Bill Paxton

[AndyC]

Happened to catch part of Aliens on TV last night. This movie has to be right up there with They Live, in terms of sheer quotability. It has some of the best lines, and most can be attributed to Bill Paxton. One of my all-time favourites is "stop yer grinnin' and drop yer linen."

It occurred to me that Paxton, for much of his career, basically played the same character in every movie. Hudson is basically an older sci-fi version of Chet from Weird Science. Through the 80s and early 90s, I can recall Paxton playing one louthmouth jackass after another, and all of them quite entertaining. One notable flick was Brain Damage, which starred both Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman (like the two Coreys, only better), and would be good viewing for people who tend to mix them up. Anyway, I don't recall seeing Paxton do anything really different until the mid 90s, with movies like Twister and Apollo 13.

What other actors fall into this category?

[The Burgomaster]

* Molly Ringwald - still hasn't been able to recover from the "Brat Pack" years.
* Charles Bronson - other than a few roles early in his career, he basically played the same no-nonsense ass-kicker in almost every movie.
* Rodney Dangerfield - hasn't been in many movies, but basically plays "himself" every time.
* Jackie Chan - always seems to play the loveable, funny guy who knows martial arts.

[AndyC]

Hmmm, maybe if everybody just picked a favourite, and gave a bit more of an analysis. No offense, but my intention was more to start a discussion than compile a list.

[maria paula]

Steven Segal, and no, he is not my favourite, and if someday it gets to be then it means that im having a horrible  and Unstoppable brain desease, its simple, he  its not able to have some facial expressiveness, at least, its seems to be that he its too lazy to try something different, like some dramatic or  comedy ( well, at least for me he quite comic), anyway, i cant imagine him doing something like that. then he has to play always the same role, again and again, anyway, can we call him "actor"???
anyway, i have to admit that i had a crush on bill patxon when i saw him in "vertical limit"



Post Edited (06-16-04 14:30)

[Ash]

I've always been a fan of Paxton's work.

I liked him best in True Lies as the sleazy car salesman.
He was a riot in that one!

Nowadays he seems to be behind the camera in the director's chair.
He helmed the kickass film "Frailty" and I expect more good films to come from him.

[Evan3]

maria paula wrote:

> anyway, i have to admit that i had a crush on bill patxon when
> i saw him in "vertical limit"


Whoah, he was such a deranged psycho in that movie.... do you just love to fall for those evil villains, if so, I hope you never fall for Mugatu from Zoolander.

Do not forget Paxton's role in Predator 2... WHOO!

Other actors who are ALWAYS the same....

Harrison Ford as Indaina Solo
Hugh Grant as that dashingly transforming ass hole to nice guy
Woody Allen as.... himself...

[trekgeezer]

I really liked Paxton in The Terminator. That spiky hair was a nice look for him.

Personally  if I were Hicks or Ripley in Aliens I would have killed his ass to shut him up. Now he's playing the Dad in Thunderbirds.

I would have to name  non-actor Chuck Norris as someone who is the same guy in everything he does.  He made some half  way decent stuff back in the 80's, Code of Silence, Silent Rage, and Delta Force come to mind.  My problem with him is that he made some  decent stuff and then he would do some crap like Invasion America (pee- ew!). He always did best in films where he has very little dialogue.

Chuck might not be much of an actor, but he is one of few action stars that could really kick your ass.  I'm  glad he started waxing his back. See him in Way of the Dragon and you'll know what I'm saying . I thought  he had some little wings growing back there!

I have to mention that I also really liked Lone Wolf  McQuade, the forerunner of his Walker character.  Popeye had his spinach, in this one Lone Wolf had that supercharged beer.

[maria paula]

yes i usually do, i do have the feeling that villians are much  more atractive and when the worse they are the more i like them.anyway , what can u expect from somebody that thinks that steve buscemi its a very sexy man, i know it, i dont have a very good taste with men :).

[Yaddo42]

When he was younger Harrison Ford played a broader range of types but since he became THE big movie star of the times he seems to have found this monotone voice and tired weary persona he likes (without the wisecracking tone he brought to Han Solo and Indiana Jones and other roles) and stuck with it. Unless he has to shout like during an action scene. Jack Ryan and his characters in "The Devil's Own", "Six Days, Seven Nights", and "Hollywood Homicide" could practically be the same guy. It's like he's still playing Rick Deckard from "Blade Runner" for the past ten years.

The thing is that if you look further back many of the legends of film making, the big stars of the "Golden Age", basically played one type their whole career or most of it.

Gary Cooper - stoic, noble, man of few words who seemed indifferent to views different from his own. Just wooden as hell with the way he said dialogue. Every time I try to watch "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell" he gets upstaged by Ralph Bellamy of all people. Rod Steiger I can understand, but Ralph Bellamy? When he did try to do an accent in "Sergeant York" he managed to not sound at all like a Southerner and not like the stereotyped noble Southern yokels in the film. I'm still shocked he won an Oscar for such tripe.

Clark Gable - Suave wisecracker with smirky charm, and lots of it. I saw Don Rickles on a talk show talking about working with Gable on "Run Silent, Run Deep". He said that Gable would deliver a line while filming in that style we all know from Gable's films. The director would call cut, people would got to lunch, and Gable would chitchat with people the same way. He was the same guy, according to Rickles, both Gable and Burt Lancaster weren't playing roles in that film, they were being themselves and just saying whatever lines they were handed.

[Susan]

Strangely no matter what i see bill paxton in, he's always chet.
"how about a nice greasy pork sandwhich served in a dirty ashtray...."

But seriously, i always saw kevin costner as the same guy in every film. I mean he generally looks the same, talks the same, IS the same...even if the character is totally differerent from his other roles. Ok i know that isn't what you're looking for.

Then there's Christian slater....