Christopher Plummer’s 10 Best Movie Performances

Because Christopher Plummer was, famous, the star of The sound of music (a movie he hated), and by the end of his career winning Oscars and headlining blockbusters, the idea developed that his career was just a straight line pointing to more and more fame and success. But that’s not what happened. Plummer ran away from his character by The sound of music, and, for a few decades, this escape from what he was best known for cost him: in the 80s, he mainly did work on stage (much appreciated), TV films and sometimes dubbing. He seemed pleased with that, but it should be noted that your average movie buff knew him as Captain von Trapp… and that was it.

That changed in the ’90s, when he was in his sixties, as he became more grizzled and aged. The directors he’s worked with this decade are a Who’s Who of top-notch talent: Spike Lee, Mike Nichols, Terry Gilliam and, most notably, Michael Mann, who put on one of Plummer’s best performances, in The initiate. (Although it didn’t end with an Oscar nomination.)

Plummer’s work over the past decades, including his Oscar-winning performance in Mike Mills Beginners, polished his reputation and helped him become the revered actor we think of him today. It sometimes feels like we’ve honored it forever, but only recently have we started to appreciate the greatness that has always been there.

Plummer was almost 30, with half a decade of Tony nominated performances on Broadway and Serious Shakespearean Work already under his belt, when he finally managed to make his film debut. It was also a doozy, playing a playwright who bonded with a bigwig Broadway producer (Henry Fonda) and an ingenuous (Susan Strasberg, daughter of Lee Strasberg, who was created to be the next big thing though. ..was not) looking for her big break but she can get it. Sidney Lumet (who followed his first hit, 12 angry men) chose Plummer for his good faith on Broadway, but it was natural for the movies: Even so early on, something about him shone and outclassed his much more advertised co-stars. (Available for purchase on Amazon.)

It’s always funny when an actor who is part of a beloved classic is openly hostile to that classic. (Part of what makes the original Star wars trilogy, such a kick thinks about how Harrison Ford never thought much about Han Solo and all the absurdity of space opera.) Enter Plummer, who has spent decades telling people that The sound of music is bad. “This sentimental stuff is the hardest part for me to play, mostly because I’m vocally and physically trained for Shakespeare,” he said in 1982. “To do an ugly part like von Trapp, you have to use all the stuff you have. know to fill the empty hulk of the role. “But although Plummer has come to film in recent years, the Best Picture winner remains, well, not a great art but an enduring favorite. And part of that has to do with his serious portrayal of the captain, a noble wand who falls in love with the melodious Maria (Julie Andrews). The regal attitude he brought to the sentimental stuff is what makes it so moving – he elevates the proceedings by the strength of his commitment . The sound of music was far from his best work, but his decency was what made viewers swoon for von Trapp for generations. (Available to watch on Disney +.)

Who do you play to play Rudyard Kipling, the famous spiritual writer, among other things, of a story about two adventurers looking for treasure in a foreign land – only to find they are over their heads? In John Huston’s dandy adaptation of The man who wanted to be king, the author becomes a character in the film, and Plummer turns out to be a pretty formidable Kipling, suggesting human intelligence and sophistication in just a few scenes. (After all, the film is owned by Sean Connery and Michael Caine as scheming former soldiers.) It’s all about Plummer in character-actor mode, supporting the stars of the film while bringing enough personality and gravity that, when Kipling finally learns the horrible truth of what happened to them in Kafiristan, his silent and shocked gaze is revealed to be Kingcrowning moment. (Available to watch on HBO Max.)

Hey, Gen X kids: Remember when that TV miniseries made your mom cry for about a week? The ten hour miniseries about an Irish priest (Richard Chamberlain) and his tragic doomed love affair with a woman (Rachel Ward) he has known since she was a child is, uh, kinda disgusting today than it was in 1983, but at the time it was the second highest rated miniseries in television history, behind Roots. Plummer had done a lot of good work in his career, but when it came out his role as a mentor and friend of the priest (but also a man with his own priorities and ambitions) was without a doubt the most important thing he has done since. The sound of music. He’s formidable in it, heavy enough to raise the stakes but with enough of a snap that lets you know not to take anything as well seriously. It could have been an underrated pivot point for Plummer: he seems to be having fun and the Italian accent he uses is a delight. (Available for purchase on Amazon.)

