A Dozen from Dern: Our Thoughts on Bruce’s Best

silent_running_oneshBruce Dern has been flying under the radar for a while.

The rangy 77-year-old Winnetka, Illinois native best known for his parts as dirty, rotten scoundrels has been working non-stop, but many of his recent films have been turning up on cable or on DVD rather than the multiplex near you.

Ever see—or even hear of—Walker Payne, Trim or Choose? Didn’t think so. 

All that will likely change when Nebraska is released in the latter part of November.

Directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants), the black-and-white drama with some comic moments offers Dern as Woody Grant, a hard-drinking Montana native who appears to be losing his grip on his life. When Woody gets a letter that he believes tells him he’s won $1 million, he urges his estranged son David (Will Forte) to go with him on a road trip from his Billings home to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his prize.

During the father-son road trip, Woody encounters his other son (Bob Oedenkirk), garners attention while stopping at his hometown, and has a run-in with a former business partner (Stacy Keach).

Dern’s name is being bandied about for an Oscar nomination for his part in Nebraska, which has already caused controversy. The studio considered campaigning Dern in the Supporting Actor category, but Dern openly said he’s not interested in promoting his performance if that’s the case. It’s Best Actor or bust for the Actor’s Studio graduate and running enthusiast.  

If Dern does get nominated, it will amazingly be only the second time in his six-decade career that Oscar has smiled on him: He was up for the Best Supporting Actor for his part of the troubled Vietnam veteran husband of Jane Fonda in 1978’s Coming Home (Christopher Walken took home the prize for The Deer Hunter, another Vietnam War drama).

What the attention to Nebraska has done is alert movie fans to Dern’s career, as well as to spur an assessment of his memorable parts. Here are a dozen must-see pieces of work, in our opinion. Are there any you think we’re missing?

The Wild Angels (1966): After six years of appearing in scores of TV shows (including the legendary “Zanti Misfits” episode of The Outer Limits) and occasional film roles, Dern got a break as co-star of this Roger Corman biker flick, a huge success on the drive-in circuit. His name is Loser, a member of Hell’s Angels, who joins pal “Heavenly Blues” (Peter Fonda) and the other cyclists to track down his missing motorcycle in a roarin’, whorin’ rev-up, the first of several films that featured Bruce on a bike.

The Trip (1967): Bruce is the go-to guru who offers rudderless pal Peter Fonda a chance to expand his horizons with LSD in Corman’s drug-fueled counterculture classic, penned by Jack Nicholson. Dennis Hopper is on hand as the friend who lets them use his pad to drop the acid, and Susan Strasberg and the great Dick Miller are along for the trip as well.

dern_wayne_cowboysThe Cowboys (1972): Dern will always go down in history as “the man who shot John Wayne,” which is what he does—in the back yet!—in Mark Rydell’s rugged oater. The Duke is helped by a group of teenage cowboy wannabes during a long cattle drive. Eventually, Wayne’s Wil Anderson encounters Dern’s Asa “Long Hair” Anderson, a creepy cattle rustler who has was previously shunned by the trail boss when he was looking for work. There’s an extended fight between the two and then, two-thirds into the film, Wayne hits the dirt. Dern was hissed at for years wherever he went.            

Silent Running (1972): The same year Dern was castigated for killing a legend on screen, he was considered a hero by an environment-friendly cult that took a loving to this sci-fi saga from Douglas Trumbull, the special effects maestro behind Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Botanist Dern is told to destroy the last remaining samples of fauna on his space station, but he’ll have none of that. After taking care of his crew members, the ecologically-determined astronaut attempts to complete the mission on his own terms with help from robots Huey, Dewey and Louie.

The King of Marvin Gardens (1972): This underappreciated masterwork from Bob Rafelson reunites Dern with Corman cohort Jack Nicholson for a melancholy look at the pursuit of the American Dream. Set mostly against the fading majesty that was Atlantic City in the early 1970s, the film presents Nicholson as David, a depressed Philly disc jockey who comes to the Jersey shore town to see his estranged brother Jason (Dern), a manic wheeler and dealer on the verge of what he thinks will be a bulls-eye real estate deal in Hawaii. At one time, Dern and Nicholson were to play each other’s parts—if that happened we would have never got Dern’s riveting, sad portrait of Jason.   

