The films of Michael Keaton

[thecolorsblend]

I dug on Jackie Brown a lot.  To me, it would a very different movie if some other actor played Nicollette... a lesser movie.  You hear people talk smack about actors "bringing something more than what's on the page" to a given role but it's so true of Keaton in Jackie Brown.  He has, what, a combined three minutes worth of screen time in that movie?  But he fills every bit of it up with the quirks and ticks of an ambitious cop who knows he's dealing with a career-making case.  And he makes you smile a little too.

I defy anybody on this forum to show me another actor who can bring that across.

Pacific Heights doesn't get too much love -- and probably for good reason.  It's a shlocky thriller but Keaton is once again on his A-game.  He's a genuinely disturbing individual in that movie, and you believe it.  That and (oddly enough) Gung Ho were the first post-B89 things I saw him in and they totally changed my perceptions of him as a performer.

And then there's Beetle Juice.  He hammed it up to just this side of camp... but the visuals and goofy direction along with the more muted performances from the other actors really highlight his portrayal of this... thing.

What's really interesting is to study his body languange in general and his walk in particular in each of those movies.  As Batman, he has a sort of stomp/swagger to his movements.  As Bruce, he has a sort of low-key shuffle.  In a lot of PH, he's more like a panther gliding around, a predator searching for his next target.  In JB, he's got a bit of a jittery twitch, almost like he's nervously pacing but his hand movements (lifting up paper bags, pointing his finger) are very precise.

Interesting actor, there's really no one else out there like him.

[Grissom]

Every actor is different but keaton just has something about him that is rare. Great actor and enough films in his filmography to never be forgotten.

[johnnygobbs]

I dug on Jackie Brown a lot.  To me, it would a very different movie if some other actor played Nicollette... a lesser movie.  You hear people talk smack about actors "bringing something more than what's on the page" to a given role but it's so true of Keaton in Jackie Brown.  He has, what, a combined three minutes worth of screen time in that movie?  But he fills every bit of it up with the quirks and ticks of an ambitious cop who knows he's dealing with a career-making case.  And he makes you smile a little too.

Don't forget Out of Sight where he reprised the role (the only actor to do so in two entirely unrelated film projects).  He shares a particularly great scene with Dennis Farina in which Keaton comes bumbling in with a t-shirt emblazened with the words 'FBI', to which Farina remarks, "What does your other shirt say?  Undercover?"  LOL.  In any case Keaton was excellent in both Elmore Leanard adaptations, though it's a pity he didn't get to share the screen with his love rival and (lesser) Batman, George Clooney.

[The Dark Knight]

Every actor is different but keaton just has something about him that is rare.

Michael Keaton is an amazing actor. And I am not just saying that. That is not just a throw away line. He possesses something, try as I may, that I can?t exactly put a finger on. He radiates genuine nervous energy. That's interesting, mysterious as well as entertaining to watch. He's not eccentric, well not totally, you feel he is in control, but he's just...different. Can't explain it. And it feels so natural.

What he has, you cannot fake. You cannot force it. You either have it, or you do not. Keaton has it, and he has it in spades. Nobody out there is like him, and nobody ever will be. I am being dead serious. He is that good.

[Seantastic]

Has anyone else seen Dream Team, he plays a psychopath in NY with another 3, they are out of an Insititue and go on a trip, their doctor goes missing any they have to find him, great comedy, Keaton is great in it

[johnnygobbs]

Has anyone else seen Dream Team, he plays a psychopath in NY with another 3, they are out of an Insititue and go on a trip, their doctor goes missing any they have to find him, great comedy, Keaton is great in it

I love The Dream Team.  It's one of my fave comedies from that period.  I love Keaton's line, "Who votes we throw Ed out of the window?" Raise of hands.  "You can vote too Ed.  This is a democracy."   

[THE BAT-MAN]

I have been a Michael Keaton fan ever since I saw him as Batman.  I have seen pratically every film he has starred in, and all I really want to say is, God Bless Him.

Has anyone else seen Dream Team, he plays a psychopath in NY with another 3, they are out of an Insititue and go on a trip, their doctor goes missing any they have to find him, great comedy, Keaton is great in it

I love The Dream Team.  It's one of my fave comedies from that period.  I love Keaton's line, "Who votes we throw Ed out of the window?" Raise of hands.  "You can vote too Ed.  This is a democracy."   

I too love The Dream Team.  It's a real shame that Keaton didn't like the way  he portrayed the character of William Caufield.  I think he's being too hard on himself, because in truth, the director is the one who is responsible for the performance not the actor.  He's the one who has the final say as to the direction of the performance (a la Joel Schumacher and Tommy Lee Jones).  So apparently, Keaton did something right in his performance or the director would have not used him in the film, and there wouldn't be all these fans who love the portrayl of his character.  I mean all the actors gave great performances and they all had memorable lines, but Keaton was the one actor who I felt brought a real energy to the scenes. Check this clip out at the 10 minute marker he discusses what he thought of The Dream Team.

The actual quote is "Kay! Does Ed go out the window?... Let's have a show of hands.  Ed, you can vote too this is America.

[johnnygobbs]

The actual quote is "Kay! Does Ed go out the window?... Let's have a show of hands.  Ed, you can vote too this is America.

Thanks for the correction.  I was just paraphrasing but I guess I should have looked up the quote on google first. 

[Grissom]

Gotta love Keaton, brilliant comic timing, an edge, an underlying mysteriousness, if only many other actors were like him, we'll have many, many memorable performances and might even have to tie at the Oscars sometimes too. 

[phantom stranger]

Yea, he's one of those actors that's just totally entertaining to watch--even if he's in a crappy film.