The original stone killer...*
Javier Bardem as the stone killer in the multiple Academy Award winning NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I didn't watch the show, haven't since the turn of the 21st century. I just don't go to see that many mainstream movies anymore. But I was a regular watcher of the broadcast from 1968 until about 1998. So I can't comment on the field since I only saw one nominated movie. Maybe if they brought Bob Hope back from the dead I'd appreciate the show more...
Still, I was pleased Bardem won. He was just perfectly menacing, and not in a way you'd expect, in the role. And he knew how to carry that air cylinder in a way that made it seem like a natural thing to do. I like the Coen brothers approach to genre films, and I like it when they defy gravity as in BARTON FINK and THE BIG LEBOWSKI.
Incidentally, Bardem recently mentioned a Jess Franco related title when he listed among his favorite Spanish films the 1955 MUERTE DU UN CICLISTA, a film which Franco worked as assistant to Bardem's uncle, the late Juan Antonio Bardem. He praised it in a national newspaper for illustrating the underside of daily life during that era.
On the subject of stone killers: Does anyone remember the 1973 Charles Bronson vehicle seen at the top of the blog? I remember when I saw it at a downtown grindhouse back then it seemed to really kick butt. I'd like to see it again sometime soon. Anyone know of a good DVD presentation? Thanks.
*http://youtube.com/watch?v=pxv-kgJ_DOI [THE STONE KILLER video on YouTube]
(C) Robert Monell, 2008
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