The Great Gatsby (1974):  You just don’t expect Bruce Dern in a tux and tails, well-groomed, but here he was, playing a slender Tom Buchanan, as opposed to the hulking guy depicted in Fitzgerald’s novel, a role played by Barry Sullivan in the 1949 version and Joel Edgerton in the 2013 edition. The film received tepid reviews and disappointing box-office returns, while Dern’s portrayal got a mixed reception: Roger Ebert suggested he may have made a better Jay Gatsby than Redford, and Stanley Kaufman wrote in the New Republic that Dern reminded him of a “nervous shoe clerk” in the role. We like Dern’s restlessness, but we can also see why you would not.   

Smile (1975): With Downhill Racer, The Bad News Bears, The Candidate and this film, director Michael Ritchie became one the great American filmmakers of the era, focusing on the role competition plays in American lives and the lengths people will go to win. Here, Dern is first- billed and memorable as “Big” Bob Freelander, a toothy rah-rah RV-dealer and primary judge of the annual Young American Miss pageant that takes place in Santa Rosa, California. Former beauty queen Barbara Feldon is his cohort, and the pretty teenage contestants—talented and untalented alike—are played by the likes of Melanie Griffith, Colleen Camp and Annette O’Toole.   

Family Plot (1976): Dern worked for Alfred Hitchcock in Marnie and on his TV series, so the “Master of Suspense” was comfortable having him play a key role in what would be his last film. It may not be Hitch’s best, but it is an enjoyable suspense comedy, with Dern as a cab driver/part-time actor and Barbara Harris as his phony psychic girlfriend who get tangled up with two kidnappers,  Beverly Hills jeweler William Devane and diamond-obsessed gal pal Karen Black. It’s all great fun with wacky car chases, surprising revelations and all the actors at the top of their game. Related New York Times film critic Vincent Canby: “As performed by Miss Harris and Mr. Dern, they are two of the most appealing would-be rascals that Hitchcock has even given us.”  

dern_shaw_black_sundayBlack Sunday (1977): After a few change-of-pace assignments, Dern went back into full psycho mode with this large-scale thriller based on a novel by the pre-Hannibal Lecter Thomas Harris. He plays an unhinged Vietnam veteran who pacts with Palestinian terrorist Marthe Keller to plot an extravagant attack on the Super Bowl in Miami utilizing the Goodyear blimp. Attempting to stop him is steely Mossad agent Robert Shaw in John Frankenheimer’s gripping, globe-trotting suspenser that firmly placed Dern back in full-tilt disturbed boogie.     

Coming Home (1978): Dern’s lonely Academy Award nomination offers one of the most haunting farewells to any of his screen characters. He plays a despondent Marine officer and Vietnam vet who returns home to find his anger spilling over and wife Jane Fonda romantically involved with paraplegic vet Jon Voight. Dern has the difficult task of being unhinged and garnering empathy from his performance at the same time. He succeeds.

That Championship Season (1982): Dern snagged the Golden Lion Award as Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival for his efforts in this adaptation of Jason Miller’s Pulitzer Prize winning play. He plays one of the former athletes on a high school basketball team who reunite in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 25 years after they won the state championship. He’s now the mayor of the city, desperately trying to win re-election, whose stunt involving a live elephant goes horribly awry. Sparks fly as old jealousies and problems rise during the reunion. Robert Mitchum is the racist coach with failing health, while Paul Sorvino, Stacy Keach and Martin Sheen are the teammates with their own gym bags full of problems.      

After Dark, My Sweet (1990):  Based on a Jim Thompson story, James Foley’s modernized film noir offers Dern in shifty high gear. The story centers on emotionally damaged boxer Jason Patric (Jason Miller’s son) who comes under the spell of alcoholic beauty Rachel Ward. She introduces the fighter to Bruce Dern’s “Uncle Bud,” an ex-con who’s cooked up a kidnapping scheme that will cash in for all three principals. With his intense blue eyes, arched eyebrows and aging porn star mustache, Dern embodies “sleazebag,” “menacing” and “desperation” all at once.