Head Tale

Shocking news today that Robin Williams has died, apparently by suicide.  Based on the way my Facebook feed lit up with the news, it’s a pretty safe bet that I’m not unique in thinking of him as one of my favourite actors.

His range in both comedies and dramas was outstanding and his genuine humanity shone through in all of his roles.

Here are my Top 10 Robin Williams movies in order (along with a couple thoughts about why I liked them so much)…

10. Popeye/Hook/Death to Smoochy/One Hour Photo – Okay, I said I’d pick 10 but I have to start with a four way tie for a few favourites that capture his range – two children’s movies, one a comic book adaptation that “bombed” when released and one that was a Spielberg blockbuster and two others that had Williams playing against type in a couple really dark films.

9.  Being Human – I admit I don’t really remember much about this movie.  But I remember being fairly taken by its concept when it came out.

8.  Patch Adams – Williams was one of the masters at films that blended hilarious comedy and intense drama and this is one of the prime examples of that.

7. Mrs. Doubtfire – selfishly, one of the saddest aspects of this news is that the planned sequel will now never be completed.

6.  Aladdin – still one of the best voice over performances ever in an animated movie

5.  Good Will Hunting – his part wasn’t the lead but he won his only Oscar for his supporting role in the film that also gave us Ben Affleck and Matt Damon

4.  What Dreams May Come – not one of his best known films but simply amazing story and also early CGI

3.  The Fisher King – criminally underrated.  Don’t tell the Piracy Police but in the pre-Internet, pre-torrent days, I used to spend hours dubbing rental VHS movies so I would have copies for my personal library.  This was one I watched over and over, stunned at what a good performance Williams gave.

2. Good Morning Vietnam – I took a “Religion in Film” class when I did my semester exchange in York England.  One assignment was to write an essay about Christ-figures in war films.  Everyone else in the class picked traditional war films like “Platoon”, “Full Metal Jacket”, “Apocalypse Now”.  I was the only one to pick a comedy and besides my natural inclination to do something outside the expected, it was mostly so I had an excuse to watch this film over and over again.  Oh, and what a soundtrack too!

1. Dead Poets Society – I wasn’t there personally but when it came out, a friend who went to a screening said it was the first film he’d ever seen in a theatre where people stood up and applauded at the end.

It wasn’t one of his Hollywood movies but I also have to give special mention to his “Live at the Met” comedy special which was released in 1986.  I bought a copy on cassette tape and listened to it repeatedly. (I also still regularly quote from “Live at the Met” to this day)

In fact, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that eye-opening concert recording had an enormous effect on 13-year old, small town me in terms of how I view humour, profanity, freedom of expression, religion, politics and although I didn’t realise it at the time, the unbelievable hilarious joy of being a parent! 😉

Anyhow, here are some of his greatest moments…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1uWvvMsL5w

Here’s an AMA he did on Reddit which showed he had the heart of a geek among other things.

And as always, MetaFilter is a great place to go for insight and reminiscences.