Oh, did you forget he’s in Malcolm X? He is, and he is fantastic in his brief role as a prison chaplain who attempts to convert Denzel Washington’s Malcolm (then Malcolm Little) to Christianity and then finds out that Malcolm, after his conversion to Islam, will push back harder. that the chaplain was prepared for. Plummer is delightfully distraught as Malcolm questions him about the race of Jesus and the disciples. Plummer’s ability to play fair and confident at the same time serves him wonderfully here; his insistence that “God is white” and how quickly that crumbles under Malcolm’s logic is really something to see. Plummer’s career had hit a wall when Spike Lee had chosen it. You can clearly see the next upcoming act here. (Available to watch on HBO Max.)

Michael Mann didn’t care to make Plummer look like Mike Wallace, the cocksure 60 minutes correspondent who anchored Big Tobacco’s withdrawal from the show in the 1990s. Instead, Plummer simply embodied the essence of Wallace – the laid back air of authority he projects into any room. into which it enters – and it is crucial to The initiate, which is both a smart procedure and an occasional showcase for playing fireworks. Plummer nails Wallace’s blunt interview style, but he also suggests the journalist’s concern over the fate of his legacy once CBS threatens to torpedo the article. Wallace was a shameless showboat, and Plummer honors the diva-ish aspect of his character with real gusto. (Available for rent on Amazon.)

Plummer had a long career in voiceover and animation: he had been the emotional force behind An american tail two decades earlier. But Pixar was a perfect fit, and Plummer delves into that regalia and villainy as Charles Muntz, the explorer that Carl Fredricksen idolizes before realizing he’s lost his way – and even become dangerous. Plummer sells Muntz’s bitterness and self-hatred and helps contrast it with Carl’s ability to remember what inspired him to be an explorer in the first place. He’s such a good villain that Pixar struggled to find a suitable start. He found one. (Available to watch on Disney +.)

Based on the father of filmmaker Mike Mills, who came out late in life, Beginners is an extremely sweet and heart-warming drama in which a grieving son (Ewan McGregor) reflects on his dead father, Hal, and finding out he was gay. Plummer plays the declining patriarch with such grace that you feel a sick man with nothing more to hide and no apologies to offer. Even in the face of cancer, Hal seems blessed with the chance to finally be his real self – now that his wife is gone, there is no more reason to live a lie – and Plummer makes this act of discovery consistently charming and moving. . Actors often win their Oscar for bad roles. Her win in Best Supporting Actor was not one of those cases. (Available to watch on HBO Max.)

Famous cast at the very last minute so that Ridley Scott can replace disgraced Kevin Spacey, Plummer is all the lion’s wizard in winter as oil mogul J. Paul Getty, who desperately wants his kidnapped grandson to return in full. security. It was the kind of role Plummer played a lot in his later years – he’s also superb as a sarcastic patriarch in the David Fincher remake. The girl with the dragon tattoo – but at the time, the shock that Scott was reprising part of his film to replace Spacey couldn’t help but feel a little gimmicky. The Academy saw beyond that, however, giving Plummer his final Oscar nomination. The performance is a portrayal of a power that seeps into pain – this Getty is closed to the world, buried in his money – and Plummer stings him. (Available for rent on Amazon.)

Plummer’s latest film is a classic role of Plummer: Harlan Thrombey, the brilliant detective novelist who invites his whole family to an 85th birthday party and ends up dying. Detective story? Rian Johnson’s cheeky thriller is a note of love for the murder mystery, and Harlan has to be both a victim and smarter than everyone else in the movie. This suits Plummer perfectly; he’s wise to everyone, with a twinkle in his eye that hints that maybe he always saw it all coming. It’s a fitting finale: Even in a star-studded cast, this is the one everyone ends up talking about. He definitely closed the book in style. (Available to watch on Amazon.)

Grierson & Leitch regularly write on films and organize a podcast on film. Follow them on Twitter or visit their site.

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