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OK. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I feel that Christopher Lambert is not the greatest actor in the world. However I like his movies. That being said I have come to see that his movies follow two distinctive patterns (okay maybe not all of his movies but a few that I actually like and or saw). He always has some traumatic experience involving a dying wife (Highlander) A dying kid (Resurrection) someone getting raped (Highlander, although he didn't find out until a few hundred years later) or girlfriends getting killed (Knight moves). That I can understand. However it is his second feat that really p**ses me off. I have only really seen it in 2 movies (Highlander 2 Renegade Version, and Knight Moves) this feat is the ability to make out with a chick almost five seconds after they meet. In the case of Knight Moves he p**ses the chick off, I turn away and the next thing I know he's in bed with her, not to mention that his "girlfriend" was killed 2 days earlier (but he says he was seeing her casually but o well). In Highlander he kills some people and then says, "I am Conner McLeod of the clan McLeod and I cannot die and then they make out.

That’s frustrating. I don’t know why. Maybe I'm just bitter because that never happened to me, no matter how many times I tried. (I'm Jason Perkins of the clan Perkins and I am I mortal. Hey come back why are you running?)

Ok back to the real reason for writing this topic. Certain actors make movies that follow a trend. Lambert and his traumatic make out stories, Casper Van Dien hating anything not human, Bruce Campbell being a wise ass. SO I'm asking you guys to list actors and their little trends that either make you keep watching their movies or just p**s you off.

Tim Thomerson being Tim Thomerson :)

I am not sure, but I think he was in a movie call something like "The 18th angel"  or something like that.  That did not have to do with anyone dying.  But I could be totally wrong, may not have even been him in the movie. It has been a very long time since I have seen it.

How about someone who plays the same character in every movie? Charlie Chaplin's 'little tramp' for example.

Besides that, Woody Allen is neurotic in just about every one of his films.

That is bacuse Woody allen really is neurotic and is not a good enough actor to play somone who is not,.

Gabriel Byrne seems to play the devil quite a bit.

This one isnt a character trend, but a quality trend I suppose. I will usually see a Johnny Depp movie because they are almost always interesting and unusual in some way. He seems to have a knack of picking good scripts, or the just plain weird, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Most of the Steven Seagal flicks I've seen portray him as this sneaky and seemingly invulnerable martial arts/sharpshooter/avenging angel; "Marked for Death" and "Executive Decision" being rare exceptions. I don't recall him getting into a martial arts fight where he had an even fight with a foe that seemed credible. I rarely get a sense than his character is in danger even as the action happens around him. Which just stretchs the suspension of disbelief more and more as he gets older and fatter and he moves even more stiffly than usual. Even John Wayne knew how to play into his image as he got older, having character underestimate him because he was old, or having to hand off activities to a younger cohort or his character's sons.

Most Adam Sandler films seem to follow the pattern of him being a lazy but happy misfit underachiever, often slowwitted but sincere, who must either rise to some challenge to save the family business; rescue a grandmother from debt, foreclosure, the nuthouse, etc; or to win the love of a girl percieved as too good for him (sometimes these are combined in one film). Invariably the very quality that makes him the misfit he is at the beginning saves the day and the people who look down at him are defeated, revealed as crooks or frauds and/or humiliated. The soundtrack is usually filled with the same tired songs that have been played to death on classic rock radio; and he throws in some cameos or supporting roles for untalented SNL and comedy chums like Rob Schneider.

Christopher Lambert did play an amoral bad guy in "Mean Guns", who kept a lillte girl around who we were meant to think was his daughter, but she really hated him. Beyond that he had no real character development (but one really good line), but since it was an ALbert Pyun movie no one had much character development.

>Christopher Lambert did play an amoral bad guy in "Mean Guns", who kept a
>lillte girl around who we were meant to think was his daughter, but she really
>hated him.

At one point he tells another character that she really was his daughter. And I don't remember any scenes that showed that she hated him.

I've mentioned this one before - Bill Paxton as a loudmouthed jackass. Prior to Twister, that was all I'd ever seen him play, and he played it well.

Good call on Johnny Depp. His characters are nearly always weird, or at least quirky, yet no two are alike. He's great.

