Liam Gaughan wrote a piece of the same name at COLLIDER that really bothered Marcia who showed it to the rest of us. We agreed that his choices weren't really a celebration of Jeff Bridges acting but more of a detailed list of films a cis overgrown boy likes. We're leaving CRAZY HEART off our list because Jeff rightly won the Academy Award for that. But here are ten film performances that a Jeff Bridges fan shouldn't miss. They go to how he can work in many genres and how he can deliver performances of great variety.
1) FABULOUS BAKER BOYS
Jeff teams with Michelle Pfeiffer and his brother Beau Bridges to deliver a performance of a man hiding from others and himself. It's a lived in character and Jeff makes every layer seem real and genuine.
2) WINTER KILLS
This one knocked Peter Bogdanovich's THE LAST PICTURE SHOW off our list. In both films, Jeff serves the director -- so much so that he's little more than an element. In this one, he's one of many elements -- Elizabeth Taylor, Anthony Perkins, John Huston, Dorothy Malone, Eli Wallach, etc. Being a shade on a palette is easy for a non-actor but it requires real skill for a professional actor. This is a noir where Jeff is the brother of a president killed while in office.
3) THE MORNING AFTER
Jane Fonda rightly got an Oscar nomination for this thriller by Sidney Lumet. But Jeff is at his most appealing and provides the base for Jane's performance. His character is all bleached out bones left out in the desert sun.
4) STARMAN
Chemistry can't be acted. It's either there or it's not. Jeff's had it with several actresses (Jane, Sally Field in KISS ME GOODBYE, Farrah Fawcett in two films) including Karen Allen in this John Carpenter classic. Jeff offers a reductionist performance, stripped of all artifice.
5) TRON
Steven Lisberger's classic film showed the way for the bulk of sci-fi films to follow. Jeff's surefooted performance anchors the film and tugs you along for the ride.
6) ARLINGTON ROAD
For Mark Pellington's film to work, you have to believe in and like the patsy played by Jeff Bridges. Otherwise, you're just sitting there and thinking, "What an idiot! Why didn't he see that coming!"
7) THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES
Whether it's Amy Irving or Nick Notle or Jeff Bridges here, director Barbra Streisand finds a way of revealing and showcasing new depths in actors. Jeff really could have made a career in screwball comedies alone if he'd had Streisand as his director in them.
8) AGAINST ALL ODDS
Chemistry. The best may have been with Rachel Ward in this noir. When it moves out of the US, it almost becomes a picturesque travelog. What saves it from that is the chemistry between Jeff and Rachel. Jeff plays the dropped football player with just the right amount of outrage and immaturity.
9) SOMEBODY KILLED HER HUSBAND
Jeff made two films with Farrah Fawcett and the chemistry between them was great in both films. With Alan J. Pakula, he had a multi-dimensional character in SEE YOU SOMETIME. The script was there to support him. He and Farrah didn't have a script or much of a director. But Jeff made Jerry Green a fully realized character and it was an early testament to just how great he was going to become.
10) WHITE SQUALL
Jeff anchors this adventure film from Ridley Scott.
