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia?"
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THIS WEEK'S SHOW: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rock Tampa Bay. To hear the latest "Stuck in the 80s" episode now, 
Wow, in the 80's I would have never thought that Harry Dean Stanton could have gotten any more gnarly looking, but he sure seems to have achieved it today. (And the cig hanging out of the mouth is a required touch for HDS.)
A friend and I had a similar statement about character actors in movies, but ours was that any movie with HDS or Dick Miller (schlock movie Roger mainstay, he appeared in many if not most of John Landis' movies in the 80's) was worth seeing, no matter who else was in it.
Sherrie
Posted by: Sherrie | May 18, 2007 at 02:05 PM
Arg, I should try proofreading before I hit enter! I meant to say that Dick Miller was a mainstay in schlock movie director Roger Corman's movies....
And by the way, Repo Man completely rocks.
Sherrie
Posted by: Sherrie | May 18, 2007 at 02:13 PM
Dick Miller totally rocks! He was in the original Littloe Shop of Horrors (1962) and scads of other things including my favorite John Goodman movie Matinee (was it Landis or Dante who directed that one? I always confuse them!)
HDS is king champion of character actors though. The picture above is kinda sad though. He looks so skeletal.
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | May 18, 2007 at 05:17 PM
Another great character actor is Lance Heinrickson. Harry Dean Stanton also played the apostle Paul in the Last Temptation Of Christ.
Posted by: bassnote | May 19, 2007 at 01:43 AM
For the life of me, I don't understand why more sports teams don't use that "Avenge me!" scene from Red Dawn on Jumbotrons to whip the fans into a frenzy. I know it would have that effect on me.
Posted by: Johnny B. Goode | May 19, 2007 at 04:11 PM
Alien: "Right"
Posted by: Former Producer Dave | May 19, 2007 at 11:44 PM
Again with the "Pretty in Pink". I agree Stanton was good in it, but on principle you should replace it with "Cool Hand Luke", because Harry plays guitar and sings "Cotton Fields"
How much do I hate PiP? Consider the image of Kirk marooned on the asteroid, screaming "DUCKIE!"
Posted by: Walter Cox | May 21, 2007 at 08:19 AM