If you want to see Bill Paxton at his most jackassish, check out The Dark Backward. Easily one of the most hilariously repulsive human beings in any movie, ever.

As for actor trends, I need only quote the Pinky & the Brain parody of Apocolypse Now:

PINKY: *Gasp* Wasn't that Dennis Hopper? I love him! Did you see the one where he plays the manic sociopath?

Re: Chistopher Lambert and "Mean Guns"

IMDB says the girl is his daughter as well, but I vaguely remember a scene at the end when the Deborah Van Valkenburgh character retrieves the girl and she mentions Lambert to the girl, who says that he wasn't her father. Possibly she says he was "a creep" who kidnapped her. I may be wrong, it has been a while and I don't have a copy of the film, but that seems like what I saw and the girl didn't seem too worked up over his death. Strange either way.

Deborah Van Valkenburgh? That must be one quality movie to feature the brunette from Too Close for Comfort. Wow, now I know of two things she's been in :)

Julia Roberts is usually the whore w/a heart of gold......
Hugh Jackman is always a smart ass/bad ass......
hhmmm... Christopher Walken is always creepy....
i think that once an actor/actress plays a certain part really well casting directors are just going to see them in that role... and it's not like they're gonna be like "No! I don't want 20 million dollars to say  the same lines over and over agian."LOL....
Surprisingly enough Brad Pitt (wiping the drool from my chin) is a great actor and can play very diverse roles.... hmm or maybe i was just blinded by his striking good looks.... it's possible
And i fully agree that Johnny Depp plays strange characters.. but does it well.... i love him....

i think that once an actor/actress plays a certain part really well casting directors are just going to see them in that role...

I suspect it's the other way around.

I think a writer/director/casting director will see a role and think "who would fit in this role, I know...so-and-so does this really well, let's get him/her"

I don't think it's a case of "Actor A can only get work doing X because  that's all anyone sees him as" but "Actor A keeps getting offered a lot of work as X because the director wants X andActor A is really good at it so he keeps getting the call"

Brad Pitt can act and proved it as the cockeyed mental patient in 12 Monkeys, the movie that also proved Bruce Willis can act.

There are people who constantly play pretty much the same character. In classic films they always used people like Walter Brennan (played a funny old coot since he was in his 30's).  They were called character actors, need a funny old coot get Walter.  Need an asian sorcerer or wise man get Mako. These guys can do other stuff, but pretty much get cast for what they do best.

You're right, quite a few show business careers have been built on one basic character. Still, if we start turning the discussion toward favourite character actors, this could turn into another "that guy" thread.

Of course, if we want to start compiling a list, I'd be happy to add Vincent Shiavelli as the creepy droopy-faced guy, Bob Tessier as the biker/thug, Ben Stein as the boring guy, Mickey Jones as the large, bearded redneck, and Michael Berryman as the creepy mutant guy.

There's plenty more. Who are your favourites?

Cary Elwes is a great knight on a white horse guy......
Vin Diesel is a good rebel w/out a cause guy....
Kathy  Bates is a good "b***h".. i love her

>IMDB says the girl is his daughter as well, but I vaguely remember a scene at
>the end when the Deborah Van Valkenburgh character retrieves the girl and she
>mentions Lambert to the girl, who says that he wasn't her father. Possibly she
>says he was "a creep" who kidnapped her.

Possibly, but given her age, she might not have known he was her real father. Maybe he only recently found out about her, and took her from her mother.

I was lucky enough to work with Mako on Oz -- very very nice man --
* * * * *
Jack Palance!  Jack Palance!!  Jack Palance!!
Before Chirstopher Walken, if you needed creepy, boy-howdy but Jack was your man!
Sometimes that "pattern" thing, also known as typecasting, can get in the way of your art.  Peter Lorre was a highly skilled actor with great range, but it took him almost 20 years after "M" to be able to do comic roles and not hysterical psycho criminal-types.  He plays the M guy in Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, etc. etc.
Edward G. Robinson was also capable of great sympathy and comic delivery -- see Scarlet Street -- but after the gangster/mob boss in Little Ceasar, guess what he played for the next 20 years?
Hey, you can type-cast me any day, just remember where to send the paychecks!!
peter johnson